The retainer is 20 hours. The average month is 31.

Nobody approved the extra eleven hours, and nobody ever will: which is exactly why they keep appearing, and why the client feels no better served for them.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for The retainer is 20 hours. The average month is 31.

A retainer priced at £4,000 for 20 hours a month is a £200 hourly rate. Delivered at 31 hours, it is £129. Nothing in the contract changed, nothing in the invoice changed, and nothing in the P&L announces itself. The margin left through a door that was never opened, because the eleven hours arrived one small ask at a time, and no single ask was ever big enough to warrant a conversation. This is the most common form of unpriced price cutting in service businesses, and it is harder to…

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