Struggling to Land Bigger Retainers? Follow These 5 Steps
00:00:33 - Closing Bigger Retainers
00:00:50 - Five Steps to Closing Bigger Retainers
00:02:04 - Identifying Perfect Clients and Services
00:03:00 - Positioning as a Trusted Advisor
00:03:39 - Asking the right questions
00:04:39 - NBAT Framework for Qualifying Prospects
00:05:06 - Asking About Budget
00:06:45 - Determining Authority in Decision-Making
00:07:22 - Understanding Timing and Urgency
00:08:00 - Three I's: Issue, Impact, Importance
00:09:55 - Positioning a Foot-in-the-Door Offer
00:11:56 - Creating a Low Barrier to Entry Offer
00:12:59 - Biggest Mistake with the Foot-in-the-Door Offer
00:16:03 - Transitioning from Project to Retainer
Are you struggling to land bigger agency retainers and maximize your digital agency profit margin? You're not alone! In this video, you’ll get a proven step-by-step process to help agency owners like you convert more leads, negotiate better deals, and become a trusted advisor to your clients—so you can earn larger retainers and create predictable, long-term revenue.
The path to this predictable revenue requires becoming more than just a service provider—it demands evolving into a trusted advisor for your clients. This transformation begins with gaining clarity about your ideal clients and developing a service offering that precisely matches their needs. These steps will help you navigate this evolution.
Step #1: Define your services and find your ideal audience
Let me ask you this: If you were going to be paid based on performance, only after getting amazing results, what would you do and who would you do it for?
Rather than adopting a broad approach—such as simply targeting "B2B"—agency owners should focus on defining a niche. This niche can revolve around a particular service or industry, allowing the agency to tailor its offerings and messaging. By doing so, you’ll be able to position yourself as an expert in your field, which builds trust and credibility with potential clients.
Step #2: Start asking the right questions
Once clarity about the target audience is established, the next step will be to engage prospects with the right questions, which will help you position yourself as an expert advisor. In fact, failing to ask the right questions might lead to losing too much time on a prospect that turns out to be a wrong fit for your agency.
I want to give you your time back by introducing you to the NBAT framework. These are the first four questions I ask on a call to position my agency as THE choice and establish whether or not this is the right prospect for us:
N – Need:
Ask what the specific needs are and what specific end results they’re expecting. Ask how this project fits in with the overall company vision. If they need to pull in another person to answer that question, hold onto that nugget of information.
B – Budget:
Ask for the budget. More often than not, you won’t get an actual number so act like a reverse auctioneer… Start with a ridiculously high number saying, “Is your budget $500,000, or $400,000, maybe $300,000…?” They either give you a more realistic range or the name of someone who knows. Hold onto that nugget of information, too!
A – Authority:
Were they able to answer the questions about need and budget? If not, and they gave you another name or two, then you know who you really need to be talking to.
T – Timing:
Only you know what you can do and how long it takes. You might really want or even need this project but, if the timing has unrealistic parameters you are setting yourself up for failure.
This should all happen within the first five minutes of the call and I follow that up by focusing on the three i’s (Issue, Impact, and Importance): What’s the biggest issue you want to resolve? What will the impact of solving this issue be? How important is this for you?
Step #3: Positioning a foot-in-the-door
Too many agencies are making the mistake of trying to sell a retainer first. Think of it this way, would you propose after the first date? No, that would be crazy. Instead, position a foot-in-the-door, which is an irresistible offer that will help you convert the prospect much faster. This offer should be low-risk for the client and designed to showcase the agency’s value.
It could be an initial project or audit that addresses a specific problem the prospect is facing. This approach allows the agency to demonstrate its expertise and build rapport with the client. As the prospect sees tangible results from this initial engagement, it becomes easier to transition into a larger retainer agreement.
A great Foot-In-The-Door:
Creates a low barrier to entry,
Is done with the client’s participation,
Leads to a core offer,
Creates a high perceived value,
Results in a positive first transaction.
This method not only mitigates the perceived risk for the client but also establishes a foundation of trust and collaboration.
Step #4: Develop a project
Now that you’ve mapped out a solution for the prospect’s main issue, the next step will be to present your findings and ask them whether or not they like the plan you just drafted. They’ll tend to say yes because they participated in its making.
Then it’s time to ask if they’d like your help implementing that plan or if they’d like to do it on their own. It’s that simple. You’ll find again they tend to choose to get your help because entrepreneurs don’t usually have the time or energy to focus on implementing these solutions. They just want someone they trust to get the results they need.
Step #5: Position your retainer
It’s very important you start to position the retainer while you’re still working on the project rather than after it is done. Once it’s done your client will be less likely to want to start something new. Instead, once you start showing some results from that initial project, talk about future plans you’d like to discuss with them.
You can say “we have some ideas for your business that are outside of what we’re currently doing.” To close, ask them again “do you think this is a good plan and would you like our help to implement it?” They’ll be more likely to say yes now that they’ve already worked with you and seen the results you can bring.
