In doing research for my payment policies the other day, I came across several websites in which VAs ONLY offer services on a retainer. Anybody here do this and if so, how have your clients responded? Just curious.

Thanks!

Darlene

Hi Darlene
I briefly considered offering retainer in addition to my hourly rate but decided against it altogether - so I'm afraid I don't have any personal experience to speak of on this one.
A retainer can be nice though for both you and your client for a number of reasons - I found this well-articulated paragraph at About.com:

Many service professionals -- everyone from accountants to virtual assistants -- give clients the option to work on a retainer basis, i.e., the client pays a fixed monthly fee to cover a certain level of service. Sometimes this equates into an exact number of hours (usually at a discount, in exchange for the prepayment and commitment). Other times, it's to cover certain work, without having to track it hourly. This is attractive to the client because they get a discount and have some idea what they're going to spend every month. It's attractive to the consultant because it locks in a guaranteed number of hours. A small number of clients on retainer, and you know you're "covered" financially for the month.

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I offer both but clients have opted for the hourly plan.

Tess, why did you decide against offering the retainer plan? Just curious.

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Mattie Stokes

Hi Mattie
It's a good question - I decided not to go with retainers because of a few reasons not the least of which was I didn't want even the possibility of people feeling like they hadn't gotten use of their hours. It just didn't seem 'fair' to me somehow...if the situation were reversed I'd want and expect paid time to 'roll over' which of course isn't how it works with a retainer. That's not to say that it doesn't work well for other people, but I just didn't feel comfortable with it.

Also, I didn't want to deal with keeping track of X retainer hours based on X dollars per hour (relative to the number of hours purchased.) I try to keep my own office backend as simple and as streamlined as possible and straight hourly helps me achieve that.

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Hi Darlene,

I offer both hourly and retainer packages to my clients. The primary reason I even started offering retainer packages was due to an unfortunate (and exceedingly frustrating) :mad5: incident regarding non-payment. Presently, I have clients on both hourly and retainer and I do like the guaranteed aspect of retainer, however, as Tess pointed out, there is more paperwork involved, i.e. tracking hours. Hope that helps!

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance

Kate, that IS frustrating!
In regard to that very issue I take a substantial deposit from all new clients against the first six months of regularly paid invoices *no matter what* just to be on the safe side. If invoices aren't paid regularly, I hold the deposit until I feel comfortable that the client understands that 'net 14' with a late payment penalty when not met is an important aspect of my business policies.

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