TIL a single client call changed how I pitch retainer fees

I was talking to a small biz owner in Portland last month who straight up told me my proposal felt like a gamble with no safety net. She said she'd rather pay a flat monthly fee than a performance-based cut because she couldn't sleep at night worrying about ad spend. That conversation made me realize trust matters more than potential upside. Have any of you switched your pricing model after one tough talk with a client?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesley_jones21d ago

So one chat is rewriting your whole business model now?

karenh5621d agoTop Commenter

wesley_jones I get what you're saying but I think you're missing how flat fees actually work for the client in that story. That small biz owner wasn't lazy, they were scared of losing their whole budget if the ads didn't hit. A flat fee limits their risk to just your fee, not all the ad spend plus your cut. Performance based sounds fair until you realize the client can easily lose way more money than you do if the campaign fails.

knight.felix21d ago

lol I'm gonna push back hard on this. Look, that client was scared of risk, but that doesn't mean performance based pricing is wrong. Flat fees just mean you eat the cost if the ads flop and they get lazy cuz they're not paying based on results. I've had clients who paid flat and didn't care at all about the work because it didn't hurt their wallet if I failed. Performance based keeps both sides honest and aligned on the same goal. One nervous small biz owner doesn't mean the whole model is broken. Sometimes you gotta educate clients on why risk sharing actually builds trust faster than a fixed number.