Went from chasing every lead to a $400 a month retainer and my close rate doubled
Two years ago I was taking every job that called, quoting 15 to 20 small projects a month and barely keeping up with the paperwork. Last spring I sat down and picked just 6 repeat clients to put on a flat $400 monthly retainer for upkeep work, and I let the one-off calls go to voicemail. My revenue dropped about $1,200 that first month and I panicked a little, but by month three I was making more than before with half the hours. Turns out I was spending most of my time quoting jobs I never won anyway. Curious if anyone else here made the jump to retainers, and how you picked which clients to keep?