Value-Based Fees: How to Charge—and Get—What You're Worth: A Guide for Consultants, Second Edition

6.5. AGGRESSIVELY MARKETING RETAINER RELATIONSHIPS

Once you have the experience of several retainers under your belt, you may want to include the service as a focal point of your marketing. (Don't forget that if you engage in executive coaching on a value-billing basis, you may well have created a retainer arrangement without realizing it.) This means that you may want to undertake the following marketing efforts:

• Include testimonials in your press kit and on your Web site that stress the benefits of your having been on retainer (in addition to your overall quality).

• Place "typical results" achieved from your retainer work, specifically, on the Web site and in your press kit.

• Conversationally mention your retainer work in speeches. For example, "When I was on retainer to the executive vice presidents of several trade associations, I found that their common challenge was increasing membership in a strong economy when they were all attending to their own businesses."

• Write articles on the value of retainer relationships, or mention those relationships (as in the speech example) in your other articles.

• Where appropriate, include a retainer option in your proposals—generally most effective when the prospect "doesn't know what he or she doesn't know" and realizes that help is required to begin sorting out the numerous challenges and opportunities facing the organization.

  NOTE

  You have the option of occasionally, frequently, or solely engaging in retainer relationships. This is not a client, ...