In my personal experience working with web design, web development, and creative agencies, and in conversations I’ve had with other freelancers, designers, developers and creatives, there is always one business pain point that stands out. Cash flow. Revenue can be seasonal. We’re either out meeting with potential clients to drum up sales, or we’re swamped with design and development work from our current clients.

1. How Web Design and Creative Agencies Can
Productize their Services
In my personal experience working with web design, web development,
and creative agencies, and in conversations I’ve had with other
freelancers, designers, developers and creatives, there is always one
business pain point that stands out. Cash flow. Revenue can be
seasonal. We’re either out meeting with potential clients to drum up
sales, or we’re swamped with design and development work from our
current clients.

2. Cash flow is a seemingly endless ebb and flow. It’s the paradox being
both a creative and a business owner. One day we’re churning out
creative work. The next day we don our business hats and shake a lot of
hands.
Revenue does not have to be this erratic. We don’t have to resort to
guerrilla tactics to get paid. We can borrow an idea perfected by the law
industry, where they use retainer agreements, and apply them to our
own creative business. Yes, we can use retainers to productize our
services.

3. Simply put, a retainer agreement is a contract that provides your client
with a way to retain, or reserve, your services by paying the entire
amount of the contract up front. The primary incentive for a client to
sign a retainer agreement is that it guarantees them access to your
services. Some creative agencies will also offer a discounted rate as an
incentive to sign a retainer agreement.
The benefit of signing clients to a retainer agreement is that it
generates cash flow at the beginning of a project, not the end. We can
make better financial decisions with money in hand. And when the
coffers start running low, we can bring on more retainer clients.
The Retainer Agreement

4. Another benefit of a retainer agreement
is that it does not require any definition
of scope or haggling over budget. The
client is simply paying for a predefined
deliverable or a set number of hours to
be used at their discretion. A retainer
agreement goes a long way in simplifying
the business relationships we have with
our clients.
Looking for a Free Retainer Contract?
Download our free retainer contract to
use with your clients.
Click to download PDF

5. Large projects are a common cause of erratic cash flow for creative
agencies. There can be spans of weeks or months in between
payments, while the client is expecting you to be churning out creative
work in the interim. Retainer agreements typically favor smaller projects
because they normalize the payment process and allow for more
flexibility in scope.
Working on smaller projects enables an agency to iterate over creative
work and respond to changes in technology and market trends in the
midst of the design phase. Small retainer projects give the client the
option to start out with something small and continue the relationship
by renewing the contract.
Keep it Simple

6. Those creative agencies that are the most successful at productizing
their services are those able to template their projects and apply them
to several different clients. For example, if a bulk of your work is
designing and developing WordPress web sites, build a product around
this offering and throw a price tag on it. Another example would be a
creative agency that offers branding and collateral — calculate the
average number of hours it takes to put together a new identity
package and offer it as a service with a fixed price.
Repeat projects — where the input and output are roughly the same
from client — are the best candidates for becoming productized
services because you can estimate and deliver them with guaranteed
success and accuracy.
Repeatable Projects

7. Impact Branding and Design is one of
our Intervals customers with whom I’ve
been fortunate enough to have several
conversations. Impact is a great
example of how a marketing and
creative agency can create products
based on their services and use them
to regulate cash flow while still putting
the client’s best interests first.
An Example of How it’s Done
“We identified common growth
goals and how much our
clients typically need to spend
to meet them, then designed
packages based on these
goals.”
— Bob Ruffolo
Founder and CEO of Impact

8. This pricing page shows how they’ve
productized their own inbound
marketing services into three tiers,
offering a different level of
commitment and outcome for each
one. Each plan includes a description
of the ideal candidate an outline of the
typical experience and services, so you
know if it’s right for you and what to
expect before even contacting Impact.
And it’s month-to-month and
customizable, so clients can get a feel
for the relationship and their full range
of options before committing to a more
long term investment.

9. Check out the Intervals blog for more articles…
The Intervals Blog
A collection of useful tips, tales and opinions based on decades of
collective experience designing and developing web sites and web-
based applications.
www.myintervals.com/blog
Photo credits:
Rob Shenk

10. Check out the Intervals blog for more articles…
The Intervals Blog
A collection of useful tips, tales and opinions based on decades of
collective experience designing and developing web sites and web-
based applications.
www.myintervals.com/blog
Photo credits:
Rob Shenk