Make more from your retainers with our report on maximising profit and revenue

As a way to guarantee rolling, dependable income, retainer packages have the potential to alleviate some of the revenue pressure agencies often deal with – if they’re properly used. That’s why we conducted an agency survey into retainer best practices – to help support you in creating a first-class strategy. 

What you’ll get from our report.

  • Agency retainer benchmarks by overall turnover
  • Expert commentaries on the research findings
  • Agency pricing models and profit-growth opportunities

In the report

Better retainers, better income visibility, better profit margins.

With an optimised retainer offering, agencies can benefit from clear visibility over their income, better plan their outgoings, and effectively manage their resources. 

 

Our agency survey approached almost 200 agencies to learn about their current retainer process and identify potential improvements. Packed with actionable insights, the report is your one-stop guide to improving your retainer strategy – including:

 

  • How to price your services to match competitors and maximise profit 
  • The ideal agency retainer model, with easy-to-action changes
  • The common mistakes agencies make when delivering retainers

The findings show that while the average agency earns between 21-30% of their profit from retainers, several factors could greatly influence this profit margin; most agencies stand to benefit from restructuring their packages in order to guarantee the most consistent growth.

Access industry insight you can really use

With 3 standard retainer packages, on which they spend between 8-14 days each month, it’s clear that agencies are not averse to devoting significant time to delivering their retainers. However, evidence shows that some of the highest-earning agencies are charging up to 200% more than average for this work.

Get an expert opinion.

We spoke with experts to gain further insight into what the agency survey results mean for you – and how you can use them to supercharge your retainer offerings and get ahead in the market.

Janusz Stabik
Janusz is Managing Partner at GYDA, a specialist growth consultancy for digital agency leaders. He’s an agency founder, international keynote speaker and lead coach for various Google coaching programmes. GYDA’s Mastermind groups and coaching programmes help agency leaders to run better businesses & support their ideal lifestyles.

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Paul Barnes
Paul is Managing Director of MAP, who specialise in helping digital creative agencies to climb the maturity curve and grow more profitably by giving them total visibility and understanding of their finances, so they can make better and more timely decisions.

Joe Hine
Partner at SI Partners, Joe provides M&A advice on deals across marketing & technology services, with both strategic and financial buyers. He spent over 20 years in the transaction environment: as an advisor at PwC, then within corporates at Virgin Media, EE and the Rank Group, joining SI Partners in 2013.

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