Companies often engage agencies like me in one of two ways: either on a per-project basis or on retainer. I used to love the idea of a retainer, but the reality is very different.

A retainer is a monthly set amount paid for services rendered. For that fixed figure, the client has the right to pick up the phone at any time and engage my services. The client benefits because they don’t have to think about how much something is going to cost. I benefit because I can actually plan on having a certain amount of revenue. In a business that can fluctuate wildly month-to-month, that’s a pretty comforting idea.

In practice, however, retainers haven’t worked for me, or my clients. Let’s explore why that is.

It’s worth noting that retainers require a certain amount of risk for both parties. For me, I undertake them with the understanding that some months I’m going to do more work, and other months I’ll do less. The idea is that in the long run things will balance out. The client makes the same risk, of course. But they have more direct control over the reins, since they decide what work they want done!

Here’s an example of how a retainer has played out for me.

About three years ago, I had a couple clients who simply wanted to maintain their existing Web sites. A few times a month they’d provide me with updated content, and I would turn around the changes within hours. For a simple $300 per month, those clients were happy with the service.

But as time went on, these companies started to go through cycles of lower activity. Where early on I was making five or six changes to the site in a month, $300 makes sense. But when you go down to one or two — and sometimes none — the equation changes.

Unfortunately, one client in particular felt that that money could be better spent elsewhere. Every month, when I submitted my invoice, I would have to deal with an argument over how much work I was doing. I tried pointing out that whole risk argument (as above); after all, there were months where, if I was charging hourly, I’d be billing for more than $300. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get any complaints in those months.

Ultimately, I insisted that we move to a per-hour arrangement, and things have gone much better: I provide an itemized list of changes, attach the time for each and total it up. No more complaints, and better peace of mind.

In the past year, a much larger client asked to engage me on a retainer contract, for $2500 a month. That’s a lot of clams for both me and the client. Fortunately for both of us, we were comfortable with the amount of work that was on the go; we knew that there’d be little trouble filling the time.

But problems cropped up almost immediately. My client’s expectations were that I would not just be doing the work, but also generating the work: gathering the resources around the company, developing the marketing plans and then developing the materials — the part I thought I was there for. In short, I was to be the quasi-full-time marketing department. But my commitments to my other clients precludes that level of engagement.

This misunderstanding became clear after the first month. The client and I had an open, honest conversation which resulted in the scrapping of the retainer. Now, I work on a project basis, and things are much smoother.

With all this history, it was with a practiced eye that I read another client’s request to consider a retainer, rather than pay for an individual job. Ultimately, it seems to me that the client gets better value when they pay by project. And while I don’t get the smooth monthly revenue, I sleep better at night knowing that I’m getting paid for what I do, rather than some average of what I do.

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We’re all busier than ever, but there’s never been more to read! Let’s figure out how to cut through the clutter, in your publications and your email.

How much text do you come across on a daily basis? If you’re like most of us, the amount is vast: from your morning paper, to junk mail, to dozens of emails (most of which are spam), to business correspondence, manuals, advertisements, stories, books and more…. There’s never been more stuff to read out there!

Consequently, of course, we become much more selective about what we actually read. I’ve been finding, more and more often, that my clients are skimming my emails, and missing essential facts.

Recently, at the request of a client, I set up a password-protected Web site. When the work was complete, I wrote the client a quick email. I dealt with another piece of business, then wrote “The username and password is “yelos”, lower-case.” (Credentials have been changed to protect the innocent.)

Over the next two days, a back-and-forth ensued over the “problems” the client was having logging onto the site. Everything was working fine when I tried it, but the client couldn’t log in! It wasn’t until we got on the phone that it became clear that — surprise! — they were using all-caps on the password.

This is just one example of many. I get a good laugh when it happens, especially with examples like this one, because frankly I’m just relieved that nothing is actually wrong with the work I’ve done.

But there are examples where failure to read effectively undermines my work. Most often it happens when I provide the client with specifications for development work. In this case, I’m providing details about how a web application will function, outlining what features it will have, and often, what features it won’t. These are very important documents because most clients don’t understand the amount of work that goes into developing a web application; what seems like a small feature (say, giving a client the ability to place an image anywhere they like within a block of text) can actually be a very big deal!

Problems crop up when, having received and officially signing off on a spec document, the client wonders why the application doesn’t do something else entirely.

So why do people not read?

• Reading from a computer screen is more laborious that reading from paper. Text on screens is significantly lower resolution than on paper, so it takes up to 25% longer to read it.
• Text online is riddled with hyperlinks, all waiting to distract the reader with connections to other content. In web pages, this keeps the reader constantly looking for the next thing to read, moving focus away from what you’ve written.
• And of course, people just don’t have time to read. If you’re trying to find information about a particular topic online, you might start at Google. A search for “car parts” yields 97,500,000 search results! There’s just so much out there, we have to skim a lot more to find what we need.

Let’s not lose hope, though. With some careful writing, I think we can cut through the clutter and deliver text that gets your point across. Here are some tips to help ensure your words get read:

• Get to the point. Don’t waste time being too descriptive. A good rule of thumb is to write your first draft, then remove half the words for your second.
• Bullets, like the ones I’m using here, draw the reader’s eye and neatly summarize your content. Numbered lists are also useful.
• Break up your text by using frequent paragraph breaks — one paragraph per main idea! — and page headings. Most email clients offer the ability to create bold text: use that to make a bolded heading, and place a brief paragraph after.
• Write top-down, newspaper-style. Put your central point at the beginning, and less-relevant facts lower down. That way you’ll minimize the damage caused if/when your readers, well, don’t read.

I’ll finish with an example, a before-and-after, to give you an idea of what you can do to improve your email communications. Here’s a message I wrote to a client (all names have been changed).

Hey Craig,
Just got another call from Frank, he says Finance is working perfectly! Nice job. But he has a couple other issues in other parts of the application. For the cash deal area, can you remove the SDLD figure? And in the admin section, there’s a problem with the mid-size entry… you can’t take off the taxes.

That’s all for now. He’s really geared up about the app now, and wanting to know when you’ll have the updates here ready to review. Please do get back to me asap so I can inform him, please!

Cheers,
Aaron

This is a pretty standard style of writing: two paragraphs, just loaded with information. Trouble is, it violates pretty much every rule of concise writing. Here’s an improved version:

Craig,
Frank is thrilled with your work on the Finance section! Nice job.

Outstanding Issues

• For the cash deal area, can you remove the SDLD figure?
• In the admin section, there’s a problem with the mid-size entry… you can’t take off the taxes.

Please let me know…
Frank wants to know when you’ll have these updates ready to review. Please get back to me asap so I can inform him, please!

Cheers,
Aaron

Using these techniques, both in your email and your other communications, there’s hope that your stuff will get read.

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