Why clients don’t buy retainers (and what you need to do about it)
Nobody gets excited about payment schedules
If you’ve ever wondered why clients aren’t interested in buying a retainer, despite all the extra value they’ll get from your retained service, this is going to be the most valuable email you’ll read all week.
Because, in a moment, I’m going to share with you a simple way to get potential clients interested in working with you on a retained basis.
But before I do, you need to understand this one very important fact:
You can't sell a retainer…
…because clients don't want to buy a retainer.
Most recruiters these days rightly want to retain more of their roles, but that means they focus too much of their pitch on selling the benefits of a retainer.
“Pay a retainer and you’ll get more…”
Here, it doesn’t matter what the benefit you’re pitching is because the focus is all on the retainer – and this isn’t what your clients are interested in.
Instead, they want a great recruitment process, better access to the right candidates, the experience of working with a nice recruiter...or maybe something else entirely.
The simple truth is, no matter how hard you try, you can't sell the concept of paying invoices at different times.
Your job is to discover exactly what your clients want, and explain how your service gives them what they desire.
Remember: Focus on what your clients value, get them excited about working with you.
And then tell them how you want to be paid.
If you’d like some help with this, simply reply to this email and we’ll talk.
Jon
P.S. You’d be surprised how many clients are at least open to the idea of working with you on a retained basis. All you need to do is offer it to them in a way that’s relevant now to them and their business.
It goes without saying this will likely mean you need to pitch your retained service differently to different businesses.
So if you’d like some help positioning and pitching your retainers, just reply to this email and we’ll talk.