Review the blueprint and best practices
We’ve covered the details of how to make the shift from project-based work to offering ongoing monthly support services. Review the blueprint and best practices summarized below to solidify your knowledge.
Identify if a retention practice is right for you
The main benefits of building a retention practice are increased recurring revenue, stable profitability, and stickier clients. However, before you can take the next step of offering monthly support services, address any initial concerns and misconceptions, such as timing, agency size, expertise, and where to start.
- Understand that now is the ideal time to add a retention practice, regardless of external circumstances.
- Recognize that agency size is not the most important factor; focus on determining if your agency has the necessary expertise or if expertise can be added.
- Acknowledge that you may need to source or hire additional talent to successfully transition to offering monthly support services.
- Start identifying potential clients by auditing your existing client base to better understand their needs, internal structure, and priorities like Klaviyo.
Build your retention practice
To build your retention practice:
- Determine which retention services you want to offer, such as website support and maintenance, email marketing, paid media support, and SMS services.
- Develop a sales process for retention services, consisting of prospecting, lead qualification, proposal building, solution pitching, objection handling, and closing the sale.
- Choose a retainer strategy and identify suitable pricing models, considering options like hourly, project-based, time-based, and value-based pricing models.
- Assess staffing requirements and consider implementing an employee onboarding process and templates for major processes.
- Leverage contractors or freelancers for some roles in the retention practice in the beginning. As your practice grows, consider hiring a generalist or an internal team of specialists, focusing on core roles like campaign strategist, designer, copywriter, and project manager.
Manage your clients’ tech stack
Klaviyo integrations allow you to connect Klaviyo to the other third-party tools that your clients use, allowing you to expand your service offerings beyond email and SMS marketing. You can start managing services like loyalty programs, shipping management platforms, and more.
Klaviyo integrations also help brands build relationships with customers at every stage of the marketing funnel, from optimizing conversion rates to feeding the funnel.
Evaluate the ROI of retention services
Reporting is crucial to demonstrate the value you provide clients. It involves evaluating performance, tracking goals, making data-driven decisions, communicating results, and improving your marketing strategy.
To successfully evaluate ROI, make sure to:
- Monitor and analyze baseline metrics to establish a starting point for measuring progress accurately and making informed decisions to enhance ongoing support services.
- Review monthly, quarterly, and annual reports with clients instead of merely emailing them.
By following this blueprint and these best practices, you can successfully transition from project-based work to offering ongoing monthly support services to your clients.