Retainer re-setup
Retainer re-setup is the work of building the same project again every month for each retainer client: new tasks, new due dates, the same checklist and the same assignments. Project tools assume a project starts and ends, so a recurring retainer gets copied by hand. The setup work grows with every retainer you add.
Why it matters
Retainers are the steady revenue in an agency, and the setup work grows right along with them. Every month someone copies last month's board, renames it, moves the dates and reassigns the work, then does the same for the next client. None of those hours are billable. When the person who does it is busy or away, a client's month starts late, and the client often notices before you do.
An example
Take an agency with a handful of retainer clients, each getting a monthly content plan, a report and a strategy call. At the start of every month, the account manager copies each client's board, moves every due date forward, swaps in whoever now handles the account, and adds this month's extras by hand. It eats the first days of the month, and when one client gets missed, their content runs late all month.
How a system handles it
It's the same machinery as a new client's kickoff, run every month for each retainer. The system keeps one template per type of retainer and a short record per client of what's in their plan. At the start of each month it creates that client's tasks, sets the dates from the plan, assigns them to whoever owns the account now, and adds anything flagged for this month. The account manager checks the month instead of building it.
Questions
Can't I use recurring tasks in my project tool?
For single tasks, yes. Recurring tasks break down when a month has different work in it, when someone new takes over the account, or when a client's plan changes partway through. Then the copies drift, and someone fixes them by hand.
What changes as I add more retainer clients?
With manual setup, every new retainer adds another block of setup work each month. With a template and a client record, a new retainer adds one record, and the monthly setup stays the same size.
Related
- Closed-won to kickoffClosed-won to kickoff is the gap between a client signing and the project starting. What has to happen in it, where it breaks, and how a system runs it.
- Scope creepScope creep is work a client gets that was never agreed, added one small request at a time. How the invisible kind eats agency margin and how to see it.
- From signed deal to running projectClient onboarding automation I built. One form with the signed proposal sets up the Drive folder, ClickUp tasks, Slack channel and welcome email.