Value-based retainers: How to make the switch away from selling time

Due to its familiarity and structure, the retainer model has been a cornerstone of agency-client relationships for decades. But as client expectations and agency capabilities evolve, the way agencies charge for their work needs to adapt to meet new standards.

At Show + Tell and Next Chapter, we’ve decided to move away from the traditional time-based retainer towards a value-based model, anchored in outcomes, ownership, and trust. Here's why.

The problem with selling time

Anyone who has worked within a traditional retainer model will likely tell you a similar story. Conversations that should be about strategy, growth, and results end up dominated by timesheets. Can we fit this into next month's hours? Is there half an hour left in the retainer? Do we have capacity for that extra task?

That dynamic benefits no one. Clients end up counting remaining hours instead of focusing on what they actually want to achieve. Agencies find themselves managing spreadsheets instead of strategy. And what should be an energising, collaborative relationship often becomes transactional and, at times, tense. Towards the end of the month, the answer to a client's request too often becomes: "not this month, we've run out of time."

What 'value-based' actually means

The shift to value-based retainers isn't just a rebranding of the same model. It requires a fundamentally different way of thinking about the purpose of an agency.

The focus shifts from delivering a fixed list of outputs every month towards what a client actually wants their business to achieve long-term. If a client wants to grow by a certain percentage, our job is building and executing a strategy that delivers that. The outputs are a byproduct of the strategy, not the main goal itself.

In practical terms, this means agencies take ownership of specific areas like user experience, conversion optimisation, and SEO, for example, and commit to progressing those over time. Clients gain access to a proactive team that's constantly thinking about their business and its goals, rather than a reactive one waiting to be briefed and logging the hours.

Accountability gets clearer

One concern that sometimes arises with value-based models is accountability. If you're not tracking hours, how do you know what's being done? How does the client know they're getting what they're paying for?

The answer lies in ownership. In a well-structured value-based retainer, who owns which areas is clearly defined. The agency owns certain channels and is accountable for performance within them. The client owns others, and takes responsibility accordingly. We’ve found this clarity actually makes accountability stronger, with less ambiguity.

Regular check-ins and quarterly strategy reviews help to make sure clients are never in the dark. They know what's been worked on, what's planned for the coming months, and how the overall strategy is tracking. Transparency actually improves with a value-based model.

The one thing that makes it work

If we had to choose a single ingredient that determines whether a value-based retainer succeeds or fails, it would be trust. The agency has to trust that the client will engage, take ownership of their responsibilities, and hold up their end of the partnership. And the client has to trust that the agency will deliver on what they say they will, without needing to monitor every hour to verify it.

When that trust exists, the model works well. The relationship becomes a genuine partnership, focused on shared goals and mutual accountability.

So for any agency or client considering making this shift: start by asking whether the trust is there. If it is, the rest tends to follow.

Interested in hearing more about our shift to value-based retainers? Watch Charlie Hartley and Daniel Swepson discuss the transition in our latest video interview.