Guides · Selling more than hours
How do you move clients from sessions to a retainer?
Watch for the client who keeps booking without being asked, or the package with one session left. Then offer a month, not a pitch: fewer sessions than they’d book one by one, for less, refilled every month, and easy to stop at the end of any paid month.
Your best clients are already on a retainer. They just don’t know it. They book every few weeks, pay every time, and each booking is a small decision they have to make again. A retainer makes that decision once.
- Step 1
Spot the moment
A client who has booked you three or four times without a nudge, or a package with one session left. WorkWith’s Today suggests a retainer at the second.
- Step 2
Ask about pace, not price
“Do you want to keep going, and how often?” is a question about their work. The price comes after they’ve said yes to the rhythm.
- Step 3
Put a fixed amount in it
A number of sessions a month, what happens between them, and how fast you answer messages. Leave out anything you wouldn’t keep up in your busiest month.
- Step 4
Price it below the sessions one by one
Two sessions a month for a little less than two single sessions. The discount pays for the certainty, on both sides.
- Step 5
Send it as one offer
The scope, the monthly price and the agreement on one link. Accepted and paid in a few taps, then renewing on their card.
- Step 6
Make stopping easy
Either of you can stop, and it takes effect at the end of the paid month. A retainer that’s easy to leave is one people are willing to start.
What if a client doesn’t use their sessions one month?
Decide before you sell it, because carrying sessions over turns a quiet month into a crowded one. A WorkWith retainer refills to the same number each month rather than adding up; say which way yours works in the agreement.
How do I stop a retainer turning into unlimited work?
Write down what’s included and how fast you answer, and treat anything outside it as a separate offer with its own price.
Make the decision once. Then get on with the work.
Checked 2026-10-10.