agency-client-retention

name	agency-client-retention
description	Use when designing post-launch retainers, review cadence, expansion offers, churn controls, recurring-revenue capacity, or client reporting. Use `monthly-report` for one evidence-backed report and `customer-service-website-ops` for incident handling.
metadata	{"portable":true,"compatible_with":["claude-code","codex"]}

Agency Client Retention

Acknowledgement: Shared by Peter Bamuhigire, techguypeter.com, [phone].

Use When

• The task matches this domain: Client pricing, delivery structure, and retention systems for a premium website design and SEO agency. Use when packaging services, setting pricing, onboarding new clients, planning monthly communication, or designing the quarterly strategy review. Covers the Rule of Five Ones pricing architecture, Land-Deliver-Retain model, monthly communication rhythm, Seed the Vision quarterly framework, and performance-based deal structures. Designed for agencies targeting $10,000–$25,000+ website projects with 24-month+ client relationships.
• The user needs domain-specific strategy, writing, or planning in this area.

Do Not Use When

• Another skill is clearly narrower and better matched to the request.
• The task is unrelated to this domain or needs direct implementation instead.

Inputs

• Business context, target audience, and the artifact or decision being developed.
• Any existing materials, constraints, or supporting references already available.

Artefact	Source	Required?	If absent
Signed scope, launch evidence, service history	Delivery and account records	yes	Stop package or renewal advice and reconcile the account.
Client outcomes, telemetry, and feedback	Reports, analytics, interviews	yes	Mark performance unassessed and avoid outcome claims.
Capacity, costs, margins, and authority	Agency operations	yes	Do not quote or commit a retainer.

Workflow

1. Read the current business context and the concrete task to solve.
2. Use only the relevant detailed guidance and references for the request at hand.
3. Produce the strategy, writing, or framework output this skill is responsible for.
4. Check the result for clarity, realism, and handoff readiness.
5. Decide retain, repair, expand, reprice, or exit; stop before commercial commitment without account and finance authority.

Quality Standards

• Outputs must be specific, usable, and grounded in the available evidence.

Anti-Patterns

• Generic framework dumps with no decision made. Fix: choose retain, repair, expand, reprice, or exit and name the evidence.
• Inventing facts to complete the output. Fix: mark the account measure not assessed and request its source.
• Ignoring the actual audience, offer, or business constraints. Fix: reconcile the recommendation to signed scope, outcomes, and capacity.
• Do not hide recurring unprofitable work. Fix: trace hours and reprice, narrow, automate, or exit.
• Do not propose expansion before resolving a trust breach. Fix: close recovery actions first.

Outputs

Artefact	Consumer	Acceptance condition
Retention and account plan	Account and delivery owners	Names client outcomes, service package, cadence, risks, owners, margin, and next decision.
Review and expansion brief	Client and commercial owner	Uses verified results and one relevant next step without hidden scope.
Capacity and revenue model	Agency leadership	Reconciles contracted work, hours, costs, fee, margin, and escalation threshold.

Evidence Produced

Evidence	Format	Acceptance condition
Account health register	Outcome, service, trust, margin, risk, source	Every rating has dated evidence or says not assessed.
Retention decision log	Decision, owner, rationale, follow-up date	Commercial actions are traceable.

Capability Contract

Default to read-only account analysis. Editing plans requires authority. Contacting clients, changing scope or price, issuing credits, renewing, terminating, or spending requires explicit commercial approval.

Degraded Mode

When telemetry, cost, or client evidence is unavailable, return an account gap register and provisional options. Mark satisfaction, profitability, renewal probability, and performance not assessed.

Decision Rules

Choice	Action	Failure or risk avoided
Outcomes and trust are strong; capacity is viable	Renew or offer evidence-linked expansion	Premature upsell
Trust or delivery is weak but recoverable	Repair before expansion	Churn accelerated by selling
Scope is persistently unprofitable	Reprice, narrow, automate, or exit	Recurring margin erosion

Worked Example

A care retainer consumes twice its allowance because content approvals are unmanaged. Reconcile hours and outcomes, repair the approval workflow, then present a priced content add-on or narrower care scope; do not disguise the overrun as goodwill.

References

• Start with references/legacy-guidance.md when you need the preserved detailed instructions from the previous skill version (Rule of Five Ones, Land-Deliver-Retain, Seed the Vision).
• Use references/deal-structures.md for the engagement pricing architecture and proposal structure inherited from earlier phases.
• Use references/monthly-report-template.md for the standard monthly client report format.

Phase 8 references (retainer, automation, and revenue expansion):

• Use references/retainer-package-catalog.md when productising or selling retainers — 5 packages (Care, SEO, Content Growth, CRO, Tech Support), fees $750–$3,000/mo, deliverables, SLAs, exclusions, upsell paths, capacity math.
• Use references/post-launch-review-cadence.md when planning the 30-day, 90-day, quarterly, and annual review meetings — agendas, deliverables, conversion goals, churn early-warning signals.
• Use references/expansion-offers-matrix.md when recommending expansion at a review milestone — 9 productised offers (landing pages, multilingual, content engine, lead magnet, CRO sprint, analytics, sector page, authority talk, re-engagement) with fees, durations, decision matrix.
• Use references/subscription-economy-model.md when running the agency itself as a recurring-revenue business — Tzuo's PADRE model, the subscription P&L, MRR/ARR/NRR/GEI metrics, churn types and reduction (Tzuo + Warrillow), the 9 subscription business models mapped to our retainers.
• Use references/okrs-and-client-reporting.md when setting internal quarterly OKRs or designing client KPI reports — Doerr's FACTS framework, committed vs aspirational OKRs, CFRs, the strict separation between internal OKRs and client KPIs.
• Use references/hybrid-agency-operating-model.md when designing internal operations — Roetzer's productised services, 7-variable pricing formula, RER KPI, capacity math (120–140 hrs/mo per consultant), 17 A-player traits, daily/weekly/monthly rhythm, Client-in-Residence role.
• Use references/automation-opportunities-backlog.md when deciding what to automate — 9 prioritised opportunities, 3 automation rules, what not to automate (strategy, case studies, discovery calls, sales follow-ups, authority content), implementation arc by year.