The Project Revenue Trap
Most AI consultants are stuck in the cycle: close project → deliver → find next project → repeat. Monthly income looks like a seismograph.
The answer is deliverable-based retainers — not the vague "ongoing consulting" that dies in 90 days.
Why Standard Retainers Fail
"Ongoing AI consulting for $3,000/month" — for what? Answering questions. Nothing with teeth.
When you don't deliver specific, visible outcomes every month, clients cancel because they can't justify it in a budget review.
The fix: Specific, deliverable-based retainers.
"Monthly AI Health Package — $3,000/month:
- Weekly 30-min check-in call
- Monthly accuracy audit on all running AI systems
- One model retraining or prompt optimization per month
- Slack access for urgent questions"
Now they can see what they're getting. Budget review passes.
The Four Retainer Tiers
Maintenance — $1,500/month: Keep existing systems running, monthly reports, bug fixes
Optimization — $3,000/month: + One improvement per month, quarterly strategy call
Growth — $6,000/month: + New use case exploration quarterly, priority SLA, custom dashboard
Enterprise — $12,000+/month: Dedicated 2 days/week, multi-team support, board-level reporting
The Numbers
3 clients at Optimization: $9,000 MRR
1 client at Growth: $6,000 MRR
= $15,000 MRR from 4 clients
That's before project work. Projects become gravy.
Transitioning Existing Clients
At project completion: "This went well. I put together a maintenance package — want me to walk you through it?"
40-60% say yes.
The full Client Retention Playbook with email scripts, objection handling, and retainer proposal template is at wedgemethod.gumroad.com.
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