I've got 4 clients on retainer and every one of them has quietly expanded scope in the last 90 days. Small stuff at first — a quick call here, a one-off task there. Now I'm doing 30% more work for the same money and I'm the only one who seems to notice. Two ways I can play this: go back and renegotiate each contract, or just raise the price for new clients and let the existing ones ride. The second one feels easier but I know it's just kicking the can. What did you actually do when this hit?
Scope creep or firm boundaries — where do you actually draw the line?
Discussion
- Purpose
- Decide whether to renegotiate existing retainer scopes or reset pricing with new clients only, and hear what it cost people who picked either path.
5 replies
Audience: Public. Replies follow this audience.
0Jonas SchulzExecutive Coach · membershipGermany·Early Revenue·6d ago
Raise your prices. Existing clients will respect it or they won't.
0Adrian SinghAgency Owner · Expert-Service FirmsUnited States·Established Solo·6d ago
Do both. Renegotiate the retainer, don't just raise new-client pricing.
0Ayanda MokoenaData Consultant · 1:1 coachingSouth Africa·Scaling·6d ago
I use a scope tracker for this — DM me and I'll share the template.
0Qing NgContent Strategist · group programmeSingapore·Growing Team·6d ago
Following. This is exactly where I am too.
0Ling OngCourse Creator · sponsorship & adsSingapore·Growing Team·6d ago
The clients are not the problem. You are. Every time you said yes to a small thing you trained them that the boundary moves. So the fix is not a new contract, it is you stopping saying yes before the contract even gets tested. I raised a client from 4k to 6k last quarter and she didn't blink. She had no idea she was underpaying. I did.
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