Question - Is anyone successfully using a “Pay for Access” type of retainer with clients?
Yes!
“Pay for Access” is precisely what a Retainer Arrangement should be. It should not be “Pre-Paid Hours”!
A Retainer Arrangement reverses the normal scheme of things and allows the client ad hoc access to the Consultant, but the Consultant must specify the times when they can be contacted. You don’t want to give clients carte blanche to contact you at any time of the day or night or any single day of the year.
Neither do you want every single person in the client company to feel they can contact you. You need to agree just one (or conceivably a maximum of two) ‘Capsule Communicator’, to borrow a term from NASA, who are granted this privilege.
The client should not expect the Consultant to be sitting there, waiting for the phone to ring or for an e-mail to arrive either. If you are unable to take the call or respond immediately to the e-mail, the terms you agree with the client should make clear that you will respond within a specified time period - possibly by the end of the next working day.
Anything that can be sorted in the space of a five to ten minute phone call or a brief exchange of short e-mails should fall within the price of the Retainer. Anything requiring greater involvement is a separate project and should be dealt with accordingly.
If you already have a ‘current project’ running with a client, you should not be entering a Retainer Arrangement. A Retainer Arrangement is for the interval between projects when a satisfied client might seek your advice on other matters.
Your Retainer Arrangement needs to have a minimum period which is long enough that the client is extremely likely to make use of it, but not so long (at least at the start) that it is seen as a ‘millstone’. The Arrangement should keep rolling on until it is terminated. Regarding payment, you could start with a fee covering the minimum period and then charge a monthly fee, all payable in advance of course, with either party able to give the other notice of termination equivalent to the minimum period.