Why do you need a Retainer? The benefit of a Retainer is that the client pays in advance for products or services to be specified later. In other words, a Retainer is a payment guarantee for future products, services to be rendered.

How to create a Retainer?

To create a Retainer, go to Sales -> Invoices -> Retainers -> Create a Retainer -> Fill required fields -> Click ‘Preview’ or ‘Activate and Send’:

How to create a Retainer?

You can also create a retainer out of an estimate. Just click the Dropdown besides the estimate, where you want to create a retainer out of it  and press “generate retainer”:

Afterwards you fill out the required fields -> Click ‘Preview’ or ‘Activate and Send’ the retainer.

Retainer data – description

When you open a Retainer page, you will see the following data and customization details:
– Client Contact – here you can choose your client’s contacts who will receive this Retainer.

– Client address – you can change the billing address of your client by overwriting it.

– Retainer Title – this can just be an internal note on the Retainer.

…Or it can be displayed as text under the Retainer name on Retainer preview.

To include it in the Retainer preview go to, Settings -> Preferences -> Check the checkbox ‘Show invoice/estimate title in preview’.

– A retainer is project related – here you can link the Retainer to a project. Also, you can review all the related Retainers on the Client Dashboard -> Retainers (there are Retainers related to the current client).

…and on the Project Dashboard -> Retainers (there are Retainers related only to the current project)

Note: if the project has custom fields, then you can see the project custom fields on the Retainer preview (in case you customized your own project custom fields on a template).
– Retainer Number – this is an automatically generated number. Of course, you can change the format of Retainer numbers. Simply go to Settings -> Number Groups.

And you can overwrite it from Settings -> Preferences -> Check the ‘Allow editing invoice/estimate number’ box.

– More options:
– language – this is the language used on the Retainer
– currency – the currency used to express the Retainer’s amount

– Retainer items – this is the body of the Retainer where you can choose tasks and items that need to be paid.

…and if you wish to create an item – enter its data manually into the related fields and click ‘Save Product’:

– Payment options – you can pick any of the available online payment methods or activate other methods directly on the Retainer page as shown below:

…or go to, Settings -> Payment Integration

– Notes:
– ‘Internal note’ – these will on be visible on the updated Retainer page.
– ‘Client note’, ‘Terms and conditions’ – these will be displayed on the Retainer preview. Also, to customize the default Client notes and default Terms and conditions, go to Settings -> Text Templates.

Retainer data – Grid

You can see the Retainer Balance and all the main Retainer data for each client on the Retainers main grid. Information is displayed in the following columns:
– Total Retainers – the amount of all active Retainers (except Retainers with ‘Draft’ status)
– Not Paid – this is the amount of yet unpaid Retainers (all the active Retainers, except Retainers with statuses ‘Partial’ and ‘Paid’)
– Invoiced – this is the number of Retainers applied to Invoices (the amount of paid Retainers which were applied for paying the Invoices)
– Uninvoiced Amount – it’s the amount of all billable hours, expenses and mileage related to the current client but not yet attached to the invoice.

Retainer Balance/Review Statement

Retainer Balance = Total Retainers – Not Paid Retainers – Invoiced Retainers

If you click on the Client name on the Retainers main grid, then you can review the detailed information about Retainers of that specific client:

– Invoiced /Invoiced from Retainers – this is the paid Retainer amount, that is applied already to the invoice.
– Retainer Amount / Total Retainers – shows the Retainers total amount.
– Balance – shows the Retainers amount, which should be paid by the client.
– Paid Retainers – shows the Retainers amount, which is already paid by the client.
– Uninvoiced Time – shows the uninvoiced Time/hours related to the client
– Uninvoiced Expenses – shows the uninvoiced Expenses related to the client
– Uninvoiced Mileages – shows the uninvoiced Mileages related to the client

You can also “Review Statement” to access the document history. You can find more infos HERE.

After clicking “Review Statement” you will be redirected to the Retainers document history:

To print the retainer statement, select a retainer and press “statement”

You can print or save the retainer statement:

If you wish, to show the client currency on retainer statements, you need to enable the option “Use client currency on retainer statements” on the client default settings. This option will show the retainer infos in the clients currency and not in your company base currency:

How do I find a Retainer?

You can quickly find a Retainer by using the search feature:

You can filter Retainers by Retainer #, Retainer title, date, due date, amount of retainer invoice, status and currency.

Bulk Actions

You can use bulk actions for Retainers by marking the check-boxes on the grid:

Available bulk actions:
– archive – archives Retainers
– delete – deletes Retainers
– send to a client – sends Retainers to the related clients
– print
– create PDF
– add a payment – records payment for this Retainer

All your Retainers are always visible under the list of retainers (see the screenshot above), the difference is just in the numbers (#3), if the retainer is in a draft mode then you’ll see all the zeros there. If the retainer is activated – you’ll see the numbers. You can see the details of the retainer when clicking on the little arrow (#4).

Row end menu

The Row end menu includes actions for Retainers:

– edit – opens and edit a page
– view Retainer – opens a Retainer preview
– add a payment – records the payment for the Retainer
– create PDF
– print Retainer
– send to the client – sends Retainer to the client and his chosen contacts (by email)
– clone Retainer – creates a new Retainer with the same data
– mark as activated – changes the status to ‘Activated’ without actually sending the Retainer
– archive – moves Retainer to the ‘Archived’ tab
– delete – moves Retainer to the ‘Deleted’ tab

This invoice is only visible from account owners and administrator’s profiles. It isn’t displayed on ‘Retainers invoices list’ from the Client’s profile.
In order to inform a client about this invoice, the zistemo account owner (or administrator) can send the Pro-Forma Retainer to your client by email by simply clicking on ‘Send to client’:

If the client accepts the Retainer, the zistemo account owner (or administrator) can instantly activate this Retainer by clicking on the ‘Activate and send’ button:

… and now the Activated Retainer will be visible from the Client’s profile.

If you want to find out all the information on how a client can pay the Retainer, please read this article – ‘Payments made by the client’ – because the mechanism is similar to how Invoices get paid.
Now we’ll explain how to manually deal with a payment for the Retainer:

How do I add a payment to a Retainer?

As an account owner or admin, you can record a payment manually.
To do this, go to Sales -> Invoices -> Retainers -> mark the Retainer you need -> click ‘Add a Payment’:

… or you can do it on the “payments” tab, go to Payments -> Retainer Payments -> Add Payment
Note: the tab ‘Retainer Payment’ is visible only if there are active Retainers in the account:

2. How to apply the Retainer Payment for paying an Invoice?

• If the invoice is activated, you can apply the retainer via preview mode

If you create an invoice, you will see, if there are retainers for the client

Simply “activate and send” the invoice:

In the preview mode of the invoice, you can choose the retainer for the payment of the invoice:

The Retainer was successfully applied to the invoice as payment:

• Or add payment manually, via “add payment” button

Please select the needed Invoice -> click on the  ‘Add a payment’ button:

…then on the Payment page, select the Retainer Payment as a payment method and click on the ‘Save Payments’ button:

You can use the Retainer Payment to partially pay or fully pay an Invoice.

Note: if you mark an Invoice as unpaid or if you cancel an Invoice and mark the payment as refunded in the Payments tab, then you can use the Retainer payment again and apply it to other Invoices.

Also, more information about retainer payments is available in the invoice history:

If it’s the last payment – you’ll see it mentioned as a Final Payment.

Please note that there will be also a note on the invoice that the invoice was paid through a retainer (down payment)

2.1 “Print always the amount due” on Invoices paid via Retainer

By default zistemo does not show “amount due” after the invoice is fully paid. By retainer usage, it might be more visual to your clients, that “amount due” is showing “0”. You client will see directly that the invoice is paid already. To enable this option, go to ‘Settings’ -> ‘Invoices and Estimates’ and enable “Print also ‘Amount due’ on paid Invoices and Retainers”:

3. How to Delete a Retainer’s Payment?

You can find the retainer’s payments in Sales -> Payments -> Retainer Payments.
If you want to delete a retainer payment click on ‘Delete Payment’ in bulk actions or in the line-end menu.

But if you have already used this payment to pay an invoice  (more here), when you’ll try to delete it you will get the error message below:

Therefore, in order to delete this payment, first, you should delete the invoice payment where this retainer payment is used:

Activated. A status which appears when you click ‘Activate and Send’ after you created a Retainer:

Viewed – this status indicates the client has opened (viewed) your Retainer.
Partial – the Retainer has been partially paid.
Paid – the Retainer is fully paid.

What is a retainer?

A retainer is a fee paid in advance to someone, particularly a barrister, in order to secure their services for use when required – for instance, “he is on a retainer as a consultant”. In other words: a retaining fee, a deposit, a pre-payment.

Why are we supporting retainers on zistemo?

Often, our users would say: “If I need a prepayment of $10.000 then I create a simple Invoice with the item “prepayment for Project x” and send it to the client.”

It looked like a nice option, but they discovered it limits them to certain points, for instance, you are not able to track time and invoice it since you already billed the client. Also, now it’s a fix-price project instead of using the hourly billing method.

Furthermore, the client doesn’t like it since if you cannot finish the service he has no chance of getting his money back (being based only on your goodwill).
Therefore, following our users’ suggestions and requests, we created this new feature: Retainers. If you are new to this topic, don’t worry, we’ll explain everything below. Just read on.

Which are the main advantages of the retainer?

Now we know the retainer is a sort of prepayment received from a client. If you invoice a service against the retainer, that is similar to a payment method. The key benefits of using a retainer are:
1. It is secure for you because if you invoice a service, then you use the retainer as a payment method.
2. It is also safe for the client because it’s not your revenue as long as you don’t invoice a service against the retainer.
3. You are free to choose the billing method (per staff rate, task rate etc.) since the retainer acts just like a regular billing method.
4. You are able to invoice often and get paid immediately.

Expert’s advice: Since you are just a trustee for the retainer money, as long as you don’t invoice against the retainer, it’s important to invoice for short terms periods (like 10 days or per week) to avoid any discussion about the invoicing service. Nobody can remember what has happened 5 weeks ago and the risk of miscommunications or misinterpretations is higher.

How do I begin?

First, discuss with the Client and agree to the terms and conditions.

Let’s say the estimation is around 500 hours and you agreed to invoice an hourly task rate …but it is the first time you are working with this client or maybe you had a previous bad experience involving this client’s payment ethic. So, you see the risk but you start, invoice the first 100 hours and then you are waiting in vain for the payment to come through. In the meantime, you keep working almost 250 hours in total but, you’re still not sure if/how/when you will get paid. Ta-da! Curtain up for The Retainer.

How does a Retainer work in detail?

Now let’s proceed to the next steps:

1. Create a retainer

The first step is to decide the amount and if it is for a specific project or for any project that belongs to this client.

Let’s say it is a 500-hour project and you could say the rate is an average $65 per hour, so $32,500.00 in total.
Now let’s assume you create 2 packages, the first one is $17,500.00 and the second one is $15,000.00.
Since you are only working on one project for the client, you decide not to assign the retainer to a special project and you can also make sure that if there is no money on the retainer, you don’t work.

Create the first retainer like an invoice by simply going to the section Sales -> Invoices -> Retainers -> Create retainer.
Give the retainer a title to find it easily as a payment method and use a highly relevant, suggestive product and product description such as:
“Pre-payment for Project E31” – “All invoices will be paid immediately from the pre-payment on a weekly basis. The client is always able to see the retainer balance. As long as the retainer balance is less than x we don’t work on the project and any estimated deadlines will be calculated from the retainer fill date.”
Quantity is 1, the unit is “prepayment”, the unit price is 17,500.00 if Tax or VAT is needed (perhaps you are from the same country?) then add the tax because you have to pay it anyway.
Activate and send it to the client. Wait until the retainer money drops into your account (the fastest way is to always accept online payments). If the money doesn’t drop in, don’t work. If the money drops in, process the payment (if it wasn’t online) and inform the client you have received the money by checking the option “Send Payment Notifications”. Now you can start tracking your time and get the work done.

2. Manage the Retainer by Client

Each client can have on his retainer account multiple retainers which are just related to the client or to a specific client project. Each Client has his own retainer balance and retainer history where you are able to manage and overview the retainer activities.

3. Use a retainer as a payment method

Retainers as a payment method work exactly the same as other billing techniques.
Track your time and manage the project. Perhaps the only difference is that it’s recommended to invoice your client every week –  to make sure you reduce the retainer – and book the money to own it and avoid long discussions about what’s being invoiced – again because nobody can remember in detail what happened exactly 4 weeks ago.

As you know, with zistemo it’s pretty simple to create an invoice per client or project with just a few clicks, so you can do it every Monday or Monday afternoon if you use our Timesheet approval system and you maybe need some time to approve all timesheets.

To create the invoice, just go to Time & Projects -> Projects -> select the project -> Generate invoice -> send and activate invoice.
Then add a payment to the invoice and use as a payment method The Retainer.

We are providing just the active retainers from this client as a payment method so you wouldn’t be confused and become afraid to use retainer from a wrong client.
If your Client has 3 or 4 retainers and you used the wrong one… No problem! We got your back! Just delete the payment and the money will be booked back to the client’s retainer balance and use the right one.

It’s so simple, isn’t it? So, there you go: retainers make your life easier and minimize the risk of wasting too much time running after your money. Plus, it also makes the clients’ life easier and reduces his admin work – the time spent paying weekly invoices, running the risk of forgetting to pay. Besides, it is still his money as long you don’t invoice your hours. What’s not to like?

1. Of course you need to have a paid retainer and an invoice.
2. Next, you need to pay the invoice with the retainer. Therefore, you need to activate the invoice. Learn more about to use a retainer to pay invoice. Since you want to sent a balanced invoice we would recommend to just activate the invoice but not send it yet. A good idea is to do that on the line end menu:
   
3. Now, you can see a notification that the invoice is cleared with the payment of the retainer:
   
   You can customize this sentence/text on the preferences →If you want to show you client the amount paid and the amount due, you can also enable to show these informations on paid invoices. To do so, go to Preferences/Invoices and Estimates and activate “Print also amount due on paid Invoices and Retainers”.
   
   If active, you’ll see the amount due and paid amount on the summary block:
   
   Please make sure you’re using a template which is using the placeholders ::amount due:: and/or ::paid amount::. If you’re using a custom template you should use these placeholder in the totals block. If you need any help with it, please do not hesitate to contact our customer support. Learn more about custom invoice templates

You can see the effect of this checkbox in the images below:

Checkbox “Show Amount Due” is not active:

Checkbox “Show Amount Due” is active: