What the letter bought
A cadence. $5,500. Launch week was 32 hours at $175, which is $5,600. The hours were real. The fee on the invoice was still the number in the letter.
The firm absorbs the week, or reconstructs it later from calendars and a group chat. The client remembers the retainer.
The week is the whole month
$5,600 is 102% of the $5,500 retainer. It is already in the band 30% of agency leaders say costs them more than $5,000 a month. 78% rarely or only sometimes charge for work the letter did not include. PR firms were in that survey.
A launch week does not have to repeat to erase the month. One unsigned week is the month, and a hundred dollars more.
The letter and the week
The cadence is the retainer. The week is a $5,600 change order. Time is logged on the job and submitted for approval, so WIP shows the week before the invoice is a guess. The invoice is drafted from the signed $5,500 and the signed $5,600.
AI Agent can draft the client note from that record. An owner sends it. If the client calls, a known contact hears their own projects. They do not get a seat. The line does not read another client’s retainers, it does not dial out, and it does not send paper.
Margin risk snapshot
The launch week cost more than the month.
The letter is $5,500 for a cadence. Launch week was 32 hours. The invoice was the cadence. The dollars are a worked example.
What the job contained
One week
- Monthly cadence$5,500
Signed
- Launch week$5,600
32 hours, not in the letter
Sent$5,500
Left off$5,600
Fee if the week is signed$11,100
Bars are scaled to the $5,600 week. The week is larger than the retainer it sat on.
One week
$5,600
left off. Already in the band 30% of agencies say costs them more than $5,000 a month.
- Week versus the retainer
- 102%
- Agencies over $5,000 a month
- 30%
- Rarely or sometimes charge
- 78%
PR firms were in the survey. A launch week does not have to repeat to erase the month. At $175 an hour, 32 hours is the whole retainer, and a hundred dollars more.
Where $5,600 sits
Share of agencies, by monthly amount left off the invoice
- $1,000–$5,000 a month57%
- More than $5,000 a month · This week30%
78% rarely or only sometimes charge for out-of-scope work. The week is not a rounding error on a $5,500 letter.
Sources
- Ignition. 2025 Agency Pricing & Cash Flow Report · 22 May 2025
Unbilled bands: Ignition, April 2025, 273 US agency leaders, including PR. 102% is $5,600 divided by the $5,500 retainer. 32 hours at $175 is $5,600. The dollars are an example.
Before and after
Turn the agency leak into an operating workflow.
The research above shows the financial risk. The product workflow is deliberately simple: connect the deal to delivery, watch utilization and budget while the work is live, approve the change, sign it, and invoice it.
Before
A deal is won in CRM, then delivery rebuilds the project plan by hand.
With Blinkdots
The proposal becomes a live job with scope, staffing, rates, and invoice rules attached.
Before
Over-servicing is invisible until utilization and budget reports are reviewed later.
With Blinkdots
Billable time, WIP, and scope risk stay visible while the work is still moving.
Before
Extra requests land in chat, meetings, or tickets and become invoice-day arguments.
With Blinkdots
AI drafts the change, an owner approves it, and the client signs before it becomes a line.
Rollout
Start with one active job, not a migration project.
- 01Import accounts, contacts, services, and rates.
- 02Start with one won deal or active job and its signed scope.
- 03Connect Slack, Teams, Jira, or Zapier only where the team already works.
- 04Approve the first change order and watch the invoice draft from the job record.
Seats and the voice line are on the pricing page. Clients are not seats. Book a demo to see the job on one record.
Questions
- How does a PR firm bill a launch week that blew the retainer?
- If the retainer did not include it, it is a change order. In the example the week is $5,600 against a $5,500 cadence. Hours are submitted on the job either way, and WIP shows them before the invoice.
- Can a client check status without a portal account?
- Yes. A PIN link shows the statement of work, signed change orders, invoices, and service tickets. A known caller hears their own projects. They never create an account.
- Who can send a holding note to the client?
- An owner. AI Agent may draft it from the firm’s record. The send waits for Approve.
