Excel templates · Agencies & services
Agency Revenue Planning Template (Excel) — Free
Retainers on one block, projects on another, and the share of each in the mix. The row that matters is at the bottom: what percentage of your fixed payroll is covered before a single project is won.
The download
Free download
Download: Retainer vs project revenue
- Retainer clients × monthly fee, month by month
- Project revenue on the month it is invoiced
- The retainer share of the mix, as a percentage
- Payroll coverage: what recurring revenue pays for
No email, no sign-up. Formulas already wired up.
The sheet itself
- Retainer clients × monthly fee, month by month
- Project revenue on the month it is invoiced
- The retainer share of the mix, as a percentage
- Payroll coverage: what recurring revenue pays for
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retainer vs project revenue | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Fill in the blue cells — every other cell is a formula and works itself out. foreqast.app | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | ||
| 4 | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | ||
| 6 | €4,200 | €4,200 | €4,200 | €4,200 | €4,200 | €4,200 | €4,200 | €4,200 | €4,200 | €4,200 | €4,200 | €4,200 | ||
| 7 | €25,200 | €25,200 | €29,400 | €29,400 | €29,400 | €33,600 | €33,600 | €29,400 | €29,400 | €33,600 | €37,800 | €37,800 | ||
| 8 | ||||||||||||||
| 9 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ||
| 10 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | ||
| 11 | €37,000 | €18,500 | €55,500 | €37,000 | €37,000 | €55,500 | €18,500 | €18,500 | €55,500 | €37,000 | €74,000 | €37,000 | ||
| 12 | ||||||||||||||
| 13 | €62,200 | €43,700 | €84,900 | €66,400 | €66,400 | €89,100 | €52,100 | €47,900 | €84,900 | €70,600 | €111,800 | €74,800 | ||
| 14 | 40.5 % | 57.7 % | 34.6 % | 44.3 % | 44.3 % | 37.7 % | 64.5 % | 61.4 % | 34.6 % | 47.6 % | 33.8 % | 50.5 % | ||
| 15 | €46,000 | €46,000 | €46,000 | €46,000 | €46,000 | €46,000 | €46,000 | €46,000 | €46,000 | €46,000 | €46,000 | €46,000 | ||
| 16 | €6,000 | €3,000 | €9,000 | €6,000 | €6,000 | €11,000 | €4,000 | €3,000 | €10,000 | €7,000 | €14,000 | €6,000 | ||
| 17 | €7,800 | €7,800 | €7,800 | €7,800 | €7,800 | €7,800 | €7,800 | €7,800 | €7,800 | €7,800 | €7,800 | €7,800 | ||
| 18 | €2,400 | €-13,100 | €22,100 | €6,600 | €6,600 | €24,300 | €-5,700 | €-8,900 | €21,100 | €9,800 | €44,000 | €15,000 | ||
| 19 | 54.8 % | 54.8 % | 63.9 % | 63.9 % | 63.9 % | 73.0 % | 73.0 % | 63.9 % | 63.9 % | 73.0 % | 82.2 % | 82.2 % | ||
The blue cells are yours to fill in. Every other cell is a formula and works itself out.
How to use it
- 1
Count only signed retainers
A client “about to move to a retainer” is project revenue. The whole value of this row is that it is the revenue you can plan payroll against.
- 2
Put projects in the month you invoice them
Not the month you sign, and not spread evenly across delivery. A project invoiced on completion is a lump in one column, and that lumpiness is the point.
- 3
Keep freelancers separate from payroll
Freelancers scale with the work; payroll does not. Mixing them makes the fixed cost base look flexible when it is exactly the thing that is not.
- 4
Read the coverage row
Retainer revenue ÷ payroll. Below 60% you are living pitch to pitch; above 100% the agency survives a quiet quarter without a conversation about redundancies.
A worked example
A good year with two frightening months
- August — retainer revenue
- €29,400
- August — project revenue
- €18,500
- August — payroll
- €46,000
- August — agency margin
- €-8,900
- Payroll covered by retainers
- 63.9%
Retainers cover 64% of payroll, so every month needs at least one project to break even. August has one, and still loses €8,900 — because payroll, rent and freelancers do not take a summer off. The fix is not a better August; it is a seventh retainer.
The mistakes that break it
Spreading project revenue across the delivery
It smooths the exact peaks and troughs you built the sheet to see, and it makes a lumpy year look like a steady one.
Counting revenue you have not signed
A weighted pipeline belongs in a sales forecast, not in the plan you set payroll against. Plan on signed, hope for the rest.
Forgetting that a retainer is cancellable
Three months' notice means your recurring revenue has a three-month floor, not an indefinite one. Model the largest one leaving.
Where the template stops
It does not know whether you can deliver it
Seven retainers and four projects in one month may simply not fit in the team's hours — and revenue you cannot deliver is revenue you lose twice.
Utilisation calculatorInvoiced is not paid
A €18,500 project invoiced in August with 30 days' terms is September money, and payroll does not wait.
13-week cash-flow planIt is only as current as your last evening with it
Every number in here is typed in. The month you skip is the month the sheet quietly stops describing your business — and it never says so.
What comes after the spreadsheet
Losing a clientTake the biggest customer out and see what is left — in cash, per month, on the dates it actually happens.Calculators