Use a retainer after a discovery or paid session proves there is recurring advisory or operational work.
Retainers
Retainers and recurring support
Retainers turn repeat consulting demand into ongoing support without skipping payment and provider proof. Use this page to understand where recurring advisory fits, what Silvatech reviews before activation, and what is not live as self-serve billing yet.
Silvatech reviews scope, cadence, outcomes, reporting, payment path, and provider readiness before activation.
Saved-card, subscription, WOP, and SMTP rails stay gated until credentials and smoke proof exist.
When a retainer fits
A retainer fits when the client has a recurring decision, workflow, or operations problem that benefits from scheduled advisory time and lightweight follow-through. It should follow a free intro, discovery session, or paid expert session that proves the ongoing need.
- Good fits include automation review, AI operations, WOP/WhatsApp customer-service tuning, booking/payment system care, dashboard review, and recurring architecture advice.
- Poor fits include emergency support, vague unlimited work, regulated-care commitments, or projects that need a separate implementation contract.
- The first paid session should clarify scope before a recurring commitment is proposed.
Reviewed setup before self-serve
Retainers are reviewed before activation. Silvatech should confirm scope, cadence, included services, reporting expectations, support channels, cancellation policy, and provider readiness before calling anything recurring.
- The reviewed setup protects small-business budgets and avoids open-ended promises.
- The consultant and client should agree on what is included, what is out of scope, and how additional work is handled.
- The confirmation handoff should still point clients back to Consulta surfaces instead of private raw links.
Recurring support examples
Common retainer work can include monthly advisory calls, automation backlog review, WOP workflow tuning, booking and payment operations checks, dashboard interpretation, and implementation oversight.
- A cadence can be monthly, biweekly, or scoped around a specific operating season.
- Retainer reporting should summarize decisions, actions, blockers, and next review date.
- The work should use the same honest provider-state language as the rest of Consulta.
Payment and subscription gates
Consulta's payment architecture is designed to support saved-card and subscription flows later, but automated subscription billing is not live until saved-card ownership, subscription create/pause/resume/cancel, failure policy, webhook proof, and client visibility are tested.
- Do not charge a saved card unless Consulta verifies it belongs to the authenticated customer.
- Do not treat a subscription as active without server-side payment/provider proof.
- Until then, retainers are reviewed operator setup, not public self-serve recurring checkout.
WOP, WhatsApp, and email operations
WOP and WhatsApp can become useful retainer channels for customer service, reservation follow-up, payment-link handoff, human escalation, and CRM notes. They must still pass live sender, template, token, callback, and smoke-test gates before public delivery claims.
- Logging/simulated notification delivery remains safe for demos.
- Live WOP/SMTP messages require credentials and evidence in progress docs.
- The confirmation pass remains authoritative even when WhatsApp or email messages are enabled.
Client handoff and reporting
A retainer should create a clear operating rhythm, not a hidden obligation. Clients should understand the cadence, what gets reviewed, where booking/video links live, how policies apply, and how to cancel or pause once those rails are available.
- Use Account recovery and confirmation-pass patterns for access, not ad hoc private links.
- Use Contact for reviewed retainer setup while self-serve billing is gated.
- Use Payments and Notifications pages to understand current provider readiness.
What retainers are not
The retainer page is not a guarantee of availability, instant support, unlimited implementation, live subscription billing, live WOP delivery, or regulated-care handling. It is a product path for responsible recurring support once scope and provider proof exist.
- No emergency, crisis, or regulated-care use is assumed.
- No card data is handled by Consulta.
- No recurring charge should be automated until the subscription rails are proven and documented.