“If you don’t know that somebody’s struggling, you’re going to be in bad shape.”
Kevin Vitale is a Senior Managed Services Account Executive here at Integris. In this 3 part Discussions by Integris series, Kevin gives us an account management playbook. He discusses client success, growing relationships, and how to handle at-risk clients.
Identify at-risk clients and engage with them.
Kevin: “If you don’t know that somebody’s struggling, you’re going to be in bad shape. When you find out, it’s going to be way too late in the game at that point. There are a few red flags.”
Kevin: “The first one is the easiest one. It’s just when they stop using your service. When you see them not using your service or product, how it’s being sold, you know you have an issue because they don’t see the value in it anymore. A lot of people think that when clients have issues or concerns, it’s a bad thing. It’s actually good because you know that they’re engaging with you. When you don’t hear anything, that’s when you’re in the most trouble.”
Kevin: “It’s your job to be engaging, to get them back engaged. So ask the right questions. Go back to the drawing board. You have to back and say, ‘is what we’re doing working for you?’ You just have to figure out what those expectations are and sometimes you have to reset them. Keep your finger on the pulse.”
Improve communication.
Kevin: “If you’re only hearing issues, concerns, then you know something’s wrong right away. Any healthy relationship is not always just going to be somebody yelling at you. You want to make sure that that’s not the case either. Figure out their standards.”
Kevin: “I’ve seen a lot of people do this unsuccessfully and act like it’s fine if you don’t hear from them. They assume everything’s fine. It’s literally the opposite of that. That means either they don’t care at all or they’re looking for other people to do your job. That’s potentially what that means.”
Gauge customer satisfaction.
Kevin: “You need to know if you are dropping the ball. It’s your job to go hold people accountable. It’s important to have something like that in place. If you don’t, you’re not going to have any idea if the client’s not engaging with you “
Kevin: “Make sure that these CSAT scores aren’t falling off. The problem could be either an organizational problem, they don’t like the services you delivered. It could sometimes be a personal problem. You’re not going to know that if you don’t have your finger on that pulse and you don’t see, ‘okay, the score is dropping off every single time this interaction happens.’ You’ll be able to identify it, address it, and then move on.”
Kevin: “What has been hurting them? What’s a pain point that you know comes up constantly? Fix that problem first. Don’t try and fix everything. Fix that problem first because you know that that means the most to them.”
