Key Client Satisfaction Monitoring

‘retention is the new acquisition’

Key client management: do any of these issues sound familiar?

• Your clients “saving up” problems or issues on the account without communicating them to you

• Your day-to-day contacts are not always the budget holders and/or the decision-makers. Over time, contact with them drifts

• You aren’t getting the full picture if you don’t ask everyone how they are feeling about you

• Very strong personal relationships between your team and the client’s contacts sometimes make it hard for clients to be honest about the organisation’s overall performance, leading to assessments or tenders with competitors that the account team may be unaware of in the early stages

• Traditional customer service surveys often get rescheduled or bumped by the client due to business pressure; months & years can go by without a review

• 68% of customers leave because they perceive you are indifferent to them, how can you prove you care?

What is Customer Thermometer?

• For your customers: a “1-click” feedback system that is light touch for them to use, meaning you can send it regularly to monitor how they feel about you

• For the account team: An early warning client mood “alert system” which allows you to assess the feelings of multiple stakeholders across your account, in real time

• For the business owner: peace of mind that client revenue streams are being constantly monitored for security

Assign KPIs and SLAs by response: an example

Response SLA Possible action

Gold star No SLA Team lunch & share reason for gold with other account teams

Green No SLA Call green responders now and then to ask what else we can do

Amber Called within 3 hours by AM to understand issue

Appropriate action to rectify within one week

Red Called within 3 hours by AM & Head of Dept/MD

Appropriate action to rectify within 48 hours and card/dinner/if appropriate

*plus, ongoing plan to move average “amber” accounts to green and average “green” accounts to gold star

Export data & review clients and individuals against long term trends

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec0

102030405060708090

100

Temperature by key account : YTD

Client A Client B Client C Client D

What benefits can it bring to the account team?

• Proactively instigate discussions before they become difficult– Never (unknowingly!) jeopardise a customer relationship

• An immediate, transparent ‘temperature’ check on how your clients are feeling– All stakeholders, not just the usual suspects

• An escalation procedure to ensure all feedback is managed, heard and acted upon– Complete flexibility in how you manage & act upon the feedback:

account-by-account decision making• A measure of client loyalty and longevity

– A deeper understanding of what makes your clients tick (and not tick...) and an opportunity to recover when the inevitable happens

• A highly visible focus on service, and an innovative approach to boot

What benefits can it bring to the business?

• The ability to improve client and staff retention • An opportunity to drive deeper, tighter relationships with all

your clients• The ability to increase revenue & income predictability• The opportunity to drive organic growth, new business

development and the ideas process• An opportunity to analyse the data to inform the efficacy of

existing processes e.g. account management, information supply etc

The alert data will provide an opportunity to change the relationship dynamics that drive your business

Making it fly

• Pre-warn clients it’s coming and why you are sending it

• Build it into the fabric of your relationship• Celebrate success (and involve the client), don’t just

focus on issues• Follow up on greens sometimes too – use responses

as an excuse to call the more remote account contacts (what can we do to make the green a gold?)

• Keep an eye on the trends – long term ‘greens’ need watching

www.customerthermometer.com