2. 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?
3. 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
4. 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 Appropriate action to
AM to understand issue rectify within one week
Red Called within 3 hours by Appropriate action to
AM & Head of Dept/MD 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
5. Export data & review clients and
individuals against long term trends
Temperature by key account : YTD
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Client A Client B Client C Client D
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
