How do you protect and grow an account when the customer is dissatisfied for good reason? How do you effect a turn-around?
Key strategies for me are:
- Actively listen to the customer’s goals and objectives
- Be clear and direct about the status of problems and what you are doing about it
- Involve the customer in the solution creation. They know their business the best.
- Communicate well internally with sales, service, success, development teams. Be on the same page.
- Create room for your team to work and achieve progress – separate them out and protect them.
More than once, I’ve had to deliver or fix a failing solution for a Platinum customer that was tempted to throw us out. (Or at least threating to.) Buggy software that was either too new or near end-of-life. Customer Executive watching the situatino. Executives on my side also watching. Technical people strained. Account teams trying to sell more. Emotions charged at all ends.
Funny how inserting calm, making sure the team has room to work, listening, being clear and direct… works wonders.
With the result, that a credible relationship is built with the customer and they want to do more business with you.