Client Success Standard Approach & Expectations

This KB helps contextualize the Client Success Standard approach and the expectations from our Client Success team.

The goal of the Client Success team is to provide guidance to our client success team on achieving and maintaining successful client relationships. This is not a checklist but a framework to help you make informed decisions.

Client success is crucial to our agency’s growth, reputation and overall health. Your role is pivotal in ensuring our clients are not only satisfied but also see measurable success from our services.

Core Responsibilities #

• Ensuring clients achieve their desired outcomes through our services. In practice, this means that the SOW (Scope Of Work) is completed on time, on budget and to a high standard of quality AND that that SOW is having a meaningful impact on the client’s goals
  • Most commonly known as: the number of bookings, amount of website traffic, number of homeowner leads signed, etc).
• Acting as the primary point of contact for client communications.
• Advocating for the client’s needs within the agency.
• Monitoring and reporting on client performance and satisfaction.

Client Success Outcomes #

• Clients consistently achieve their business goals through our services. Most commonly this means total number and revenue from direct bookings made on their website, but some clients will have different goals.
  • Unsure of the goals of the client? Ask internally from the sales process down to the internal team members that have worked on that account for the longest.
    • Most commonly, there are two types of KPIs:
      • KPI-number-based goals: Grow direct bookings by 10% each year based on last year’s numbers.
      • Soft-KPI-goals: Create an attractive brand for homeowners to see, get more social page followers, etc.
• High client retention rates and low churn. Ideally you are managing 10-15 clients per month and losing no more than 1 client every-other-month at worst.
• Positive client feedback and referrals.
  • Hard to measure, but often comes in the form of positive verbal or written feedback “Thanks – love working with you all“.
• Clients feel valued and understood by our agency.

Guiding Principles #

• Empathy For Profitability: Understand and relate to the client’s needs and challenges and realize the investment they’re making into our agency needs to be a REVENUE / PROFIT center and not a cost center.
• Proactivity: Anticipate issues before they arise and address them promptly.
  • When in doubt-over-communicate in easy-to-digest ways. For example: a single thread updating a long list of deliverables for that month instead of pinging each thread one by one).
• Strategic-First: Be open and honest in all communications, but planning where you are heading almost always leads to a better outcome for all.
• Accountability: Take responsibility for the client’s success and any issues that occur.
  • Remember: our contract is not long-term and clients have the freedom to cancel at any time. Therefore, we have to earn it “every time”
• Data-driven: Rely on data to help guide your client to make the correct decisions and deliver the outcomes and results they’re looking for.

Communication Standards #

• Frequency: Regular check-ins, status updates, and meetings as agreed upon with the client. When in doubt – over communicate, even if you have smaller or shorter updates.
• Tone: Professional, friendly, and solution-oriented.
• Responsiveness: Timely replies to client inquiries, ideally within the same business day or no more 24 hours after their reply (business hours).

Collaboration and Coordination #

• Work closely with the sales, leadership, and delivery teams to ensure a seamless client experience.
• Share client insights and feedback with internal teams to improve service offerings.
• Coordinate internal resources to meet client needs effectively.

Continuous Improvement #

• Stay updated on industry trends and best practices.
• Seek opportunities for professional development, such as training or certifications.
• Regularly review and refine client success strategies based on feedback and performance data.

Performance Metrics #

Work in progress.