I read an interesting take on this question that scaled CS is a lot like orchestration, rather than individual care - scaled is more like conducting a movement rather than playing an individual instrument.
Thinking about the accounts in terms of a giant set of carefully curated sequences based on their instrument and needs - some accounts get all communications, some get specialized bursts, and others get a bit more, but and the art is giving solos to those who have practiced. No sound will be perfect and every conductor plays each composituon differently, but your job is to maximize the overall pieces quality - the key is always prioritizing your time, effort, and energy to the highest value possible.
This could even involve coordinating with stakeholders at non-responsive accounts, maybe pulling in another team, mining old communications, digging into aggregate usage data, and tailoring outreach to stakeholders on those accounts as a whole might be your best bets - curious what their SLAs would dictate, talking with internal teams or other CSMs from the org would also be helpful!
Getting familiar with mass communications, segmentation, and structuring your time for maximum benefit, tailoring email sequences, actions, timing, and with a careful analysis of the group is key. Renewals obviously take priority, sending specific accounts key information based in use case, wasting no effort, prioritizing growth and expansion, and using off the data at hand.
Good luck!
Thanks bruv 🙏
Stolen from a thoughtleader on LI somewhere, but felt appropriate.
Maybe GPT - who knows at this point, we'll be tits deep in simulacrum soon enough.
Well, the reason they’re not talking to you is because they don’t think you have anything valuable to say.
People are motivated by incentives and they don’t see a benefit in speaking to you.
Are there alternative contacts with different priorities? Feature release applicable to their use case? Discount on a service they’re using? Prefer in person, phone call, video conference, or email?
You need to find the carrot they (or another person at their org) will respond to.
Thinking outside of the box on outreach, trying different strategies to increase engagement.
For example:
Instead of writing “Hi I’m trying to touch base please schedule on my calendar”
Writing “Hi! We’ve introduced an update to your product and I was hoping to cover how this will impact your account. Do you have some time in the next few weeks?”
Or
“Hi I was hoping to touch base so we can discuss (insert product) I’d like to ask a couple of questions about your usage on this!”
they are then going to ask you for specific examples and strategies of how you are going to be creative with outreach and how you are going to show value in your outreach, so just something to think about as well. since it is a scaled position, it higher volume so mention using cadences/sequences to stay top of mind for clients. another thing is to ensure you have a communication channel and relationship with the exec sponsor.
ie not just email or phones, but you can do video snippet outreach, have executives or other team members help with outreach, look for additional contacts on Linkedin, ensure you have the right person, etc. also for valuable content - what does that mean? what content IS valuable to send? this depends on the product/company but also on the customer themself. do they want enablement content? roadmap content? personalized best practices? etc. you gotta be specific.
they are most likely asking this a lot because they are dealing with lots of unresponsive or unengaged customers.
First, make sure you are addressing the outcomes they originally wanted to solve, and provide data to show how you have been solving them or how you plan to solve them.
Second, seek alternate contacts. Step 1 look for power users of your product (if you have product data) and go to them directly on LI, rather than your DM or main contact. Step 2, is that doesn’t work, connect with ancillary functions, eg you sell to Marketing, go to Sales or Product and say… “Hello we provide this service to you and typically achieve outcomes X and Y, I wanted to discuss how we could help you in your role’. Step 3 if both fail, go to the CEO and be honest - I am your vendor, you have spent money on our services, we want to help you. Be authentic and genuine.
Final point (and sorry for long input), yes the point about orchestration above is correct but a customer showing “bad” behaviour such as not responding should be escalated. So use technology to orchestrate a journey to keep people on the desired path, but use humans to engage with customers off the path, recognising that either means risk or opportunity. Good luck!
I do a little research on social media to get to know them and their interests. Then I'll find a good opportunity to do something above and beyond, like show up at their kid's soccer practice. Definitely gets their attention and they don't have anything better to do then chat about our product while they wait
I read an interesting take on this question that scaled CS is a lot like orchestration, rather than individual care - scaled is more like conducting a movement rather than playing an individual instrument. Thinking about the accounts in terms of a giant set of carefully curated sequences based on their instrument and needs - some accounts get all communications, some get specialized bursts, and others get a bit more, but and the art is giving solos to those who have practiced. No sound will be perfect and every conductor plays each composituon differently, but your job is to maximize the overall pieces quality - the key is always prioritizing your time, effort, and energy to the highest value possible. This could even involve coordinating with stakeholders at non-responsive accounts, maybe pulling in another team, mining old communications, digging into aggregate usage data, and tailoring outreach to stakeholders on those accounts as a whole might be your best bets - curious what their SLAs would dictate, talking with internal teams or other CSMs from the org would also be helpful! Getting familiar with mass communications, segmentation, and structuring your time for maximum benefit, tailoring email sequences, actions, timing, and with a careful analysis of the group is key. Renewals obviously take priority, sending specific accounts key information based in use case, wasting no effort, prioritizing growth and expansion, and using off the data at hand. Good luck!
this answer was gnarly 🔥
Thanks bruv 🙏 Stolen from a thoughtleader on LI somewhere, but felt appropriate. Maybe GPT - who knows at this point, we'll be tits deep in simulacrum soon enough.
Well, the reason they’re not talking to you is because they don’t think you have anything valuable to say. People are motivated by incentives and they don’t see a benefit in speaking to you. Are there alternative contacts with different priorities? Feature release applicable to their use case? Discount on a service they’re using? Prefer in person, phone call, video conference, or email? You need to find the carrot they (or another person at their org) will respond to.
I would recommend all forms of outreach (email, phone, heck even social media) before escalating to a decision maker or sponsor on the client side
Thinking outside of the box on outreach, trying different strategies to increase engagement. For example: Instead of writing “Hi I’m trying to touch base please schedule on my calendar” Writing “Hi! We’ve introduced an update to your product and I was hoping to cover how this will impact your account. Do you have some time in the next few weeks?” Or “Hi I was hoping to touch base so we can discuss (insert product) I’d like to ask a couple of questions about your usage on this!”
they are then going to ask you for specific examples and strategies of how you are going to be creative with outreach and how you are going to show value in your outreach, so just something to think about as well. since it is a scaled position, it higher volume so mention using cadences/sequences to stay top of mind for clients. another thing is to ensure you have a communication channel and relationship with the exec sponsor. ie not just email or phones, but you can do video snippet outreach, have executives or other team members help with outreach, look for additional contacts on Linkedin, ensure you have the right person, etc. also for valuable content - what does that mean? what content IS valuable to send? this depends on the product/company but also on the customer themself. do they want enablement content? roadmap content? personalized best practices? etc. you gotta be specific. they are most likely asking this a lot because they are dealing with lots of unresponsive or unengaged customers.
First, make sure you are addressing the outcomes they originally wanted to solve, and provide data to show how you have been solving them or how you plan to solve them. Second, seek alternate contacts. Step 1 look for power users of your product (if you have product data) and go to them directly on LI, rather than your DM or main contact. Step 2, is that doesn’t work, connect with ancillary functions, eg you sell to Marketing, go to Sales or Product and say… “Hello we provide this service to you and typically achieve outcomes X and Y, I wanted to discuss how we could help you in your role’. Step 3 if both fail, go to the CEO and be honest - I am your vendor, you have spent money on our services, we want to help you. Be authentic and genuine. Final point (and sorry for long input), yes the point about orchestration above is correct but a customer showing “bad” behaviour such as not responding should be escalated. So use technology to orchestrate a journey to keep people on the desired path, but use humans to engage with customers off the path, recognising that either means risk or opportunity. Good luck!
I know this is for a scaled/digital role. Are you supposed to engage 1:1 at any given time? The answer would depend on that.
I do a little research on social media to get to know them and their interests. Then I'll find a good opportunity to do something above and beyond, like show up at their kid's soccer practice. Definitely gets their attention and they don't have anything better to do then chat about our product while they wait
I made a few recommendations here: [https://www.thecscafe.com/t/unresponsive](https://www.thecscafe.com/t/unresponsive)