Creating a Feedback Loop for Continuous Improvement

Every sales org has a pipeline: Stage 1. Stage 2. Forecast. Commit. You can recite it in your sleep. But when it comes to renewals? Crickets.... There’s no real-time view of customer risk. No weekly trendline. No forward-looking model that projects retention. Isn't that kinda bonkers? You FORECAST growth, but you DISCOVER churn...usually when it’s too late to fix. The big mistake is presuming retention is a lagging indicator, when it would be more accurate to define it as a neglected one. Think about it...most CS dashboards read like a rearview mirror: - Usage metrics. - Ticket volume. - NPS. Useful? Sure. Predictive? Nah. Because churn doesn’t start when a customer says they’re leaving. It starts months earlier when their exec sponsor stops showing up. If you can spot the risk early, you can unlock more levers: - Re-engage power. - Reset the value narrative. - Escalate to commercial. - Offer roadmap visibility. - Re-map success metrics post-reorg. But none of that works if your team can’t see it coming, which is why you need a churn forecast...just like you do for revenue. Build a churn pipeline. Treat it like sales. Some things to build into this: 1. Define churn stages. Just like deals, risk evolves: - Stage 1 (Early): No exec alignment, lagging adoption, stakeholder turnover. - Stage 2 (Mid): Value not realized, weak champion, limited engagement. - Stage 3 (Late): Renewal live, buyer pushing back, pricing/legal blockers. Assign clear criteria. Surface it in Gainsight, CZ, or Salesforce. Manage it like opportunity stages. 2. Assign prevention plays. Each stage should trigger a play: - Stage 1 = exec outreach + roadmap session. - Stage 2 = commercial review + value plan. - Stage 3 = C-level call + tailored retention offer. Codify this. Don’t let reps improvise. 3. Forecast it weekly. Revenue leaders inspect pipeline weekly. CS should do the same with churn. Ask: - How many accounts moved stages? - What’s projected retention by segment? - What % of at-risk logos have exec visibility? Also, share your churn forecast with the CFO. If the CFO sees new logo pipeline every Monday, but doesn’t see churn risk until Q4? That's no bueno. Start sending a weekly churn report with: - Total ARR at risk. - ARR by churn stage. - Stage progression. - Active recovery plays. - Forecasted retention (with confidence levels). This reduces surprises while also forcing accountability. Why? Because churn is rarely a CS failure, but it's often a product gap, pricing mismatch, or sales promise that aged poorly. When churn is forecasted, it becomes EVERYONE'S problem. Which it is. tl;dr = you don’t “discover” churn. You forecast it. You stage it. You act on it. Just like sales.

A loyal, multi‑year client ends a retainer with barely a goodbye email. Projects hit deadlines, budgets held, and yet the relationship still slipped away... In agency land, client churn rarely arrives as a dramatic flare‑up. More often it is a quiet drift: Slack threads go cold, the next‑quarter brief never shows, and the renewal line stays blank. The danger is that it feels painless until you add up the lost lifetime value, the scramble to backfill revenue, and the referrals that were never even requested. Silent churn hides in the gap between delivery and relationship management. Whenever “no news” is mistaken for “all good,” the countdown has already started. Let's apply a systems approach as we would across our Barrel Holdings agencies: The silent‑churn autopsy: - No quarterly business reviews (QBRs) or formal check‑ins - Value delivered wasn’t documented or celebrated - Leadership lacked a dashboard for account health - Post‑project follow‑ups never happened - Referral and expansion opportunities quietly died on the vine 1. Map the breakdown: - Missing QBR rhythm, feedback loops, health scorecards - No early‑warning indicators or escalation paths - No structured post‑delivery cadence to drive referrals 2. Re‑ground the team in core fundamentals: - Communicate exceptionally: relationships need rituals - Surface value: delivered work must be made visible - Define “healthy” clearly: simple, shared success metrics - Learn fast: lost clients become internal case studies, not mysteries 3. Fix the operational gaps: - Launch quarterly client feedback surveys (explore NPS + open prompts) - Add project debriefs/AARs as a mandatory close‑out step - Assign strategic sponsors to top‑tier accounts and track health scores in a live dashboard - Standardize a QBR template: goals, wins, upcoming risks, growth ideas 4. Reinforce with structure, rhythm, visibility, incentives, feedback: - Every key account has an owner responsible for retention insights - QBRs and health‑score reviews run every quarter, no skips - Account dashboards shared in weekly leadership meetings - Retention metrics baked into performance reviews and shout‑outs - Client survey results drive immediate tweaks to delivery SOPs 5. Watch the ripple effects: - AMs may need coaching to lead strategic conversations - PMs tie delivery metrics to client value, not just deadlines - Strong retention fuels referrals and upsells, compounding growth Success looks like: - 100% of top‑tier clients receive a QBR every quarter - Live health scores flag at‑risk accounts before contracts lapse - Churn rate drops, referral revenue climbs - Relationship health becomes a line item in every leadership review - Silent churn ends when relationship stewardship is systemized, not left to chance. == 🟢 Find this useful? Subscribe to AgencyHabits for weekly systems‑thinking insights. The full Agency Systems Playbook drops in May—subscribers get first access.

Communication gaps and weak feedback loops hurt business success. [Client Case Study] A large hospital network noticed declining patient satisfaction scores. Even with state-of-the-art facilities and technology, patients reported feeling unheard, frustrated, and confused about their care plans. The executive team assumed the problem was with staff training or outdated workflows. ‼️ Mistake: Relying on high-level reports and not direct frontline feedback. Nurses, doctors, and administrative staff communicate differently based on their backgrounds, generations, and roles. - Senior physicians prefer face-to-face or email communication - Younger nurses and tech staff rely on instant messaging and digital dashboards - Patients (especially elderly ones) need clear verbal explanations, but many received rushed instructions or digital paperwork ‼️ Mistake: Differences weren't acknowledged and crucial patient information was lost, leading to errors, frustration, and decreased trust. Frontline staff experienced communication challenges daily but lacked a way to share them with leadership in a meaningful way. ❌️ Reporting structures were too slow or ineffective. Feedback was either ignored, filtered through multiple levels of management, or only addressed after major complaints. ❌️ Executives made decisions based on outdated assumptions. They focused on training programs instead of fixing communication systems. ❌️ Systemic decline Employee burnout increased as staff struggled with inefficient systems. Patient satisfaction declined, leading to lower hospital ratings and reimbursement penalties. Staff turnover rose, increasing costs for recruitment and training. 💡 The Solution: A Multi-Channel Communication Strategy & Real-Time Feedback Loop ✅ Physicians, nurses, and patients receive information in ways that align with their preferences (e.g., verbal updates for elderly patients, digital dashboards for younger staff). ✅ Digital tool that allows staff to flag communication issues immediately rather than waiting for annual surveys. ✅ Executives hold regular listening sessions with frontline employees to better understand challenges before making changes. The Result - Patient satisfaction scores improved - Employee engagement increased - Operational efficiency improved Failing to adapt communication strategies and strengthen feedback loops affects reputation, retention, and revenue. (The 3Rs of a successful organization.) Frontline operations directly impact customer and employee experiences. This hospital’s struggle isn’t unique. Every industry faces the risk of misalignment between leadership decisions and frontline realities. Weak feedback loops and outdated communication strategies create costly inefficiencies. If your employees don’t feel heard, your customers won’t feel valued. Business suffers. Are you listening to the voices that matter most in your business? If not, it’s time to start.

I lived it: My customer gave a 10 on an NPS survey and then churned the next renewal cycle. We have likely all learned that a high NPS rating may not be a renewal indicator on its own. Value Enhancement Scores, on the other hand, are what analysts are calling the leading driver for customer retention in 2024 - even above Customer Effort Scores. At Banzai we have started making a shift in the kinds of questions we ask our customers in an attempt to understand what value enhancement activities are leaving a positive impact on them, as well as how effectively our team is at enabling them. At scale, this can be easily done with an evolved NPS strategy. Instead of 'how likely are you to recommend us?' or 'do you plan on renewing?' we are reformatting our approach with our strategic segment to probe into the value received by the customer. Examples: "After purchasing the product, I can report a positive impact to my benchmarks" "After accessing the LMS, I feel more confident in my ability to use the product" "After working with my CSM, I am able to achieve more with the product" I'd love to hear how others are asking their customers the right questions to predict, prevent, and mitigate churn in a contemporary way. And as always - don't take my word for it! A link to my favorite analyst-approved VES resource is in the comments. #customerexperience #NPS