Strategies for Reinforcing Client Relationships Post-Project

When I ran a HubSpot agency, I had a rule: Try. Really. Hard. To make sure you never want to leave me. Not in a creepy clingy way. More like - I will blow your mind with how good this experience is, and you’ll literally be scared to work with anyone else. Here’s how I turned one-and-done projects into multi-year love affairs: 1. The "Post-Project Panic Attack" Call Most agencies say “thanks!” and vanish after go-live. I booked a 2-week follow-up before we launched. The agenda was simple: “What’s not working?” “Where are you stuck?” “What can we own now that you didn’t know you needed?” The client always had something. That call became my retainer upsell every time. 2. Pre-Sell the Retainer… Before You Earn It During kickoff, I’d say: “We treat every project like Phase 1 of something bigger.” Then I’d show a sample roadmap: Month 1–2: Foundation Month 3–6: Optimization Month 6+: Growth engine Even if we only scoped Phase 1… I made it hard to not keep going. 3. Make It Too Good to Let Go I obsessed over stuff most people overlook: -> Shared Slack channels -> Weekly check-ins that felt like stand-ups, not status updates -> Memes in the deck -> Naming their internal tools I made myself a part of the team. The second you’re treated like internal staff, they stop asking if you’re worth it. 4. "Surprise & Serve" Moments Every project, I’d drop a bonus (that wasn't included): -> Extra guide -> Loom walkthrough -> Off-scope insights No upsell. No invoice. Just a quiet “yo, thought this might help.” They’d say “OMG THANK YOU.” And I’d say, “Imagine what you’d get if we kept working together ;) .” Relationships aren’t built with deliverables. They’re built with moments that scream: "I want this to work." I optimized for that. For being so good they’d be afraid to leave. stay Supered⚡, -matt P.S. durable by design = giving agencies advice on how to scale and win.

The #1 mistake I see in client relationships? (It took me years to learn this) Confusing contact with connection. Most professionals think staying “top of mind” means constant contact. So they: ❌ Send generic check-ins. ❌ Ask for meetings without clear value. ❌ Share the same articles everyone else does. Then wonder why response rates keep dropping. 20+ years in client relationships has taught me: The best way to stay memorable? Show up as someone who genuinely cares about them  (and their success). Instead of asking: ❌ “How do I stay visible?” Ask: ✅ “How do I show I care?” Here are my favorite 6 ways to show you care: 1. Spot Opportunities They Might Miss ↳ Share competitor moves and market shifts before  they hear it elsewhere. 2. Be Their Connector ↳ Introduce them to people who can help them grow. 3. Offer Insights They Can Use Immediately ↳ Send relevant research they can apply right now. 4. Celebrate Their Successes ↳ Spotlight their wins like they’re your own. 5. Invite Them Into Your World ↳ Include them in events and conversations that matter. 6. Check In With a Personal Touch ↳ Reach out with no agenda, just genuine care. Here’s the truth: Most people only show up when they want something. Top performers show up because they genuinely care. Because they know when someone’s ready to buy, they don’t research who’s available. They call those who’ve already proven they care. Agree? Disagree? I’d love to hear your take on it in the comments below. ♻️ Valuable? Repost to help someone in your network. 📌 Follow Mo Bunnell for client-growth strategies that don’t feel like selling. Want the full cheat sheet? Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/e3qRVJRf 

Lots of reps run away after the deal is closed. Some managers tell their team to move on. "That’s not your job anymore” they say. How do you think the customer feels? The person they have been working with regularly, for several months or years, just splits town leaving a “Dear John” letter. “Please meet your new Account Manager …” It’s not a world class white glove experience. I get it, sales is a coin operated machine. But don’t let the pursuit for loot, create a mess and stress for YOUR customer. Stay involved during the transition period. 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞-𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟. -      Key stakeholders -      Personalities and priorities -      Requirements -      Success criteria 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬. Let the customer success team drive the conversations but be there for support. You will gain a deeper level understanding of their process, technology, use case, and value stories. This is gold for sellers. Having deep domain knowledge at this level is very powerful when talking to other companies in the same industry. 𝐀𝐬𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. Set the expectation up front with the project team that you would like to use them for referrals and references (once they experience value from your service). Go back to the exec sponsor with the customer success team so they can establish their own relationship. Get their permission to use them as a references, referral, or potential speaker at an upcoming event. If you spend a little more time during the transition, You will have greater insight and stronger relationships. Which helps you sell bigger deals faster in other accounts.

Sales tracks pipeline by stakeholder. CS tracks churn by account. That’s the disconnect. Because your logo didn’t churn…your champion did. You’re forecasting retention based entirely on the wrong variable. Accounts don’t buy. People do. And when the person who bought is gone - or sidelined - you’re no longer in a renewal motion. You’re in a brand new sales cycle WITHOUT the benefit of discovery. Most churn isn’t a usage problem. It’s a power gap, and most CS teams don’t know it exists until it’s too late. Here’s how to fix that: 1. Build stakeholder maps post-sale and update them quarterly. - Don’t stop mapping power after the deal closes. - CS should treat every renewal like sales treats a deal: - Identify the buyer, the influencer, the blocker, and the champion. Know who owns budget. Know who owns outcomes. 2. Create internal alerts for political turnover. - Champion leaves? Trigger exec outreach within 48 hours. - New CFO? Revalidate success criteria and prior commitments. - Department shake up? Reposition the product around new metrics. If someone internally has a tracker for PTO, you can build one for political risk. 3. Don’t just serve the champion. Build the bench. - Run QBRs with multiple execs, not just your original buyer. - Build renewal messaging that survives turnover. Don’t just rely on “happy users.” Make them internal advocates. At the end of the day, you didn’t lose the account. You lost the relationship. Churn is rarely about dissatisfaction, rather it tends to be about disconnection. Maybe the budget moved, or maybe the stakeholder changed. Regardless, no one rebuilt the bridge. Retention isn’t just about keeping the customer happy. It’s about staying connected to power. Because when that connection breaks, so does your forecast.

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.