​Signs your client may be at risk

​Signs your client may be at risk
 
We all have clients we have worked with for years and know well.    These partnerships are based on personal relationships and trust.   Your clients work with you because they trust you, like you and often you know their policy and preferences better than they do.     But sometimes changes beyond their control will have an impact.  
 
Below are some of the signs to look for.    
 
General 

• They are down trading or you can see a change in the profile of their business  
• Media Coverage about them increases. Make reading the business pages of the daily and Sunday newspapers part of your commute or daily routine. 
• Google Alerts hint at changes.  These are a great source of information and can be daily, weekly or monthly  
• Recent results or acquisitions 
• Outside influences – Global economy, world events or market factors 

 
Account Management 

• Increased reporting requests coming in from various stakeholders.                                              
• You witness a change in behaviour or attitude  
• There are changes to the travel policy 
• Meeting availability, it becomes harder to secure a meeting slot or more people are added to the meeting that have not been involved in the past.   This may include the introduction of a third party. 
• Multiple short-term extensions to the contract 
• Their HQ is outside the home market and there may be local influences you are not aware of.  

 
How to mitigate the risk 

• Always listen to feedback from the booking community to the operations teams about internal processes and act on this where possible. 
• Have contact and relationships with multilevel stakeholders 
• Always have an open, honest and transparent relationship with all your customers 
• Own and complete your actions within the stated timeframe 
• Proactively manage the partnership 
• Promote new opportunities for savings for the business and improved end user experience.  
• Be an industry expert  
• Offer the best possible service and be the best you can be at all times 

 
Action to take 

• Ask your key contact directly
• Send out a survey to all with loaded questions to get feedback across the board and look for similarities in the responses.  
• Make sure you know the contract dates and terms
• Prepare a document showing your achievements and enforce your current business plan and the projected results 
• Highlight the cost of change (hard and soft)

 
Always Remember 
 
Just because in the past a client has not wanted to investigate new technology, products, cabin class change, policy revision or work with mew suppliers in the market, DO NOT STOP OFFERING.    Make sure you share opportunities, if you don’t, your competitors will.   
 
People do business with people but as with any relationship NEVER take your customers granted.   If you don’t appreciate them, someone else will.