HOW TO PART WITH A CLIENT CLIENT OFFBOARDING 101

THE HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED OF AGENCY LIFE

AKA: CLIENT CHURN

Image credit: Flickr Creative Commons.

THAT SAID, IT’S A NECESSARY EVIL. With the right offboarding strategy, your hard work won’t go to waste. Ensure your former client can access and utilize foundational work and key campaign documents. Best-case scenario, your client contact can maintain the marketing program, and might eventually return to your agency when the time is right.

… BUT HOW?

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1. CLOSE THE LOOP ON SERVICES OWED AND RENDERED. ‣ Refer back to your contract. Does he or she pay for services in

advance of their delivery? Is there an early-cancellation condition? ‣ Settle up on what’s owed (to the agency or the client). ‣ Clearly communicate the status of remaining service.

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2. PROVIDE ACCESS TO KEY CAMPAIGN DOCUMENTS. ‣ Deliver a running list of all strategic documents delivered over the

course of the partnership. ‣ Also provide all portal logins (username / password) that the

agency utilized during the partnership—even if you didn’t set up the accounts.

3. OFFER A STATUS UPDATE ON ALL PROJECTS UNDERWAY.‣ Flag any projects or campaigns currently in the works. If you

provide blogging services, draft a list of headlines that have been approved with a status note (e.g. outlined, drafted, etc.).

‣ If there are other weekly or daily undertakings that could fall through the cracks (like social media activity), offer suggested next steps during the transition to maintain momentum.

‣ Make clients aware of any running paid campaigns.

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4. DRAFT A LIST OF ALL ACTIVE WORKFLOWS. ‣ Loop more than one contact in on published workflows in your

marketing automation system. ‣ To make the most of lead generation efforts, consider appointing

someone to check in on a weekly basis and follow up with new contacts as needed.

‣ And, if the content is not evergreen, emphasis a campaign end date to avoid stale (or outdated) email marketing.

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5. ASK FOR FEEDBACK. ‣ When delivering all of the above resources, request a quick

offboarding call to answer any final questions and discuss overall sentiment toward your agency’s services

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6. ALWAYS SAY THANK YOU. ‣ Show appreciation, ‣ Connect on social channels to encourage an ongoing relationship

(if appropriate). After all, ultimate success is often tied to the strength of our relationships.

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GOOD LUCK!