Predicting a Stakeholder Change

While thinking about the most appropriate introduction for this article, I realized that one personal story will probably do the job highlighting the importance of customer relationship management. Specific details are redacted for privacy reasons yet, I am confident this chain of events is similar to experiences you have encountered before.

  Imagine a scenario in which you are engaged with a small-medium enterprise and your champion is highly engaged and supportive. All looks good. Six months into the first-year engagement, your primary stakeholder leaves the company and hands over responsibility of the project to their successor. The successor knows our product and we are not strangers to her.  At this time, she is too busy and therefore “hands us over” to someone else in her team, whom we had no relationship with. The successor's delegate asks for some time to settle as they have other vendors to manage in parallel. He was not very engaged and showed no interest in our value and deliverables. A few months later the customer churned.

What did we learn?

• The “chain” (relationship) was not as strong as its “weakest” link, in fact, the relationship only had one link.
• We focused our efforts on our champion as it was easy. He was responsive, engaged, and happy to work with us.  Consequently, we did not pay attention to other important stakeholders, such as his deputy who eventually succeeded him.
• We found out about his departure “late in the game” and had very little time to respond in a timely manner.
• Regaining the momentum without a solid relationship in place was hard as we found ourselves trying (unsuccessfully) to re-sell the product (now, to a new stakeholder).

If only we could predict this change in advance and have sufficient time to manage the consequences of the unexpected transition of our stakeholder. 

Following this introduction, let me share with you a framework to help you predict the “stakeholder change role” scenario. In previous articles I explained the benefits of making predictions (reducing  knowledge gaps, mitigating risks, improving customer retention) and they are also applicable in this situation.

Early indications and signals for stakeholder changing role

1. Verify the “mileage” of your stakeholder in their existing position.  As part of a stakeholder mapping exercise, spend some time researching the stakeholders you work with. One piece of information I consider important is the period they have already spent in their existing role with the assumption that it is not about “IF” they move, but “WHEN” they will move.  We should be aware of the stakeholder's current “mileage”(in their role)  being an indicator and possibly a trigger to assess the likelihood of such change, at the risk of our stakeholder unexpectedly deciding to “reset the odometer“ by moving to a new role.
2. Engagement slows down – While one-off delays in response from stakeholders is not indicative of a future role change, there are few signals that will be useful in predicting the near-future of your stakeholder. 

• What is the “average rhythm” of the engagement? First, evaluate the level of engagement already established. Emails are responded to within 1-2 days? Meetings take place every week? Question regularly raised by your stakeholder? What is the level of collaboration?
• With these baselines in mind, keep an eye on any differences from this “average”. Is there a one-off “deviation” or a constant decline in the engagement? To what extent are agreed and scheduled plans and actions put on hold or deferred ? Needless to say, this deviation should not take into consideration holidays, sick days or other ad-hoc absences. 
• Engagement "slow down" is not an absolute indication and it is correlated with the next signal (next paragraph).
• At  the end of the day, CSM is best positioned to assess this situation using common sense as there is no one rule of thumb that can be easily followed.

3. Someone else is getting involved - This person could be from the same team you have engaged thus far (this is the more positive scenario), from a different team, or even someone who just joined the customer’s organization. This person might already be in the process of taking over certain responsibilities from your current stakeholder, even though  there has been no official announcement about the change. There could be different reasons as to why “no one told you about it”, and none of them really matter. If I go back to the story I shared in the beginning of the article, we made the same mistake. We assumed “someone” would tell us, however reality was different, we did not spot that the 2nd in command was taking more responsibilities while our main champion gradually became less involved. We had a few weeks to prepare and address the concerns she had about our product, but we did not spot it in time. In the meantime, she made her own assumptions that were not aligned or verified with us and by the time we found out, we were already on our way out.

4. Proactive Questioning

The signals listed above can get the CSM to a certain point that requires a more proactive approach to substantiate the possible prediction about our stakeholder. The underlying assumption is that the CSM and possibly others in the CS team, work with other stakeholders. If this is not the case, then you are already running a bigger risk and better find more people that either use your product or benefit from it.

There are three possible courses of actions when it comes to proactive questioning:

1. Ask your stakeholder. It is not simple nor straightforward to ask someone if they are about to leave their role. Instead, you can “reach out for help”. If the stakeholder is busy, they might leverage your offer to help them until they re-engage as they used to do. If they are on their way out, they might share their plans with you, in which case, you can ask them for directions and guidance. If you are “redirected” to someone else in the team, you can then establish a new relationship that will prove useful if the prediction is accurate about your stakeholder's next move.
2. Sometimes your stakeholder is not responsive (to the extent that you are unable to schedule a call with them). This is another sign to take into consideration when assessing this situation. In this case, I used to approach other people in the stakeholder’s team asking one of the following questions:

• “I noticed John Smith has not been responsive for a while. Who should we contact as we have items to follow up on?”
• “Is John Smith on a long holiday? I could not get hold of him for a while.”
• “Has John Smith mentioned to you anything about items to follow up on?”

Below are a few examples of the answers I have received that helped me to refine my prediction:

• “He is busy with other teams/projects. You should contact this person instead (with a reference to someone else).”
•  “He was busy with another project but is expected to be back very soon. Please allow some time before re-engaging. I have a call with him later today and can let him know about your inquiry.”
• “He has been dealing with other priorities, and I’m not sure about his availability. You may need to approach his manager.”

There are other answers that can shed some light on the present and the future of your stakeholder. However, the important thing is to understand your position, and whether or not you need to prepare for a change, and actively approach other people.

3. Assuming you are in a dead-end and not sure who you need to deal with, then approaching the manager of your stakeholder can be an appropriate next step, assuming this person knows who you are. Otherwise, you should have a chat with the sales team, and with their help, approach one or more stakeholders that were involved in earlier stages that can help point you in the right direction. This move can be considered “aggressive”, or more risky; however, waiting for someone to respond can lead to loss of momentum and eventually the customer may churn. You will need to use your common sense again to determine if this is the right action to take, or should you be patient waiting for your stakeholder to re-engage.

The Playbook

The “Stakeholder change” playbook should exist as part of the CS methodology of the vendor. I’ll share a few of the practices that worked well for me, especially when a formal change of stakeholder was not announced and I approached a new stakeholder whom I did not know.

● Research the person whom you suspect will be the successor. LinkedIn is a good place to start. Check their background, do they have the relevant domain knowledge related to your product? Will they require intro and training? Do they know anyone in your team or organization? Anyone in your network engaged with them before and can give you a reference?

● If you are not 100% sure that your existing stakeholder is about to leave, and assuming a new stakeholder has been identified , it is time to schedule an intro call .

● Ask for an introduction, preferably from someone from the customer organization.

● If such an introduction is not an option, then you will conduct a “cold intro “ by sending an email and asking for a meeting (including the agenda items you prepared in advance). Another option is to involve your sales team in case they know the person you wish to engage.

● Intro call/meeting should be well orchestrated (”No second chance for first impression”). You can have a quick intro about yourself, followed by an overview about your organization, product and value.

● If you need to follow up on action items/next steps agreed with the “missing” stakeholder, then raise them gently and ask for some guidance.

● You should end the intro meeting with concrete next steps that will help you to promote your agenda and establish sustainable communications with your new stakeholder.

Summary

While CSMs rightfully invest time in building and maintaining relationships, my advice is to lift your head from time-to-time and assess your customer’s environment. Stakeholders shifting roles will occur regardless of the success of your product/service and it is the CS responsibility to prepare for these changes and keep the positive momentum.  The framework outlined in this article should help you ask the right questions and pay attention to indications about a possible stakeholder change.

Good Luck.