Why Your Accounts Are Dodging Your Check-In Meetings (and What to Do About It)

It’s not because you don’t have a sparkling personality.

It’s not because they’ve been abducted by aliens and are taking a month-long vacation on Mars.

It’s because they’re not seeing value in your meetings. Full stop.

Sure, there are different reasons (meetings are too transactional, info-dumps, or maybe they’re low-key churning and avoiding awkward conversations), but the bottom line is their time feels more valuable than your meetings right now.

Here’s how to fix that:

Fix #1: Understand Their Business, Not Just Your Product

Stop reviewing KPIs and usage stats like it’s a school report card. Instead, show that you understand their business—the model, pain points, and industry trends. If you’re juggling tons of accounts, here’s a quick hack: use this ChatGPT prompt to gather the insights you need fast:

“I’m a Customer Success Manager at a [your company]. My next check-in is with [Account Name], a company in the [industry] sector. I need a quick primer on their business, key pain points, and how my product may help them. Also, what are the top trends in their industry and what challenges might be keeping [Contact’s Role] up at night?"

Why This Helps:

• Business Context: Position your product as solving real problems, not just as a nice-to-have.
• Pain Points: Tailor your recommendations to their specific challenges.
• Industry Trends: Provide proactive guidance by knowing what’s happening in their space.
• Empathy: Show you get their priorities, from the CFO’s budget concerns to the CTO’s tech headaches.

(And yes, this should’ve been covered in onboarding or handoff from sales, but better late than never.)

Fix #2: Show Them How Your Product Drives Growth

Don’t just regurgitate reports—tie your product to their growth. If they’re avoiding meetings, create a tailored growth strategy document. Here’s how:

Steps:

1. Understand Their Goals: Review their business objectives (growth, efficiency, expansion). (Pro tip: use the ChatGPT hack above to get quick insights).
2. Align Features with Goals: Don’t focus on features, focus on outcomes.
3. Leverage Industry Benchmarks: Use data from similar customers to show what’s possible.
4. Create a Custom Plan–not an, ahem… “Concept of a Plan”: Outline their goals, how your product supports them, and relevant success stories.
5. If They Won’t Meet: Send the document and ask for feedback.

Why This Works:

• Shows Proactive Value: You’re focusing on their business growth, not product usage.
• Offers Flexibility: If they can’t meet, you’re still advancing the conversation.
• Encourages Feedback: Engages them in a way that could lead to a future call.

Fix #3: Bring in Other Stakeholders (Because You’re Not A Superhero)

Reignite engagement by bringing in people with specialized knowledge—product managers, support engineers, or even your exec team. This helps add depth to the conversation and addresses specific challenges.

How to Do It:

1. Identify Internal Stakeholders: Who can bring fresh value?
2. Research the Customer’s Stakeholders: Are there decision-makers who haven’t been in your meetings?
3. Plan Strategic Topics: Make the meeting valuable.
4. Frame the Meeting as a Value-Add: When scheduling, highlight the benefit of these new perspectives.
5. Follow Up with Clear Next Steps: Ensure every meeting ends with actionable recommendations.

Why This Works:

• More Expertise, More Value: Bringing in specialists ensures that every pain point gets addressed.
• Engagement at Multiple Levels: New voices reinvigorate stale relationships.
• Breaks Routine: A fresh perspective re-energizes the customer and shows long-term partnership.

And for the love of Paul Rudd, please don't wait until the weeks leading up to a renewal to implement these changes. At that point, it's still worth trying, but it's best to recognize that it's a Hail Mary pass and you've probably missed your window of opportunity to make a real impact. Work in time for these course corrections while there is still runway to salvage the relationship--at least two quarters, if you can.

By bringing real value beyond the basics, you’ll turn those dreaded check-ins into something your customers actually look forward to (yes, really).

#CustomerSuccess #CSM #CustomerEngagement #AccountManagement