Do you have any proven intervention strategies to turn the tide of a lame duck program manager?

Jeff Breunsbach

Great question from our session over on the Gainsight Pulse Everywhere conference...

• CSMs build great relationships with their POCs, but what if they are a bit of a "lame duck"?
• Do you have any proven intervention strategies to turn the tide of a lame-duck program manager?

I think the question is getting to the point of how can you get some energy into your point-of-contact.

Kelli Shea

I'd also love to hear strategies on better leveraging your stakeholder network outside of your daily point of contact.   CSM's at my current company are constantly challenged with building relationships with contacts that don't necessarily want to own the success of the program.  We've tried a few things to reverse the declining account health, but I'd love to hear some other (and creative) solutions that have worked for others as well.

Thanks so much!

Kelli Shea

Anna Alley

I think this is a great topic! Definitely something I've seen my team struggle with as well. I think where we typically see those lame duck scenarios are when the POCs are not bought into the value of your product or offering. They were likely not involved in the decision (or actually preferred a different offering) and are resistant to the change required to fully adopt. What I've seen be successful is really digging into their specific pain points and then trying to almost re-sell or re position the value to them based on what they actually care about. It doesn't work for everyone, but I have seen it be successful for some. 

If you have the ability, sometimes an onsite visit can also make a difference - especially if there are specific, tactical items that need to get completed. A lot of customers have a completely different attitude when you're there face to face with them.

Hoping others have some more creative ideas on this as well! :-)