grey = the flow — each label is the trigger for the next stepred = loops back — next month, saves, referrals, lessonsamber dashed = trouble (no-shows, stalls, cancellation talk) → health watch
No arrow runs from a client to Kevin or Jim — they only receive work from the CSM. Every escape, save, and loss rolls into one monthly CS report (Gly → Marshall + Jim), and the lessons update the support AI, the guides, and the process.
Two kinds of clients, two levels of service
Class A — Relationship
Class B — Utility
Who
HTE · SEO · Copywriting — a few dozen accounts, most of the revenue
Hosting · IDX · Web Dev — the long tail, small monthly amounts
Service
The full machine above
Automation only — support AI, guides, technical tickets
Human touch
The four gates + any risk flag
Only cancellation talk or an upsell signal
Why: an hour on a small hosting ticket costs more than the account earns in a month. That hour saves a relationship account instead.
Who does what
Support AI (to be built) — a dedicated customer-support AI answering routine questions on agent@; learns from every escape. Not Malcolm — this is its own build.
CSM — owns every Class A relationship; the client's one human face.
Sherry's editorial team + Tomato Factory — content QA, never client comms.
Kevin / Jim — technical last resort, always via the CSM.
What Marshall needs to decide (30-minute meeting, six yes/no's)
How many new clients per month are we planning for?
One CSM per ~60 Class A accounts — confirmed?
CS Lead: formal offer to Ashley, or hire outside?
No-show courtesy content: one per quarter?
Do partner-managed clients (25% tier) run inside this machine?
How much can a CSM spend to save an account without asking?
Before anything launches
Email deliverability tested (the machine runs on email)
CS Lead signed, current work backfilled
The six decisions above, in writing
Class A/B account list loaded
Support AI built + dry-run on 20 real past questions
One Welcome Party piloted on a real onboarding
Rollout: 30 days — decisions, support AI build + knowledge, Welcome Party pilot, manual health list · 60 days — tracking + chase sequences + first monthly report · 90 days — health dashboard, save playbook proven, review the ratio against reality. Detailed internal version (evidence, SOP mapping, premortem) available from Gly.
For Rob, Jody, Marshall, Jim, Sherry — anyone who talks to clients. ~15 minutes. Reply by email to Gly with answers inline, print it, or fill it in on a call.
Why you're getting this. We're building the Client Success machine — the structure that takes routine client handling off your plate so you can do the part only you can do (interviews, sales, relationships). You're the ones actually in the room with clients, which means you know things about their needs that no document knows. Your answers directly decide what the support AI learns to answer, what guides get made, and what the CSM takes over first. Nothing here is a review of you — it's a shopping list for what we build.
1You and your lane
Name:
Role / what you do with clients:
Which clients or products you touch most:
2The questions clients bring YOU that shouldn't be yours
2.1 — List the top 5 questions clients ask you that are not really your job to answer. For each: roughly how often (weekly / monthly / rarely)?
Think of the last 10 client conversations. What did they ask before or after the "real" purpose of the call?
2.2 — Which buckets do those questions mostly fall into? (Check all that apply)
Billing & invoices
Scheduling / rescheduling
Contract terms or cancellation
What we need from them (credentials, approvals, assets)
Status of deliverables ("where's my article?")
How to use a tool (portal, editor, Louie)
Strategy & results ("is this working?")
Something else: ______________________
3Where clients get stuck
3.1 — In your experience, at which points do clients stall, get confused, or go quiet? (Check the worst offenders)
Right after signing — "what happens now?"
Giving us access (GSC / GBP / Analytics / hosting)
Reviewing the audit
Approving Web Reno content
Keeping interview appointments
Reviewing / approving HTE content
Understanding their results
Billing or renewal moments
3.2 — Tell one short story of a client who got stuck. What would have prevented it?
4What you need in front of you mid-conversation
4.1 — When a client asks you something on a call, what information do you wish you could see instantly?
Examples: their billing status, upcoming appointments, what they've already asked the support AI, deliverables in flight, who touched the account last.
5Handoffs and escalations
5.1 — When a client issue isn't yours, who do you send it to today, and how do you send it?
5.2 — Where do handoffs get lost or take too long? Be specific — this is the thing we most need to fix.
6The repetitive stuff
6.1 — What do you find yourself doing or explaining over and over that a guide, a video, or the support AI should handle?
7No-shows and scheduling
7.1 — How often do clients miss appointments with you, and what do you do about it today?
7.2 — What would actually get your clients to show up more reliably?
8Your churn radar
8.1 — What are the early signs you notice when a client is drifting away — before they actually say anything?
8.2 — Any clients you're worried about right now? (Names — this stays internal and goes straight onto the health watch list.)
9Magic wand
9.1 — Top 3 things Customer Service should take off your plate first:
9.2 — One thing that would make your clients noticeably happier that we're not doing today:
What happens with your answers. Gly compiles everything within a week of the deadline. Your questions from §2 become the support AI's training list and the guide library. §3–5 set the CSM's first responsibilities. §8 names go onto the health watch list the day you send them. You'll see the compiled result — and what got built from it — in the monthly CS report.