Client Health Scorecard

The scorecard works because it forces evidence onto every score. "I think they're happy" isn't an entry — the last positive thing they said and the last time they initiated contact are. Eight dimensions get rated Green, Amber, or Red: results delivery, communication quality, scope alignment, decision-maker access, strategic value perception, payment behaviour, expansion signals, and team satisfaction. The split matters because a client with strong delivery scores and a dead-air communication channel has a problem the average hides.

Leading indicators beat lagging ones. By the time results dip, the relationship was already drifting — the communication changed first, the meeting attendance dropped first, the decision-maker stopped showing up first. The skill scores the early signals so the intervention window is still open. If you wait for the KPIs to confirm the trouble, you're not retaining the account, you're negotiating the exit.

Two dimensions get called out as the hidden killers. Decision-maker access — if you've never spoken to the person who renews the budget, you're one internal reorg from losing the account, regardless of how good the work is. And team satisfaction — if your designers dread the account, the quality will drop eventually, which converts a relationship problem into a delivery problem. Both get scored honestly, not flattered.

You get a per-client scorecard with evidence in every cell, a priority action list with named owners and deadlines for the next two weeks, and a 90-day risk assessment that quantifies the revenue at stake if nothing changes. Green clients aren't ignored — they're flagged for expansion conversations and referral asks, because the same data that catches churn risk catches growth opportunity. New clients under three months get a partial scorecard with the missing dimensions flagged to reassess at month three rather than fabricated.