How Implementing a POD Model Can Transform Your Account Management

Following up on ​my newsletter​ from two weeks ago, I'm returning to the right side of the bowtie: existing clients.

Focusing mainly on account management - a crucial area often overshadowed by the pressure to acquire new clients.

It all started during my time as Head of Sales at Boom.

It was 2020, and we managed some of Europe's largest food delivery and real estate companies.

Managing big clients at Boom was not an easy one.

We were a small startup (marketplace), coordinating photographers globally to take photos of large food delivery and real estate companies. The ultimate goal was to take photos at scale of dishes for restaurants and houses.

Managing such a vast operation was challenging - imagine dealing with scenarios like a late photographer, a suddenly closed restaurant, or a property not prepared for a shooting.

These hiccups often escalated, reaching the upper leadership of our client's management teams.

I recall a day when a major client (>€250K ARR) rang me up to complain about a photo session.

I was clueless about what happened because we weren't directly managing these accounts nor fully engaged in regular briefings like QBRs or MBRs.

Everyone had heard from the client, yet no one knew exactly what happened. It was chaotic.

We realized we didn't know what was going on with our largest customers, which, at the time, contributed to more than 60% of our total revenue.

This ongoing issue led me to introduce a game-changing concept to manage our largest accounts: the POD.

What is a POD?

It comes from engineering's Agile methodology, but in our context, a POD is a virtual space where everyone relevant to managing a particular project or client gathers.

This includes account managers, tech support, engineers, the VP of Sales, and even company founders.

Key documents and updates are shared here to keep everyone informed and aligned about the customer.

How to Structure Your PODs

PODs are especially beneficial for your most significant, most critical enterprise clients.

You start by creating a dedicated Slack channel and inviting crucial stakeholders such as:

• The Account Executive who closed the deal

• The VP or Head of Sales

• The CEO / Founder

• The Head of Operations

• The Dedicated Customer Success Manager

• The Cross-Functional team who manages or may be involved.

The goal is to centralize all communication, documentation and updates concerning the client within this POD to maintain a precise and updated flow of information.

You will share a sales update within the pod, as well as a large issue, an MBR, or a QBR run by the CS team. Again, everything is shared within the pod.

Roles Within a POD

Being in a POD doesn't mean you have to do anything; you can only observe, listen and act if things get too big, for example. Typically, a POD includes:

• Owner: usually the Account Manager or CSM dedicated to the client, primary POC.

• Observers: members of the leadership team who stay informed but do not interact daily.

• Teams: cross-functional groups like support, operations, and engineering that work together to deliver services to the client.

Benefits of the POD Model

Since implementing the PODs, I have never gone back. Among many benefits, these three are the most common:

1. Scalability: PODs eliminate common roadblocks such as disjointed communication and complex client onboarding, improving customer service. Most importantly, you can have as many pods as enterprise / large customers.

2. Collaboration: With smaller, focused teams, PODs enhance interpersonal relations and simplify communications. This close interaction fosters a deeper understanding of the workflow and the operations around essential clients.

3. Efficiency: Housing all required skills in one virtual place streamlines all the processes. Team members get quick feedback, accelerating adjustments and enhancing the service to the client.

Since implementing the POD model, my only regret was not doing it sooner.

It transformed how we managed big accounts, moving from chaotic communication to streamlined dialogues and significantly changing how we managed our enterprise customers.

I have used POD since then, and we have never failed to serve customers at our best.

So, if you're having trouble managing your customer success strategies for large accounts, consider setting up a POD.

It might be the strategic tweak to renew at a high rate and upsell your existing clients.

Thanks for reading this far. See you next week!