Best Practices
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      Enhancing Customer Experience with Accord

      This article outlines how best to integrate Accord into your conversations with customers to deliver a 10/10 customer experience.

      Key Takeaways
      1. Introduce Accord via Screen Share
      2. Start with the Summary... And Keep Working on It!
      3. Hyperlink back to Accord in follow up emails
      4. Keep Attachments and Links Organized
      5. Start + End your meetings in Accord
      6. Continue to Update the Accord
      7. Align on Owners and Due Dates

      1. Introduce Accord via Screen Share

      Always show Accord to your customer via screen share first, collaborate with them on the
      Summary & Next Steps, then invite them in while you’re on the call.

      Make sure that they're able to access the Accord before ending the meeting!

      Please refer to this article for some talk tracks in introducing Accord to your customer.

      2. Start with the Summary... And Keep Working on it!

      Always start with the Summary! The Summary page should provide a comprehensive overview of your Accord for your customer. The Summary page should make their lives easier by detailing everything they need to know in order to make a decision.

      Confirm the details on the Summary page and co-author the page together before uou get commitments on process, timeline & stakeholders.

      The Summary page should outline your customer's prioritized goals and challenges to ensure that you're 100% aligned. As your get more and more information from your customer, you should be sharpening and improving this Summary.

      3. Hyperlink Back to Accord in Follow-up Emails

      Always link the key elements of the Accord in your follow up e-mail.

      This will bring them back to the Accord, where they can see the Description of each Step and access relevant Resources. Every page in Accord has a unique URL, so you can link Summary,
      Resources, specific Steps, and so on.

      Example:

      Hi [NAME] - great to meet you today! Linking the [Summary] we worked on…

      Linking [the proposal] that we discussed…

      Added [the security review Step] for your compliance team to review...

      4. Keep Attachments and Links Organized

      Evaluating and implementing your solution is not your customer's job. Make it easier for them to work with you by organizing Resources in one place in Accord:

      1. Use Folders and pin important Resources to the top of your Resource page. No one likes searching through 50+ email threads for attachments.
      2. All Resources have a “share” URL. Rather than uploading Resources as attachments to emails, link to the resource in Accord. This will help keep all documents organized in one place, let other stakeholders find them later, and give you engagement data on open rates.
      3. Part of the magic of Accord is associating Resources with specific Steps for added context. This way, the customer is exposed to the relevant Resources at the right time during your process.

      5. Start + End your Meetings in Accord

      It's always recommended to revisit the Accord in every subsequent meeting, and making it the living agenda for the process that you're facilitating.

      If there’s a new stakeholder in the meeting, go to the Summary and recap the desired outcomes or pain points that you're looking to solve for. Then flip to Next Steps and remind them of the process they committed to, recap what has happened, what’s going to happen in this meeting, and what the next steps are.

      To the best of your ability, assign Step owners and due dates during your call with your customers. Do this creates a social contract to get tasks completed on both sides, and generates important reminders that keep your project top-of-mind.

      6. Continue to Update the Accord

      It's paramount to continue to update the Accord!

      If your customer mentions a new Step (e.g. they need to share a Resource or a Step with a new stakeholder), add that Step to Next Steps & acknowledge the change during your meeting/in an email.

      Then, you can follow up with your customer with the following details:

      1. Due Date
      2. Assignee
      3. Any Resources that are relevant to completing the Step

      7. Align on Owners and Due Dates

      Align on when things are going to get done, and by who.

      Not only does this create buy-in from your customer, but adding due dates and owners generates automatic reminders that are sent to your customers. 

      This is a great way to stay top of mind without having to bug your customer by "just checking in". 

      Check out the Notifications article for more details.