The Client Partner check in Stage 1

Every services firm has a version of this story. A seller finds a hot account, writes a sharp opener and sends it. Two days later the Client Partner who has run that relationship for six years hears about it from the client.

The Client Partner check stops that before it starts.

What the check does

With the check on, Stage 1 holds every standing account. A standing account is one your firm has served, either on your past clients list or marked that way by you. Nobody at the account gets a message until you tell Stage 1 you've talked to the Client Partner.

The hold shows on each person, in the line under their name where the door usually sits.

Standing account. Talk to the Client Partner before anything goes out.

The check is a workspace setting, and it's off by default. Approve an account where everyone is held and Stage 1 tells you why, person by person, and threads no one.

Clearing the hold

Open the account on the Board. In the section called History with your firm, tap Change. Tick I talked to the Client Partner and save. The hold lifts, and the door goes back to The Standing Account, with a draft written for a reader who never signed your last deal.

The same form covers two other stops. Put a name in Someone else holds the relationship, and Stage 1 closes the door for every person at the account.

Dana Cole holds this relationship. Not your door.

Tick We can't deliver what they need, and nothing goes out there either.

The hold that's always on

One version of this doesn't wait for the setting. Mark an account as having history with your firm, details unknown, and Stage 1 stops there. Nobody gets a message until someone finds out what happened. The reason on screen says to talk to the Client Partner first.

That's on purpose. An account that fired your firm needs a different note than one you served well. Writing before you know which one it is reopens old wounds. Once you know, set what happened. If they fired or inherited your firm, Stage 1 names that history first with anyone who was there, and drops it for anyone who wasn't.

Why it matters

In a services firm, the client relationship is the asset. The Client Partner knows the renewal date, the open change order and the executive who's still annoyed about the last release. A seller who writes without that context can cost the firm more than the deal they're chasing.

The talk is short. Sometimes the Client Partner makes the intro. Sometimes they say wait a quarter. Either way the seller goes in knowing what the client knows. See intros inside a client's own company for the first case and expansion pipeline from existing clients for the long game.

Where it fits

The check is part of the doors. Before anything is drafted, Stage 1 picks how you earn the open with each person, and when no door opens, nothing goes out to them. The reason always shows under their name, so you can fix the input and not fight the tool. Constructs per door covers what happens once a door opens.

Nothing reaches a past client until the person who owns the relationship knows it's coming.