# Underutilized Client Rescue Playbook
Related policies:
Client Interaction & Professional Conduct Policy
Communication Policy
Employee Code of Ethics
Professionalism Policy (Staff/Clients)
Project Manager
Trigger: Client is paying, engaged sporadically, but not delegating enough to receive full value, or there is any indication in language or tone that suggests frustration.
Goal:
Restore momentum, clarify value, reset delegation behavior, and prevent downsizing or cancellation due to “we’re not really using the service.â€
## ⶠSTEP 1 | Confirm the Client's Preferred Communication Cadence
1. Identify the client's current preferred meeting cadence.
2. Record the cadence as one of the following:
- Weekly
- Biweekly
- Monthly
- As Needed
- No Recurring Meeting
3. Record the client's primary communication method:
- Text/SMS
- Slack
- Teams
- Phone
- Scheduled Meeting
- Other approved method
4. Do not automatically assume every client is required to attend a weekly meeting.
5. Update the client's meeting cadence whenever the client requests a different schedule.
6. Use the client's agreed cadence when reviewing future meeting attendance and client health.
7. Do not classify a client as Yellow solely because no meeting occurred during a week when no meeting was expected.
## â· STEP 2 | Determine Whether a Meeting Was Actually Missed
1. Count a meeting as a missed meeting only when:
- The meeting was part of the client's agreed cadence.
- The meeting was scheduled or confirmed.
- The client did not attend.
- The client did not cancel or reschedule beforehand.
2. Do not count the following as missed meetings:
- Client canceled in advance.
- Client requested to skip the meeting.
- Client rescheduled.
- Client requested fewer meetings.
- Client prefers communication through another channel.
- No recurring meeting was required.
- Client communicated that they were unavailable.
- Client continues communicating and approving work outside the meeting.
3. Record legitimate missed meetings in the client notes.
4. Do not change the client's health status based on one missed meeting alone.
## ⸠STEP 3 | Review the Full Client Health Picture
1. Review the client's health using all available information from the reporting period.
2. Review client responsiveness.
3. Review task and deliverable progress.
4. Review whether required approvals are being received.
5. Review whether credentials, documents, decisions, or information needed from the client are being received.
6. Review whether the client continues delegating work or allowing the team to complete recurring responsibilities.
7. Review contracted hours and utilization when applicable.
8. Review whether work is being blocked.
9. Review client feedback and overall communication tone.
10. Review complaints, concerns, repeated rework, or service-quality issues.
11. Review whether the client has mentioned:
- Reducing services.
- Pausing services.
- Financial concerns.
- Dissatisfaction.
- Cancellation.
- Not seeing value in the service.
12. Review meeting attendance only as one part of the overall engagement picture.
13. Do not allow meeting frequency to outweigh clear evidence that the client remains responsive, engaged, and satisfied.
## â¹ STEP 4 | Assign GREEN Status
1. Mark the client GREEN when the account is healthy and there is no meaningful evidence of retention or operational risk.
2. Keep the client Green when:
- Work is progressing normally.
- Client is communicating through an agreed channel.
- Client provides approvals or information within a reasonable timeframe.
- Deliverables are being completed.
- Client continues receiving measurable value.
- No significant complaints are unresolved.
- No cancellation or reduction indicators exist.
3. Keep the client Green when the client chooses not to meet every week.
4. Keep the client Green when the client has a biweekly, monthly, or as-needed meeting schedule.
5. Keep the client Green when the client misses an occasional scheduled meeting but remains engaged.
6. A client may remain Green after up to 2 missed scheduled meetings within a rolling
## ⺠STEP 5 | Use GREEN/MONITOR When Appropriate
1. Use GREEN/MONITOR when the client is still healthy but a developing condition should be watched.
2. Green/Monitor may be used when:
- Communication is slightly slower than normal.
- Task delegation has temporarily decreased.
- Client availability is limited.
- One approval is taking longer than expected.
- One scheduled meeting was missed.
- Utilization is beginning to decline but work remains available.
- Client has been unusually busy.
- A temporary external issue is affecting progress.
3. Do not use Yellow when monitoring alone is sufficient.
4. Record:
- What is being monitored.
- Whether work is affected.
- What follow-up is planned.
5. Reassess the condition during the next weekly review.
## â» STEP 6 | Assign YELLOW Status
1. Mark the client YELLOW when there is a developing pattern that requires management attention.
2. Do not assign Yellow solely because a client missed a meeting.
3. Generally require 2 or more meaningful risk indicators occurring within approximately 2–3 weeks before changing a healthy client to Yellow.
4. Yellow indicators may include:
- Two consecutive expected meetings missed without meaningful communication.
- Client becoming increasingly difficult to reach.
- Approximately 5 business days without a needed response.
- Multiple approvals becoming delayed.
- Required credentials or information repeatedly not being provided.
- Work beginning to stall because the client cannot be reached.
- Significant or unexplained underutilization.
- Noticeable reduction in task delegation combined with reduced communication.
- Multiple deliverables awaiting client review.
- Repeated client concerns.
- Increasing rework or dissatisfaction.
- Important deadlines becoming threatened.
- Client engagement dropping across several communication methods.
5. A single significant event may justify Yellow when the event creates genuine operational or retention risk.
6. Do not classify a client Yellow when:
- Meetings are less frequent by client choice.
- The client canceled or rescheduled appropriately.
- The client responds through Slack, text, email, or another approved method.
- Work continues normally.
- Deliverables are being approved.
- The client remains satisfied.
- There is no meaningful impact on the account.
7. Document the specific Yellow indicators.
8. Identify what must improve for the client to return to Green.
9. Assign an owner for the corrective action.
10. Establish the next follow-up date.
## â¼ STEP 7 | Create a YELLOW Recovery Action
1. Identify the primary reason the client moved to Yellow.
2. Determine whether the issue involves:
- Communication.
- Utilization.
- Approvals.
- Access or credentials.
- Delivery.
- Quality.
- Task delegation.
- Relationship concerns.
- Financial concerns.
- Other retention risk.
3. Assign the SPM or responsible manager as the recovery owner.
4. Contact the client through their preferred communication method.
5. Do not force a meeting when the issue can be resolved through the client's preferred communication method.
6. Clarify any outstanding decisions, approvals, tasks, or blockers.
7. Identify additional work or support opportunities when underutilization is involved.
8. Document the recovery action.
9. Reassess the client during the next weekly health review.
10. Return the client to Green once the risk indicators are resolved and normal engagement resumes.
## â½ STEP 8 | Assign RED Status
1. Mark the client RED when there is significant operational or retention risk requiring immediate leadership involvement.
2. Red indicators may include:
- Client is substantially unreachable despite repeated documented outreach.
- Three or more consecutive required meetings are missed and communication has significantly stopped.
- Work cannot continue because required client information or decisions are unavailable.
- Major deliverables are blocked.
- Client expresses serious dissatisfaction.
- Client requests cancellation.
- Client requests a major service reduction due to dissatisfaction or lack of value.
- Significant unresolved service failure exists.
- Relationship deterioration creates an immediate retention risk.
- Serious financial or contract concerns threaten continuation of service.
3. Do not classify a client Red based only on the number of missed meetings.
4. Confirm that the missed meetings are accompanied by actual disengagement, operational impact, or retention risk.
5. Document all outreach attempts.
6. Document all known risk indicators.
7. Escalate the account to the Director immediately.
8. Establish an immediate recovery or retention plan.
9. Assign ownership and deadlines for all required actions.
## â¾ STEP 9 | Separate Meeting Preference From Client Disengagement
1. Treat meeting preference and client disengagement as different conditions.
2. Meeting preference includes:
- Preferring fewer meetings.
- Communicating through Slack.
- Communicating through email.
- Communicating through text.
- Requesting meetings only when needed.
- Skipping unnecessary meetings while work continues.
3. Do not treat meeting preference as a health risk.
4. Client disengagement may include:
- Repeatedly ignoring necessary communication.
- Failing to provide required information.
- Failing to approve time-sensitive work.
- Disappearing from multiple communication channels.
- Significant drop in task delegation combined with lack of communication.
- Preventing the team from continuing meaningful work.
5. Use disengagement, not calendar attendance, as the primary engagement warning indicator.
## â¿ STEP 10 | Apply the Multiple-Indicator Rule
1. Do not downgrade a Green client because of one minor event.
2. Evaluate whether the event is:
- Isolated.
- Temporary.
- Explained.
- Repeated.
- Affecting delivery.
- Affecting the relationship.
- Creating retention risk.
3. Keep the client Green or Green/Monitor when the issue is isolated and does not affect service.
4. Consider Yellow when multiple risk indicators begin occurring together.
5. Example:
Remain Green
- Missed meeting.
- Responded by Slack.
- Approved deliverables.
- Work continued.
- No complaint.
- No service impact.
6. Example:
Move to Yellow
- Missed two expected meetings.
- Responses becoming limited.
- Three approvals outstanding.
- Utilization decreasing.
- Work beginning to stall.
7. Example:
Move to Red
- Repeated outreach unanswered.
- Required information unavailable.
- Work substantially blocked.
- Client cannot be reached or has expressed cancellation/dissatisfaction.
8. Use the overall account condition rather than automatically applying a status based on a single trigger.
## â“« STEP 11 | Document Meeting and Communication Status
1. Include the client's communication status in the weekly client health review.
2. Record:
- Preferred Meeting Cadence.
- Meeting Expected This Week: Yes/No.
- Meeting Held: Yes/No/Not Required.
- Client Responsive: Yes/No/Limited.
- Primary Communication Channel.
- Approvals Current: Yes/No.
- Work Progressing: Yes/No.
- Client-Caused Blocker: Yes/No.
- Health Impact: None/Monitor/Yellow/Red.
3. Use the following example when no meeting was required:
Meeting / Communication Status
- Cadence: Monthly
- Meeting Expected This Week: No
- Client Responsive: Yes
- Work Progressing: Yes
- Health Impact: None
4. Use the following example when a meeting was missed but the account remains healthy:
Meeting / Communication Status
- Cadence: Weekly
- Meeting Expected: Yes
- Meeting Held: No
- Client Responsive Outside Meeting: Yes
- Work Progressing: Yes
- Approvals Current: Yes
- Health Impact: None
- Status: Green
## ⓬ STEP 12 | Complete the Weekly Client Health Rating
1. Review all available weekly evidence before assigning the health status.
2. Assign:
- 🟢 GREEN — Healthy / On Track
- 🟢 GREEN/MONITOR — Healthy With Item to Watch
- 🟡 YELLOW — Developing Risk / Management Attention Required
- 🔴 RED — Significant Risk / Immediate Intervention Required
3. Provide the reason for every Yellow or Red classification.
4. Do not assign Yellow or Red without supporting evidence.
5. Do not automatically downgrade a client because there was no client meeting that week.
6. Do not automatically downgrade a client because they missed one or two meetings while remaining responsive and engaged.
7. Give greater weight to:
- Client responsiveness.
- Work progression.
- Approval flow.
- Value delivered.
- Client satisfaction.
- Operational impact.
- Retention indicators.
8. Give meeting attendance weight only when missed meetings are part of a larger pattern of disengagement.
9. Review all unsupported or questionable health changes before publishing the weekly operations report.
10. Use the verified client health status in the final Weekly Standup & Client Health Snapshot.