Your Stakeholder Cancelled
Make Sure Your Agenda Keeps the Senior Stakeholder in the Room
I bet this has happened to you: you’ve invested hours into preparing a business review, only for the senior stakeholder to cancel at the last minute. All that effort, gone.
I know this has happened to me, and it feels like a punch in the stomach. “What could be more important than our meeting?” you might ask. Well, if they cancelled, the answer is probably: plenty.
The reality is, your agenda wasn’t important to them. There was nothing on it they were eager to comment on or debate. And while you can still salvage a productive conversation with the attendees who remain, the absence of the senior stakeholder hurts. They’re often the decision-maker or the budget holder, the person whose buy-in can keep your account healthy and growing. Getting face time with them is critical to showing how much value your work has delivered.
How to Prevent This From Happening
If you’ve been following my work, you’ll know I firmly believe that the job of Customer Success is to demonstrate value; not just to chart logins, count feature usage, or send NPS surveys. Our real work is showing that our solution removes the problem they contracted us to solve.
To keep your senior stakeholder in the room, you need to make sure your agenda is directly tied to what they care about. This is where your Joint Success Plan comes in.
Four Steps to Keep Them Engaged:
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Start with Their Priorities, Not Yours
Review your Joint Success Plan before you build your agenda. Identify their top 1–3 priorities and make sure each one has a clear slot in the meeting.
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Link Every Topic to a Business Outcome
For each agenda item, be explicit: why does this matter to them? If it’s not linked to revenue, efficiency, risk reduction, or strategic goals, it’s probably not going to keep them interested.
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Highlight Decisions They’ll Need to Make
Senior stakeholders show up when their input is critical. Flag decision points clearly in your agenda — and make sure they know about them in advance.
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Send a Teaser in Advance
Don’t just send a meeting invite with “QBR” in the title. Share a short preview email that says:
“We’ll be reviewing how we delivered X% cost savings this quarter, and we’ll need your input on the next phase of the rollout.”
When your agenda reflects their priorities, your meeting shifts from your update to their opportunity, and that’s a hard thing to cancel.
Want the full playbook for aligning with senior stakeholders?
Your Joint Success Plan is just one pillar of my Success Alignment Model, which I teach in my new masterclass. Inside, you’ll learn how to connect every interaction to measurable business outcomes, run QBRs that senior stakeholders prioritise, and position yourself as a true strategic advisor.
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