T0 clients do not have assigned account managers, and all members of the team can volunteer to take on any escalations. In most cases T0 clients should be directed to compass or self-help initiatives, and communication completed by the support agent contacted. Below are examples of topics that should be escalated, investigated, or never escalated to the SBAM team.

Escalate

These topics can be immediately escalated to the team.

• Sophi or TRK questions/issues
• Removing or greatly reduce online inventory
  • If you are actively communicating with the client, please ask: “Are you closing your business or no longer operating?” to pass this information to AM
• Escalated clients
• Clients considering leaving FareHarbor for competitors
• Client has specifically asked to be compensated for lost bookings. Please feel free to adapt the following verbiage to communicate to client:
  • “I apologize for the frustration here and we’ll certainly do everything we can to get the dashboard working properly for you. Any compensation-related inquiries will need to be discussed with the Account Management team. Matters like this may require some research and investigation on our end to understand exactly what happened. I will have the Account Management team reach out to you to continue this conversation.”

Investigate

These topics may need more consideration before escalating to the team.

• Troubleshooting analytics
  • Troubleshooting: confirm what steps they have taken, there may be a help doc to review as an appropriate first step. If they have already reviewed the help doc, then you can escalate to the team for further assistance.
    • Did the client follow the help doc to setup the integration?
      • Google analytics setup
      • Facebook Pixel setup
    • Are they asking why their reports do not match? Review this help page to explain why they won’t match but also make sure they are looking at the right report
    • Asking to track google ads?
• Asking for their AM
  • Ask further questions and try to help them yourself: “What is this regarding?” or “Can you tell me a bit about what’s going on?”
  • If they’re reluctant, remind them support is the quickest way to resolve a question/issue, AMs aim to reach out within 1 or 2 business days of being looped in
  • If the client asks specifically why they no longer have a single AM, let them know our AM team has improved the way we manage their account. We now take a team based approach which allows them to work with a different AM when needed. This benefits our clients because you get a different set of eyes on your account when working with our AM department.
• New dashboard request:
  • Check if the following will be different from their current dash for their new venture:
    • Logo
    • Contact information (site, phone number, email)
    • Legal entity/tax ID/EIN
  • If any of the above will be different for the new business, please do not promise anything and simply let the client know you will be escalating this to the Account Management team for review.
  • If these will be the same, we do not need a new dashboard. Try to gain a better understanding of their operational needs, perhaps we need to add a new location or new items.
  • If the client does not need a new dashboard but continues to request one after you have explained their options, escalate.
• Changing their business name
  • We will not change shortnames for T0 clients
  • You may update the following for the client:
    • ‘Stripe statement text’ in payments advanced settings
    • ‘Company name’ in general advanced settings
    • If this is a legal business name change, submit ticket to PayOps with SN, old company name, and new company name
  • After these steps have been completed, submit an escalation for AM to update business information in close (include old business name and new business name)

Do Not Escalate

These topics should not be escalated to the team and can be fully handled by the support agent, this is not an exhaustive list but is here to provide more direction on common questions that occur.

• Adding analytics integrations:
  • Google Universal Analytics/UA codes: Support agents may add the UA code provided to the client’s dash.
    • Settings > Analytics and Tracking > Add analytics service > enter UA code and ‘create’ (more info here)
    • Email the client instructions to finalize the setup by enabling ecommerce tracking and adding fareharbor and their own domain in referral exclusions (step 5&6 on this page)
  • Asking about GA4:
    • We are working on the integration now, stay tuned!
    • We have until July 2023 with Universal Analytics
• Asking for SEO help:
  • Direct to compass, these articles may be a good resource:
    • Getting Started with SEO (5 minute video)
    • What Is SEO & How Can It Help My Business?
    • The Importance of Local SEO
    • Understand Your Competition: Conducting SEO Competitor Analysis Is Easier Than You Think
    • Ultimate SEO Series Part 1: On-Page SEO
• Asking for suggestions on growing their business/getting more customers/making more money:
  • Direct to compass, these articles may be a good resource:
    • Checklist: Improve your Online Presence and Expand your Reach
    • Beyond the Basics: Stand out in a competitive market
    • Spark: Keep it simple
    • Spark: Supercharge conversions with website optimization
• Asking for optimization suggestions on their non-FHS website:
  • Direct to compass, these articles may be a good resource:
    • Spark: Supercharge conversions with website optimization
    • 8 Elements of a Website That Ranks & Converts
    • How Long Does It Take for a Site to Rank?
    • Website Optimization Fundamentals: Getting Started (6 minute video)
    • Making a Good First Impression: Creating a Highly Converting Homepage
    • 8 Ways to Reduce Your Website’s Bounce Rate
• Change of Ownership requested
  • We need the previous/old owner to fill in a form to initiate the change
  • Help page here
  • Form for client here
• The client would like us to build them a site:
  • Tier 0s are not eligible for FareHarbor websites. You can let them know we are not taking requests at the moment, but you can send some articles to help optimize their current site in the meantime:
    • Compass articles:
      • Spark: Supercharge conversions with website optimization
      • 8 Elements of a Website That Ranks & Converts
      • How Long Does It Take for a Site to Rank?
      • Website Optimization Fundamentals: Getting Started (6 minute video)
      • Making a Good First Impression: Creating a Highly Converting Homepage
      • 8 Ways to Reduce Your Website’s Bounce Rate
• Asking for site updates and are live on a FareHarbor website:
  • They can request website changes with you to pass on to the sites team
  • If they have questions about site changes such as best practices, consider escalating
• Absorbing or disputing FH booking fees
  • We do not recommend this for any clients, some responses you can provide to the client are:
    • We do not allow our clients to absorb the booking fee as it degrades our mutually beneficial partnership and causes unnecessary cost to your business
    • We know our structure works, we have over 17,000 clients globally who succeed with this structure including million dollar companies and companies whose booking fees exceed $100.
    • If you are receiving calls from customers asking about the booking fees, we understand this happens, and encourage you to offer them a ‘discount’ to book directly with you on the phone to make the sale.
    • I understand you may be looking for ways to increase your revenue, and encourage you to review some best practices for online sales to ensure you’re creating a welcoming online booking environment for your customers:
      • Website UX Checklist
      • SEO Checklist
      • Keep it simple

How to Escalate T0 Clients

• Identify if the ticket should be escalated to an AM using the section above.
• Post the escalation in the #account-management Slack room. Click the lightning bolt to the left of the text box. Select ‘SBAM Team Escalation’ and follow all prompts.
• Escalate to AM if client is requesting to pass CC fees to online bookers/customers

Client is:

• Expressing extreme remarks of unsatisfactory levels of service from any team.
• Specifically looking to speak with their AM
• Removing or greatly reducing online inventory (set items to Call to book)
• Seeking help with website/flow changes that will impact conversions/BF*
• Seeking more information on the FH Site program
• Urgent FHS Call
• Seeking help with SEO Strategy*
• Seeking help with Google Analytics setup or tracking*
• Seeking help with Facebook Pixels*
• Seeking help with Google Ads or PPC*
• Looking into other booking softwares
• Seeking information about or resolving an issue about Sophi or TRK
• Adding/Requesting a New Dashboard (Live Clients)
  • All Tiers – Escalate to AMs.
  • Please do not promise anything and simply let the client know you will be escalating this to the Account Management team for review.
• Change of ownership
  • For change of ownership for English speaking clients, Support emails the Change of Ownership form to the client and simply lets the AM know this is occurring in the account-management channel
  • For non-English speaking clients Support escalates the change of ownership to the AM to help the client fill out the form (the form is only in English).
• Requesting to absorb the booking fee
• Requesting to add deposits
  • Please confirm the setup with the AM before you proceed and implement this feature.
• Requesting to disconnect from all APIs
• Troubleshooting Custom Reports (from BI)
• Client has specifically asked to be compensated for lost bookings. Please feel free to adapt the following verbiage to communicate to client:
  • “I apologize for the frustration here and we’ll certainly do everything we can to get the dashboard working properly for you. Any compensation-related inquiries will need to be discussed with the Account Management team. Matters like this may require some research and investigation on our end to understand exactly what happened. I will have the Account Management team reach out to you to continue this conversation.”
• Escalate to AM if client is requesting to pass CC fees to online bookers/customers
• Other (describe below)

How to escalate

Support:

Identify if the ticket should be escalated to an AM using the sections above.

Post the escalation in the #account-management Slack room. Click the lightning bolt to the left of the text box. Select the correct form:

• Support > AM
  • Account Manager name
  • Shortname
  • ZD ticket
  • Escalation Category
  • Explanation and other notes if applicable
• SBAM Team, Mid-Market, LATAM Team Team Escalation (for any client whose assigned AM is SBAM, Mid-Market, or LATAM)
  • Shortname
  • ZD ticket
  • Escalation Category
  • Explanation and other notes if applicable
• Escalation without AM (very rare, please use team escalations if the account manager is assigned to a team)
  • This will automatically tag @account-ops
  • ZD ticket
  • Escalation Category
  • Explanation and other notes if applicable

Sales:

1. AE forwards ticket or email to Support.
2. If client is threatening to leave, let your manager know, who will loop in the necessary AM accordingly.

• Former client shortnames will read ‘-closed’ at the end. Account Management handles live client functions, with very few exceptions!
• If the client…
  • Wants to return to FareHarbor and reopen dashboard
    • T0 – T3: Submit this Sales Request to Support Form to send request directly to Sales
    • T4/ T5: Escalate to AM
  • Is requesting access to historical dashboard reports
    • Escalate to AM using ‘Offboarding Related’ Escalation Category

For how to handle NORAM SBAM pool escalations, please see this help page.

If you are unsure if you should escalate, you can always reach out to your managers, leads, or the assigned AM directly to discuss further.