Risk Assessment custom activity (previously known as “SUR”)
Last updated: March 27, 2025
A client “at-risk” could mean any of the following:
- FareHarbor has been unintegrated from the client’s website.
- The client has a competitor booking software on their website.
- The client has given verbal or written notice that they are terminating their use of FH.
- The client’s website is down.
- The client has expressed an issue that could potentially cause them to terminate their use of FH.
- The client has been unresponsive and no relationship has been established.
- The client is undergoing a temporary closure.
If you ever notice that a company is marked Live Customer in Close and is NOT live on their website (no FH software, competitor software, or the website is completely down), please:
- Notify the Account Manager immediately.
- Support, Channel Support, Connectivity, Payment Operations, Live Site Specialists (LSS) teams: Please use the applicable team workflow detailed in #account-management.
- All other teams:
- Task the AM in Close with a detailed Close note to accompany the task.
- If you do not have Close access, Slack the AM directly.
If a client leaves or threatens to leave FareHarbor but remains in business, it is our intention to win them back and/or ensure their (temporary) transition is seamless.
Account Manager process
The Risk Assessment custom activity is used to log the perceived risk of a current FareHarbor client or Dashboard, as well as the reason we could potentially lose this client or Dashboard. Only Account Managers can submit this custom activity.
Risk score levels and examples
0 – No Risk
(Note: Never start the process with this score, as it is used to remove the client from any risk level.)
- 1 – Low Risk
- 2 – Medium Risk
- 3 – High Risk
- 4 – Immediate Risk – FareHarbor is unintegrated
Examples
1 (Low Risk) – 2 (Medium Risk) Use your best judgement depending on the scenario if the retention risk is serious enough to submit and if it should be marked as low or medium
- The client has mentioned they are unhappy about FH lacking a feature/functionality/partner.
- A temporary closure occurs. (risk level depends on the specific situation and current satisfaction with FH)
- There is no communication with the client and you feel dodged/engagement has majorly shifted with the POC
- The client has left a negative NPS score or posted complaints in the FH Community.
- The client is complaining about a negative experience with a FH service/team.
3 – High Risk
- The client says they are actively chatting with another competitor because of credit card rates.
- The client lets you know they will be moving to a different software at the end of their season. (No contracts have been signed, but they are investigating who they might work with.)
- The client says they have signed a contract with a new software, and asks that you begin the offboarding process (BUT FH IS STILL ON THE SITE)
Consider Risk 3 the highest risk BEFORE the client has unintegrated our software
4 – Immediate Risk
- You discover that a competitor is integrated on a client’s website.
- The client removes all FH integrations and states they are looking for a new software.
Risk Assessment Context
Back on FareHarbor
Only used when you are removing a client from Risk.
Client Escalated or Dissatisfied
It is against our terms of service to have a user in the Dashboard who works for a competitor. If such a user is found, they must be removed from the Dashboard and the client is at risk for churn.
Competitor email in Dashboard
It is against our terms of service to have a user in the Dashboard who works for a competitor. If such a user is found, they must be removed from the Dashboard and the client is at risk for churn.
Competitor integrated on website
Competitor software has been integrated on the client’s website.
Client requested to leave
A client has announced their plan to move on from our software.
Potential Inactive Dashboard
The client has stopped using FareHarbor, and we’ve discovered they do not have availabilities built out.
If there has been no update from the client after a year has passed since the last availability, the client can be eligible for offboarding.
Removed or Greatly Reduced Inventory
It is a red flag when a client suddenly removes items or availabilities, or adjusts all statuses to no longer be bookable online.
Unable to make contact
A client’s POCs are unreachable.
Although not all occurrences of non-communication indicate risk, a contact that has gone silent after consistent work could indicate a potential departure from FareHarbor.
Talking to competitor(s)
A client has indicated that they are working with a competitor.
Unintegrated FareHarbor
FareHarbor has been removed from the client’s website and no other software has been added.
Website Down
The website is down/showing an error and is not loading.
Risk Assessment Reasons
Dashboard functionality
A feature’s current functionality is lacking for the client, or they are missing Dashboard features.
Booking fee
The client has concerns that are directly related to the booking fee payment structure.
Direct Booking fee
The client has concerns that are directly related to the backend booking fee.
API fee
The client has concerns that arise from API connection-related fees.
Credit card rate
The risk is related to the current or updated credit card rate (if it has changed).
Payment processor issues
The risk is related to issues with Stripe or PayPal operations.
Examples include: payout schedule, refunds, or the inability to operate or verify accounts in specific regions.
Disputes
A client is at risk because of credit card disputes from end users.
FareHarbor service issues
A client has voiced concern about the service provided by any of the CX-facing teams.
Integrations
There are issues related to connections between FH and third-party softwares for accounting, sales, etc. The issue could be from a weak connection or a lack of connection at all.
Dashboard too difficult to use
A client is unable to operate the Dashboard and is at risk of churning as a result.
Animal welfare policy
We have a continuously-developing animal welfare policy. Clients who are potentially in breach of this policy may have to be offboarded.
Temporary closure – external
There is a temporary closure caused by a factor such as climate, weather, natural disaster, water level, or disease.
Temporary closure – internal
There is a temporary closure caused by a factor such as business or operational restructuring, a construction closure, a permit or licensing issue, or an ownership dispute.
Violating Terms of Service
This risk score reason can only be used with manager approval.
FareHarbor may choose to suspend business with a client based on issues that occur with the client and their interactions with our teams.
Unknown
If you feel there is a situation where a client is at risk for an unknown reason, please reach out to Account Ops to discuss. Use this option before proceeding.
Business Ended
When to use this Risk Reason:
If there’s any chance the business could keep running (i.e. they may sell the business or they are not 100% sure they are fully shutting down). OR you noticed via their site or another source that they are ending the business but haven’t confirmed it yet with the client.
When to simply offboard (no need to submit Risk):
The company is simply going out of business, we have confirmed this, and there is no chance of selling the business or any other way they could stay live.
Fareharbor Site Pricing
Step-by-step risk assessment process
Submit the Risk Assessment SUR Update custom activity after your first call, regardless of whether you make contact or not.
If you did not discover the risk personally and haven’t spoken directly to the client about their concerns or the status of their account, follow the SLA requirements below and call the client within these timeframes:
- Tier 5: Same day (ASAP)
- Tier 4: Same day (ASAP)
- Tier 3: 24 hours
- Tier 2: 48 hours
- Tier 1: 72 hours
- Tier 0: At will
- Communication minimums:
- Every 7-30 days, you will get a task that reads “Please Don’t Forget to Leave Risk Assessment Custom Activity”.
- Risk levels 3 and 4 stay in touch with the client as much as possible, with a minimum of once per week.
- The minimum communication rate for Risk levels 1 and 2 will be dependent upon each specific situation.
- Consider offboarding or leaving notes and updates if you feel more time is necessary after three weeks.
- If the client will not be returning to FareHarbor, follow the offboarding instructions.
- If the client decides to come back to FareHarbor is completely reintegrated and live, please submit another Risk Assessment with a Risk Score “0 – No Risk”.
Account Managers process – NORAM Small Business and EMEA Tier 0-1
When an account in this category receives a risk assessment score, please follow this decision tree while deciding whether to auto-offboard or win the client back.
If you’re trying to win the client back, follow the steps outlined above.
If you are auto-offboarding, follow the normal offboarding procedures detailed here.
Temporary closure – detailed process
What is it?
AMs should select one of the two temporary closure risk reasons when a business has to be shut down for an extended period of time, as this causes a pause in all bookable activities.
For temporary closure risk, complete the following steps:
- Select the applicable Risk level (typically 1-3).
- Select from the Temporary Closure reasons.
- Temporary Closure – Internal
- Business or Operational Restructuring
- Construction Closure
- Permit/Licensing Issues
- Ownership Disputes
- Temporary Closure – External
- Climate/Weather/Natural Disasters
- Water levels
- Disease/Human
- Temporary Closure – Internal
- If the website is temporarily down due to the closure, include this risk reason as well.
- Choose an Anticipated Reopen Date.
NOTE: The Anticipated Reopen Date field should only be used when temporary closure is part of the risk assessment.
- Resubmit a Risk Assessment CA every 60 days that includes an updated reopen date and notes, if applicable.
- To end the process, exit the Risk Assessment CA and set the risk score to 0.
Do not put a client into the Temporary Closure status if the client is very seasonal and removes their offerings from the site during their off-season.
We should always encourage clients to keep their integrations live, sell gift cards and other retail items, and get their calendars set up for the next season as soon as possible. However, if this is not something a client is willing to do and insists on removing integrations, please add “NOT AT-RISK – SEASONAL” in the Lead Description (see the screenshot below). This prevents accounts from having an incorrect risk score.
Next steps & communication during a temporary closure
- The Temp Closure CCA will ask for the anticipated reopening date, closure type, and a short summary that explains the situation.
After the initial CCA is created, the AM will be tasked to re-submit a Risk Assessment Update in Close every 60 days.
- The minimum expectation for AMs will be to call the client every 60 days.
- The account will not be down-tiered or move AMs during this time.
- You will receive a task reminding you to check in 30 days before the reopening date.
- If the company is reopening and has reintegrated FareHarbor, submit a new Risk Assessment with a risk score of “0 – No Risk”.
- If the timeline or plans have changed, offboard the company at your discretion.
Business strategies during a temporary closure
Even if operations are halted, there are still opportunities to explore new revenue streams. At a minimum, temporary closures are a great time to look at Dashboard improvements, website optimizations, and building local relationships.
Actions to consider:
- Business reviews
- Local engagement: Encourage clients to reach out and begin developing relationships with potential resellers.
- Continuing and/or expanding social media presence
- Building out blogs
- Supplemental revenue generation
- FHDN or reselling
- Gift cards
- Donations
- Retail Items
Additional offerings: Some clients, especially boat companies or marinas, may have the resources to purchase other supplemental equipment (such as kayaks and SUPs) to rent out if boats are being repaired.
Please Note: Once a client has new bookable activities online, this is no longer temporary closure.
When to offboard vs. using the Temporary Risk Assessment CCA
If a client anticipates reopening more than a year from now, please proceed with offboarding the account.
Potential client questions and pushback
Why do you need to pause my dashboard?
We have an entire team at FareHarbor dedicated to the go-live process. With our commitment to increase product innovation, we want to make sure that your dashboard is updated and streamlined with any new functionality before sending you live again. This will set both your business and our internal teams up for success when you are ready to begin operating again!
Why does it say closed in my new shortname?
This is our way of knowing that a dashboard is not currently in use. All inactive FH dashboards use “-closed” to prevent miscommunications internally.
Suggested Language/Approach
- There is a temporary closure email template in Close for this kind of circumstance. Please use it! (AM – 1+ Year Temporary Closure Offboard)
- Avoid using the terms “closing”, “offboarding”, “archiving”, etc.
- “We are going to temporarily pause your account.”
- “You will not lose access to your dashboard for reporting and refunds.” (For these offboards, we will NOT deactivate the primary users after 90 days.)
Ensure that the client understands the process for reopening their Dashboard when they are ready to return. (For example, working with an AE and OB to ensure best practices are in place, availabilities are built out, re-training is completed and any new product updates are being utilized.)
“We have an entire team at FareHarbor dedicated to the go-live process. With our commitment to increase product innovation, we want to make sure that your dashboard is updated and streamlined with any new functionality before sending you live again. This will set both your business and our internal teams up for success when you are ready to begin operating once more!”
Removing clients from temporary closure
A client must have activities or tours bookable online. This does NOT include supplemental income via gift cards, retail items, or donations. We do not consider the business open until availability for their tours or activities is bookable.
Submit the Risk Assessment Close custom activity with a Risk Score “0 – No Risk” when the client’s business is open and fully active again.
Removing Accounts From Risk
Risk 4 – IMPORTANT FIRST STEP: Submit the Existing Dashboard Integrated Close Custom Activity (NOT needed to remove a client from Risk 1-3)
ALL RISK LEVELS: Submit the Risk Assessment Close custom activity with a Risk Score “0 – No Risk” when the client’s business is open and fully active again.
BOTH must be completed for Risk 4 to be cleared