Hi
There's an account I haven't called in months. I know it. I've been meaning to. Life gets busy, the loud ones take over, and the quiet ones just... wait.
I've told myself it's fine. No complaints, no red flags, no news is good news. I've crossed my fingers and moved on to the next thing (usually a raging inbox). I'm guessing you've done the same.
Here's the thing.. I don't think that makes us bad account managers. It makes us human. None of us ever dropped the ball on purpose. We're busy. Really busy.
The problem isn't that we let some accounts go quiet. In fact, I encourage it! The problem is we don't always choose which ones.
So leave the guilt behind — and stop pretending the silence means everything's fine.
POV: It's not ghosting if you're both doing it.
Every portfolio drifts. Yours included.
Your problem, and mine, isn't that you're ignoring accounts. It's that you're not managing the contact: what you'll say, when you'll say it, what comes next. Instead of planning, you're settling. The loud accounts pull more, the quiet ones get less, and nobody actually chose any of it.
Your contact plan sorted itself while you were busy with everything else. You're on top of things, sure — the things you know about. But what are you missing?
What this looks like in a real portfolio
The pattern is recognisable once you know what you're looking for:
An active account that finished its project six months ago but still gets weekly calls, because the rhythm never changed and nobody questioned it.
A solid mid-tier account, consistent revenue, no complaints.. that you've checked in with twice this year because there was always something more urgent.
A dormant account you haven't contacted in so long that you've started feeling awkward about reaching out, which makes you less likely to reach out, which makes the gap longer.
A client you genuinely don't like calling, whose emails you open and come back to later, until later becomes never.
What every one of these has in common: no decision was made. It assembled itself. None of this is a character flaw. You can't run every account at full intensity — the hours don't exist and some accounts don't need it. The problem isn't the shape itself. It's that it formed without you.
What the imbalance actually costs you
The cost isn't always a lost account. It's usually something quieter — and in some ways more corrosive.
With your active accounts
You're likely over-invested. You're responding faster than you need to, doing work that should sit with the client, and somewhere along the way you trained them to expect it. That's not their fault. It's just what happens when there are no boundaries. The cost is your time. Hours that could go to accounts that actually need a nudge, spent instead on ones that have learned to take whatever you offer.
With your steady accounts
The risk isn't that they're heading for the door. Most of them aren't. The risk is that you're flying blind. A new stakeholder joins and you don't know. A budget cycle shifts and you're not in that conversation. A small problem surfaces internally and nobody thinks to tell you because you haven't asked lately. These aren't alarm bells. They're just signals you're not picking up, and signals you miss early are harder to act on later. You find out when the renewal lands (or when it doesn't.)
With your dormant accounts
The honest answer is: some of them are fine. A client that spends nothing, needs nothing, and isn't going anywhere can stay dormant. That's a legitimate call. The problem is when you don't actually know which kind you're dealing with. The genuinely fine ones and the ones where something has quietly shifted — they look identical from the outside. The difference is whether someone checked.
What you think is a workload problem is really a contact planning problem.
Which account are you telling yourself is fine — because actually checking would mean admitting you already know it isn't?
What can you do about it?
Go through your accounts: every one your name is attached to — and assign each one a category: active, steady, or dormant.
For each one, ask yourself: did I choose this level of contact, or did it just happen?
Pick one account that needs to shift: decide what changes — more contact, less contact, a different channel, a clearer ask. Then block the time to do it.
The category doesn't matter as much as the decision. Intentional neglect is a strategy. Accidental neglect is a slow fuse. There's no wrong answer if you've made a conscious call.
Know someone struggling to keep in touch with their clients? Forward this — the template might just help them get back in control of their proactive outreach.
This Week’s Toolkit
Three picks this week to help you move from accidental to intentional — one to track your contacts, one to segment them, one to plan your re-engagement before you hit send.
Dex
I've used Dex for a while now, and the feature I keep coming back to is Keep in Touch — you set a cadence for each contact and it tells you when you're overdue, no chasing required. They've also added an AI co-pilot that helps you draft the message once it nudges you, which removes the "but what do I even say?" problem entirely.
Want to stop letting contacts drift? → Try Dex
Account Portfolio Analysis Cheat Sheet
I built this simple database in Notion to give you a structured way to quickly view current and future states of your client nurture, and capture any notes on your engagement plans. Also includes an automatic reminder the day before your next contact is due.
Ready to segment your portfolio? → Copy the template
Dormant Account Re-engagement Sequence
Five touchpoints, two channels, one clear ask per step. Use it as-is, or drop it into ChatGPT with your account details and let it draft the messages. No apologies, no "just checking in," no forwarding the same email twice.
Day 1 Email: Lead with a relevant insight or something specific to their business. Low-friction ask — 15 minutes, not a full QBR.
Day 3–4 Voicemail: Brief and warm. One genuine question you'd like answered.
Day 7 LinkedIn: Different channel, different angle. Reference something current — a post, a hire, a news item.
Day 10–12 Fresh email: New subject line, new take. Not a bump, not a forward. A second genuine attempt.
Day 14 Decision point: One final reach-out. If still no response, park it intentionally — set a reassess date and move on without guilt.
Ready to reach out? → Download the template
Hope this gave you some clarity on your portfolio — and a nudge to call the one you've been avoiding. And since we're on the subject of keeping in touch... keep in touch! I'd love to hear how you're doing.
See you next week.
Until then, stay Account Minded.
Warwick Brown
Founder, The KAM Club
Publisher, Account Minded
👋 Let’s connect on LinkedIn
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🎧 Want the Deeper Dive?
This week's podcast episode: It's OK to Ignore Your Clients. Here's Why. Most portfolios run on autopilot — reactive, loud-first, comfortable-first. This episode gives you a practical framework to manage active, maintenance, and dormant accounts with intention, not accident.