Meet a Member: Ryen Salo

JUST THE FACTS

• Name: Ryen Salo
• Title: Client Experience Manager
• Years of Experience: 12 in Client Experience (2 in accounting, 10 at ClearlyRated)
• College Name & Degree(s): George Fox University, Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Leadership & Management
• Firm Name: Cherry Bekaert Advisory, LLC
• Firm City & State: Works remotely in Portland, OR
• Firm Size: 2,500+ employees
• Email Address: [email protected]
• Professional Memberships: Association for Accounting Growth, Women of Customer Success, The Old Girls Club
• Community Involvement: PTA President at John Wetten Elementary, where her 2^nd grader attends, Field Team Outreach Volunteer for “Save Gladstone Schools” initiative
• Twitter Handle: I don’t have Twitter, or any social media apart from LinkedIn! Fun fact 😊
• LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryen-salo/

 

Describe your role as Client Experience (CX) Manager at Cherry Bekaert.

Along with my counterpart, Chuck Summers, Director of Client Experience, I am responsible for our Voice of the Customer program, assisting with client onboarding, and client relationship management.

CX is part of the Marketing and Growth team, and it’s a firmwide initiative, so we are communicating across all teams in the organization.

Cherry Bekaert’s clients are typically mid-market and include individual 1040s, financial service clients, government contracting, nonprofits, private equity, risk management—you name it. Cherry Bekaert is well-versed in all of these areas, and it’s been fun to learn more about them.

Before entering the accounting profession about two years ago, I worked at ClearlyRated, a SaaS company that helps professional service firms measure their client experience, for ten years. It’s been fun to transition from software and tech to professional services. Now, I’m on the front lines of how we move forward with client experience, so I really enjoy it.

How big is the Client Experience team at Cherry Bekaert?

There are two of us, Chuck Summers and me. We are in constant communication, meeting multiple times per week to go over everything on our to-do list and check in on our various project timelines. Our favorite thing to ask ourselves is, what is almost possible?

How did you get into Client Experience?

I’ve been doing this work all my life. Before I started at Cherry Bekaert and ClearlyRated, I worked in customer service and customer success.

I’m drawn to it because I love helping people. I love making a client’s day brighter or better. When I started at ClearlyRated, the employee handbook said something like “as an employee of this company, you have up to $100 a day to make a client’s day” – no questions asked. I always loved that!

CX demands great listening and communication skills. One of my favorite sayings is, “Clear is kind.” Curiosity helps too. I’m naturally curious, and I want to get to the bottom of things. I want to know why.

In CX, it’s important not to shy away from client feedback or difficult conversations. Those who work closely with clients need to approach concerns with humility, listen carefully, and be willing to say, “I hear what you’re telling me. Let’s take a closer look and work through it together.”

What is the biggest project that you’re working on?

We’re in the process of creating something called Client 360. It’s a relationship health dashboard that gives us a holistic view of our clients’ health. The dashboard, which lives in our CRM, our source-of-truth platform, includes a variety of data points such as links clients have clicked on, webinars they’ve attended, whether they open and answer emails, and more. The idea is that our client-facing staff will be able to view the dashboard and respond, for example, if a client’s satisfaction has dipped in a survey. It’s a client retention tool. I want our clients to truly value us, see us as trusted advisors and ultimately as an extension of their teams. This tool helps us do that, and it helps us utilize our data in a productive way.

Share a client experience tip:

Do not skip a client feedback initiative, whether it’s a survey, client interview or roundtable, webinar, don’t skip it! It will only hurt your firm more to not know what your clients are saying about you, even if it’s sometimes something that you don’t want to hear.

How do you encourage partners and staff to prioritize client experience?

True CX is not a start-and-stop endeavor. It’s not a project to be completed. It is an evolution. To reach partners and staff, you need to speak their language and demonstrate the value of CX. Emphasize the business case and build internal awareness and support because you can’t do it on your own. You need champions.

What is a must-know for new marketers working on client experience?

People often lump customer service, client experience, and customer success together—but they are separate things. CX is relational and spans the entire journey. It helps shape that consistent and intentional experience across all client-facing teams. Customer service is reactionary (think: calling Xfinity when you have a problem with your bill), and customer success is geared towards measurable milestones, things that are product-related, like adoption and renewal rates.

Also, AI has joined the chat when it comes to client experience. There are a lot of interesting conversations about how to keep client experience communications authentic in the age of AI, and I think we, as people who are in the business of relationships, have a unique ability to do that. AI is useful for certain tasks, but it’s not relational in the way that we, as humans, are relational.

Remember, the way a client feels about the firm is what matters most. That’s how we’re going to win and keep their business—if we’re treating them with kindness, empathy and respect and listening. It’s about being a trusted advisor. That’s what’s at the heart of client experience.

What books have you read recently that you feel would be beneficial to other AAM members?

1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins is all about the power we give other people and how two words, “let them,” can set us free. I’ve been actively practicing this on a daily basis since reading the book several months ago, and I can honestly say it’s helped!
2. Playful by Cas Holman. Holman is a designer, educator, and play expert who calls for adults to add more fun, exploration, and imagination to their lives. It reminded me that often I “play” without even realizing it, and what a gift it is!