I got a great question from someone who watched this Pulse session I presented on Not Just a Check-in! Key Elements to a Strategic Cadence Call and wanted to relay that here and my answer. Please add other suggestions here on tactics you have tried!

This question was: How you would approach a situation where after confirming the customer attendance and sharing a short agenda a couple days ahead you get no input from the customer? Example - we show up to the call, I can tell the customer is not talking much, doesn't want to share much and the conversation is not benefiting either party. 

First of this this person is doing a LOT right (prepping on their end, sending an agenda, asking for input ) and even more important being introspective enough to realize the call is not beneficial, so they are reflecting on the quality of the call. Now…..what to do next?

As scary as this sounds calling it out directly is what is needed, however this needs to be done carefully. I would recommend giving this feedback in a one on one setting, not in a group. If you have 5 mins left at the end of the call ask the main person to stay on just with you or reach out individually. I usually frame this with it being more self reflective "I always want to get feedback and pivot as needed on our format on these calls to make sure everyone is getting the most value. I have noticed that when we have prep for the call or when I ask for your feedback on topics I do not get a response sometimes this means the call time is not good for you, we don't have the right stakeholders or even my agenda is not hitting the right points for your team. This time really is for you so I wanted to ask for your feedback on how you think we can use the time more effectively together to make progress on X, Y and Z."

Now if that does not work or you try and get nothing, I have even called it out directly to the Exec Sponsor/Decision Maker on the account (the person who chose to buy your solution and will decide whether or not to renew) usually again in a one on one setting and sometimes have a leader from my team deliver this feedback in a peer conversation that you are not making progress on goals and want to learn on how to align more effectively with their team. Always bring it back to WHY they bought your solution in the first place.

If even that has no effect, I have directly brought it up on EBRs as a blocker to our success. If you have to bring it up on an EBR, note this should definitely have been flagged  as an at risk account long before the EBR.