How Enterprise SaaS Companies Justify Investment in Customer Success
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Transcript of How Enterprise SaaS Companies Justify Investment in Customer Success
How to Justify Investment in Customer
Success
Cliff Cate, ToutApp
Nathan Williams, LinkedIn
Audrey Warren, Bazaarvoice
Nigel Nugent, Enviance
Audrey WarrenBazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice is the leading provider of solutions that allow retailers and brands to obtain and use shopper-generated content in their businesses to increase sales, build customer loyalty and increase profits.
Director, Client Programs
time
mat
urity
Sell, sell, sell
Oh my, we need to hire someone to “look after our
customers”
Hmmm… this is not sustainable
Hiring frenzy
Mad rush for technology solutions
Client segmentation
100% client retention. Return of the 40 hour
work week
Confidential and Proprietary. © 2012 Bazaarvoice, Inc. 4
Activities Outputs Outcomes Impact
Mea
sure
men
t
Easy Easy Challenging Essentially impossible
Confidential and Proprietary. © 2012 Bazaarvoice, Inc. 5
Create self-service onboarding materials
Clients engage with onboarding materials
Clients are able to quickly understand what they need to be successful
Key client contacts are more likely to become advocates for the program because they understand the value of the product and perceive the company as “easy to work with”
Account Managers spend less time on "the basics" and more time on strategic consulting.
Less client churn
Happier customers
Lower service costs
Measurement: Number of module completes Qualitative surveys & interviews Churn, NPS, service spend*
Activities Outputs Outcomes Impact
Cliff Cate
• Post signature - customer onboarding, support, training and renewals.
• Previously worked at GoodData, CaseCentral, Oracle, Stellent, Viant and Andersen Consulting.
VP, Customer Happiness & Success
ToutApp
ToutAppToutApp empowers sales and customer success teams by
streamlining email with powerful tracking, templates and real-
time scoring.
- 70,000 users
- Free trial to self service and traditional sales models
ToutApp Customer Happiness & Success Team • 4 Happiness Officers today, +3
immediately
• Everyone is currently a generalist and loosely mapped to Sales AEs
• Break down of activities• 30% On-boarding and training• 60% Inbound customer tickets• 10% Proactive outreach
• Continue to build an amazing team
• Renewal strategy and execution
• Scalable sales transition process
• Repeatable onboarding process
The Team Today Future Priorities
Justifying investment in customer success
• What metrics should you track?
• How can you plan or forecast the investment in customer success?
• How does company stage or product complexity affect the investment?
Questions to ask
Nigel NugentVP, Worldwide Sales &
Customer Success
• Leading SaaS-based Environmental Compliance System• Founded in 1999 – SaaS from the get-go• Fortune 500 client base – Utilities, Mining, Oil & Gas, Railroads• 30,000+ users in 40 countries• Personally responsible for all client-facing activities:
• Direct Sales• Existing Accounts• Inside Sales• Customer Success• Services• Sales Operations
Current Model
• 2 Managers with 5 reps
• 3 reactive – Phone
• Help desk
• Log cases
• Liaise with Dev and Sales
• 2 proactive – On the road
• Training
• Renewals and Upsell
‘To-be’ Model
• Accounts segmented into 3 divisions
1. Safe, low upsell opportunity (CS)
2. Identified upsell or @risk (EA)
3. Enterprise (DS)
• Focus on user adoption, pre and post sale
• All sales groups play a part
• Success snap-shots
• Client dashboards
Customer Success Team and Strategy
Transform from reactive to proactive
When should customer success activities start?
During presales with ISD and always as part of the introductory pitch - competitive advantage
SaaS / Cloud “old school”vs.
Traditional Perpetual Licensing
We rely on your subscription, therefore we have to care more!
It’s a flexible model; you can decrease use if needed
Small initial capital outlay Cancel if you are unhappy with our
performance….and other “uninspiring” reasons
SaaS / Cloud “old school”vs.
SaaS / Cloud “new order”
Focus on user adoption Real-time analytics Deep connection with client
implementation team Set adoption targets Quarterly success review Usage dashboards Executive interaction
vs.
Lessons learned?
Be active in the SaaS community and take time to seek out
new technologies, ideas and approaches
I should have done this three years ago!
Nate Williams
Global Head, Customer Success
Operations
Connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive
and successful
Our mission
For our members
The professional profile of record
Connect all of the world's professionals
Identity Networks KnowledgeThe definitive professional
publishing platform
For our customers
HirePower half of
all hires
MarketThe most effective way for
marketers to engage professionals
SellThe start of every sales opportunity
Customer Success Team
Expert Consultants Worldwide
40+Countries
8+Avg. Years of Talent Acquisition
Experience per Consultant
150+ 10,000+Consulting Customers
Where do our talent acquisition experts come from? Places like…
Customer Success
Be successful Feel successful• Product Usage• Product Success• Add-on/Upsell• ROI
• Net Promoter Score
• Customer Satisfaction
• SLA Delivery
Retention
Unhappy Achievers(Re-confirm customer objectives, evaluate non-product sentiment, affirm performance through objective benchmarking)
Model CustomersThey are successful and they know it.
Frustrated(Evaluate Product Mix, Initiate Discovery to re-define Customer goals)
Starry-Eyed(Motivate higher performance through objective benchmarking)
Are Successful?
Feel Successful?No
No Yes
Yes
Justifying Investment in Customer Success
• Define the role of the Customer Success Team v. Sales• Connect all the dots from usage/sentiment retention• Understand how leverage ratios change with growth• Invest in technology for productivity gains
• Don’t confuse access to data with technology*Bessemer Venture Partners “Ten Laws of Cloud Computing”
The most important part of Software-as-a-Service isn’t “Software” it’s “Service”#
8
The single biggest driver of long term profitability for your cloud business is the renewal rate of your customers.#
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