Customer Success Operations Summit 2016

1. Customer Success Ops Summit
January 2016

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15. Customer Success Operations
January 2016

16. Customer Success
Ops
The Rise of Customer Success Operations
VP Sales VP Services
VP Customer
Success
New Business Onboarding
Renewals &
Up-sell
Sales Ops Services Ops

17. Design & Manage Processes to Drive Metrics: Top-Line
Operational Financial
Renewal Rate
Upsell ARR
New Business ARR
Risks Resolved
NPS
“Green” Customers
Opportunities Identified
Advocates Created
Sponsor Changes Identified

18. 15 Cents of
Fully Loaded CSM Cost
per $1 of ARR
>
Accounts /
CSM
$ ARR /
Account
Salary + Overhead /
CSM
x
Pacific Crest Survey 2015 showed that median spend on renewals is $0.13 per $1 of ARR
…and Bottom-Line Metrics

19. Evidence of Impact on Metrics: Customers Saved
Source: Gainsight
CS Ops survey

20. Evidence of Impact on Metrics: Time Saved
Source: Gainsight
CS Ops survey

21. CS Ops is Critical for Transforming Your Team
Who is
accountable
Who gives
input
Description
Define your top
business challenges
VP of Customer
Success
Design your
processes
CS Operations
Manager
Manage through
change in team’s
workflow
Director of CS
CSMs, Directors, VP CSMs, Ops, VP
CEO, board, other
execs, own team
Adopt new processes
& offer feedback
CSMs
Directors, Ops
DEFINE DESIGN CHANGE ADOPTStage
Transformation

22. CS Ops Role Is Analogous to Sales Ops
Responsibilities Sales Operations CS Operations
Data
Reporting • Share sales results and forecasts • Share renewals/upsell results, forecasts
Analysis • Analyze leading indicators for sales • Analyze leading indicators for renewals and upsell
Processes
Engagement process
• Determine timing and content of meetings to
optimize conversion
• Determine touchpoints for CSMs to drive adoption
and NPS
External communication • Coordinate with marketing • Manage 1:M communications
Risk management • Provide visibility to at-risk deals • Detect early warning signs for at-risk customers
Opp. identification • Identify top accounts • Identify top customers for upsell
X-functional coordination
• Coordinate processes across teams to help
meet sales objectives
• Coordinate processes across teams to help deliver
on customer needs
People
Team structure
• Manage AE territories, account segments
and forecast hiring needs
• Tier customers, assign to CSMs, re-distribute load
and forecast hiring
Compensation • Determine structure and quotas • Determine metrics and targets
Enablement • Create collateral and data for AEs • Provide collateral and data for CSMs
Systems Technology • Implement and manage tools for sales • Implement and manage tools for CSMs

23. Example 1: Manage Customer Lifecycle
CSM Touch
(Automated
CTAs)
Tech Touch
(CoPilot)
New Customer Onboarding Adoption
Seasoned
Customer
1:many
welcome email
1:many emails
boosting
adoption +
best practices
1:many nurture
(e.g. product
releases)
1:many email
with project
plan + training
content
Schedule kick-
off call and send
gift basket
EBR every X
months
(depends on
the segment)
Detailed
playbook 90
days before
renewal
Schedule
check-in +
trainings with
customer

24. Example 2: Identify Customer Risk
Support Company Sentiment Habits
Exec
Owner
Director of Support VP Customer Success VP Customer Success VP Customer Success
Definition
What volume of open
support tickets does the
customer have, and
what’s their priority and
duration?
Is there a change at the
company that will affect
the customer’s use of
Gainsight?
Is the customer generally
happy? (e.g. NPS)
Is the customer using our
product in a significant,
sticky way?
Readiness Implementation Product Bugs
Exec
Owner
VP Sales VP Services VP Product VP Engineering
Definition
Was the customer
ready to purchase
Gainsight?
Is the implementation
project plan on track?
Does the customer require
a product enhancement?
Does the customer have a
high volume / priority of
bugs open?
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8

25. Example 2: Identify Customer Risk

26. Source: Gainsight CS Ops survey
CS Ops Function is Expanding

27. Hiring Criteria
• Passion for designing processes that scale
• Ability to break down ambiguous problems into concrete, manageable components and
think through optimal solutions
• Enjoys “getting their hands dirty” by digging into complex operations
• Takes high degree of ownership over their work
• Clear communicator with professional presence
• Strong listening skills; open to input from other team members and departments
• Ability to lead through influence

28. 5 Survey Takeaways
1. First Ops hire at ~5 CSMs
2. 3 most frequent responsibilities:
• Customer Success Enablement: processes and tools
• Strategy: segmentation, customer lifecycle mapping, engagement models
• Reporting and Metrics: board decks, operational views, insights for CSMs
3. Most backgrounds are in Sales Ops or CSM
4. Focus on change management
5. Lack of industry benchmarking

29. Why When