The most successful Enterprise SaaS companies know that growing revenue only through new customer acquisition is the less efficient way to scale. Rather, they understand that growing revenue within your existing customer base - through up-sells, cross-sells, and expanded use - is the most profitable way to scale.
In fact, Enterprise SaaS companies that grow revenue - and company valuation - by expanding revenue within their existing customer base also know the key to making this work is to focus on - and operationalize - Customer Success.
This presentation - How Enterprise SaaS Companies Justify Investment in Customer Success - is from Pulse 2014, the biggest Customer Success industry event ever and included panelists from Bazaarvoice, ToutApp, Enviance, LinkedIn
How Enterprise SaaS Companies Justify Investment in Customer Success
1. How to Justify Investment in
Customer Success
Cliff Cate, ToutApp
Nathan Williams, LinkedInAudrey Warren, Bazaarvoice
Nigel Nugent, Enviance
2. Audrey Warren
Bazaarvoice
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
3. time
maturity
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
6. 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
7. ToutApp
ToutApp 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. Nigel Nugent
VP, 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
11. 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
12. 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.
13. 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!
15. Connect the world’s professionals to
make them more productive and
successful
Our mission
16. For our members
The professional profile
of record
Connect all of the world's
professionals
Identity Networks Knowledge
The definitive professional
publishing platform
17. For our customers
Hire
Power half of
all hires
Market
The most effective way for
marketers to engage professionals
Sell
The start of every sales
opportunity
18. 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…
19. Customer Success
Be successful Feel successful
• Product Usage
• Product Success
• Add-on/Upsell
• ROI
• Net Promoter Score
• Customer
Satisfaction
• SLA Delivery
Retention
20. Unhappy Achievers
(Re-confirm customer
objectives, evaluate non-
product sentiment, affirm
performance through objective
benchmarking)
Model Customers
They 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
21. 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.
#5
LNKD Learning
We also provide the tools that allow you to translate this user-generated content into actionable insights that drive improvements in marketing, sales, customer service, and product development. We then syndicate that content across the web and through the channel to reach shoppers
We also provide the tools that allow you to translate this user-generated content into actionable insights that drive improvements in marketing, sales, customer service, and product development. We then syndicate that content across the web and through the channel to reach shoppers