Customer Success as a Growth Engine: Ideal Customers, Advocates, and Upsells

transcript

Customer Success as a Growth

Engine: Ideal Customers,

Advocates, and Upsells

Sales Hacker Conference SF

November 6, 2014

@lincolnmurphy

Customer Success = “Helping your customers achieve their desired outcome through the use of your product.”

“Enter the conversation already taking place in your customer’s mind.” – Robert Collier, c1937

Success = Their Desired Outcome

Right Message at the Right Time…

… but what about the right person?

IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE

ReadyWillingAbleSuccess PotentialAcquisition EfficiencyExpansion PotentialAdvocacy Potential

IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILERemember, Ideal

Customer is SituationalReadyWillingAbleSuccess PotentialAcquisition EfficiencyExpansion PotentialAdvocacy Potential

I already said that,but whatever.

The Proper Order…

1. Ideal Customer Profile

2. Persona Development

You can’t know what Marketing Channels, Pitch, Pricing, or Messaging to use until you are clear on your Ideal Customer Profile.

http://sixteenventures.com/saleshacker

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

1. Determine the Situation you’re Solving For

2. Get access to your Customer Data

3. Find the Customers that Match your Situational Criteria

4. Append Data for those customers (Demo, Tech, etc.)

5. Look for common / shared characteristics

6. Find new customers matching those characteristics

7. Profit!

METHODOLOGY

FIND YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL

CUSTOMERS... AND GO GET MORE

JUST LIKE THEM

• You could pull together:

• average Net Promoter Score (NPS) over time

• Sales cycle length

• Time to first value

• On-boarding/implementation milestones and timing

• Customer Support data

• Get your Account Managers to apply a “health” score – based

on their gut – to each of the customers they manage

• Gainsight makes this easy don’t be afraid to pitch

your product!

SURFACE YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL CUSTOMERS

FIND YOUR MOST EFFICIENTLY

ACQUIRED CUSTOMERS… AND GO

GET MORE JUST LIKE THEM

• Look for customers:

• That had a short sales cycle

• Efficient (Fully-loaded) Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

• Have a high Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

• Agreed to long-term contracts

• Frequently Increase usage/buy add-ons/etc.

• Have a low cost to support

• Or all of the above?

• What are the patterns? What are the characteristics of

those customers?

FIND YOUR MOST EFFICIENTLY ACQUIRED CUSTOMERS

IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS THAT

EXPANDED THEIR USE OF YOUR

PRODUCT… AND GO GET MORE

JUST LIKE THEM

• Intra-Company Virality

• List companies that have expanded their use over their

lifetime with your company.

• Who did you initially sell to? What dept/persona?

• When it comes to expansion potential, that potential is

only realized when the customers have achieved

success... when their customer health score is high.

• No Customer Success… No Expansion Revenue. Period.

IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS THAT EXPANDED USE

FIND YOUR CUSTOMERS THAT ARE

YOUR BIGGEST ADVOCATES…

AND GO GET MORE JUST LIKE

• Inter-Company Virality

• Chasing logos is fine... If they bring you more logos!

• Look for customers that have:

• Referred new customers (in-product, WOM, etc.)

• Have given testimonials

• Have talked to prospects on your behalf

• Have spoken at your events

• Participated in case studies with you

• If not for you, have they done it for others?

FIND YOUR BIGGEST CUSTOMER ADVOCATES

LASER-TARGETED UPSELL

OPPORTUNITIES

1. Be Clear On What Success Means for your Customer

2. Set Goals With Your Customers

3. Benchmark Where Your Customers Start

4. Mention Upsells Early In Their Lifecycle

5. Identify Success Milestones For Upsell

6. Improve Time to First Value and Upsell Faster

7. Ask for the Sale at the Appropriate time

UPSELL OPPORTUNITIES

@lincolnmurphy

Thank you!