Customer Success Professional's Handbook

ASHVIN VAIDYANATHAN is the Chief Customer Officer at Gainsight—the Customer Success Company. Ashvin started at Gainsight as a Customer Success Manager and spent many of his early years at Gainsight building new and innovative processes. Prior to Gainsight, Ashvin was at McKinsey & Company consulting with companies on Marketing, Sales and Customer Experience transformations. When not at Gainsight, Ashvin is an advisor to several companies on the subjects of Customer Success and Customer Experience. RUBEN RABAGO is Gainsight's Chief Strategist. He launched Pulse+, a refreshed continuation of the world's largest education program for Customer Success professionals and provides curriculum guidance to universities. Ruben also leads Gainsight's community outreach intended to elevate diversity in the profession. He was one of Gainsight's first CSMs and has more than 20 years of experience growing customer teams in traditional and SaaS-based companies, and currently serves as advisor to Customer Success professionals around the globe. CONTRIBUTORS Alan Armstrong, CEO, Eigenworks Carine Roman, Global Head of Customer Success at LinkedIn Talent Solutions Chad Horenfeldt, VP of Client Success, Updater Chrisy Woll, VP of Customer Success, CampusLogic David Kocher, VP of Customer Success, GE Digital Easton Taylor, Director of Customer Success, Gainsight Eduarda Camacho, Executive VP, Customer Operations at PTC Elaine Cleary, Principal CSM, Director of Education Services, Gainsight Erin Siemens, SVP Client Success, ADP John Sabino, Chief Customer Officer, Splunk Jon Herstein, Chief Customer Officer, Box Mary Poppen, Chief Customer Officer, Glint Nadav Shem-Tov, Director of Teammate Success-CS, Gainsight Patrick Eichen, VP Client Success, Cornerstone OnDemand Stephanie Berner, Global Head of Customer Success at LinkedIn Sales Solutions Travis Kaufman, VP of Product Growth, Gainsight

• Contributors xviForeword xviiPart I What is Customer Success and Why is it a Great Career? 1Chapter 1 Customer Success Management: The Birth of a New Profession 3The Age of the Customer 9The Critical Missing Function 12The Birth of the Customer Success Manager 15Endnotes 18Chapter 2 Defining the Customer Success Manager Role 21Goals: Increase Retention, Reduce Churn, Drive Growth 21The Consumption Gap 23The Customer Success Equation 24What Customer Success Management is Not 27A Career or a Springboard to a Real Profession? 29Endnotes 33Part II The Core Skills of a Great CSM 35Chapter 3 A Day in the Life of a Customer Success Manager 37Putting Customer Success into Practice 37Being a Customer Success Manager – A Personal Testimonial 44The Three Core CSM Competencies 46Chapter 4 The CSM Skills Required in an Ever-Evolving Business World 51How to Develop Your Industry and Category Knowledge 52Network with Mentors and Industry Experts 54Product Expertise is Your Ticket to Greatness 57Endnote 60Chapter 5 Learn How to Empathize and Build Relationships with Customers 611. Be Introspective and Self-Aware 632. Communicate with Intent, Precision, and Persuasion: Be a Trusted Advisor 663. Consistently Follow-Up to Create and Grow Trust 684. How to Respond When You Don’t Know the Answer 695. Stay Focused and Positive When Situations are Difficult; Learn From Them 706. Read People In-Depth and With a #HumanFirst Lens of Compassion 717. Genuinely Connect with Customers: it is Personal and it is Your Business 73Endnotes 76Part III Operationalizing Customer Success 77Chapter 6 Preparing for Your Engagements and Asking Questions Like a Problem-Solving Consultant 79The Need for a 360o View of the Customer 80Do Your Homework: Prepare for Every Customer Engagement 83The Art of Discovery: Asking the Right Questions to Get to the Heart of the Customer’s Problem 87Endnotes 94Chapter 7 Defining the Journey to Customer Outcomes 95Customer Lifecycle, Journey Map, Customer Journey 96Segment Your Customers 104Endnotes 110Chapter 8 Operationalize Your Customer Journey with Moments of Truth 111Identifying Your Moments of Truth 112Sales-to-Onboarding Handoff 114Welcome the Customer and Onboarding Kickoff 115Launch or Go-Live 116New Customer Executive or Champion 116Business Reviews: For the Executive and More 117Renewals 122Endnotes 124Chapter 9 Using Customer Health Scores to Manage Your Customers 127Health Scores: How to Know If Your Customers are Doing Well 127Designing Your Outcomes Health Score 129Designing Your Experience Health Score 133Setting the Right Thresholds 135Other Frameworks to Design Your Health Score 136Putting Health Scores to Work for You 139The Future and Human-Element of Customer Health Scorecards 142Endnotes 146Chapter 10 Voice of the Customer and Your Tech-Touch Strategy 147How to Get Meaningful Customer Feedback 147The Hidden Value of Customer Feedback 151Tech Touch: The Secrets of Low-Touch Customer Success 154Onboarding Tech-Touch Workflow 155Renewals Management Tech-Touch Workflow 158Risk Management Tech-Touch Workflow 158Advocacy Management Tech-Touch Workflow 161Endnote 163Chapter 11 Help Customers Achieve Their Business Goals 165Adoption Management: How to Proactively Manage Product Use and Adoption 166Success Planning: Make Sure the Customer Gets the Long-Term Results They Expect 172Identify Business Objectives 173Strategy Session 173Document the Plan 175Track Value 175Product Experience – Improving Your Product is Your #1 Priority 176Endnote 180Chapter 12 Drive Revenue Growth Through Engagement, Proactive Risk Management, Churn Analysis, Expansion, and Advocacy 181Stakeholder Alignment: How to Manage Executive Sponsors and Other Customer Stakeholders 182Risk Management: What to Do When a Customer is Trending Toward Cancelling: How to Proactively Escalate Risk and Save the Customer 185Reduce Churn with a Deep Understanding of Why Your Customers Have Left 190Expansion Management: Understanding White Space in Your Customer Base to Upsell and Cross-sell Your Products and Services 199Advocacy Management: How to Turn Your Best Customers into Evangelists 202Endnote 205Part IV Retaining and Developing the Best CSMs 207Chapter 13 Managing a Customer Success Team 209Segmentation and Aligning a Customer Success Manager to the Right Customer 209Determining the Best Customer Success Manager-to-Customer Ratio and CSM Profiles 214Compensating Your Customer Success Managers 219Dashboards to Manage the Customer Success Team 222Chapter 14 Creating Career Paths for Your Customer Success Managers 229Designing CSM as a Career 229Creating Career Paths within the CS Function 230Conducting a Comprehensive Talent Review Process 238Creating Career Paths Between Functions 240Conclusion 243Acknowledgments 245About the Authors 251Index 253