Customer Success is a metric-driven discipline. An executive or manager can leverage KPIs to help their teams be high performing.

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Using KPIs to Lead High Performing Customer Success
Paul Reeves
VP, Customer Success

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GOAL
Within 20 minutes show you how to leverage KPIs to help your teams
achieve goals faster and more effectively…
…so they’ll be seen for the valuable and effective professionals they
are

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AGENDA
• An important question
• Agree on language
• Understanding the power of progress and challenging goals
• Using KPIs to lead high performing teams, and develop people
• Choosing KPIs
• Tips
• Workshop for teams

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Which KPIs Do We Own/Influence?
KPIs are used to assess and track health of a business

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1. MRR
2. MRR Churn %
3. CAC
4. CLTV
5. CLV:CAC
6. Customer Churn Rate
7. Customer Retention Rate
8. NPS
But how do you use these to lead your teams?
Which KPIs Do We Own/Influence?
KPIs are used to assess and track health of a business

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Common Language
Let’s agree on a few basic definitions
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
Metric
Lagging Indicator
Leading Indicator
A measurement of performance that is important for success.
A metric that is closely associated with a trend or outcome. New building permits, CSAT
(tickets)
A standard for measuring; quantifiable value
A metric that is compiled and reflects a historical state. Unemployment rate, NPS

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Using Progress and Challenging Goals
People thrive when making progress on challenging goals
Small wins can be the foundation of a virtuous cycle of ongoing wins.
Dr. Theresa Amabile
Challenging, ambitious goals create higher performance than easy goals.
Professor Edwin Locke
Let’s use challenging goals to help our team exceed expectations.

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Using KPIs in Challenging Goals
Translate a KPI target into a challenging goal with milestones.
There can be numerous correct answers.
Step 1: Select one KPI (lagging indicator).
Step 2: Create a challenging SMART goal for the KPI.
Step 3: Identify its leading indicators.
Step 4: Break down leading indicators into actionable
behaviors that deliver small wins.

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Example Goal: Achieving NPS 50 this year
NPS has many contributing factors, here’s one design
Fast Onboarding % + Touch % + CSAT
CSAT= Response Time + Resolution Time
Design for small wins that are additive but individually significant.
Response Time = Answer an incoming question quickly (Small win)
Onboard quickly, touch all key contacts per a schedule, and provide
fast/effective support.

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Leading Teams
Use KPIs to set standards and recognize achievers
President’s Club= 100% of renewal target
Onboarding Elite = 90% customer activation
Use visible signs of reward and status to develop culture of performance

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Developing Team Members
Use goals, outcomes, and KPIs in 1-on-1 meetings to discuss commitments
Do some onboarding sessions
Train CS practitioners to think and use metrics to set and manage expectations
internally and externally
Deliver 5 onboarding sessions this week

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Choosing KPIs
Where do you start?
Focus on a few not many
Must be easy to measure and report on
If you can’t easily measure something in a few minutes, it’s unlikely to be a key
metric you want to use to measure performance*
Easily understood
Choose meaningful metrics that demonstrate value

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Tips for Managers
KPIs have to part of your everyday work life
Start team meetings by reviewing progress towards KPI
targets
Include in 1-on-1 meetings
Post in prominent locations (monitors, reports)
Acknowledge achievers

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Tips for High Achievers
Don’t’ wait for your manager to suggest goal setting
Create 1 or 2 challenging goals to pursue each quarter
Include progress updates in 1-on-1 meetings

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Team Workshop
In a weekly team meeting or as part of special offsite, discuss and align on
KPIs and metrics.
Step 1: Identify important KPIs your team owns or
supports.
Step 2: Select one KPI and break it down into leading
indicators.
Step 3: List the behaviors and conditions needed to
achieve target indicator.
Step 3. Prototype data capture.
Step 4. Prototype report generation.

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Thank You
How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in
Business by Douglas Hubbard
The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy,
Engagement, and Creativity at Work by Theresa Amabile, and
Steven Kramer
SaaS Metrics: A Guide to Measuring and Improving What Matters
by David Skok
Simple Example on Using KPIs by Neil Stoneman
Check Out These Sources

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Discussion
Time for open sharing

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APPENDIX
Do these look familiar?
Productivity metrics:
o # tickets handled per period
o Average response time
o Average resolution time
o # customer quotes/feedback
Efficacy metrics:
o Customer satisfaction
o SLA compliance
o Average # touches/reopens
Productivity metrics:
o # interactions (week/month/quarter)
o % of customers onboarded on time
o # customer quotes/feedback
o % feature usage
Efficacy metrics:
o NPS
o Growth/renewal (% or $)
o % promoters / power users
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