A brief how-to on using voice of your customer to understand where your Sales Force Effectiveness efforts should be focused.

1. Website Email Phone
www.salesbenchmarkindex.com info@salesbenchmarkindex.com 1-888-556-7338
Sales Management
Leveraging Voice of the Customer

2. The Situation
• $75M SAAS Software Company:
– ~1000 customers
– 75%+ renewal rates @ 80%+ of revenue
– Renewal-based models get higher
price/share if renewal rates are 90%+
• Sales Leader wants to:
– Understand challenges regarding retention
• Get Customer, Investor, and Employee views on
why renewals happen or don’t happen
– Know how to increase to 90% renewal rates
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3. What Did Not Work
• Relying on Sales Force to understand
retention challenges
• Using surveys from customer service
interactions to glean defection reasons
• Marketing reaching out to select
customers for feedback
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4. What Did Work
• Online Surveys (12 to 15 questions):
• Large (10,000+) survey audience
• Targeted user base, not just company base
• Customer Interviews (8 to 10 questions):
• In-depth and interactive interviews with the
main users of the software at a customer
• Found out the delighters and detractors of
the software and customer experience
• Sales Rep Interviews (12 to 15 questions):
• Determined trends among customers
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5. VOC Survey Question Sample
What information or support do you feel the Acme team PROVIDES TODAY that has
the most value? (please choose all that apply)
Response Response
Answer Options
Percent Count
Technical support 54.9% 145
Best practices 53.8% 142
Continued training 41.3% 109
Benchmark data 29.2% 77
Industry trends 20.5% 54
Other 9.5% 25
A plan to follow 9.1% 24
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6. Customer Interview Questions
1. How long have you been using Acme?
a. Were you the decision maker in bringing Acme on board?
2. Do you feel you are a power user of Acme today?
a. How long did it take to get there?
b. What would you say was the tipping point?
c. If you were starting over from scratch, what would you do differently to ramp your
capabilities faster?
d. Is this something you would have paid a premium for?
3. What is the relationship b/t sales and marketing for your organization (separate or single leader)?
a. How involved was sales in making the decision to purchase Acme?
b. How was the decision to use Acme communicated to the sales team when you purchased?
What visibility does the sales organization have today regarding the impact of demand
generation and Acme?
4. When you think about the results Acme provides, what are your expectations?
a. Are you getting the results you initially set out to achieve?
b. How do you measure the value of Acme and the results?
5. How would you like Acme to assist in helping improve your business results?
a. In your opinion, are there additional support functions they can provide?
b. When you interact with Acme, what type of interaction do you look for (support, strategic,
best practices, enablement, etc.)?
c. Who do you prefer to interact with (customer service, account manager, etc.)?
d. How would you like Acme see improve your interactions with Acme’s Account Mgr, CSM,
ProServe, Training, Tech Support, etc. or provide a better customer experience?
e. How would you rate Acme’s services and the customer experience they provide?
What are you NOT getting from these mentioned Acme roles that you would like to see
more of?
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7. Customer Interview Comments
Comments Summary:
Many of the users weren't around for implementation, so don't know the reasons.
Many newer customers noted that they know the impact hasn't been seen yet due to time since implementation.
Some remark that the learning curve is long.
No competitor significantly stood out that wasn't available in selection.
Competitor products were mentioned multiple times.
Customers see they must select high cost in one of two places: training or resource use. Cost of training every new user
is high, but so is the cost of having employees learn on the fly (which is hard on work forces that are stretched thin).
Customer service is cited as an issue by several customers, though there appear to be some stars.
Many implementation experience comments focused on bad partner relationships, though many mentioned that their
interaction with Acme was good.
Many customers have very high ease of use expectations due to overselling, but then find the product UI to not be
intuitive.
The learning curve is long for users who don't have significant software use experience.
Many users seem to know there is capability being left on the table, but they don't know where to look or what it is
they haven't found yet. They find things gradually as time progresses.
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8. Resulting Action
• Client had a better appreciation of their
customers’ needs and desires
• Understood the range of buyers
• Gained insight into what was currently
working and what needed improvement
• Client was able to put together a multi-
phased program to address this newfound
information
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9. VOC Finding: Customer Evolution
Infancy Adolescence Adulthood
New to Acme (<12 mo.) 12-36 months with Acme 36+ months
Traits 1st time user Running email campaigns Campaigns implemented
Highly Tactical Acme supports ICP Some lead scoring/nurturing
Content Lead scoring Strategic execution
Campaign success (opens, Nurture campaigns Revenue lift
Next Steps
CTAs, > leads) Improved lead quality Reporting-business objectives
Campaign consistency Reporting-usage metrics Sales/Marketing alignment
Emotion Confusion Enthusiasm Frustration
Help Desk
Relation-ship Customer Success Manager Strategic Consultant
Implementation team
Success Blocking & Tackling New Skill Acquisition Marketing generates revenue
Acme for Dummies Strategic insight
Tactical Leveraging value of Acme
Acme University Results-based best practices
Approach Tactical >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Strategic
Longer tenure of Acme user = Higher perceived attainment of business objectives.
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10. Resulting Action:
Defined Ideal Customer Lifecycle (ICL)
Proactive
Benchmark Account
Milestones Management
Successful
Implementation
Sales
Campaign
Discovery
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11. Proactive Account Management
• Tiered/Segmentation approach? • Customer success and account management piece is a
huge component that Competitor doesn’t have.
– Best people on best accounts • We hired one of their best practice consultants to come
– Role clarity in. It felt canned like something they would do at a trade
show. Not customized to us. Talking at us as opposed to
– Over resource the top understanding our situation and how to build an aligned
sales/marketing structure using Acme. We would like
– Customer tenure consultants to come in and understand how
– Account/Opp Size sales/marketing have become aligned in other firms and
help us get there.
• Continuing education • I’ve only talked with one person one time. He expects me
– Beyond Acme University to reach out to him and I would like him to be more
proactive. I would like him to share best practices of
– Advanced reporting skills issues he’s solved so I don’t always have to search around
– Best practice discussions for things.
• Feels like we are bringing them along as opposed to them
– Peer group interaction leading us with best practices. We provide our roadmap
and he looks at it and doesn’t add much value. It’s not a
• Consultative account managers strategic partnership at this point.
– Monthly/Quarterly cadence • We want a consultative account executive. Someone who
has line of sight into what different customers are doing
– Strategic expertise with Acme. Leverage best practices to help us get more
– Customer intimacy out of the system.
• A single point of contact who has intimacy with my
account, our objectives, and who checked in with us
regularly.
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12. Learn More
Contact us to hear the rest of the story...
Contact us if you would like to understand better how to learn from your customers’ voices to
focus your Sales Force Effectiveness efforts for a higher return.
Email - info@salesbenchmarkindex.com
Phone - 1-888-556-7338
Web: http://www.salesbenchmarkindex.com
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