Join Dan Steinman, Gainsight's Chief Customer Officer, and Nello Franco, Customer Success Evangelist and former SVP of Customer Success at Lyris, for an enlightening discussion on how to build a CSM Team.

1. Building Your Customer
Success Practice
#customersuccess
Webinar Series

2. Dan Steinman
Chief Customer Officer,
Gainsight
Nello Franco
Customer Success
Executive and Influencer
Our Panelists
http://blog.nellofranco.com
@nfranco
http://www.gainsight.com
@GainsightHQ

3. Customer Success Mission
Proactively engage
with your customers
to ensure that they
are receiving value
from your solution
(not just your
product).

4. Customer Success
Churn Risk Potential Upsell /
Strong Advocates
A B
NumberofCustomers
©blog.nellofranco.com 2013
Optimizing your resources for revenue impact

5. Customer Success
Churn Risk Potential Upsell /
Strong Advocates
NumberofCustomers
©blog.nellofranco.com 2013
A B
Delivering value across the board moves the curve

6. By delivering value to your customers, you will see tangible results.
1
Customers will
stay with you
longer. (Higher
LTV, Lower
Churn)
Customers will act
as advocates for
future customers.
(Lower CAC)
2 3
Customers will
want to buy
more. (Higher
ACV, ARPU
and LTV)

7. Sales to existing customers are common to fastest growing SaaS
companies

8. What are you trying to achieve?
1
Are you an early
stage company who
wants to proactively
manage your
customer base?
Are you trying to
scale your CSM
offering?
Do you want better
forecasting and
predictability?
2 3 4
Are you trying to
improve performance
for a specific metric?
• Churn
• Upsell
• Reference
Customers

9. Based on what you’re trying to achieve with your CSM organization…
identify the measurable objectives of your next phase of investment.

10. The plan you deliver to your CEO should consist of more than just adding
headcount.
1
Quantify the
results you are
trying to
achieve.
Articulate how
processes,
people and
technology are
going to get you
there.
2 3
Explain how you
will measure the
results.

11. Determine how you’ll apply across your customer segments.

12. And make sure the whole company is with you on this journey.

13. Should you…
Charge for Customer Success? Not charge for Customer Success?

14. Left to their own devices, the natural tendency of all customers is going
to be towards churn.

15. Customer Success is not an option in a recurring revenue business.
It’s something you do because it protects revenue and generates
growth.

16. A typical CSM has a level of product and domain expertise that makes
them extremely valuable to customers.
1. Customer relationship skills
2. Product expertise
3. Domain expertise
4. Conduit to all other company resources

17. There’s a word for providing product and domain expertise to customers
for a fee: Consulting.
Also known in the industry as Professional Services.

18. Success with the product is a right.

19. You don’t have the power.
If you don’t deliver success, your customers will find another vendor.

20. You don’t want the fee to be the focus.
Not charging fees places your CSM organization in the value-added
position of developing deep, long-term relationships with your clients.

21. Not charging for this role does not mean “Cost Center.”
Hard metrics such as churn, renewals, growth…and ultimately the
improvement to your company’s valuation should justify your investment.

22. Your Customer Success team should be the best lead-gen engine for
your Services team.
And you can pay them for doing it!

23. Not charging for Customer Success does not mean:
1. That it’s not valuable
2. That Consulting is a promotion
3. That you are not driving revenue

24. Pressure to charge for it may mean you aren’t tying yourself to the right
metrics like renewal and upsell $$.

25. Thank You!