how the challenger sale philosophy applies to csm
Post on 15-Apr-2017
146 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Gainsight on Gainsight: How the Challenger Sale Philosophy Applies to CSM 5/4/2016
Child-like Joy
Ashvin Vaidyanathan
Director, Client Strategy
Philip John “PJ”
Director, Customer Success
Goals For Today’s Webinar
• Recap of the Challenger Sale philosophy - How is it different from a traditional sales approach? - How is it relevant in the subscription economy?
• Discuss ideas for how the Challenger Sale philosophy applies to
the Customer Success role
• Review best practices for applying the Challenger Sales methodology to commercial post sales operations
How Does Challenger Sales Differ From Traditional Solution Sales?
Solution Sales • Provides solution to the
problem the customer thinks they have
• Delivers requested functionality
• Generally focused on relationship management
• Rep driven engagements
Challenger Sales • Teaches solution, often
to a hidden challenge • Delivers prescriptive
solution • Tailors message
appropriately • Company wide effort to
create collateral, demo orgs etc.
Challenger In A Subscription Economy
• In a long term subscription relationship, customer goals and product functionality are constantly changing.
• Repeatable process Advantages
Disadvantages
• Deprecates relationship selling • Ignores Initial Value Moment • Not all scenarios are analogous to complex sales
The Challenger Sale Philosophy Applies To Customer Success
1. Be client outcomes focused, not client happiness focused: Bring an
outcome-driven “challenger” mindset to delivering best practices and change
management to your clients
2. Teach for differentiation: Customer Success teams have the dual
responsibility of delivering outcomes as well as creating (or enabling) content
3. Craft a multi-stakeholder adoption plan: Adoption, like the sales process,
requires delivering outcomes to multiple stakeholders across functions
4. Set the internal organizational foundations to deliver: Challenger Sale
Philosophy requires clear and frequent communications internally to ensure
escalations are managed appropriately
Be Client Outcomes Focused
Some observations: • Change is never easy • There are times when the CS team knows that the proposed
solution/direction is not the optimal solution for the client • Clients want CS teams to be prescriptive on the suggested
solution • Challenging a client on the right solution doesn’t always
make for a happy client in the short term, but makes for a client that sees outcomes/value in the longer term
1
Be Client Outcomes Focused – Gainsight Example 1
• Step 1: Strategy Session to align on the right business challenges to address
• Step 2: Prescriptive best practices to address those challenges; documented in Success Plans
• Step 3: Track progress and share with the client
• Step 4: Discuss learnings and adapt processes
Teach For Differentiation
Some observations: • The most impactful CS teams directly (own the creation) or
indirectly (provide input to the creation) influence best practices and other thought leadership content
• In addition, “agile” CS teams will try new processes to impact adoption, modify based on learnings and quickly document it for teaching other clients
2
Teach For Differentiation – Gainsight Example 2
Gainsight Community aimed to drive customer
engagement & provide access to Product team & best practices
Gainsight Webinars Series led by Gainsight CSMs &
Administrator Office Hours Gainsight Blog Weekly posts on hot topics and
best practices
Craft A Multi-Stakeholder Adoption Plan
Some observations: • Most adoption efforts are focused on the “Decision Maker”
role at the client • Very rarely do CS teams directly focus on end-user
engagement and feedback • Even more rare is the involvement of front line managers,
who tend to have a lot of influence on end-user adoption • It’s also hard but imperative to involve other influential
stakeholders from other functions at the customer (e.g., Marketing, Support, Operations, etc.)
3
Craft A Multi-stakeholder Adoption Plan – Gainsight Example
3
• Surveys to gather end-user feedback periodically
• Including Gainsight in Manager workflows and 1x1s
• Involve other functional stakeholders in milestone meetings (e.g., EBRs)
CS
Sales
Renewals
Support
1
2
3
Services 4
Marketing 5
Product 6
Finance
Set The Internal Organizational Foundations To Deliver
Some observations: • The Challenger approach requires a company wide effort • It might result in not so happy customers in the short term
aka escalations • It’s important, at least for the top tier accounts, for all the
cross-functional stakeholders to communicate on a regular basis
4
Set The Internal Organizational Foundations To Deliver – Gainsight Example
4
• Cross-functional meeting to manage escalations as one company
• Bi-weekly Key Account Team sync to discuss development – including Sales, CS, Product, Services and Support
The Commercial Challenger Sale
1. Before the sales process begins, ensure alignment and applicability: It’s a company wide effort to prepare your reps, and not every situation requires a challenger mentality
2. There are some nuances to executing today: We still need to invest heavily in the relationship while downplaying our own role
3. This is a team effort: Leverage Customer Success and Exec relationships to close deals
Is this a Challenger Moment?
Some observations: • Never expect a rep to develop their own content, this is a
company wide initiative. • You need control over the message and the promised
functionality
• Some reps will default to Challenger mode. • If the customer contact is well informed and well connected,
consider a relationship focused, solution sales approach
1
Gainsight Example 1
• Calls to Action can identify key cross-sell, and transient opportunities
• Success Snapshots can automate the Challenger deck
• Utilization metrics can identify sold out customers
Executing on the Challenger Sale
Some observations: • The Challenger Sale was based on research conducted in
2009, when the subscription economy was still developing. Relationships have been re-elevated. • Your company is the expert, not you Honestly sharing best practices can be a great dialogue
• Have you earned the right to teach?
2
Gainsight Example 2
• Health Scores can exclude inappropriate customers
• Manual Sentiment risks can postpone activity
• Dashboards can balance opportunities and monitor conversion rates
Team Work is Critical
Some observations: • You’ll be suggesting that your customers fundamentally
change how they do business. Customer Success Managers can help to reassure the customer of success.
• Your Executive team can really help you to reach all levels of the customer’s organization, without damaging relationships.
3
Gainsight Example 3
• Success Plans can facilitate internal collaboration
• Executive Outreach Playbook can standardize Executive involvement
Questions?
top related