How the Challenger Sale philosophy applies to CSM

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?