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Live Masterclass - April 29, 2020
recession-proof retention
In this Digital Panel, we were joined by Concert's CEO and Co-Founder (San Sanampudi), AtriumHQ's Head of Customer Success and Sales Strategy (Karen Rhorer), and mParticle's SVP of Customer Success (Jillian Burnett).
We chatted through what customer success means at each of their organizations and then dove into the following themes related to Recession-Proof Retention -
Customer Strategies
Triage and Data Collection
Contract Renegotiation
Coaching Your Team
Team Dynamics
Customer Impact
The Day-to-Day
Compensation and Motivations
Compensation - Salary Reductions, OTE
Metrics - Quantitative vs. Qualitative
Quotas - Should they change?
The key takeaways from this incredible discussion were -
Shift your CS compensation from being based on Retention Rates to Renewal Dollars. Helping customers see value is a more motivating and actionable metric than the efficiency of dollar retention.
There are some customers who might make sense to churn right now. The time you spend trying to retain customers not aligned to your ICP may be better spent on other accounts.
Look at your customers like business partners. They are investing in your business by purchasing your product. How can you help them find value during this time? Should they be using a different product you offer? Or maybe they need to train additional team members in the technology to really see the value.
It’s important to coach your teams through negotiations. To do so, focus on these three things -
The importance of calmness because a lot of customers are in survival mode and they’re defensive
Human connection, building trust, and understanding one another
Ask thought-shaping questions or questions that provoke a collaborative conversation. How can we do this in a way that gives your team flexibility but doesn’t put us underwater?
Also, check out last year’s CS compensation benchmarking report. It’s available here.