aligning with partners on customer success

Aligning with Partners on Customer Success

Introductions

Chris DoellVP Customer Success

Allison PickensChief Customer Officer

Agenda• Trends on Aligning with Partners on Customer Success

• How Gainsight Can Help Manage Customer Success in the Channel

• Q&A

Aligning with Partners on Customer Success

Customer Success at Scale

“How can I scale Customer Success

to many customers?”

One way is to collaborate with your partner ecosystem on Customer Success.

Vendor-Partner Alignment

● Increase margins ● Increase retention● Identify upsell / cross-sell

opportunities● Enhance their

competitive position

● Better margins due to reduced adoption costs

● Faster time-to-value, consistent with standardized journey maps

When there's alignment between vendors and their partners, every constituency wins

Customers Vendors Partners

An ecosystem aligned around the customer’s success

Vendor PartnerA sharedresponsibility for positive

customer outcomes

A shared 360-degree view of the customer along their

journey

Shared, trusted barometers for Customer Health (including NPS, adoption, advocacy, and

other metrics)

Better alignment on prescribed customer journeys and the playbooks that make them

happen

The Challenge: Enabling a shift in mindset among partners

● Margin preservation● Top-line bookings● Services attach rates

● NPS● Adoption● Advocacy

Transactional Strategic

Playbook

The Partner Playbook for Customer SuccessAlign on intended outcomes, steps in the journey, and incentives• Start out with a couple of progressive partners• “Rinse and repeat” the model across a broader set of partners

Profile Your Partners Define the ROI of a Partner Provide Enablement

Define Division of Labor Share Customer Insights Measure Partner Effectiveness

Shared Tools, Metrics, and Outcomes

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Profile Your Partners• Start with a small group - think 2-4• Prioritize your partners• Start a pilot

● Are services a core part of their business model?

● Does the partner have a “lifecycle” or “adoption” practice?

● Do we expect that the partner would derive a strong ROI from investing in CS, due to e.g. enhanced cross-sell and upsell?

● Are there several people whose roles are focused on customer success or training?

● For larger partners:

○ Is there an executive at the partner who is committed to Customer Success?

○ Is there specifically a Customer Success executive, or just CSMs reporting to a Sales/Support/Operations executive?

Prioritize your partners based on several factors

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Demonstrate that expanding their CS program is worth it

Define the ROI to the Partner

Growth in Services Revenue

● Faster expansion into existing accounts● Reduced client attrition

Growth in Product Revenue

● Become more deeply embedded with a client● Better identify areas where services can add

value for the client

● Launch paid CSM programs, similar to some vendors

New Revenue from CS as a Service

● Stand out against others by offering a CS program

● Vendors can reinforce this differentiation by requiring partners to have a CS program in order to earn “Gold Status”

Point of Differentiation

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3Provide Enablement

Partners need three additional types of support from you (the vendor):

● Vendor Account Managers are evolving into Partner Success Managers - vendors must tier their partners and allocate resources accordingly

● Certifications on lifecycle management, adoption programs, or change management to attain certain status levels (e.g. “Gold Status”)

● What playbooks should the partner adopt for each stage of the customer lifecycle?

● What are your KPIs and how should the partner aim to achieve those?

Training on Playbooks Certification Partner Success Managers

Ensure partners perceive these as a source of empowerment - i.e. bolstering the partner’s ownership of the client relationship - rather than an

intrusion.

4Define the Division of Labor

• For each segment, what do you expect your team / partners to do? • Protect your brand across the lifecycle• Partners can extend your reach among SMB customers especially

When a vendor forms a CS program, they may not have the budget to assign CSMs to the SMB segment

What do you expect yourteam to do?

What do you expect your

partners to do?

Share Customer Insights

Information-sharing should be a two-way street

Vendor

Partner

• Insights into their customers

• Feedback on playbooks / product

• Usage data• NPS data• Support ticket data• Community portal

data

Partners need to know:● Which clients to

follow up with?● At what time?● For what reason?

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Measure Partner Effectiveness

● Hold partners accountable: get visibility into partners’ compliance with playbooks● Pay partners based on their success in driving outcomes and growth in the installed base:

○ Renewals not just new logos○ Future: Dynamic margins based on targets for Customer Health metrics

Why measure partner effectiveness?

● Mutually agreed upon in advance● Reviewed together at regular intervals● Objectively measured

These KPIs should be...

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How Does Gainsight Fit?

4Manage and Model Complex Customers in your Partner Portfolio

Analyze aggregated Relationship data across your Partner Portfolio

Drill down into details with a 360 view per Relationship

Create a configurable framework that empowers your team to accurately reflect how your partners manage customers

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Report on and monitor your Partner Account Portfolio

View the historical trends in a Partner’s performance data

Measure and manage your Partner’s health and success with Scorecards

Manage Partner Performance and Success632

Gather experiential data via Surveys

Create a Success Plan to help your Partners grow their business

Send automated emails to share information and best practices with Partners

Elevate Customer Management by Partners

Send NPS and CSAT surveys to your end-customer to understand their experience with your Partners

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Expose a Gainsight widget directly to Partners to monitor their end-customers

PSMs can communicate & collaborate directly with Partners within the widget

Enable Partners for Success543

Partner Playbook Gainsight Method Product Features

Manage and Model Complex Customers in your Partner Portfolio

• Hierarchy• Relationships• Relationship360

Manage Partner Performance and Success

• Health Scores• Customer 360• Dashboards• Trending Data• Survey

Drive Effective Partner Management of End Customers

• Success Plans• Cockpit• Playbooks• CoPilot• Survey

Enable Partners for Success • Partner Widget• Health Scores• Cockpit• Success Plans

Manage Partners Effectively

1) Profile Your Partners

2) Define the ROI of a Partner

3) Provide Enablement

4) Define Division of Labor

5) Share Customer Insights

6) Measure Partner Effectiveness




6) Measure Partner Effectiveness




aligning with partners on customer success

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