Advanced Tactics for Planning & Executing an Executive Business Review Allie Day Leadspace Nick Sorensen Prosper Healthcare Lending Tracy Schreiber Dude Solutions
Advanced Tactics for Planning & Executing an Executive Business Review What s the purpose of an EBR?
The Purpose of our EBRs Our definition: doctor on the call Purpose Change customer behavior How Address concerns or risk Secure an advocate Build value Learning Teaching Inviting Following-up
Account Reviews at Dude Solutions What s the Point? Ensure customers are getting the most possible value out of their investment in Dude Solutions Offer customers new ideas on how their operations can be even more successful Secure the renewal Uncover upsell opportunities Keep and grow customers
Purpose of an EBR at Leadspace Strengthen the relationship and partnership with our customers. Establish ourselves as Trusted Advisors Land value and ROI, specifically with the Executive buyer Confirm the customers Joint Success Criteria for the upcoming engagement period Identify potential opportunities to expand the relationship i.e. product upsell or ways to adjust the engagement to add more value Have a direct conversation with the customer regarding their satisfaction with the service and partnership to avoid any surprises come renewal Copyright 1992-2009 E.G. Insight. All Rights Reserved
Advanced Tactics for Planning & Executing an Executive Business Review Describe your process for preparing for EBRs
EBR Preparation Should Be Focused on Building the Proper Story Determine the state of the account and develop the proper messaging/story Ensure that Executives are in attendance from both sides Prepare our Executive with an Executive Brief Who is who on the customer team Summary of wins Summary of challenges Key messages to land Review the content with your customer champion in advance to test your story and get their buy-in and input For strategic customers have an internal prep session to finalize content and agree on roles & responsibilities for the session Agree on the main message and STORY you are trying to tell
Preparing for an EBR Varies by Tier Begin with the end in mind Do your homework especially if you are an exec. joining Review CTAs, usage trends, and invitations from prior EBR What successes can we celebrate? What challenges or concerns do we need to address? (recent NPS response) What invitations will you be giving on this call? What is the point? What does the customer need to change? Solid agenda with a hook Ideally with questions for the customer to consider prior to call Presentation that doesn t feel like a template
Preparing for Account Reviews Dig! Scorecard: Renewal date, $ARR, healthscore, open implementations, open sales opportunties, open support cases, last contact KPIs: In-application usage data that shows how they are doing and how they compare to their peers Success Plan: Created at beginning of onboarding; what were their goals and objectives when they first became a customer, and what have they accomplished? Contacts: Who are the decision-makers and the implementation team?
Advanced Tactics for Planning & Executing an Executive Business Review How do you differentiate your approach by customer tier or segment?
Engagement Model by Tier: Our Concept Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Quarterly account reviews Onsite visit possible High level of personal touch Semi-annual account review Help with user adoption Other proactive & reactive CSM help Supplemented by automated marketing Automated marketing campaigns - nurture & drip CSM primarily reactive to at-risk clients Some level of personal touch available
Engagement by Tier: the Reality Tier 1 Quarterly (or fewer) account reviews Challenge: how to keep adding value Tier 2 Semi-annual (or fewer) account reviews Tier 3 Large volume of small customers Prioritize outreach by renewal date, potential upsell opportunities Talk to the customers who want to talk to us!
Tiered approach Tier 1: Monthly or quarterly EBR Annual or semi-annual on-site EBR Most of our EBRs happen here (vs. QBRs) Tier 2: Quarterly QBR (semi-annual or annual EBR) Tier 3: Annual QBRs Targeted high-performers get the QBRs Mainly email communication
Tiered approach Tier 1: Personalized presentation Customized KPIs, benchmarks, data analysis Executive participation from our side Tier 2: Template presentation with a few customizations Tier 3: Template presentation or email
Advanced Tactics for Planning & Executing an Executive Business Review What do you cover in an EBR? What are the key elements to include?
What do you cover in an EBR? Define success Product updates and roadmap Follow-up: invitations, usage, benchmarks Discuss key wins since last touch point NPS response (if any) or concerns raised Challenge the customer Teach and share insights/best practices Address complaints or roadblocks using data Set new goals by giving invitations (Plan for Success) Key customers: add a little Dazzle
What do we cover in an EBR? Two-way strategic conversation focused on: 1. Why they should be excited about Leadspace 2. Confirming their business goals and objectives 3. Outcomes 4. Opportunities 5. Actionable Next Steps
Account Reviews at Dude Solutions What We Cover Partnership: How has your partnership with Dude Solutions been serving you? Usage: How are things going with your implementation? Are your users adopting and seeing value? Areas for Improvement: Going forward, how can we meet and exceed your expectations? Coming Soon: What s next that you might be interested in?
Advanced Tactics for Planning & Executing an Executive Business Review What s your secret sauce? Is there a gamechanger you ve discovered?
Our Secret Sauce: Be Honest About the Customer Situation Do not wait to have an EBR until you have a happy customer. Determine the type of conversation you need to have based on the customer situation: 1. Customer is happy with the partnership and can clearly point to ROI 2. Customer is happy with the partnership but can NOT clearly point to ROI 3. Customer is unhappy with the partnership If #1 or #3 you will still want to review the progress to date and outcome but will need to spend more time focusing on opportunities, recommendations and next steps. In #2 you should follow the standard template with significant emphasis on outcomes and ROI. In all scenarios you should look to involve your customer champion in the prep and presentation as best you can.
Our Secret Sauce Peer Networking: customers talking to customers
Game-changer Have the main point of contact present the KPIs to the executive(s)
Advanced Tactics for Planning & Executing an Executive Business Review What s in it for the customer? How do you get customers to want the meeting and drive executive participation?
What s In It for the Customer? Industry-specific best practice guidance Benchmarking of their performance compared to peers nationwide Recognition of their success Showcase the impact they re making intheir institution and community Help justify staff, resources, customer service, responsiveness and team productivity Highlight oppoortunties for improvement Illustrate the value of their Dude Solutions investment Personal professional development Compare themselves to the average user or to the Campus Champions that consistently perform in the top 20% of all users
Driving Executive Participation CSM relationship is primarily with the customer decision-maker Engagement team has relationship with the customer implementers Customer decision-makers sometimes out of touch with implementers Lack of buy-in from decision-maker puts account at risk Account review can inform decision maker what s happening Don t ever check in every call should have a purpose and bring value
How do you get them to want the meeting? Remember: meetings are disliked Deliver value the very first (and every) EBR Don t do it if you won t deliver value Get creative in order to secure executive participation Break up the meeting into timed segments Send something in the mail to pave the way
How do you get them to want the meeting? Poor Hi Nick, it has been 90 days since we last spoke so we should probably have an EBR. Let me know what day would work best and I will set something up. Better Hi Nick, your team has been patiently waiting for several product enhancements and I just received some information related to the release timeline for these features! I put together a quick presentation about these enhancements and how they will positively impact your business. I would like to review this brief presentation in addition to your account usage on a call in the next two weeks with you and your VP. This will also be a great opportunity for you to give feedback on result of the actions we took since our last call. Please let me know which of the following three times would work best for you both. I m confident you ll find this call will be well worth your time. Best Schedule your next EBR at the end of your current EBR.
Landing the EBR as a Strategic Session What s in it for the customer? 1. An opportunity to step-back from the day-to-day and have a strategic conversation focused on outcome and ROI 2. Ability to candidly share feedback and expectations regarding the partnership 3. An opportunity to learn more about their partner and our product roadmap 4. An opportunity to receive recommendations from a trusted advisor How do we drive engagement? 1. Set the expectation regarding EBRs (occurrence and frequency) at the time of on-boarding/kick-off 2. Schedule sessions in advance to ensure coordination across busy schedules 3. Have the invite come from the Leadspace Executive 4. Include details around the agenda when scheduling special focus on reviewing progress, outcomes, and ROI
Advanced Tactics for Planning & Executing an Executive Business Review What s the desired outcome? And how do you track the customer s goals and objectives identified during the QBR?
What s the desired outcome? Customer learns something that leads to changes in behavior Solve problems together Executives aligned with users They would ve paid for that call Tracking goals and action items Post-EBR email Always schedule a quick follow-up call CTA notes Success Plans
The EBR Should Drive Customer Maturity The Account Management Team should have a clear sense of the client s satisfaction and likelihood to renew The Customer should understand the value our partnership has delivered and be able to articulate it within the organization Both teams should have agreement on the goals going forward and a clear understanding of the next steps needed to take things to the next level
Leveraging Gainsight to Track Progress Track clients goals and objectives in a custom field under the Attributes section of Gainsight. This is updated following every EBR Notes are taken and sent to the Account Team via the Gainsight Chatter plug-in A CTA is created with specific tasks and assigned to the appropriate team member to follow-up on agreed action items/ next steps Will be implementing Success Plans to manage success criteria and overall account strategy in Q3
What s the Desired Outcome? Customers who are: Engaged Informed Empowered by data Inspired to do more On track with their success plan
Keeping Track of Customer Goals & Objectives Success Plan created at beginning of customer lifecycle Ensures proper knowledge transfer from Sales Reviewed with customer in kickoff call to ensure we are all on the same page Implementation team updates Success Plan throughout onboarding Ensures knowledge transfer to Customer Success when project complete CSM refers to and updates Success Plan before, during, and after each Account Review If it s not in Salesforce it didn t happen!
Advanced Tactics for Planning & Executing an Executive Business Review Questions?