Durability is top of mind for organizations in 2022. Over the last several years, we have endured a pandemic, a significant transition in our daily lives, and growing uncertainty in the economy. How can we foster resilience and help create an unstoppable organization that comes out ahead? At Pulse 2022, the common theme from keynotes to breakouts was “a durable business is an unstoppable one.” The conversations and sessions at Pulse made it clear that Customer Success is key to sustainability and growth for SaaS organizations. With the needs of customers increasing at the same time that budget ..read more

Advisory boards are incredibly useful to get insight in a meaningful way from a relatively small group of people, who act as a proxy for your broader customer base/target market. When done right, they are of very strategic value, can create momentum, and provide you with a set of trusted advisors who will tell it to you straight. Having run a variety of advisory boards for companies over the last 20 years or so, I’ve distilled my learnings into 7 key points. Follow these and you’ll end up having a very successful Customer Advisory Board (CAB).  Secret #1: Make it Purpose-Built  A cus ..read more

First impressions are lasting impressions. Onboarding is the very first experience the customer will have with your product, and it’s critical to get it right. If you fail to demonstrate value and support for your customer at the very start of your relationship, it will directly impact their success long term. “Renewal happens in the first 90 days of the customer journey, not in the last 90 days.” Donna Weber, recognized customer success leader, and author shared this impactful quote in our recent “Driving Customer Value at Scale” onboarding webinar. In fact, Donna noted that customers who s ..read more

In this blog post, we discuss the need for subscription businesses to adopt a deliberate customer listening strategy. We offer recommendations as well as resources that can help companies define and operationalize listening pathways that boost customer retention and customer advocacy. Listening matters in a subscription business In the recurring revenue world, the sale doesn’t end at Closed Won. SaaS companies must continuously earn the business of their customers to ensure they don’t cancel or downgrade at the end of the month or year. To minimize churn and accelerate the pace at which prospe ..read more

“Voice of the Customer,” referred to commonly as VoC, has become a widely accepted vehicle to mature organizational customer centricity. But what exactly does VoC refer to?  Despite VoC’s rising popularity, as evidenced by trending LinkedIn hashtags and new-age professional titles such as “Vice President, Global Voice of the Customer,” the SaaS community has not aligned on a common or consistent definition to describe this buzzworthy concept. In marketing or customer success circles, VoC tends to be synonymous with quantitative or qualitative research, a client advisory board (CAB), or cu ..read more

One year into COVID and arguably the most pivotal moments for racial equality in the last 40 years, we are reflecting on how we’ve been driving more diversity in Sales and Customer Success (CS) as functions. In 2020, Insight’s Sales and Customer Success Center of Excellence wanted to help increase representation in our portfolio companies and to create more opportunities for individuals with non-traditional technology backgrounds. We partnered with EdTech expert, SV Academy, who helps individuals launch new careers into the tech industry for several years now, as well as portfolio company Gain ..read more

If you have traveled to London, you might be familiar with the oft-used expression “mind the gap,” a warning boldly imprinted on nearly every London Underground platform to remind riders to take caution and avoid the gap between the subway platform and train when boarding. Multiple preventative safety measures have similarly been introduced over the years to prevent rider injuries, allowing the Tube (the Underground’s colloquial name) to retain one of the best safety ratings in the world – a major feat for an urban transport system that is over 150 years old and spans 250+ stations. How can we ..read more

Why plan for CS capacity? Capacity planning is a strategic undertaking to realistically determine what resources to hire or acquire to efficiently scale growth. For Customer Success the imperative is to ensure there’s no leaky bucket:  by securing high gross retention, all new bookings expand the top line rather than fill the hole left by customer churn. This article is intended to help customer success leaders accurately forecast headcount for the next twelve months to drive strong customer and employee retention performance. We offer actionable guidance on how to approach customer succe ..read more

A meeting between a sales team and a product executive started with the question, “What makes a product successful in the market: better technology or better sales?” The product executive answered, “I have to admit that it's sales.” The sales executive didn't say a word but just smiled and nodded. Although cross-functional banter is a normal (and frequent) occurrence, we all know that there is a balance. We need sales and marketing to build demand and win over new customers, but to accelerate adoption and grow customer revenue, we need good technology, market-fit positioning, and exceptional s ..read more

Last month, Insight Partners published our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. You can read more here about our initiatives to build a software ecosystem that reflects the society we want to live in and provides equality and opportunity to all people.   One initiative that we are excited to support focuses on the Customer Success function. It’s no secret that Customer Success is critical to software growth, playing a vital role in the health of software companies as they continue to scale. However, the Customer Success teams in the software ecosystem do not reflect the custome ..read more