Did you ever run a lemonade stand growing up? If not, you can surely recall seeing the scenario play out on TV or in a movie: A small child tries to peddle lemonade for a quarter -- it’s young entrepreneurship at its best. What do you do when you happen upon the adorable and smart neighbor who regularly sells lemonade on the corner to raise money for a team fundraiser, for example? You stop and buy some, [...]
So my feeling on Graduation is that it’s less a post live meeting and more a post first value meeting. I would typically say that we are identifying a measure of first value that we want to achieve that impacts their business in some positive way in order to graduate. I think graduation is a step that both you and your customer will know you have reached once you have worked together to create and [...]
WHY ARE Retrospectives IMPORTANT? There are three primary reasons for conducting Retrospectives: allowing your customers to be heard taking steps toward cultivating long-term loyal customers agreeing upon the “sprint plan” that outlines what both sides are tasked with accomplishing ahead of the next scheduled retrospective Routine Retrospectives provide the framework for you to check in on your customer in a scheduled way to understand what’s working and what’s not. Simple agendas for Retrospectives allow you [...]
WHY IS Launch IMPORTANT? Launch is actually more a customer status than it is an event. Rather than thinking of Launch as something you do with or for your customer, consider it a state of accomplishment where you can (or should) take a breath and feel as though you and your customer are at a good place for them to take off in using your solution. WHO NEEDS TO KNOW HOW TO DO Launch? Launch [...]
WHY IS Core Enablement IMPORTANT? Core Enablement is the first step in ensuring adoption. Getting your customer administrators to own the platform creates a first line of sponsors and evangelists within the account. The better and sooner you can create master users of your admins, the more effective you can be in growing adoption throughout the account. While Core Enablement is about helping your administrative users understand how your solution works (behind the scenes), it’s [...]
WHY IS Rapid Prototyping IMPORTANT? Not every SaaS company does Rapid Prototyping for new customers, but we encourage it as an opportunity to be impressive right out of the gates. If your solution allows you to get a quick win with your new customer by focusing on a single area or part of your solution, you will start the relationship off with a bang that will have far reaching effects. WHO NEEDS TO KNOW HOW [...]
WHY IS Implementation Discovery IMPORTANT? You’ve kicked off your relationship with a new customer, and now it’s time to get tactical. Implementation Discovery is a step that can sometimes be forgotten, yet is extremely important. It’s an opportunity to catch things that may have been missed during the sales and kickoff steps, and validate the KPIs you and your customer have agreed to. Consider this the first tactical, down and dirty, meeting. What do they [...]
https://embed.vidyard.com/share/NGZj8SbW3v8AhHDVWdtEKc WHY IS KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IMPORTANT? At the heart of every subscription-based business is the loyalty of the customer. Loyalty doesn’t simply happen at every renewal opportunity. It’s built over time and through meaningful customer experiences. The very first of those customer experiences happens with the sales team. While customers may be excited to get through the sales process and want to start using your platform quickly, they also don’t want to keep repeating [...]
https://embed.vidyard.com/share/98ceagK4KCRcZy514QQrKN WHY IS KICK-OFF IMPORTANT? You’ve just been handed a new customer, and it’s your job to officially start the relationship. Your entire organization has put the customer in your hands now, expecting that you can keep the enthusiasm of purchase alive and establish roots for an enduring relationship. Your kickoff meeting sets the tone for implementation, and the future of the customer relationship. No pressure. Right? Without making this more stressful than it [...]
We know that Customer Success teams are being formed and developed at a rapid pace. XaaS companies are no longer debating the value of a dedicated expert services team to work with customers to generate and sustain a continuously valuable experience. While the debate about whether to have a Customer Success team within your organization is subsiding, the questions about how to DO Customer Success are mounting. In response to these questions, Bolstra delivers The [...]
https://embed.vidyard.com/share/xKKXPgGZQXNQyNnX61Lwdf WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? While Discovery is incredibly informative for a XaaS vendor, it’s important to remember that it’s a moment of vulnerability and truth for a customer. When a customer is willing to share their business model, their pain points, and their needs with you, they are demonstrating trust that you will be able to help them ease their pain and reach their desired outcomes. Sales teams learn a lot during the [...]
Customer Success Managers (CSMs) have challenging jobs. The better a CSM is at their job, the greater the likelihood that they have some stresses around being able to do their job well. If you’re managing CSMs, don’t view these frustrations as indicators of weakness or poor performance. Rather, see them as indicators that your team is focused on delivering an excellent experience to your customers, and some of these pain points are implicit to those [...]
