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Well it’s here….ServiceVantage’s 10th anniversary! Well, actually it was the last week of January, which means we are a little late getting the last in our Top 10 blog series out the door. For the record, doing a “Top 10” list each week for 10 weeks has been a very ambitious project – hence the reason why it took us 12 weeks to do.
For our final Top 10 list in our series, we will focus on the Top 10 business Challenges that ServiceVantage has addressed (and continues to address) for our clients over the past 10 years. Yes this blog post may be seen as a shameless plug for ServiceVantage, and to some extent it is, but hey, we’ve been around for 10 years and helped more than 30 technology firms so perhaps we deserve to.
However, that being said, all companies will experience business challenges to varying degrees at various times in their evolution – what will set them apart is their willingness to admit those challenges and proactively address them.
Here are the top 10 Business Challenges that ServiceVantage helps you address:
1. No Systematic, Scalable Approach to Client Engagement
Across your organization, how consistently do you proactively engage your clients and ensure that they can interact with your organization in a way that positively impacts their business? Do you have great visibility into client retention and revenue protection? Can you leverage existing clients to close more deals?
2. Poor Client Adoption and Usage
It is absolutely critical, for all technology firms that their clients experience strong adoption and ongoing usage of their solutions. Do you understand how to improve adoption and usage? Is your client approach hurting or hindering this effort?
The math here is simple: low adoption + low usage = churn.
3. Little or No Actionable Client Intelligence
Too many organizations track only the basic information and are not able to identify patterns that have a significant influence on the overall client experience.
Organizations must be measuring and cross-referencing highly relevant and important client data to ensure the organization as a whole is making sound business decisions. When your organization is empowered with good client intelligence, it will absolutely give you knowledge needed to cement existing relationships, secure renewals and protect your revenue.
What level and depth of client intelligence do you have?
4. Difficulty Expanding Revenue within Client Base
Whether it is software modules or service offerings, you need to augment your business value to existing clients. They initially purchased your service/software to solve a specific business need. Are you meeting those initial needs and are you leveraging that success to expand your value (read: revenue) within?
5. Little or No Client Driven Referrals
This should be an obvious, but many companies do not go far enough in leveraging their clients for referrals. Yes logos on a website and case studies are good but they are very passive in their effectiveness. Do you have clients that would happily take a call from a prospect, or even better, refer you to a peer from another organization who would also benefit from your solution? Understand, per client, what type of reference they are willing to be, and leverage it – but don’t take it for granted either. You need to continue to earn their reference.
6. Poor Client Retention
This is a basic one. Is the revenue that is leaving your company make you feel like you are on a treadmill? The “fly-wheel” effect (the point when business starts to accelerate) only occurs when clients stay with you for years. Is your company doing all it can to stem defections?
7. Do You Hold Your Breath, Cross Your Fingers and Pray the Renewal Arrives?
It continues to amaze us when see companies who are surprised when a client does not renew or even when they do renew. There are a number of factors that a client is going to consider and assess when they are making the decision to renew. Many of those you can either influence or control. Do you influence and control all renewal and retention factors?
8. No Dedicated Executive Leadership
Do you have your client engagement groups reporting to an Executive of Sales, Operations or Development? All companies get to a point where the bare minimum or the status quo begins to be a liability to their longevity and health. Sometimes having access to strong executive experience, on a temporary basis can help companies get over key hurdles without prematurely expanding the executive head count.
9. Great People, Lack of Experience and Learning Curve that is Too Long.
Many companies have leadership (Director or Executive) who show great promise, are making excellent contributions and overall are “keepers”. However companies can find themselves in a situation where issues that require experienced executives to solve are coming in faster than their executives can gain experience. Invest in your leadership stars, and give them access to a mentor/coach that they can use as an experience sounding board to accelerate their professional growth. Are you helping them?
10. Client-Focused Culture?
The points above are clearly all contributors to a client-focused culture; however it does merit stating on its own: many companies need help to truly engrain a cross-departmental, client-focused culture within their organization. Getting everyone on-board and contributing to this will take strategic planning, collaboration and dedication. How client-focused is your culture?
So take a hard look at your organization. If any of these Top 10 items sound familiar, you owe it to your organization, not to mention shareholders, to improve. Hopefully you will think of us. We would welcome the opportunity.
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Our next topic in our weekly Top Ten series: The Top 10 Strategies to Improve Adoption and Usage.
One of the prime objectives of the ServiceVantage Client Lifecycle Methodology is ‘Consistent and Pervasive Adoption and Usage’. These are absolutely key elements in Revenue Protection and Client Retention. This means, of course, that all technology firms must be taking a proactive approach to ensuring that clients experience strong adoption and ongoing usage of their solutions. Here are our top 10 strategies to improve adoption and usage:
1. Workflow Training NOT Feature Training
Providing training on the features of a solution forces the user to connect the dots between the feature and their daily workflow. For many, this is difficult to do and utilizing your solution can be more of a burden than benefit. When delivering workflow-based training, the focus is on articulating how the various features/functions flows into a user’s existing workflow or how it makes improvements on their workflow. When users have a clear understanding of the improvements a new solution offers their day-to-day tasks and activities, getting the much needed adoption “buy-in” follows.
2. Identify Success Criteria for each User Type / User Group
Different user types (Admins, Frontline, executive, etc.) have different business needs and expectations that must identified, up front, so that the “on-boarding”, training and ongoing client engagement will cater to their specific requirements and needs. This may seem obvious, but I have sat through many training sessions going over features and functionality that I will never use.
3. Executive Sponsorship
The executive (or senior manager) of your client must set the tone and expectations with his/her staff on the importance to the group, department or company for utilizing the solution. They need to enforce the usage through individual compensation criteria, performance reviews etc. During the sales cycle and on-boarding phases, it is critical that you get the commitment from the Executive owner and provide him/her with suggested approaches to encourage/enforce usage. A great example that we have seen is with CRM deployments, where our client implemented a policy where sales people would not get compensated on any deal that was not properly recorded within the CRM. They had no problem with adoption and usage.
4. Eat the Elephant One Bite at a Time
By phasing-in subsets of the overall solution, you allow clients to realize immediate value, which tends to reinforce adoption and usage. After the first quick win, expand the roll-out to the broader features and you will likely see that it is much easier to gain adoption, especially if you have a training plan that maps to this approach.
5. Easily Consumable Training Videos
Provide readily available and easily consumable user training videos. Not hour long videos, but rather quick, task specific videos that are 3 minutes long or less. Make a series of these videos so that users can quickly “consume” the information they need, for any given topic or job task. At the end of the day, everyone is busy. Making long training videos that spans multiple aspects, with varying degrees of relevancy for a specific user is not an effective way to increase user adoption. Focus on these quick and short tutorials and give them the ability to achieve quick wins.
6. Job Aids
Similar to the training videos, creating small, post card size, double sided job aids that are task specific is also a good tool to help users grasp a specific job function. There will always be a percentage of the user community that will prefer to have these short, task specific job aids at their finger tips instead of watching short, video tutorials. Having these types of job aids shows your clients that you respect their time, and understand how best to help them use your solution.
7. Combine Training with Mentoring
When practical, mentoring users post-training is a great way to not only develop a good rapport with your clients, it is a great way to show off your deep subject matter expertise and help them connect the dots between their day-to-day workflow and the new software they were just trained on. Mentoring allows you to intervene, in real time, if there are issues that will prevent adoption and usage. When mentoring is offered, making practical use of your software is more easily achieved.
8. Product Roadmap Participation
When users have been given the opportunity to impact and/or influence the future direction of your solution, they become vested in your success, which in turn, creates an environment within your client’s organization that encourages ongoing usage and adoption, even as individuals are changed or replaced. Give your user community the opportunity to get involved in various aspects of your product roadmap process such as new feature definition, prioritization of features/bug fixes, and being involved in beta testing.
9. The Company You Keep
Having your software interact/interface with the broader software ecosystem that your clients also use is a great way to reinforce usage and adoption. Being intertwined with other important tools that your clients also rely on makes it difficult to avoid using yours. As example, salesforce.com has a great plug-in to Outlook that allows users to stay within their most frequently used tool (Outlook) and easily sync their email, calendar & task activities to salesforce.com account, case, activity and opportunity records. This simple plug-in makes salesforce.com further entrenched in their client’s broader ecosystem of important software tools which has a very positive impact on overall adoption. What is your “outlook plug-in” equivalent?
10. Get Intelligent about Usage
Using a tool like Totango, (www.totango.com), will give you great depth of intelligence, specifics and trends of how your clients use your software. This critical intelligence will empower you with the information you need to intervene when required and understand the areas that need to be addressed in order to improve usage and adoption.
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Throughout our many years working with dozens of technology companies, we have come across many amazing, client focused people. For the 8th topic in our Top 10 series, we would like to highlight the 10 individuals who, we believe, show outstanding talent and effectiveness in servicing their respective clients. PAX2UPTDTHUE
In alphabetical order:
1 – Rob Bell, VP Support & I.T (www.Kinaxis.com)
Rob is one of a kind. He has managed many different groups at Kinaxis and the client is always front and center in everything he does. For Rob, the client (rightfully so) is the center of the universe and he ensures that his entire team understands the importance of being their “trusted advisor”. He has a solid, client-focused reputation within Kinaxis and throughout their entire client base.
2 – Marc Brule, VP Client Services, (www.halogensoftware.com)
Marc has been the VP Client Services at Halogen Software for many years now, yet he continuously does his best to innovate and ensure his department provides the best client experience in their industry, which Halogen has been recognized for, many times over. He has surrounded himself with an excellent, client-focused team and I have no doubt they will continue to wow their current and future client base.
3 - Greg Hess, Developer & Pre-Sales Engineer (formally of Wrapped Apps, currently with www.Axentra.com)
I have been telling Greg, a developer, that he is in the wrong position for many years now. Without question, the best pre-sales engineer (one of the many hats he wears), I have ever had the pleasure to work with. He is incredibly client-focused, pours his heart and pride into his work, and is absolutely loved by the prospects and clients he works with. His passion may be development, but his client-facing skills are fantastic. The good news is that it’s awesome when a developer is truly and sincerely client-focused.
4 – Joanne Kern, Training Manager (www.dna13.com)
Joanne is absolutely one of the most impressive and effective trainers I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Joanne’s ability to understand her client’s specific workflow and processes and ensure they have a high level of adoption and usage is second to none. She puts every ounce of energy and heart into making sure that her clients have the best possible training experience and are extremely well equipped to take full advantage of what was sold to them. Many of dna13’s clients would credit Joanne with being one of the prime reasons they have been able to adopt and use the dna13 solution.
5 – Jennifer Morin, Director Client Services, (currently Product Manager with www.halogensoftware.com)
I had the pleasure to coach Jennifer for more than a year when she headed up the support & services team for AutoSkill. She made this list because she had to deal with many twists, turns and challenges that would have thrown off many people, but through it all, she maintained an incredible positive outlook and an environment that made it possible for her team to provide excellent customer service. An additional bonus is that she made me laugh countless times throughout my time working with her, (in fact, I bet she will be zinging out several jokes steeped in sarcasm as she reads this). Now in a product management role at Halogen software, she is no doubt bringing her excellent client-centric focus to make Halogen’s products even better.
6 – Jeff O’Connor, Client Success Manager (www.dna13.com)
As a Client Success Manager, (formally the Manager of Support), Jeff has worked tirelessly, and often without the appropriate recognition, to provide outstanding client support, service and account management. He has found himself in situations where providing excellent client service was nearly impossible to do yet consistently manages to rally the people and/or resources to pull it off. His high level of client dedication is something that any company would kill to have as part of their team. I have great confidence in his abilities to handle nearly any client situation and to do everything in his ability to secure renewals and retain clients. He has completely embraced the ServiceVantage approach to client engagement and demonstrates by execution.
7 – Robert Ouellette, Engineering Manager, (www.Sciemetric.com)
Rob is an incredibly client-focused professional from Sciemetric Instruments. Rob has been in many client-facing and engineer roles throughout his 15 year career at Sciemetric. His superb subject matter expertise, problem solving talents and loyalty, to both Sciemetric and to his clients, truly makes him one of a kind. The enormous respect Rob has earned from his clients and peers is second to none and the positive impact he has had is palatable.
8 – Ron Pawulski, Business Development Manager, (www.sciemetric.com)
When I worked with Sciemetric Instruments, Ron was in a Services/Support role. In an environment that was often extremely stressful, with clients who were very demanding (rightly so) and often required him to work crazy hours and spend many days/weeks away from home, Ron’s impeccable professionalism and client-focused attitude never faded, – or at least he didn’t let it show. He has taken many a client out of the“fire” and made them successful. He is a professional who can always be trusted to do the right thing for the client as well as for Sciemetric.
9 – Jennifer Peckett, Client Success Manager, (www.Syncapse.com)
Relative to the others on this list, Jennifer has the least number of years of experience, but yet her professional maturity is outstanding. Often under a lot of pressure with tight timelines and dealing with large, Fortune 100 clients, she takes incredible pride in her work and in the success of her clients. When Jennifer is assigned to “On-board” a new client, the entire Syncapse team feels tremendous confidence in Jen’s ability to achieve a successful outcome. I can only image where her career will take her 10 years from now. Note: the entire Syncapse Platform Success team is extremely strong – honorable mentions for Dre Noronha, Zainab Ali, and Darcy Voutt. Syncapse has struck gold with this team – and their clients benefit from it every day.
10 – John Sicard, Chief Operating Officer, (www.Kinaxis.com)
Kinaxis is a world-class, client-focused, technology company with an incredible team. Being one the original members of this team, John has worked in many, many capacities throughout the years and is one of the driving forces behind Kinaxis’ industry leading reputation. He has tremendous subject matter expertise and ensures that the various teams that report to him zero in on what is best for their clients. Development, Marketing, Support, Services, Training, etc., all think “client” in everything they do and produce. Kinaxis’ reputation is well deserved – and John’s client-centricity and ability to surround himself with excellent client-focused people is at the heart of it.
This could easily have been a Top 20 list – as we have worked with many incredible people over the years. What we have discovered is that all of these great, client-centric professionals have as their common thread, the following characteristics:
1) They take pride in their work (even if others don’t).
2) They show great empathy for their clients’ needs, concerns and issues.
3) They sincerely believe in the importance of their role, (again, even if others don’t).
4) They have very thick skin.
5) Their client’s success is a big part of their own perceived success.
Thanks to each of them, for making our work so enjoyable.
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Client Services can mean different things to different companies, but in the technology space, we are referring to the client/customer facing group who are primarily responsible for support, training, professional services and (non-sales) relationship management .
Over the years, we have helped many companies create Client Services strategies and Operational tactics. Here are our top 10 characteristics of an effective client services team.
1. C-Level Endorsement and Buy-in of the Strategic Importance of Client Services
Having the CEO and all other senior executives truly and sincerely understand the strategic importance of Client Services is a huge step towards having a world-class organization. To quote a very over-used phrase, it all starts from the top. The CEO sets the tone. An effective Client Services team is equally as important as an effective Sales team – albeit for different reasons – New revenue vs Revenue Protection. This should be communicated and frequently reinforced through actions and expectations.
2. Strategic Client Services metrics as a component of the Executive “Dashboard”
When the Executive are tracking corporate performance metrics, key (C-level relevant) Client Services data should be front and center. Example could be:
- Days between Sale and Revenue Recognition (bookings to revenue).
- Client Churn / Client Retention – Measured in Dollars.
- Client Renewal Health Score (see our previous blog: The Equation for Customer Retention Predictability)
3. Quarterly Client Services Reviews
The Client Services Team should be accumulating vital information directly from clients and provide it, proactively, to Development, Marketing, Sales, Product Management and then Executive Team to ensure that their respective activities will continue to evolve and improve the overall client experience. The Client Services Team is the hub client intelligence and is critical to the overall organization that it is shared with all key stakeholders.
4. A Sound Self-Service Strategy
Client Services organizations should be empowering their clients to be self-sufficient (to the extent that they would like to be) through the availability and wide array of self-service tools. Short, easily consumable, training videos, job aids, knowledge articles, support portals would provide clients with tools to seek out their own answers and to resolve their own issues, to their desired extent.
5. An Interactive Client Community
Create collaborative forums (social media or traditional) for clients to communicate with each other. Having a forum to communicate with peers to address challenges, talk about best practices and share success stories increases the overall creditability of your solution. Connecting your client base in a way that augments your value is a definite characteristic of a world class client services organization.
6. Client Advocacy
There should be dedicated individuals within the Client Services organization, such as Client Success Managers or Client Advocates, whose prime focus is to be a “trusted advisor”. Their prime objective is to have a pulse of the client and to understand and proactively engage with them when assistance or intervention is required. Additionally, they should be actively monitoring usage patterns to see if there are any trends that might indicate barriers to renewal. Ultimately they are responsible for ensuring high client usage, renewals and hopefully, expanded business.
7. Strong Subject Matter Expertise
It is extremely important that all members of the Client Services organization develop deep subject matter expertise. They must all be product experts and must truly grasp and can talk with a great level of confidence and detail regarding the features and usage of the product or service; especially as it relates to the client’s unique environment, processes and workflow.
8. Leverage Client Advisory Boards
Organizations should create Client Advisory boards to whom they can present marketing messages, sales approaches, and product roadmaps regularly (once or twice a year) to obtain feedback and keep their clients engaged and invested. An effective Client Advisory Board is made up of strategic clients who having varying experiences with your organization. It cannot be made up of only those who “love” your organization, but also those who hold criticisms as well. In either case, they need to provide sound, objective and valuable feedback.
9. Client Intelligence
A world-class Client Services Organization will be measuring and cross-referencing highly relevant and important client data to ensure the organization as a whole is making sound business decisions.
This can be as simple as having a CRM tool that has good categorization of issues, topics and subtopics, allowing Client Services organization to understand the patterns of interactions. For example, finding out that 70% of calls generated from a specific module of the software are “how-to” type calls, gives the organization a clear understanding as to training needs or product management priorities. Too many organizations track only the basics and are not able to identify patterns that have a significant influence on the client experience.
Almost as important as proper usage of a CRM tool is having great depth of understanding of how clients are using your solution. A fantastic example for SaaS companies is Totanto (www.totango.com) which provides incredible insight into which individual users use specific feature sets, when they use them, how they use them and then trend this information over time. This type of intelligence is beyond critical for any SaaS company. The impact this level of usage detail has on client services, product management, development and marketing cannot be over emphasized.
When you can cross reference this usage detail with the CRM detail, your organization is empowered with a level of client intelligence that will absolutely give you the knowledge needed to cement existing relationships, secure renewals, protect your revenue and trample a competitor.
10. Employee Empowerment
This is a point we have discussed before but it is essential that members within the Client Services organization feel empowered to make client impacting decisions, within reasonable boundaries.
If each individual has great clarity with regards to what their boundaries are, they will have the empowerment to make client impacting decisions that will be very valuable and helpful to their clients.
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