Winning-by-Design-CS-Operating-Model-open-source.pdf

Proprietary & Conﬁdential - Do not distribute - Winning by Design™ | 1
Customer Success
O P E R A T I N G M O D E L
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 2

C U S T O M E R S U C C E S S
01 Introduction
02 Core Elements
03 Onboarding
04 Adoption
05 Expansion
06 Skills
| 2
Introduction

Proprietary & Confidential - Do not distribute - Winning by Design™
Why do we need an Operating Model?
Recurring revenue businesses are embracing the fact that strong
Customer Success motions are critical to sustainability. However, we
have not yet seen a methodology dedicated to this.
There are CS best practices, but the market lacks a CS methodology
custom built for recurring revenue, that is data driven and that can
integrate across the whole business. This lack of a uniform
methodology has caused a variety of issues, including:
● Lack of a common language: Without a methodology that works
across all teams, departments end up siloed, each using their
own approach, definitions, and terms.
● Lack of a standardized data model: Often, data tracked and
collected from individual departments doesn’t fit into a uniform
model across the business, making it hard to drive decisions
based on data & strategic business insights.
● Lack of interoperability: Most SaaS businesses manage
hundreds to thousands of deals a year, and operate at high
velocity compared to a conventional B2B business. If the
activities of Marketing, Sales, and CS teams aren’t designed to
work together, there will be roadblocks to growth & scalability.
Customer Success Operating Model - Introduction
00
ax
The lack of a uniform operating model
causes widespread interoperability
resulting in a loss of recurring revenue.
The lack of a uniform operating model causes widespread interoperability
issues. This makes finding the right customers not the result of
meticulous planning and execution, but rather the result of perseverance
by a customer on their journey to achieve impact.
Onboard
Sales [ + ] Commit
LeadGen
LeadDev
Acquisition modeled by the
marketing and sales
funnel.
Customer Success and
Expansion, no model yet.
Misalignment
Recurring Revenue businesses should
focus on not only having a successful
and established customer journey up
until the first sale, but also ensure that
the value promised during the sales
process is delivered sustainably
throughout the customer lifetime.
Non-interoperable
Each function uses different methods,
special metrics, unique language, and
custom skills. Most methodologies are
designed to compete with each other
something that can be felt in parts of
the organization that seemingly start
to compete with each other.
Adopt
Expand

An Operating Model is the blueprint for how to run a business model
within your organization and bring it to life. It allows each individual in
an organization to understand both their role and the bigger picture
they fit into, and to be aware of the dependencies and consequences
of their actions within the business.
The Recurring Revenue Operating Model provides a framework that
spans the entire lifecycle of a customer. This framework is referred to
as The Bowtie. The bowtie allows organizations to operationalize
their business in order to scale efficiently and effectively.
The WbD Recurring Revenue Operating Model supports all business
functions across the bowtie. Today, many companies are likely to
have a sales methodology built into the left side of the bowtie such as
BANT, and use a LeadGen methodology such as Inbound, or ABM.
However there is a lack of any methodology on the right side of the
bowtie.
Because delivery of recurring Impact is critical to profitability and
sustainable growth, having a strong way to manage your customer
base is essential. For that reason, we broke out the Customer
Success Operating Model so it can be implemented while integrating
easily with common Marketing, and Sales methodologies in use
today.
Customer Success
Customer Acquisition
Recurring Revenue Operating Model
Onboard Adopt Expand
Sales
LeadDev
LeadGen
What is an Operating Model?
An operating model breaks a complex
system into subsystems that can be
described and understood separately.
00
Conventional Marketing and
Sales Funnel
Recurring Revenue takes place
outside the purview of the funnel.
covers the entire customer journey.
Commit

Historically, we’ve seen companies implement standardized
Marketing and Sales Methodologies on the left side of the bowtie, but
there is a lack of standardized and scalable processes on the right
side of the bowtie.
Since recurring revenue happens on the right side of the bowtie by
delivering Impact that drives retention and growth from existing
customers, we are presenting the WbD Customer Success Operating
Model.
The Customer Success Operating Model consists of three
independent phases: Onboarding, Adoption, and Expansion.
The WbD CS Operating Model is a part of the larger WbD Recurring
Revenue Operating Model. As a result, the CS Operating Model aligns
with the three independent CS functions and with existing Marketing
and Sales Methodologies.
Implementing the CS Operating Model is an important step forward if
you’re working to make your company more sustainable and drive
proﬁtability.
Customer Success
Sales
LeadDev
LeadGen
The Customer Success Operating Model
A standardized methodology to help
customers achieve impact, and
businesses scale growth sustainably.
00
Uniform Operating model
for a recurring revenue
business that covers the
entire customer journey.
Individual actions codiﬁed to
adhere to a uniform language
and using a set of standardized
metrics.
Interoperable experience
between all departments,
functions, and customer
facing roles.
Journey based on
a consistent
quality experience
across the entire
lifecycle.
Commit

Understand Your
Customer
Take the time to know your
customer, their business, their
goals and challenges.
Research, ask good
questions, and listen.
Your products and services
should be discussed within
the frame of how they can
support the customer, rather
than being the standalone
focus of any discussion.
Emotional and
Rational Impact
To best support your
customers, identify &
understand both the rational
and the emotional Impacts
they are looking to achieve.
Rational Impacts benefit their
business first and the
individual second, and
emotional Impacts benefit the
individual first and the
business second.
Help A Customer
Achieve Impact
All roles within an organization
should be focused on helping
customers identify and achieve
Impact.
The goals should never be to
get to a decision or to hit a
milestone - those will be
outcomes of pursuing Impact.
This is a mindset shift that will
immediately improve your
outcomes.
Educate and
Stay Curious
If you educate your customer
and make them smarter, they
will value the relationship and
work to preserve and grow it.
That said, don’t assume you
already have all the answers.
Situations change and
individuals have different
points of view.
Make sure you listen and
validate assumptions.
Create Value In
Every Interaction
Don’t ask for a check in just
because your calendar has a
to-do item on it. Each meeting
should have a clear end goal
that further deepens the Impact
or potential Impact the
customer is working to achieve.
Provide value by sharing
relevant information, always
making sure to engage the
customer and listen for any new
information or insight.
Five Customer Centric Fundamentals

01 Introduction
02 Core Elements
03 Onboarding
04 Adoption
05 Expansion
06 Skills
| 7
Core Elements

Four Core Elements Threaded Across the Entire Customer Journey
CS Operating Model - Core Elements
C1 C2 C3 C4
The bowtie refers to the end-to-end
customer journey, including Lead
generation, lead development, sales,
customer onboarding, adoption, and
expansion.
The bowtie replaces the conventional
marketing and sales funnel, which
does not cover adoption & expansion,
which are the growth engines of any
recurring revenue business.
A key to the CS Operating Model is
SPICED, an acronym that stands for
Situation, Pain, Impact, Critical Event,
and Decision.
SPICED is a diagnostic framework to
identify and transfer critical customer
information along the entire customer
lifecycle. It drives the proper
customer-centric conversation at
crucial moments for the customer.
The impact is the realization of the
promise of value. Customers must see
a recurring impact to renew a contract
or before committing to additional
services.
The Operating Model has two kinds of
Impact: Rational or quantitative
Impact, which beneﬁts the company,
and Emotional or qualitative impact,
which helps the person.
A Critical Event drives a decision as it
has an adverse impact when no
action is taken. A critical event can
be a set date or an event, such as
getting to 1M users.
Critical events cause prioritization,
thus driving decisions in recurring
revenue businesses. It makes access
to the budget, or having an RoI of
secondary importance.
P CE D
S
The
Journey
The
Framework
Impact Critical Event
CE

A customer traverses across the entire
bowtie with a goal of achieving recurring
Impact. Recurring Revenue is a result.
Recurring Revenue is
the result of Recurring
Impact
First
Impact
Buy on
Impact
Prioritize
on Impact
Discover
Impact
Unknown
Impact
Commit to
Impact
Historically, we’ve seen companies implement standardized
Marketing and Sales Methodologies on the left side of the bowtie, but
there is a lack of standardized and scalable processes on the right
side of the bowtie.
Since recurring revenue happens on the right side of the bowtie by
delivering Impact that drives retention and growth from existing
customers, we are presenting the WbD Customer Success Operating
Model.
The Customer Success Operating Model consists of three
independent phases: Onboarding, Adoption, and Expansion.
The WbD CS Operating Model is a part of the larger WbD Recurring
Revenue Operating Model. As a result, the CS Operating Model aligns
with the three independent CS functions and with existing Marketing
and Sales Methodologies.
This methodology is all center on Impact. The First Principle of
Recurring Revenue is that it is the result of Recurring Impact. This
allows to create an impact journey that aligns the entire company.
Implementing the CS Operating Model is an important step forward if
you’re working to make your company more sustainable and drive
proﬁtability.
Customer Success
Sales
LeadDev
LeadGen
A Customer’s Journey
Customer Success Operating Model
C1
Individual actions codiﬁed to
adhere to a uniform language
and using a set of standardized
metrics.
Journey based on
a consistent
quality experience
across the entire
lifecycle.
Commit
Max
Impact
Having everyone seek and talk about
customer impact across all roles and
functions cause alignment across the
company and results in a smooth customer
journey.
Uniform Operating model for a
recurring revenue business that
covers the entire customer journey.
Recurring
Impact
Interoperable experience
between all departments,
functions, and customer
facing roles.
IMPACT

Relevant background facts or circumstances about the
customer. Factors such as size of company, location,
number of employees, software they use, hiring needs,
security needs, maturity level, and revenue goals.
The people involved in the decision, the process they will
follow to reach that decision, and the criteria they will use
to evaluate the right solution.
A deadline by which the customer must achieve Impact or
suffer negative consequences. Critical Events drive
behavior, whether that be completing implementation,
expanding use, or completing a renewal.
The results produced by solving for that pain. These are the
outcomes the customer is trying to achieve by using your
product. Impact can be both emotional, focused on
individuals, and rational, focused on the overall company.
The problem a customer has or the opportunity they see
for which they need for a solution. Pains are often
expressed at a superﬁcial level. To identify the true needs
requires a deeper diagnosis.
SPICED™ connects every interaction across the entire customer
journey. It has the following traits:
● SPICED is focused on customer Impact, making it
customer-centric.
● SPICED can be used across the entire customer journey for every
customer touchpoint to validate essential information, qualify,
ensure ongoing alignment, and provide a quick way to surface
risks or opportunities.
● SPICED is sequential, as you need to understand the situation
before fully understanding Pain and Impact.
● SPICED reﬂects contextual relevance; for example, reaching out
to a customer based on the situation depicts less relevance vs.
Impact.
● Ensure all roles across the bowtie frame key customer
conversations around SPICED; all customer-facing teams should
be operating off the same core information while also providing a
natural way to uncover risks to the account or expansion
opportunities.
● A decision results from a customer’s need for Impact; it is in
service to achieve the Impact, not a driver of the Impact. The
latter is more familiar with a sales-centric approach.
S
SITUATION
P
PAIN
I
IMPACT
CE
CRITICAL
EVENT
D
DECISION
SPICED™ is at the core of the operating
model. It connects all interactions with
the customer across the entire journey.
The Framework
C2
Sequential
Causal

Creative Common Material by Winning by Design™
Impact is critical to driving recurring
revenue from your customers, but what
does IMPACT really mean?
Impact is What a Customers Gets Out Of It
ITUATION
AIN
Layers of questions uncover
Rational & Emotional Impact.
Impact refers to something you are providing to a customer they didn’t
have before engaging with you or that they can achieve more quickly
with you. If you aren’t delivering Impact, keeping and growing your
customer base will be highly challenging.
To deliver recurring Impact, you need to start by identifying what
Impacts each customer is looking to achieve. Some Impact goals are
easy to remember, such as “we need to reduce our operational costs,”
but others are less obvious.
Think of Impact as an onion, with some outer layers that are easy to
get to but that you need to peel back to gain a deeper understanding.
The exterior, visible layers reflect the situation and pain a customer
feels. Use that information to create strategic questions, listen to
understand more types of Impacts, and get a deep understanding of
what drives decision-making within their business.
● Situation Question (closed ended): How many users are there on the
present tool?
● Pain Question (open ended): What do users still struggle with? How
does that show up?
● Impact (open ended): How much time or money could be saved by
making it faster for team members to process paperwork?
It can take as many as 3 to 7 questions to collect all the types of
Impact goals they have, so be patient!
C3 P
S
Rational (quantitative) Impact
and Emotional (qualitative)
impact.
● Emotional Impact first benefits a person and
then the company, such as a promotion earned
with a successful product implementation.
Rational Impact first benefits the company and
then a person, such as dollars that an efficiency
tool helps save.
● Emotional Impacts vary by person. Each person
experiences Emotional Impact differently
depending on their role or situation. Rational
Impacts, on the other hand, often represent
common goals shared by all functions at a
company.
● Most humans make Emotional decisions.
Whether we realize it or not, humans often make
decisions based on emotions and seek to
rationalize those decisions with facts and
figures.
There are 2 kinds of Impact
customers want to achieve:
Rational and Emotional.
Quantitative goals, such as increasing
revenue or decreasing cost, have always
been a key part of purchasing decisions.
These quantitative goals are defined as
Rational Impact. However, we know that the
most successful recurring revenue
companies also understand and define
Emotional Impact for their customers.
Emotional Impacts tend to be more
qualitative and can provide deep insights
into buying decisions, even if they are
unspoken or not part of an RFP.

Time
Engagement
A Critical Event
causes an Impact if
the date is missed.
When trying to encourage a prospect or customer
to take action, it’s important that there be urgency
around the action.
In the case of Customer Success, an example
might be that your customer’s renewal date is
upcoming, and they aren’t actively engaging with
you to complete it. To drive engagement, you need
to create urgency and make the renewal date not
just a Compelling Event but a Critical Event.
Compelling Events have dates but don’t carry any
urgency or drive action. A statement illustrating a
Compelling Event is, “Your renewal date is
September 15th.” There is an event but no urgency.
Critical Events have a date, AND there will be a
negative consequence if that date is missed. An
illustration of a Critical Event is, “Your renewal date
is September 15th, and if the renewal isn’t
processed by then, your teams will have to go back
to managing spend in spreadsheets, wasting a
great deal of time and creating more risk of errors.”
Identifying a Critical Event
C4 The goal of this blueprint is to
demonstrate what a Critical Event
is and what the differences is with
a compelling event.
GO DARK
STAKEHOLDER
Critical Impact
Compelling Impact
DISCOVERY
Discovery identiﬁes
a customer’s needs.
Impact
Decision on the
priority.
I
I
The customer has an
idea on the size and
recurrence of the
Impact.
Gathering of those
who will beneﬁt
from the Impact.
Ideal time to help a customer
Having learned from its past
mistakes, the customer uses
your support and takes action
to avoid the negative Impact.
A critical event timeline tells
us when a solution needs
to be in place, or else…
Hurry up… and wait…
Committed customer
executes the critical
event timeline.
CALL TO ACTION
With no solution in place
the customer
experiences critical
negative Impact.
RITICAL VENT
C E
COMPELLING EVENT
Critical Event with a
huge consequence
(negative impact) in
case the event is
missed.

5× 5× 5
Emotional Impact
Qualitative Impact a person gets. Often worded
as “better”, “easier”
1. ______________________
2. ______________________
3. ______________________
4. ______________________
5. ______________________
Rational Impact
Measurable, quantitative Impact, such as an
increase in revenue, or faster.
1. ______________________
2. ______________________
3. ______________________
4. ______________________
5. ______________________
Critical Event
An event that when missed has an Impact
associated with it.
1. ______________________
2. ______________________
3. ______________________
4. ______________________
5. ______________________
Impact and Critical Event
Implementation

Metrics Drive Behavior
So, what are the right
metrics?
When performance is not
measured, performance does
not improve.
When performance is
measured and reported
back, the rate of
improvement accelerates.
?

The Operating Model Overview
Sales
LeadDev
LeadGen
Customer Success
Commit
Operating Model
The result of an operating model are:
1. Interoperability
2. A Common Language
3. Standardized Data Model
There are three kind of metrics to run a business:
M1-M9. Volume metrics are in part indicative of
effectiveness. For example; ARR, the
amount of customers, etc.
CR1-CR7. Conversion metrics are in part
indicative of eﬃciency. For example:
Retention Rate, Usage etc.
These standardized metrics allow us to calculate
performance metrics.
PM1-PM4. Whereas Conversion metrics are
based on metrics in the same domain,
Performance metrics compare a variety of
metrics against each other such as Cost
and Lifetime Value.
Recurring Revenue is the
Result of Recurring
Impact
Identify on
Impact
Buy on
Impact
Prioritize
on Impact
Discover
Impact Max
Impact
First
Impact
Commit
to Impact
Recurring
Impact
M1 M2 M3 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9
CR2
CR1 CR5
CR4
CR3 CR7
CR6
M4
Prospect. MQL. .SQL. WIN. ACTIVE. LIVE. ARR. LTV.
.SAL.
Example metrics:

Growth Rate
Growth rates refer to the percentage
change of recurring revenue within a
specific time period, often a year.
Common growth rates are:
● Rapid Growth 10-20%
● Hypergrowth 20-40%
● Double/Triple 100%/200%
● Blitz Scaling: >1000%
Key metrics:
● Growth from Acquisition
○ CR1, CR2, CR3, CR4, Discount
● Growth from Expansion
○ CR5, CR6, CR7
○ Length of the contract (t7)
LTV:CAC Ratio
The Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
to Customer Acquisition Cost
(CAC) ratio measures the
relationship between the lifetime
value of a customer and the cost of
acquiring that customer.
Four Core Metrics That Govern Success in Recurring Revenue
Rule-of-40
The Rule of 40 states the combined
revenue growth rate and profit
margin should equal or exceed 40%.
SaaS companies above 40% are
generating profit at a rate that's
sustainable, whereas companies
below 40% may face cash flow
issues.
Net Revenue Retention
Measures how much your annual
(ARR) or monthly recurring revenue
(MRR) has grown or shrunk over
time.
It factors in customer expansion as
well as revenue churn from losing a
customer as well as downgrades.
Key metrics:
● Annual Revenue (VM5)
● Onboarding Churn (CR5)
● Retention/Churn (CR6)
● Expansion/Contraction (CR7)
● Length of the contract (t7)
Key metrics:
● Growth Rate
● Profit (Cost)
○ Customer Acquisition Cost
○ Cost To Serve
○ Cost of Raw Goods
Key metrics:
● Annual Revenue (VM5)
● Onboarding churn (CR5)
● Retention/Churn (CR6)
● Expansion/Contraction (CR7)
● Length of the contract (t7)

01 Introduction
02 Core Elements
03 Onboarding
04 Adoption
05 Expansion
06 Skills
| 17
A Blueprint

The Bowtie
The 3 Goals of the Operating Model for Recurring Revenue:
Goal 1. Establish a common, and customer centric, language.
Goal 2. Apply standardized metrics to allow for benchmarking.
Goal 3. Create Interoperability between different functions.
It is based on the following steps:
Step 1. Use of the bowtie to model the entire customer journey.
Step 2. Split up the customer journey in phases.
Step 3. Establish key metrics for each phase [M, CR, PM].
Step 4. Identify a handful of Moments that Matter per phase.
Step 5. Create a Blueprint for each of these moments.
Step 6. Codify SPICED into a Blueprint so it can be trained,
improved, etc..
Step 7. Measure metrics [M, CR, PM] and improve over time
LeadGen
LeadDev
Sales
Onboarding
Adoption
Expansion
The key functions are:
1. Lead Generation
2. Lead Development
3. Sales
4. Onboarding
5. Adoption
6. Expansion
A Uniform Operating Model for a
Recurring Revenue Businesses
IN
Introduction

Introduction
The location of where you are at:
● The CS Operating Model
● In the Onboarding Playbook
● Handoff to Customer Success
● Blueprint 01
● Large numbering allows you to
navigate easily in the slide sorter.
Reference to the next
action and blueprint in
the customer journey.
The banner provides a
visual cue to actions that
are identiﬁed as a
moment that matters.
The goal of each blueprint
is clearly stated upfront.
Presence of SPICED, the
framework which
creates interoperability
between blueprints.
Clear description of the action and
what it does. Handoff to CS is to
Transfer critical account info
Expertise broken down into a
series of steps, actions, best
practices etc.
Visual that guides you through the
experience as a function of customer
engagement over time.
IN
The 2023 Blueprint
format explained.

01 Introduction
02 Core Elements
03 Onboarding
04 Adoption
05 Expansion
06 Skills
| 20
Onboarding

Overview Onboarding
CS Operating Model - Onboarding Phase
The customer onboarding phase is arguably the most critical part of the
customer journey as it lays the foundation for the relationship.
Unfortunately, it is also the easiest to do wrong.
Avoid using a “check-the-box” mentality in which both teams focus on the
tactics of completing an onboarding checklist without really understanding
the pain to solve and the Impacts to deliver.
If you don’t know what Impact you’re working to achieve, it will be tough to
deliver it. To ensure you set your customers and your business up for
success, make sure to embed these best practices in your customer
Onboarding journey:
O1. Handoff to CS
O2. Customer Kickoff
O3. Joint Impact Plan (aka Success Plan, Account Plan, etc.)
O4. Achieving First Impact
Getting these motions right will directly impact your customer retention
and expansion. It can provide critical insights to your sales and marketing
teams to help them set great expectations with prospects.
O0
Following the mutual commitment
the relationship has changed: You are
all on the same team now.
O1 O2 O3 O4
H
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Adoption Expansion
Onboarding
Education Selection
Awareness
Mutual
Commit

Time
Engagement
KICKOFF
COMMIT
A smooth and effective customer handoff from the
Sales team to the Onboarding and CS team is critical. It
helps the customer experience and, ultimately, your
business outcomes.
Ensure Sales teams are accountable for completing
detailed handoffs to the Onboarding and CS team
before they move on from the account. Best practices
for good handoffs include:
1. Complete the handoff as close to commit as
possible while the information is still fresh.
2. Transfer critical account info using SPICEDTM,
including crucial details about topics like org
structure, personas, and red ﬂags.
3. Use clear handoff guidelines to ensure all team
members know:
❏ Who bought from us?
❏ Why did they buy?
❏ What were they doing before?
❏ Why was that not working for them?
❏ What was the problem to solve or avoid?
During or immediately after the
handoff meeting, draft a Joint
Impact Plan to be completed
with the Customer during the
kickoff.
Determine a plan
to achieve Impact.
DO-OVER?
STRATEGIZE
Verify if this is correct.
● Calculate the real life
Impact together
● Make sure to conﬁrm
the date this is needed.
Transfer of
critical
account info.
Handoff to Customer Success
O1
Follow-up
immediately, share the
recording, Joint
Impact Plan etc.
Insights disclosed during
onboarding can cause a
do-over of the
deliverables.
The goal of this blueprint is to show the
crucial steps for an effective internal
handoff between Sales and Customer
Success through the use of SPICED.
Effectively transfer
critical account
information.
SETUP
ACE the call, prepare
an agenda, introduce
each other.
P I CE D
S
Do not lose the
momentum, swiftly
move from one
action to another.
JOINT IMPACT PLAN
CLOSE
End on time, setup
for the next
meeting (using
WAGONS.)
FOLLOW-UP
Do not lose momentum,
swiftly move from one
action to another.
PREPARE
Prepare for the kick-off call.
Get on a debrief call with the
sales rep (or check CRM).
High churn risk
!
!

Time
Engagement
FIRST IMPACT
Start the relationship off
strong with an effective
Kickoff call.
Provide immediate
Impact by sharing
relevant best practices.
Kickoff Call
Tips for a strong Kickoff Call:
1. Research the attendees ahead of the call, so you
know the titles and the context they have about the
engagement.
2. Start the meeting by aligning on goals and confirm
whether the attendees have other plans or
expectations.
3. Be curious and listen. This isn’t about you talking;
it’s about asking questions and hearing additional
critical details that can set you up for success.
4. Set expectations around roles & responsibilities on
both sides, and share keys to success and
common pitfalls. Explain what working with your
organization will look like over the first few months
and beyond.
5. Start your close no later than 5 minutes before the
end time. Ensure there are clear next steps and
assigned action items.
ONBOARDING REVIEW
LEARNING MOMENTS
FOLLOW-UP
CLOSE
Follow-up immediately. Send
the kickoff call deck with a
completed project plan of each
person’s tasks and actions.
Provide a map with
a visual of the
onboarding stages. Agree on the goals and
align on challenges and
opportunities. Discuss
how to address each
and set target timelines.
JOINT IMPACT PLAN
STORY
Use storytelling to share
best practices of the
experience of other
customers.
O2
End on time, setup
for the next
meeting (using
WAGONS.)
P I CE D
S
SETUP
ACE the call, prepare
an agenda, introduce
each other.
HANDOFF
action to another.
The goal of this blueprint is to outline
how to perform a kickoff call and
transfer of critical account info. This at
times may feel repetitive, but customers
again and again express that they
appreciate this,, and often bring up
additional details that can be valuable to
achieve impact.
Do not lose the
momentum, swiftly
move from one
action to another.
High churn risk
!
!
PREPARE
Internal. If there are multiple
people joining (3+) call the
customer lead, and confirm
the objectives of the call.

Time
Engagement
RENEWAL
Schedule Strategic meetings where you can review,
ask questions and update the Joint Impact Plan every
3-12 months, as needed.
The goal of this blueprint is to create a
Joint Impact Plan (JIP) with recurring
impact as a crucial part. Remember the
first principle of recurring revenue:
Recurring Revenue is the result of
Recurring Impact.
O3
Create a shared north
star that guides the
customer relationship.
The Joint Impact Plan (JIP) is a customer-facing
document that guides the entire ongoing engagement.
Whether you refer to it as a JIP, a Success Plan, part of
an Account Plan, or something else, the important thing
is that it lays out clear goals and is created
collaboratively with the customer.
1. Include details of short and long-term goals, such
as the First Impact goal to achieve during
Onboarding; adoption goals, internal
organizational management goals, etc.
2. Use the JIP to discuss challenges openly with
your champion, such as how to convert
detractors, recognize change management
challenges, etc.
3. Use the JIP to discuss opportunities openly with
your champion, such as the goals they have for
their org, the chance to unseat a competing
product, etc.
Joint Impact Plan
DRAFT V1
Draft a Joint Impact Plan during or
immediately after the Sales to CS
Handoff
FINALIZE V1
During the kickoff,
complete the Joint
Impact Plan together
with the customer. FIRST IMPACT REVIEW REVIEW
During each Joint Impact Plan
review call, use
to validate & update:
Impact Goals that are measurable
Challenges with clear mitigation plans
Opportunities and plan how to move forward
P I CE D
S
Achieving first impact is a
critical event. Not achieving
first impact at the
committed data is likely to
have churn consequences.
The renewal date should be
seen as an outcome and not a
critical event date. Meaning you
should know exactly where you
stand with your customers.
REVIEW
Involve your
customer,
involvement
creates
commitment.

Time
Engagement
DRIVE IMPACT
KICKOFF
Align the implementation
tasks with the desired
Impact you agreed with
the customer.
First Impact
First Impact refers to the moment the customer
achieves tangible Impact through the use and adoption
of a product or service. The First Impact must be
clearly defined at the beginning of the engagement and
ideally goes beyond a simple login. To drive this
conversation, you need to understand the various
Impact a customer wants to achieve, prioritize them,
and choose a “First Impact.”
Achieving First Impact will signal the end of the
Onboarding phase. It does not mean that your
implementation work is complete. It simply means that
an initial milestone towards a larger goal is achieved.
Examples of First Impact definitions:
● Downloading a report for the first time
● Completing a task in the system
Time to First Impact is the time it takes for a customer
to achieve First Impact as defined during the Business
Kickoff meeting, usually measured in days. Research
has shown that customers with shorter Time to First
Impact are generally more successful, and their
likelihood of churn is much lower than those with
longer Time to First Impact.
O4
Deliver First Impact
Quickly to Build
Confidence.
The first moment they can
use your product to do
something new that
contributes to the reason they
purchased?
JOINT IMPACT PLAN
Define First Impact: What do
they want to achieve with your
product, and by what date?
Update the JIP
with new goals
Make sure the Onboarding
Phase has a clear end and
that the customer is aware
of any new points of
contact on the engagement.
IMPLEMENTATION
Confirm via an email,
that onboarding is
completed.
Confirm First Impact
is achieved.
Keep the customer
engaged with short
notification, and notify
any delay regardless
who or what caused it.
P I CE D
S
Do not lose the
momentum, swiftly
move from one
action to another.
Confirm if you
got it right.
The goal of this blueprint is to establish
that time is of the essence! It is not only
important to get to first impact quickly
but also to make it known to the
customer when it is achieved, and in the
process keep the customer and your
team well informed (via CRM.)
action to another.
FIRST IMPACT ACHIEVED
High churn risk
!
!
!

01 Introduction
02 Core Elements
03 Onboarding
04 Adoption
05 Expansion
06 Skills
| 26
Adoption

A0
The Adoption Phase of the customer journey is where your customers
will spend most of their time. It’s critical during this phase to set up a
proactive meeting cadence appropriate to the size of the customer
and to establish ways to surface risks and opportunities as early as
possible.
By establishing the following critical components as part of your
Adoption Phase, you can ensure that teams are focused on delivering
ongoing Impact efficiently and effectively.
There are five crucial actions part of the adoptions process:
A1. Drive Impact Process
A2. Business Review
A3. Health Scoring
A4. Trigger Plays
A5. Renewal Execution
A proactive, repeatable approach to managing accounts will instill
confidence in your customers, allow your team members to focus and
prioritize, onboard new team members more quickly, and support
scalability and positive business outcomes.
Overview Adoption
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5
Adoption Expansion
Onboarding
Education Selection
Awareness
Mutual
Commit
D
r
i
v
e
I
m
p
a
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t
B
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a
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T
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e
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w
a
l
E
x
e
c
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t
i
o
n
To help a customer adopt and use a
service to unlock the impact, does not
come natural to hypergrowth teams.
CS Operating Model - Adoption Phase

Time
Engagement
FIRST IMPACT
3
1
IMPACT
LOOP
2
Drive Impact Process
The goal of a Recurring Revenue service is to
provide customers with recurring Impact. The
Impact will not happen by itself. Three loops
form the Impact Engine:
1. The Impact loop drives recurring Impact based on
proven impact programs.
2. The Activity loop is where activities take place that
results in Impact.
3. The Trigger loop allows the surfacing of risks and
opportunities in an account.
The Joint Impact Plan (JIP) orchestrates the
various actions that drive the Impact. JIP uses
SPICED across all actions to guide the proper
conversation with the customer around Impact.
This allows you to train all customer-facing roles
on how to drive Impact by asking good
questions, listening, tracking adoption,
measuring engagement, and responding to
emails and surveys, participating in events, etc.
DRIVE IMPACT
SHARE IMPACT
IMPACT CAMPAIGNS
A1
The north star that
keeps you and your
customer focused
Update JIP to set
Impact goals and add
news ones over time.
BUSINESS REVIEW
ACTIVITY
LOOP
The goal of this blueprint is to.
create a recurring Impact engine:
Triggers help you to highlight risks
and surface opportunities. A trigger
drives an action, and actions result
in impact.
TRIGGER
LOOP
TRIGGER PLAYS
RENEWAL
A series of actions to
implement recurring
impact programs.
Set thresholds that
highlight risks and
opportunities.
HEALTH
SCORING
Ensure that all programs
focus on identifying,
updating, and delivering
Impact.
It is very common to assume the
impact you provide is obvious. It is
not obvious. Persistent effort must
be taken to share the impact
across all levels of both the
customer and your own
organization..
Series of trigger
plays based on
the business.
Don’t lose momentum.
Have a plan in place to
drive impact.
JOINT IMPACT PLAN
!

Time
Engagement
TRIGGER PLAYS
DRIVE IMPACT
Impact Business Review
An Executive Business Review, or EBR, is a
strategic meeting with Stakeholders focused on
validating & updating the customer’s goals,
reviewing the Impact achieved and discussing
any risks or opportunities in the account.
When asking for an executive’s time, you must
provide value. Use this blueprint to structure your
EBR. Use storytelling and active listening to get
the most out of the interaction while beneﬁting
the executive.
An EBRs is much more than a summary of past
operational meetings. An EBR should be used to
align the impact you provide with the company’s
strategic interest for the next 12 months.
3 ways to deliver more Impact:
● Remediation: better utilize already
paid for capabilities.
● Upgrade: deliver new capabilities to
current users.
● Expand: ﬁnd new users to deliver
similar capabilities.
STORY
Use a story about a customer
who didn’t achieve results but
was able to change strategy
and deliver business Impact.
IMPACT REVIEW
Ask: if you had to
renew today, would
you?
PREPARE
Validate critical
account info and
capture any updates.
Prepare impact stories
relevant to the customer’s
current experience.
STORY
FOLLOW-UP
Maintain momentum
by following up
immediately.
A2
Analyze if impact was
achieved and set future
impact expectations. JOINT IMPACT PLAN
SETUP
ACE the call with
an agenda and a
clear goal.
CLOSE
End on time,
setup for the
next meeting
(WAGONS.)
Use a relevant
story to inspire
growth and
Impact.
Obtain a number of
quotes of IRL impact
over the past months.
Create a 5 min
summary to be used
by a broader audience.
Identify new critical
events, for the next
12 months.
P I CE D
S
+
-
The goal of this blueprint is to align
the impact you provide with crucial
initiatives within the corporation.
These initiatives can often be found
in the public domain
Analyze if the (desired)
impact was achieved
and set expectations
for future impact.
!
High churn risk
!
!

There will always be situations that take an
account off the ideal customer path. Sometimes
there are risks to a renewal and you have to
mitigate to save the account. Sometimes an
opportunity will surface that needs to be acted
upon quickly.
There are some risks and opportunities that are
common, and while you can’t plan when they
happen, you can prepare for when they do occur.
As a team you need to set Triggers for each of
the most common Risks, and Opportunities
following a If This Then That (IFTTT) format.
Example:
Trigger: If the Champion leaves then..
Action 1. Send out an introduction and schedule a
discovery call with the person that replaces them.
Provide insights on the impact offered over the past
and next 12 months..
Action 2. Follow your Champion and see where they
are going to land, as it likely may become a new
opportunity for your sales team to pursue.
A3
Trigger Plays allow
teams to react quickly
to common scenarios
Trigger Plays
Identify a Risk
●Champion Change
●Account Gone Dark
●Drop in Usage
●M&A Event
●Etc.
Surface an Opportunity
●Over usage
●Team Growth
●Market Opportunity
●M&A Event
●Etc.
TRIGGER
+
TRIGGER
-
ACTION
Record completed Trigger Plays
as a pocket story using SPICED.
This creates a reference for
other team members.
STORY
Adoption Expansion
Onboarding
MPACT
I
Measure the impact
of the actions taken.
Proven action(s)
against the trigger.
Triggers
The goal of this blueprint is to
identify a risk to the account or
surface an expansion opportunity.
This allows you to set a trigger
play to mitigate the situation or
address the opportunity.

Time
Engagement
DRIVE IMPACT
This goal of this blueprint is to
show there are four leading
indicators for health that can be
measured. Based on these
measurements trigger plays can
be designed to drive actions and
impact.
Is the service
being used?
Number of
support tickets/
response time?
A4
Use leading indicators
to provide guidance
on what to do.
Health Scoring is a great way to use patterns to
highlight potential risks or opportunities for an
account. While Health Scoring is not meant to be
a diagnosis tool, it can highlight symptoms and
help your teams know what accounts may need
attention and where to look to get more
information.
Health Scoring should be based on patterns
unique to your product(s) and customers, and
can be balanced between system indicators like
a rise or fall in product usage, and qualitative
indicators discovered through conversation.
When developing your score, it’s important to
involve Leadership, Product & other teams to
create a simple scoring method for the
organization.
TIP: Start with a single metric for each pillar
Health Scoring
SATISFACTION
ENGAGEMENT
ADOPTION
PILLAR II.
Are customers satisfied
by the level of support
they receive?
What is the
response time to
critical issues?
PILLAR III.
How engaged are your
customers with your
product?
Are execs
involved in
the EBR?
PILLAR IV.
Are all the core teams
utilizing the product?
MPACT
PILLAR I.
Are customers
getting Impact?
Is the impact
10x the price?
Any changes to the team, in
particular to the champion,
or any of the early adopters?
Is new
impact being
identified?
What is the
CSAT score?
Have there been
any moments
that mattered?
Any critical events
coming up?
Do you have insights
on your customer?
What is the
penetration?
Health scoring is
dynamic. Over time
the health KPIs are
expected to improve.
I
Is the impact
important?
I
CE
D
What KPI do
we influence?
At risk
Symptoms
Healthy
High churn risk
!
!
!
!
!

Time
Engagement
DRIVE IMPACT
Ask if this is
important.
Confirm if
you got it
right.
Renewal Execution
While PLG motions may approach Renewal
operationally, if you have SMB and Enterprise
customers, leverage the Renewal to drive
strategic conversations.
● Make sure you start the renewal conversation
early enough to allow you to address any
risks or opportunities (3-6 mo’s is typical)
● Use the SPICED framework to frame the
conversation
● Ask good questions to validate SPICED and
make appropriate updates
● Use Storytelling to celebrate Impact wins or
address risks
If you’re providing Recurring Impact and
validating that across the customer journey, the
Renewal should be a positive event to move the
relationship forward. PREPARE
SETUP
MPACT
I
NEXT STEPS
SUMMARIZE
DEMO
ITUATION
S
AIN
P
STORY
ECISION
D
If desired Impact
was not achieved, go
back and determine
the desired Impact
for next year.
Demonstrate the *new*
impact in context of
their situation/pain. Identify the Process,
the Decision Criteria,
and the Decision
Maker.associated
with that KPI.
Do they plan on
renewing? If no,
what are the
obstacles?
P
I
T
C
H
SAVE
A5
Renewal is a strategic
moment that presents
lots of opportunities.
Many organizations approach renewals as an
operational moment marked by paperwork and
boxes ticked off. However, we encourage you to
consider renewal as a strategic moment.
● If you have been delivering Impact consistently,
exploring potential expansion opportunities is only
natural, even more so this is an opportunity to
expand the business.
● From a revenue perspective, adding just 3% annually
to a customer contract will cause the LTV to
compound year over year, contributing more to your
revenue with each renewal. Here are a few reasons
to add revenue:
○ Annual price increase.
○ True up floating users/usage.
○ Upsell new features.
○ Expand your network with the customer.
Start the process around six months ahead of
the renewal date to provide time to develop an
opportunity or mitigate any account risk.
Use a relevant story
about a customer
who changed to
achieve Impact.
ACE the call
with an agenda,
and a goal.
Pitching leads to
disengagement.
Understand the customer’s
original needs and if those
needs have changed.
Confirm why
they originally
came to you.
Did you achieve the impact?
And are they still planning on
using the same impact and
to use you to achieve that?
Take notes of a
specific situation
and unique pains.
Discuss new
impact for the
coming months.
Connect the Impact
to a customer’s
corporate KPI.
Perform a play
proven to have
worked in the
past in a similar
situation.
RITICAL VENT
C E
MPACT
I
This goal of this blueprint is to
provide an outline of the actions
involved in the renewal.
FOLLOW-UP
Maintain momentum
by following up
immediately.

01 Introduction
02 Core Elements
03 Onboarding
04 Adoption
05 Expansion
06 Skills
| 33
Expansion

Sustainable and proﬁtable recurring revenue businesses must grow
the amount of revenue from existing accounts beyond their initial
contract value. This is referred to as expansion.
Whether expansion is owned by your CS team, Sales team, or a
dedicated account team, the motion depends on whether the
customer is getting recurring impact.
Customers need robust onboarding and support during adoption to
be candidates for expansion. Regardless of ownership, all team
members with any role on the right side of the bowtie depend on each
other and need effective and robust collaboration. The following key
components are critical to successful expansion motions:
E1. Expansion Process
E2. Whitespace Planning
E3. Account Planning
E4. Expansion Execution
E5. Account Retirement
The above actions, when used in conjunction with actions from the
Adoption Phase, will ensure you build a scalable and effective
recurring revenue engine for your organization.
Overview Expansion
CS Operating Model - Expansion
Adoption Expansion
Onboarding
Education Selection
Awareness
Mutual
Commit
E0
The way to achieve sustainable growth
is through expansion from existing
customers.
E1 E2 E3 E4
W
h
i
t
e
s
p
a
c
e
P
l
a
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g
A
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R
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E
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a
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s
i
o
n
P
r
o
c
e
s
s
E5

Time
Engagement
E1
Selling to existing
customers accelerates
growth.
Expansion Process
WHITESPACE PLANNING
DIAGNOSE
ACCOUNT PLANNING
WORKSHOP
STAKEHOLDERS
Identify Impact potential
of the proposed solutions
per prospective customer.
Each stakeholder has
their own emotional
impact they want to
achieve.
The goal of the
workshop is to
drive the decision
based on Impact
and Critical Event.
USE-CASES
Use Impact and
Critical Event to
ID stakeholders.
Prioritize which
customers can
be impacted.
Scan the customer for
rational and emotional
impact that form the basis
for organizational change
Explore the impact of
department
stakeholder within the
customer.
Engaging new stake
holders can fast track
an oppty w/o the need
for an EBR
Must have Impact
and Critical Event
identified to perform
a workshop.
EXPANSION
EXECUTION
describe the expansion process and
differentiate between the
whitespace planning and account
planning activities. .
RESEARCH
Identify
existing
use-cases
.
P I CE D
S
Prioritize which
customers can
be impacted.
STORY
Have a relevant
customer story.
ACCOUNT
RETIREMENT
FIRST IMPACT
One final attempt
to retain the
customer using a
SAVE play.
SAVE
DRIVE IMPACT
In a Recurring Revenue business, it is vital to
grow the business beyond what a customer
bought initially. Expansion does not have to be
reactionary on a customer’s needs.
Whitespace planning is a process that identifies
the additional needs for products and services
outside the original scope based on the impact a
customer needs.
Whitespace planning can be performed by the CS
team, the Sales team, or assigned to a dedicated
Account Management team.
Whitespace planning is a way to quantify the
revenue potential of an existing account, while
Strategic Account Planning details the approach
to go after that whitespace.
High churn risk
!
!
!

E2
The use of Impact and
Critical Event to asses
the opportunity.
I CE
I CE
I CE
NewCo
ACME
Product A Product B Product C
Product C has a high impact,
but there is no sense of
urgency, as it lacks a critical
event.
Product A lacks the impact,
missing the RoI, although
there is some sense of
urgency.
Product B combines both a
high level of impact, and it
has a critical element.
JOINT IMPACT PLAN
Need to identify
Critical Event
Need to identify
Rational Impact
demonstrate the idea of
whitespace planning to identify an
expansion opportunity based on
impact and critical event.
Today, most whitespace planning is based on a
combination of the situation (S) and Pain (P)
such as F500 rank or number of employees.
Instead we recommend to prioritize whitespace
planning based on a combination of:
● Impact: How much money do we save, or
revenue can we grow for our customer
● Critical Event: What is the sense of urgency
that drives the decision timeframe.
In the example the combination of Impact and
Critical Event shows that Product B has the
largest upsell potential. Whitespace Planning can
be expanded by:
● Decision Process: Do you have a good
understanding of the customers' org
structure, know the emotional impact of
various decision makers, and understand
whether you can help achieve those.
Input from all those working with the customer
will improve the accuracy of your information.
Whitespace Planning

Time
Engagement
While the Joint Impact Plan is built
alongside the customer, the
Account Plan is an internal tool that
focuses on the goals your
company has for the account.
Account Planning is the process of managing an
account with the aim to retain or grow recurring
revenue from that account. Account Planning
can be simplified to three key elements:
● Impact: Identify the rational impact that a
customer will gain from your product.
● Critical Event: Prioritize projects based on the
presence of a critical event.
● Decision Process: Who is involved and what
matters to them (emotional Impact)
These elements must be captured in a simple
account plan. The account plan is a living
document that evolves over time.
Important: As accounts get bigger, an increasing amount of
resources will be involved. This may even include feature
request or dedicated support. When this happens, internal
selling grows in importance. This highlights the importance of
the Account Plan and the planning process.
Draft an
Account
plan
Coordinate all Account
Activities around
Customer Goals
E3
1. What is the spend potential?
2. What is the current spend?
3. What are other projects that
would increase the spend?
4. What critical events are there?
5. When should we reach out?
1. Who do we know?
2. What matters to them?
3. How are we connected?
4. Who should we know?
5. What matters to them?
6. How are they involved?
7. How to get connected?
ACTIVE PROJECTS NAVIGATE THE ORG
STAKEHOLDER MAP
ACCOUNT PLAN
EXPANSION
EXECUTION
WHITESPACE
PLANNING
PRIORITIZE
GTM ALIGNMENT
CE
I
Not expanding
decreases the
engagement and
increases the chance on
churn.
Prioritize accounts on the
combination of the amount of
Impact we can provide and the
presence of any Critical Event
D
Align GTM teams
such as Sales,
CS, AMs, and
Execs.
Run a 3x3
approach.
Present a subset of the
plan to the customer
and together fill in any
gaps.
Know the expansion:
which project, the
impact, critical
events, and the
decision making
process.
Present the plan to
the customer and fill
in any of the gaps.
Update
the plan
Internal preso
to gain buy-in.
Account Planning
High churn risk
!
!

Time
Engagement
Trading items of value is more
applicable in a recurring revenue
business. If the customer wants the
same discount next year, they need
to provide the same items of value
used during the trade.
DRIVE IMPACT
ACCOUNT
PLANNING
SETUP
PREPARE
SUMMARIZE
PRIORITIZE
QUALIFY
LISTEN TRADE
CONFIRM
Get all items on
the table; avoid
negotiating one
item at a time
Listen to the ask
before you counter.
Take careful notes.
Start with easy items.
Don’t give anything
without getting
something in return.
These are two very
different offers, So run the
numbers – does this deal
still make sense? If not,
propose another trade.
Agree to an expiration
date and consequences.
Ask, “Does that sound
fair?”
Email the agreed terms immediately
following the meeting. The contract
can take days and you want to lock
it in right away..
There is no negotiation
in recurring revenue
operations. Trade!
E4
Summarize what
you have heard.
Qualify the decision
maker; reschedule if
not available
Create a list of items
to trade in exchange
for concessions.
Diagnose the impact
The customer wants
and when they want
it by ( critical event.)
CLOSE
FOLLOW-UP
Repeat what
you heard
May take a few tries.
In simple language
conﬁrm what you believe
we all just agreed to.
Take copious notes.on
what was agreed to.
P I CE D
S
Conﬁrm you
got it right
Expansion Execution
There is no need to negotiate with recurring
revenue customers. They are your customers; if
you do not deliver, they will unsubscribe or
downgrade their service.
It requires thinking about trading items of equal
value during the expansion execution process.
1. Get all negotiation items on the table.
2. Listen carefully and take notes.
3. Repeat what you heard: “So if I got this right___.”
4. Ask, ”Is there anything else?”.
5. Prioritize the issues with them.
6. Summarize .“Okay, so you want ___ and ___.”
7. Trade: Start w/ easy items, give to get.
8. Make the offer; be clear and concise.
9. If they counter, listen & understand the request.
10. Before you answer, repeat the counteroffer.
11. Make small adjustments.
12. When you reach an agreement, repeat it back.
If they ask for more: ”That changes the deal.”
! !
High churn risk
!

Ensure you have a clear
process for when an
account terminates
E5
While losing accounts is never something we
want to happen, there will be customers that
terminate their engagement with you. It’s
important to have a clear, detailed plan for what
to do in that situation.
On a strategic level, make sure you’re capturing
detail about why they are leaving. Sometimes it’s
due to circumstances out of your control, but if it
has something to do with your product or a lack
of Impact, use this opportunity to get as much
detail as possible about how you could have
better served them. Share that information with
the appropriate teams.
Also make sure that at an operational level, you
have a detailed checklist of tasks to be
completed when an account terminates, such as
access to tools, updates to systems, etc.
Account Termination
Account Termination Checklist:
❏ Connect with the Finance/Legal team to ensure you’re clear on the
date the access should be turned off
❏ Work with your Support/Dev team to turn off access to systems on
that date
❏ Update all systems, including your CRM, CS Tool, etc.
❏ If there are any customer email lists they need to be removed from,
make sure that happens
❏ Gather details about WHY the customer is leaving, and make sure
those details are captured in the right system
❏ If possible/appropriate, ask the customer for a few minutes to do a
quick “exit interview” to provide color on why they left, and any
input/suggestions for you. Make sure to thank them for their
partnership and end the conversation on a positive note
❏ If there are churn reasons that other teams should be aware of (e.g.
product input for the dev/product team, Sales or CS input, etc.) make
sure that is circulated
❏ If your marketing team or CS team has a list of former customers that
they try to stay in touch with for key updates (tailored to them as
former customers) make sure the right email addresses are on that list

01 Introduction
02 Core Elements
03 Onboarding
04 Adoption
05 Expansion
06 Skills
| 40
Core Skills

Adoption Expansion
Onboarding
Education Selection
Awareness
Mutual
Commit
Core Skills
Developing and continuously improving your team’s skills is essential
to bringing your customer journey and the CS Operating Model to life.
We encourage you to invest in ongoing skills training for your CS
teams - you will reap the ﬁnancial rewards of that investment many
times over via improved customer outcomes.
In this section, we provide a sampling of WbD Skills blueprints that
can be a reference for your teams.
The following blueprints include:
S1. Managing Meetings
S2. How to Diagnose
S3. Critical Event Blueprint
S4. Critical Event Timeline
S5. Navigating an Organization
S6. Share a Customer Story
You can ﬁnd additional WbD skills blueprints and training videos in the
Resources section of our website.
S0
The only way to achieve sustainable
growth is through expansion from
existing customers.
CS Operating Model - Core Skills
S2 S3 S4 S5
S1 S6
M
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The ability to achieve
results via meetings is
vital to your success.
MEETING 1 MEETING 2
Discuss the
goal of the
next
meeting.
Appreciate
Check
time
End goal
Get the agenda on track to
close “In interest of time..”
and “.do you want to extend
the meeting?”
“Who was involved and
should we include them?”
Discuss the that need to
be covered to hit the
goal within the allotted
time.
Ask “Based on our
discussion today are you
ready to move forward?”
Managing Meetings
Most business is conducted via meetings. This
makes managing a meeting a critical skill to
have. The steps to success are:
1. Setup the meeting at the start with the goal
of the meeting and end-time.
2. Agree to a short agenda to achieve the goal
and stick to it.
3. Close the meeting on-time to allow for next
steps. Do this by ﬁrst looking back to see if
set goals were accomplished.
4. Then conﬁrm if everyone is ready to move
forward. Agree to what is next
5. Discuss what is the outcome of that meeting
6. Who should be in that meeting?
7. Agree if this can be done async, or if a
synchronous meeting is needed
8. Follow-up diligently
SETUP
AGENDA
CLOSE GOAL OUTCOME
STAKEHOLDERS
FOLLOW-UP
S1
1 3
2 6
5
7
Start the ACE/Agenda no
later than 5 mins past the
start time.
Begin your close 5 to
10 mins before the
end time.
4
Ask ”Have you
done this before?”

Time
Engagement
provide insights how to perform a
diagnostic call. A very minor
improvement in the quality of a
diagnose, which is performed
dozens of times, can lead to
monumental results.
S2
SUMMARIZE
EMPATHIZE
If customer starts
venting, ask to
prioritize.
Share a story about
another person achieving
Impact In Real Life.
Ask if this resonates, and
how this Impact compares
to their business.
STORY
“What
happens if
you miss that
date?”
“When do you
need this by?”
2 to 3 pointed
questions in their
context.
Listen and take
notes!
Ask if you
got it right.
Determine the
decision factors?
Is this a situation
you’ve seen before?
AIN
P
MPACT
I
ECISION
D
When and why to use SPICEDTM
?
● As a diagnostic guide during customer calls.
● To ensure ongoing alignment with
customers and your customer facing teams
at every stage of engagement.
● To align customer usage of your
product/solution with the Impact they are
looking to achieve.
● As an eﬃcient way to hand off, debrief, and
collaborate with other team members
throughout the customer journey (Sales, CS,
Marketing, Product).
● A way to surface your customer’s business
updates or key changes that inevitably
happen over time.
A step-by-step guide on
how to consistently
diagnose a customer.
OPEN
ITUATION
S
Diagnose Sequence
ACE the call, prepare an
agenda, introduce each
other.
CLOSE
End on time.
Connect the
WAGONS.
RITICAL VENT
C E

Time
Engagement
demonstrate what a Critical Event
is and what the differences is with
a compelling event.
Critical Event Blueprint
GO DARK
STAKEHOLDER
Critical Impact
Compelling Impact
S3
DISCOVERY
Discovery identiﬁes
a customer’s needs.
Impact
Decision on the
priority.
I
I
The customer has an
idea on the size and
recurrence of the
Impact.
Gathering of those
who will beneﬁt
from the Impact.
Ideal time to help a customer
Having learned from its past
mistakes, the customer uses
your support and takes action
to avoid the negative Impact.
A critical event timeline tells
us when a solution needs
to be in place, or else…
Hurry up… and wait…
Committed customer
executes the critical
event timeline.
CALL TO ACTION
With no solution in place
the customer
experiences critical
negative Impact.
Key steps:
1. During the Onboarding call, EBR, etc.
establish where the customer is:
○ Are they experiencing any pains?
○ Is this recurring?
○ What is your target go live date?
○ What happens if they miss that date?
2. Use examples of others in a similar position
to establish a critical event.
3. Organize a stakeholder meeting.
Stakeholders are those who gain from the
Impact.
4. During the stakeholder meeting, present a
critical event timeline of actions needed to
deliver the Impact at the critical event date.
5. Deliver against the critical event date.
Note: Do not worry when a customer goes dark.
Continue to educate on others and the IRL
Impact they experienced.
A critical event carries
a negative impact.
RITICAL VENT
C E
COMPELLING EVENT
Critical Event with a
huge consequence
(negative impact) in
case the event is
missed.

S4 CRITICAL EVENT
Step 1. Identify a Critical event
[ Fill in ]
Step 2. Establish what happens if they miss the event?
[ Fill in ]
Step 3. What are the steps that lead to this critical event (reverse chronological order)
[ Fill in ]
A critical event is like the end result of a recipe
when cooking a meal. In order to achieve your
desired outcome, the recipe tells you what to do
and in what order.
This is the same with a critical event, following
the identiﬁcation of a critical event, you must
uncover all the steps that need to happen.
Instead of determining when you need the P/O
from the customer, you need to start with the
customer’s impact in mind. When does the
customer need the desired impact and then work
your way back. For example, if the customer has
a sales kick-off on July 7, they need your new
sales acceleration solution for their team in place
by end of June.
A critical event message is a short, stand-alone
email that solely talks about the critical event.
This cannot be part of a two-page email with all
kinds of actions. See the example next. Note the
reverse chronological order of the message, a
hallmark of customer centric selling.
Critical Event Timeline
A critical event can be a date,
or an event such as reaching
1M subscribers.
The actions needed to
deliver the impact at the set
event date. reverse
chronological order.
The chronological
actions needed to
achieve the impact.
Critical event is impact as a
function of time. You can
recognize a critical event as
it has a negative impact
associated with it.

Time
Engagement
CHAMPION
Trial
USER I
INITIATOR P
DECISION MAKER
EXEC BUYER D
A discover call
introduces us to
the champion.
A provocative statement
around impact and
critical event causes the
org to take action.
The decider cannot
overrule the
objections as it will
cause resentment
later on.
Using a Stakeholder meeting
a small group agrees to the
commitment based on the
impact it provides.
Use of insights
will help
convince the
gatekeeper.
A responsible decider
secures there is
budget available based
on the priority of the
project.
INFLUENCER
GATEKEEPER
The people involved in a buying decision is what
is called a buying center. When we look at the
roles they play, we find the same roles to form a
very similar decision process.
● The Initiator recognizes the situation & pain.
● Users often play a critical role as they provide
practical insights into measurable Impact a
product offers.
● The Champion recognizes the impact and
helps identify a project with a critical event..
● The Decider makes the actual decision,
typically based on a critical event (CE).
● The Executive Buyer is a often a small group
of executives that makes the decision (D).
● Gatekeepers are those that oppose a decision
based on emotional impact.
● Influencers help nullify the gatekeeper by
providing educational insights.
Navigating an Organization
S5
Help your customer to
sell internally based on
facts and figures.
An initiator starts a
convo based on the
pain they experience.
CE
The champion has a
quantifiable need.
The decider prioritizes
this project based on a
function of impact and
critical event.
Research may help identify
which accounts are worth
the increase in resources
(time and people.)
There may already be users
that are using the product,
they often have insights into
what the measurable impact
is.
Users can provoke the
need with the decision
maker, and get the
project prioritized.
The gatekeeper often
uses impact and the lack
of priority to prioritize an
alternative decision.
It is the role of the
influencer to teach
you how to overcome
the road blocker.
I
A small (3-5) group of
individuals that help
determine the priority.
provide a framework of how
decisions are made within an
organization. It is custom
designed for decisions for
recurring revenue services which
are based on priority (not just
budget or RoI).
RESEARCH S

Time
Engagement
provide a framework that you can
use to tell a story (instead of
pitching). The use of a customer
story helps a customer as it
reflects a view from another
practitioner..
When they deployed the
solution, and the problem
was solved, share how the
customer thrived.
Describe a similar situation
of another customer; use
the person’s first name,
make it real.
What happened when the
problem remained
unresolved?
The pain the customer
experienced because of that
situation
There were negative
consequences, since no
action was taken.
Causation.
Correlation.
C
a
u
s
a
t
i
o
n
.
MPACT
I
MPACT
I
AIN
P
ITUATION
S
Causation.
C
o
r
r
e
l
a
t
i
o
n
.
Every great story follows a well-defined
framework. Explain your customer's challenges,
and describe the negative impact they
experienced.
For this, we will use a three-part story format in
which you take your customer down the
rollercoaster of emotions before describing the
positive outcome.
Part 1. The situation makes it relevant to them.
Part 2. Pain, the negative impact of not solving
the problem or addressing the
opportunity.
Part 3. The positive impact of your solution.
The lows make the highs feel higher, making the
story more memorable.
When Marketing operates on the same model,
the storytelling integrates with Pocket Stores,
codified to match this storytelling format.
Share a Customer Story
S6
Share a relevant story
that resonates with the
customer’s situation.

Customer Success
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 2

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