This was presented at SalesHacker Conference in San Francisco on 11/6/2014 by Lincoln Murphy. Customer Success as a Growth Engine: Ideal Customers, Advocates, and Upsells. The most successful Enterprise SaaS companies know that growing revenue only through new customer acquisition is the less efficient way to scale. Rather, they understand that growing revenue within your existing customer base - through up-sells, cross-sells, and expanded use - is the most profitable way to scale. In fact, Enterprise SaaS companies that grow revenue - and company valuation - by expanding revenue within their existing customer base also know the key to making this work is to focus on - and operationalize - Customer Success.

1. Sales Hacker Conference SF
November 6, 2014
Customer Success as a Growth
Engine: Ideal Customers,
Advocates, and Upsells

2. @lincolnmurphy

5. Customer Success = “Helping your
customers achieve their desired
outcome through the use of your
product.”

6. “Enter the conversation already
taking place in your customer’s
mind.” – Robert Collier, c1937

7. Success = Their Desired Outcome

8. Success = Their Desired Outcome

9. Right Message at the Right Time…
… but what about the right person?

10. IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE
Ready
Willing
Able
Success Potential
Acquisition Efficiency
Expansion Potential
Advocacy Potential

11. IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE
Remember, Ideal
Customer is Situational
Ready
Willing
Able
Success Potential
Acquisition Efficiency
Expansion Potential
Advocacy Potential

12. IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE
I already said that,
but whatever.
Ready
Willing
Able
Success Potential
Acquisition Efficiency
Expansion Potential
Advocacy Potential

13. IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE
Ready
Willing
Able
Success Potential
Acquisition Efficiency
Expansion Potential
Advocacy Potential

14. The Proper Order…
1. Ideal Customer Profile
2. Persona Development

15. You can’t know what Marketing
Channels, Pitch, Pricing, or
Messaging to use until you are clear
on your Ideal Customer Profile.

16. http://sixteenventures.com/saleshacker

17. NEW OPPORTUNITIES

18. METHODOLOGY
1. Determine the Situation you’re Solving For
2. Get access to your Customer Data
3. Find the Customers that Match your Situational Criteria
4. Append Data for those customers (Demo, Tech, etc.)
5. Look for common / shared characteristics
6. Find new customers matching those characteristics
7. Profit!

19. FIND YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL
CUSTOMERS... AND GO GET MORE
JUST LIKE THEM

20. SURFACE YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL CUSTOMERS
• You could pull together:
• average Net Promoter Score (NPS) over time
• Sales cycle length
• Time to first value
• On-boarding/implementation milestones and timing
• Customer Support data
• Get your Account Managers to apply a “health” score – based
on their gut – to each of the customers they manage
• Gainsight makes this easy  don’t be afraid to pitch
your product!

21. FIND YOUR MOST EFFICIENTLY
ACQUIRED CUSTOMERS… AND GO
GET MORE JUST LIKE THEM

22. FIND YOUR MOST EFFICIENTLY ACQUIRED CUSTOMERS
• Look for customers:
• That had a short sales cycle
• Efficient (Fully-loaded) Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
• Have a high Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
• Agreed to long-term contracts
• Frequently Increase usage/buy add-ons/etc.
• Have a low cost to support
• Or all of the above?
• What are the patterns? What are the characteristics of
those customers?

23. IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS THAT
EXPANDED THEIR USE OF YOUR
PRODUCT… AND GO GET MORE
JUST LIKE THEM

24. IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS THAT EXPANDED USE
• Intra-Company Virality
• List companies that have expanded their use over their
lifetime with your company.
• Who did you initially sell to? What dept/persona?
• When it comes to expansion potential, that potential is
only realized when the customers have achieved
success... when their customer health score is high.
• No Customer Success… No Expansion Revenue. Period.

25. FIND YOUR CUSTOMERS THAT ARE
YOUR BIGGEST ADVOCATES…
AND GO GET MORE JUST LIKE
THEM

26. FIND YOUR BIGGEST CUSTOMER ADVOCATES
• Inter-Company Virality
• Chasing logos is fine... If they bring you more logos!
• Look for customers that have:
• Referred new customers (in-product, WOM, etc.)
• Have given testimonials
• Have talked to prospects on your behalf
• Have spoken at your events
• Participated in case studies with you
• If not for you, have they done it for others?

27. http://sixteenventures.com/saleshacker

28. LASER-TARGETED UPSELL
OPPORTUNITIES

29. UPSELL OPPORTUNITIES
1. Be Clear On What Success Means for your Customer
2. Set Goals With Your Customers
3. Benchmark Where Your Customers Start
4. Mention Upsells Early In Their Lifecycle
5. Identify Success Milestones For Upsell
6. Improve Time to First Value and Upsell Faster
7. Ask for the Sale at the Appropriate time

30. @lincolnmurphy

31. http://sixteenventures.com/saleshacker

32. Thank you!