5 Powerful Strategies for Reducing...

Reducing Churn

5 Powerful Strategies for

How to protect your current customer base and future growth.

1. Why customer retention is #1 focus for revenue teams

2. Customer retention data

3. 5 strategies for reducing churn

○ How to ID and engage the new economic buyer

○ Understanding buyer roles and interests

○ How to align your solution to strategic goals

○ The difference between renewal and new deal positioning

○ How to segment for risk and growth assessment

4. Recap

Table of Contents

© Copyright 2020, Gainsight, Inc., All rights reserved. CONFIDENTIAL.

MANAGING CHURN DURING A DOWNTOWN.

NICK MEHTACEO, GAINSIGHT


THIS WAS ABOUT SURVIVAL.


V U L

SO WE CREATED MODELS.


THE ANSWER WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ALL OF US.


SO, WE SET OUT TO HELP.

WE GAVE BACK.


AND WE TRANSFORMED.

Pulse 2019Moscone West Convention Center

+5,500 Attendees

Pulse Everywhere 2020Online Everywhere

+23k Registrations // +14k Attendees



THIS WAS A PIVOTAL MOMENT.

SO, WE LAUNCHED A SURVEY...

CEOs, CROs, and CCOs

Late-Stage Private Cloud Companies(e.g., Forbes Cloud 100)

Publicly-Traded SaaS Companies

(e.g., BVP NASDAQ Emerging Cloud Index)



1. Retention is of high interest right now - more than 50% replied

2. 77.5% believed churn would spike +3% (+40% believed it would be +11%)

3. Nobody was immune - not even those with traditionally low GRR

4. Churn would go up the most for companies selling to SMBs

5. A material part of churn increases will come from down-sells

6. Spikes would be largest for vertically-oriented businesses

7. Expansion and Net Retention Rates will also decline

8. Preventing churn is existential

9. Despite financial challenges, most businesses would KEEP OR GROW their Customer

Success teams

10. There is a playbook to get through this, but it requires CEO-level focus

10 THINGS WE LEARNED.

THAT WAS THREE MONTHS AGO...



SO, WHERE ARE WE NOW?And what have we learned?

FOR MOST OF US…COVID WAS NOT A DEAD END.

IT WAS JUST A REALLY SHARP ANDUNEXPECTED TURN.



HOW DO WE ACCELERATE OUT OF THE TURN TOGO FROM “SURVIVE” TO

“THRIVE?”

WELL, IT DEPENDS...



CHURN IS GOING UP...BUT NOT ASMUCH AS PEOPLE THOUGHT.


SAME WITH NET RETENTION (NRR).


COMPANIES ARE STILL KEEPING OR GROWING THEIR CSM TEAMS.


CHURN AND PRODUCT ARETOP OF MIND FOR CEOs.


LEADERS ARE TAKING ACTION...

● Risk management processes

● Better retention forecasting

● Health scoring

● Long-term renewals in

exchange for concessions

● 1-to-many Customer Success

● Redesigned onboarding

● Success planning

● Automation to help CSMs

“We’re finally doing the things we should have always done.”


AND STAYING AHEAD OF THE CURVE.

Reducing Downsell

• “We believe that Q3 and Q4 will

have the most pressure for

downsell as budgets are reset

based on COVID-19 FY21 revenue

impact. With increased customer

focus on budgets, the results have

been smaller (10-20k) downsells

that add up quickly.”

Value & Outcomes...

• “Amplifying value.”

• “We need to do a better job

documenting business

outcomes. We have created a

task force to attack this across

all renewals greater than $100K

to start with.”


YOUR ABILITY TO THRIVE DEPENDS ON YOUR

CUSTOMERS’ SUCCESS.


SO, WHAT’S NEXT?

Gainsight.com/freebook

How to ID and engage the new economic buyer

#1

Tips for selling to power

Identify the new economic buyer with this rule of thumb: Who has authority to release the funds?

TIP #1

You get delegated to the person you sound most like (up and down!)

TIP #2

Credibility is the bedrock of selling to power (don’t do something that destroys it)

TIP #3

Credibility is the bedrock of selling to power (Build it with a “what we’ve heard slide”)

TIP #4

Equip them to better predict, plan for, and forecast their future.

TIP #5

Anchor to strategic business issues, and avoid tactical or operational issues

TIP #6

How to “Reel in”your DM

Gong update – no action required

Hi {{first name}},

Thank you for introducing us to Mary to discuss Gong for your sales org. I'm sending an email to update you on our conversation today.

In short, we uncovered how we can immediately impact BDR performance for Mary's team, plus accelerate on-boarding across ABC Software's sales org to boost revenue and shorten time to value for new hires.

We're meeting again Friday and including your new BDR managers to expand on their use case. From there we'll shift gears and look at the AE team.

I'll be sure to keep you in the loop as we progress.

Thanks again,

— [Your Name]

SUBJECT LINE:

Hi {{first name}},

As an update, the team feedback has been very positive and we've surfaced great use cases and potential results. We're now preparing for an executive presentation, and we’d like to loop you in with you to showcase the insights and projected impact on your business, plus get your input.

How does your schedule look to connect Wednesday between 11-1pm? Feel free to suggest a better time on your end.

Looking forward to it,

Gong – next stepsSUBJECT LINE:

Understanding buyer roles and their interests

#2

Know & cater to your audience

Tips for effective QBRs

Use data to craft a story your audience will care about

Don't just "run your process"

Recognize what is important/unimportant right now

Tell them something they don't already know

Frame the challenges you’re solving to be more strategic

#3

Know & cater to your audience

Tips for effective QBRs

Use data to craft a story your audience will care about

Don't just "run your process"

Recognize what is important/unimportant right now

Tell them something they don't already know

The difference between Renewal vs New Deal positioning

#4

STATUS QUO

DISRUPTOR

for renewal

for new business (warrant change)

vs

Goal = Avoid Change

Segment your customer base for risk and opportunity

#5

ID your new economic buyer and establish credibility#1

Recap: 5 strategies for reducing churn

Understand your buyers’ roles and interests#2

Align your solution to strategic goals#3

Frame your renewal in a way that ‘avoids change’#4

Segment your customer base to surface risk and growth opportunities

#5

P.S. Follow Gong on LinkedIn

That’s all!

Thank you for attending!

https://www.linkedin.com/company/gong-io

5 Powerful Strategies for Reducing...

Documents

Transcript of 5 Powerful Strategies for Reducing...