Scaling Customer Success Activities

for the Mid-Market Segment

Considerations and tips for

implementing Customer Advocacy in

“Not-So-Top” Accounts

Victoria Spencer | HP Software Support

What is Customer Advocacy @ HPSW

Customer Advocacy

GOAL

• Protect and grow (support) revenues

OBJECTIVES

• Proactively monitor customer lifecycle health

• Detect and mitigate risks to renewals

early in the cycle

• Identify account expansion opportunities

• Coordinate all relevant stakeholders within

HP Software organization to address any issues

above and beyond standard processes

SCOPE

• Non-sales, non-technical role

• SPOC for the customer

• Covers the entire customer install base (Business Unit - agnostic)

• 2 models: Top vs. Mid-Market Accounts

CustomerLifecycle

Software Acquisition

Installation Integration

DeploymentMaturity

Innovation

Mid Market Accounts

Customer Advocates (CA)

• 4500 customers and

expanding

• 38 CA WW (1 CA : 200

accounts)

• Located centrally, per region

• Phone approach

Top Accounts

Customer Advocacy Managers

(CAM)

• 500 Customers

• 46 CAMs WW (1 CAM : 12 Accounts)

• Located in country

• Face-2-face approach

Stability• Does the solution work?

• Does the customer have the

right level of support to achieve operational objectives?

Maturity• Does the customer use all

available features, functions

and the entitlement?

Innovation• What else can we do to/provide to

the customer to help them

achieve their business

outcomes?

Measuring Customer Success

Customer Advocacy – Route to Market

Let’s Focus On “Not-So-Top” Accounts…

Framing the Issue….

Framing the issue…Part 1

• > 4bn annual revenue, of which appx 50%

support and maintenance

~ 70% - Top accounts

~ 30% - the rest

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High Renewal Rate

Not-So-High Renewal Rate

Framing the issue…Part 2

• > 4bn annual revenue, of which appx 50%

support and maintenance

~ 70% - Top accounts

~ 30% - the rest

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500

35,000+

High Renewal Rate

Not-So-High Renewal Rate

Framing the issue…Part 3

• > 4bn annual revenue, of which appx 50%

support and maintenance

~ 70% - Top accounts

~ 30% - the rest

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500

35,000+

Let’s Focus On “Not-So-Top” Accounts…

Tackling the Issue….

The Approach

• Remote, phone-based customer advocacy teams

• Centralized per region (EMEA, AMS, APJ)

• Speaking all major languages

• Mass-personalized relationship building

• 1 : 200 account assignment, e2e installed based coverage

• Data-driven calling prioritization, based on:

– Renewal event horizon (6-9 months)

– Contract size

– Known risk factors

– New contracts (< 2 weeks old)

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Risk Factors

• First Year Mortality (FYM)

• No calls to support in the last 100 days

• High amount of support cases in last 100 days

• Overall, more than average support cases as compared WW for the

version in use

• Sev 1 cases in the last 100 days

• Poor Version Upgrade History

• Old version is use

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New Contracts (< 2 weeks old)

• Personal Onboarding mitigates FYM risk

– Deployment Plan discussion

– Deployment timeframe notes

– Call back at the end of the time period

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Lessons Learned… Part 1

• Analyze customer segment for:

– Geographical location

– Languages needed

– Restrictions (top secret, “do not call”, etc)

– Cultural factors

– Partner roles

• Pick a low-cost location for the teams

– Ensure required languages can be sourced

– Ensure needed profiles can be found

– Ensure excellent IT Infrastructure

– Consider using a delivery partner

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Lessons Learned… Part 2

• Gather and format data to support Customer Advocate

(CA) activities

– Goal is to minimize admin work for CA’s

– Contracts / Renewal Events / Customer Contacts

– Total Install Base Report

– Case History Analysis

– Risk Factors - flags

– Account team names (esp. Renewal Rep)

– Useful links at their fingertips

• Customer facing (support and sales) collateral

• Obsolescence and Migration

• Licensing

• All relevant internal contacts

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Lessons Learned… Part 3

• Facilitate collaboration (CA Renewal rep)

– Essential for success !!!

– Bi-directional information flow

– Early risk identification and mitigation

• Define simple processes to

– Log risks to renewals

– Log sales leads

• Invest in Customer Advocates to reduce attrition

– Enablement

– Recognition

– Support and attention

– Career path

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Thank you! Questions, please…

Contact Information

Name: Victoria Spencer

Title: Director, WW Product Management and

Customer Advocacy, HP Software

Email: victoria.spencer@hp.com

Phone Number: +31 6 5373 4634

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