Allison Pickens is VP of Customer Success & Business Operations at Gainsight
The goal of our Customer Success team at Gainsight is to help you transform your CSM operation. Here’s our view of how that transformation happens:
Note that a “process” is the critical unit in the transformation: it’s the solution for tackling a given business challenge.That’s why our Gainsight CSM team focuses on helping you design effective processes within Gainsight.
What’s a process? An effective one often has the following elements:
- Pain point: There is a pain point (i.e. business challenge) that you’re trying to solve.
- Roles of key participants (including the CSM and members of other departments) are clear via a RACI.
- R: Responsible,
- A: Accountable,
- C: Consulted, or
- I: Informed
- Project plan of steps exists to guide each participant in executing their responsibilities, thereby reinforcing the RACI.
- Reminders to each participant reinforce that division of responsibilities, making sure everyone participates in the right way.
- Meeting (optional but often beneficial): There is a regular meeting amongst the participants to work through the designated steps. If there’s a meeting on the calendar, then the work gets done!
- Evaluation: Performance of the participants is evaluated based on attainment of the metrics above.
- Escalation: There is a way to involve senior management in addressing any major problems that arise.
Gainsight provides a platform for you to build smart processes. Below is a checklist of common CSM business challenges and the processes that can address them.
Which challenges are familiar to you? Have you built processes for them within Gainsight? If not, then contact your CSM.
Note the critical role of the Customer Success Operations Manager in designing these processes. Learn more about that role here.
If you have questions about how to create these processes in Gainsight, feel free to reach out to your Gainsight CSM. You can also follow Allison’s blog posts on Twitter at @PickensAllison.
