Kellie Capote
Contributor
Kellie Capote is chief customer officer at Gainsight, where she leads the entire post-sales organization, including customer success management, support, professional services, and the CS Ops & Scale teams.
An old maxim among courtroom litigators states that you should only ask a question of a witness when you already know how they will answer. Otherwise, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise. For this reason, effective prosecutors and defense attorneys engage in various pre-trial activities, including “witness prep,” to help them take control of the narrative.
As many SaaS companies look to increase Net Revenue Retention (NRR) to compensate for weak or declining sales, they may want to adopt and adapt this maxim to say: “Before we ask existing customers to renew or expand their subscriptions, we will pursue customer success (CS) strategies and activities (“customer prep”) that help us avoid unpleasant surprises and increase the number of successful outcomes.”
Now comes the tricky part. What kinds of customer health data should you collect and analyze to help you avoid unpleasant surprises? And which …
