Event: How to be Customer Obsessed in B2B Presentation by Bob Peterson, SiriusDecisions Presented at 1871 Chicago, August 6, 2014

1. Bob Peterson
Research Director
@bobpetersonmn
The Customer
Experience/Customer
Advocacy Connection

2. 2
What You Will Learn During this Session
•How the changing buyer’s journey makes customer
advocacy more critical than ever
•Proof that customer experience and advocacy are
essential to business growth
•Secrets from successful advocacy teams

3. Customer Experience is
the New Demand Creation
Why Creating Customer Advocates is a Growth Strategy

4. © 2013 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved 4

5. Customer Experience Is the New Demand Creation
1
2
3
4
5
Time
LevelofInteraction
1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Purchase
4. Ownership
5. Repurchase
If post-sale experience is
negative…
This
mountain
becomes
steeper.
5

6. SiriusPerspective:
© 2014 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved 6
What We Heard: Customer Experience Is Key to Growth
Our study shows a clear link between higher growth and the
presence of a customer experience function with the proper focus and investment.
The customer experience – growth connection:
Share of b-to-b companies with a customer experience
function that plan to grow more than 10 percent this year54%
82%
…that have a chief
customer officer 49%
…that invest more than
15 percent of marketing
budget on existing
customers
74%
…that make the CCO accountable for revenue
growth from existing customers

7. SiriusPerspective:
© 2014 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved 7
What We Heard: Experience Investment Delivers Results
Compared to their average-growth peers, high-growth companies
see improvement in critical areas more often.
Higher retention rates 57% 47%
Higher response rates from customers 66% 47%
Revenue growth 55% 43%
Higher loyalty/Net Promoter scores 48% 32%
Higher customer profitability 43% 32%
HighGrowth
AverageGrowth
Where b-to-b sees experience investment impact

8. SiriusPerspective:
© 2014 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved 8
64% of b-to-b companies
DO have a customer
experience function BUT
What We Heard: Still Work to Do On Customer Experience
Even when companies have a customer experience function, they
don’t always optimize its role and impact.
36% of
b-to-b
companies
DO NOT have
a customer
experience
function
are not seeing greater
advocacy or references75%
do not conduct experience
mapping57%
do not measure by retention
and profitability38%

9. 9
Customer Marketing Is a Priority for CMOs
“Social media is a skill every
marketer should have.”
“The customer experience begins
before they are a customer and
kicks into high gear once they
become one.”
“The investment in marketing
technology is requiring a new skill
set in marketing.”
Digital Marketing
Content Marketing
Marketing Technology
Customer Marketing
Social Media #1
#2
#3
#4
#5
Comments
Advocacy must play a
leading role in
marketing’s transformation
to strategic partner

10. SiriusPerspective:
© 2014 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved 10
Conventional Wisdom: The Linear View of Experience
The sphere of experience expands as buyers become customers, but
it only improves with a cohesive approach.
1. Reputation
2. Inbound content
3. Influencers
4. Peers
1. Web Properties
2. Outbound
touches/content
3. Events
1. Sales/marketing
process
2. Selling team
3. Trials/demos
1. Solutions
2. Service/support
3. Finance
4. Community
Strong Alignment
• Segmentation
• Demographics
• Personas
Strong Alignment
• Lead level
• Scoring
• Messaging
Strong Alignment
• SLAs
• Enablement
• Pipeline accel.
Weak Alignment
• No Process
• No Agreement
• No Coordination
Experience
Target Prospect Opportunity Customer
Alignment

11. SiriusPerspective:
© 2014 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved 11
Reality Check: Customer Experience Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All
Multiple customer roles and lifecycle stages mean the post-sale
experience is not a simple add-on to the buyer’s journey.
1. Solutions
2. Service/support
3. Finance
4. Community
Customer
Deliver Develop Retain Grow
COMPANY RESPONSIBILITY
Initiate Participate Actualize Advocate
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

12. SiriusPerspective:
© 2014 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved 12
Experience Today: Execution Without Coordination
Alignment works during the buyer’s journey, but when buyers
become customers, the complexity increases significantly, as do the stakes.
Initiate AdvocateParticipate Actualize
Deliver Develop Retain Grow
Sales
Service
Marketing
Product
No

13. SiriusPerspective:
© 2014 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved 13
The Venn Approach to Customer Experience
Each function must excel in its own area and be coordinated to
create an optimized customer experience.
Sales
Service
Product
Marketing
Customer
Experience

14. © 2014 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved 14
The Business Case for Customer Experience Investment
• Look at your own numbers: What’s it worth to…
• Retain 1 percent more of your base? How about 5 percent? What is
the impact on revenue growth and profit?
• Reduce customer support demand by 5 percent? Ten percent?
• Improve product/service engagement by 10 percent? More?
• Increase customer lifetime value by length (e.g. stay one more year)
and/or revenue/profit (usually related)?
• Reduce cost of sale by .5 percent by making renewal easier and
leveraging advocates?
• Increase selling time by 5 percent for growth activities?
© 2013 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved
When you understand and improve the levers of loyalty,
it’s easier and less expensive to grow. Advocacy is key.

15. Customer Advocacy’s Future:
The Customer Experience-Advocacy Connection

16. The Future of Advocacy
© 2013 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved 16
Customer advocacy
is your
UNFAIR
competitive advantage

17. 17
Customer Experience Is Key to Closing Deals
Source: SiriusDecisions 2013 persona study of C-level buyers
80 percent of a CXO’s final
decision is based
on their own or others’
experience with your company

18. Brand (Sum of Customer Experience) Helps Sales Productivity
52.1%
33.3%
42.5%
46.2%
39.2%
47.4%
34.8%
43.0%
28.2%
36.2%
51.6%
42.5%
46.2%
50.0%
46.1%
50.0%
48.4%
55.3%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
CEO
CFO
CIO
CISO
CMO
COO
CSO
LOB
HR
Significant
Moderate
Low
None
89 percent of CXOs
say their perception of a
vendor’s brand moderately
to significantly influences
their short-list creation.

19. 19
More Advocates Mean More Growth
Companies with
a higher NetPromoter Score
(i.e., more advocates)
significantly outperform peers
in revenue growth

20. Secrets of
Successful Customer Advocacy Teams
© 2013 SiriusDecisions. All Rights Reserved20

21. One: Customer Advocacy is a Strategic, Planned Contribution
Sales references Influencer/analyst relations
Videos Public relations/press releases
Case studies Customer awards
Success stories Customer visits, Executive briefings
Communities Customer events
Advisory boards Partner support
Voice-of-the-Customer research Customer data/insights
Social media RFP support
Search marketing Customer webcasts
BUYING CYCLE
Retain
Phase
Develop
Phase
Deliver
Phase
Grow
Phase
ActualiseParticipateInitiate Advocate
CUSTOMER LIFECYCLE

22. Two: Customer Advocacy is About Making the Customer a Hero

23. Three: Advocacy Is Linked to Financial Impact
Be specific
about the role
of advocacy on
the path to
revenue and
gain credibility
for its impact

24. Four: Advocacy Sourcing is an Art and a Science

25. Five: Technology Helps Advocacy Scale

26. How Can You
Make a Case for
Strategic
Advocacy
Investment?
1. Track results in a clear and credible way:
Who, what, when and why, all linked to growth
2. Know your audience for reporting:
Communicate consistently and appropriately
3. Remember it’s not about you: Focus on
sharing customer success in ways they find
valuable
4. Make advocacy a resource: Focus on meeting
needs of sales and partners in ways that matter
5. Join the team: Connect with other functions to
coordinate advocacy activities and show value
6. Do more: Let technology help the team scale
and focus on high-value activities

27. Thank You!
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