1. Increasing Customer Retention and Accelerating Growth Brian Howard
In the twodecadesI have helpedtechnologycompaniesgrow Ihave helpedincrease retentionand
growthfor currentcustomers – and builtsuccessful salesandmarketingstrategiestodevelopnew
customers. I have learnedsuccessinthese programsisall aboutqualityplanning,feedback,consistent
execution,iteration,andcustomer-trustbuilding. Thisdocumenthighlightsafew examplecurrent-
customerengagementprogramsI developed asheadof account managementatDynatrace/Keynote,
whichquantifiablyimprovedcustomerretention+growth. Due tobrevityIwill onlyfocusonfour.
Customer Performance Reviews
 Keynote wasaleaderinWeband Mobile Syntheticmonitoringbutwhen Ijoined theywere
experiencingnegativeannual recurringrevenueamongthe 2,500 territoryaccountsmyteam
managed. I developedthe systematicKeynote Performance Review program (still inuse today)
providingcustomersfree application performance analysisandadvice. We createdand
documentedananalysisprocess,whichmade the approachrepeatable andteachable. We used
products the customerownedandproductstheydidnot yetown. We createda standardized
wayof documentingourfindings andheldaperformance review meetingwiththe customer.
We shared actionable waystoimprove theirapplicationsandtotallychangedtheirthinking
abouthow theyshouldbe usingourproducts. We alsoexposedthe customer toadditional
productstheydidnot own. And,we widenedouraudience;often10-20people attendreviews.
o Program results: We have hard-numbersonthe programdue to a studywe completed.
 98.7% customerretentionrate forcustomersreceiving aperformance review
 44% of customersreceivinga performance review made anadd-onpurchase
 Increase incustomerSAASloginsand usage + requestsforadditional meetings
Quarterly Customer Webcasts
 WhenI tookover the current-accountdirectorrole atKeynote Iquicklysaw there wasnothingin
place to regularly educate,inform, andinspireexistingcustomers. We were constantly
improvingoursoftware anddevelopingbestpractices - butwe had no systematicwayto tell our
customers. I reachedoutto the VPof Marketingwhoallowed me toco-planandco-presenta
Quarterly CustomerWebcast,which ranfor4 yearswhile Iwasthere. We presentednew
productfeatures,upcomingdirections, customerstories,andperformance bestpractices.
o Program results: These firesidechatsessions increasedcustomerusage andcross-sell
Customer Relationship Tracking
 Regularsalesrepcontact withcustomersisanotherkeytocustomerretentionandgrowth.At
Keynote Iworkedwiththe Salesforce teamtodesignacustomer touchcoloredflag system. Our
customerswere bucketedbyARRandassignedacall frequency basedonsize. A repknewat all
timeswhichcustomersneededa personal call andmanagementcouldspot accountrisks.
o Program results: Full customertouchvisibility,prioritizedactivity,custriskdetection
Customer Max Value Signals
 AnotherprogramI builtinvolved identifyingsignalsof whenacustomerisat risk - or can grow. I
had our systemsteamcreate a reporttracking 13 financial,technical,andbehavioral signals.
We inputthose customersignalsintoSalesforceforreps/managementtospotissues+opptys.
o Program results: Sales,SE’s,andManagementhadrelevant,timely reasonstoreachout
to customers. We eliminatedcancellationrisksandspottedgrowthpotential.