Considerations and tips for implementing Customer Advocacy in “Not-So-Top” Accounts

1. 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

2. What is Customer Advocacy @ HPSW

3. 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
Customer
Lifecycle
Software
Acquisition
Installation
Integration
DeploymentMaturity
Innovation

4. 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

5. Let’s Focus On “Not-So-Top” Accounts…
Framing the Issue….

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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+

9. Let’s Focus On “Not-So-Top” Accounts…
Tackling the Issue….

10. 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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11. 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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12. 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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13. 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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14. 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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15. 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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16. Thank you! Questions, please…

17. 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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