Sales AI Skill

Sales Customer Success

Manage post-sale customer success including onboarding, health scoring, QBRs, expansion, renewal management, and churn prevention. Use when onboarding new customers, tracking health scores, conducting business reviews, managing renewals, identifying expansi...

Customer Success & Retention

Ensure customers achieve their desired outcomes, driving retention, expansion, and advocacy.

Workflow

1. Customer Onboarding

Onboarding program design:

Onboarding milestone definition by product/service tier
Timeline and success criteria establishment
Role assignment (CSM, implementation specialist, customer champion)
Onboarding communication plan
Self-service vs hands-on onboarding model

Implementation project management:

Kickoff meeting and expectation alignment
Implementation plan and timeline creation
Technical integration and configuration
Data migration and setup
Training and enablement delivery

Time-to-value optimization:

Quick win identification and delivery
First value milestone tracking
Adoption milestone definition and monitoring
Barrier identification and removal
Success story capture from early wins

2. Health Scoring & Proactive Engagement

Health score model development:

Product usage metrics (adoption, frequency, depth)
Engagement metrics (support tickets, meeting attendance, training)
Business metrics (NPS, CSAT, business outcome achievement)
Account metrics (champion strength, buying committee coverage)
Financial metrics (payment history, utilization vs plan)

Health score calculation and segmentation:

Weighted health score calculation
Health tier classification (healthy, at-risk, critical)
Trend analysis (improving, stable, declining)
Segment-specific health threshold
Health score alert and escalation configuration

Proactive engagement planning:

Health-based engagement plan adjustment
At-risk account intervention strategy
Champion nurturing and advocacy development
Multi-threading engagement across stakeholders
Executive sponsorship involvement for critical accounts

3. Business Reviews & Strategic Engagement

Quarterly Business Review (QBR):

QBR agenda and content preparation
Business value and ROI demonstration
Product usage and adoption review
Goal progress and roadmap alignment
Expansion and upsell opportunity identification

Annual Business Review (ABR):

Annual value summary and case study development
Strategic goal realignment for coming year
Platform roadmap and innovation preview
Contract and renewal discussion preparation
Executive-to-executive meeting coordination

Strategic account planning:

Account growth plan development
Multi-year expansion roadmap
Stakeholder mapping and relationship development
Competitive protection strategy
Reference and advocacy program participation

4. Renewal Management

Renewal process design:

Renewal timeline by account tier (90, 120, 180 days pre-renewal)
Renewal ownership and escalation path
Renewal risk assessment framework
Discount and pricing authority matrix
Renewal documentation and communication

Renewal execution:

Early renewal engagement (value review)
Renewal term and pricing negotiation
Expansion bundling with renewal
Objection handling and value reinforcement
Contract execution and handoff

At-risk renewal management:

Early warning signal identification
Root cause investigation and resolution plan
Executive escalation and intervention
Win-back strategy for non-renewals
Post-renewal satisfaction verification

5. Expansion & Growth

Expansion opportunity identification:

Usage-based expansion signal detection
Product gap and add-on opportunity mapping
Seat/license expansion identification
Cross-sell and upsell trigger detection
Customer success story extraction

Expansion execution:

Expansion proposal and business case development
Stakeholder alignment and champion engagement
Pricing and packaging optimization
Implementation planning for expansion
Value realization tracking for expansion

Customer advocacy and referral:

Reference program management
Testimonial and case study development
Customer advisory board participation
Referral program design and management
Community and user group leadership

Templates & Frameworks

Health Score Model

CUSTOMER HEALTH SCORE MODEL
============================

HEALTH SCORE COMPONENTS:

PRODUCT USAGE (40% weight):
  Login frequency: Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly
  Feature adoption breadth: # of features used
  Feature adoption depth: Usage intensity per feature
  Integration utilization: Connected systems count
  Data/transaction volume: Growth trend
  Score: 0-100 based on tier-specific benchmark

ENGAGEMENT (25% weight):
  Support ticket volume: Trend and severity
  Training completion: % of available training
  Event attendance: Webinar, user conference
  CSM meeting attendance: Rate and preparation
  Community participation: Forum, peer engagement
  Score: 0-100

BUSINESS VALUE (20% weight):
  Goal achievement: % of success plan goals met
  NPS/CSAT: Most recent survey response
  Business outcome evidence: ROI, efficiency gain
  Stakeholder satisfaction: Multiple stakeholder feedback
  Score: 0-100

RELATIONSHIP (15% weight):
  Champion strength: Engagement and advocacy level
  Stakeholder coverage: # of relationships at org
  Executive relationship: C-level engagement
  Buying committee awareness: Renewal decision-maker contact
  Score: 0-100

HEALTH TIERS:
  Healthy (80-100): Standard engagement, expansion focus
  Good (60-79): Regular engagement, proactive check-in
  At-Risk (40-59): Increased engagement, intervention plan
  Critical (<40): Executive escalation, win-back plan

RENEWAL RISK BY HEALTH:
  Healthy: <5% churn risk → early renewal, expansion
  Good: 10-15% churn risk → renewal planning at 120 days
  At-Risk: 30-50% churn risk → intervention at 180 days
  Critical: >60% churn risk → executive escalation

QBR Template

QUARTERLY BUSINESS REVIEW TEMPLATE
===================================

SLIDE 1: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
  Account: [Customer Name]
  CSM: [Name]
  Period: [QX 202X]
  Health Score: [X/100] [Tier]
  Key highlights and outcomes

SLIDE 2: BUSINESS OUTCOMES ACHIEVED
  Goal 1: [Goal] — Status: [Achieved/On Track/At Risk]
  Goal 2: [Goal] — Status: [Achieved/On Track/At Risk]
  Goal 3: [Goal] — Status: [Achieved/On Track/At Risk]
  Quantified impact: [Revenue saved, efficiency gain, etc.]

SLIDE 3: PLATFORM USAGE & ADOPTION
  Active users: [X] ([X]% of licensed)
  Key features adopted: [Feature list with usage metrics]
  Usage trend: [Chart showing usage over past quarter]
  New features to explore: [2-3 recommendations]

SLIDE 4: SUPPORT & ENGAGEMENT SUMMARY
  Support tickets: [X] (avg resolution: [X] days)
  Training completed: [X] users, [X] courses
  Community engagement: [X] interactions
  CSM interactions: [X] meetings, [X] check-ins

SLIDE 5: ROADMAP & OPPORTUNITIES
  Upcoming platform releases relevant to [customer]
  Expansion opportunities: [Add-on, seat, tier upgrade]
  Best practice recommendations: [Industry peer comparison]
  Training recommendations: [Advanced feature training]

SLIDE 6: GOALS FOR NEXT QUARTER
  Goal 1: [Specific, measurable goal]
  Goal 2: [Specific, measurable goal]
  Goal 3: [Specific, measurable goal]
  Success metrics: [How we will measure achievement]
  Action items and owners: [Next steps]

SLIDE 7: FEEDBACK & DISCUSSION
  What's working well: [Customer feedback]
  What can be improved: [Customer feedback]
  Open discussion: [Strategic topics, roadmap input]
  Next steps: [Action items and timeline]

Integration Points

Customer success platforms (Gainsight, Totango, Catalyst): Health scoring and engagement
CRM platforms (Salesforce, HubSpot): Account and opportunity management
Product analytics (Mixpanel, Amplitude, Pendo): Usage data and adoption tracking
Support platforms (Zendesk, Freshdesk): Support ticket data for health score
Survey platforms (Qualtrics, Medallia): NPS and CSAT data
Revenue operations (Revenue.io, Clari): Renewal and expansion forecasting
Communication platforms: CSM customer engagement
CPQ and billing platforms: Contract and renewal management

Edge Cases

Silent churners (low engagement but haven't complained): Usage-based health trigger; proactive outreach cadence; champion check-in; value reminder campaign
Over-dependent on single champion: Multi-threading strategy; stakeholder expansion; executive relationship development; organizational change monitoring
Product-led growth vs services-led: Usage-based health score emphasis; automated onboarding; self-service success resources; in-app guidance
Global/multi-entity accounts: Entity-level health scoring; regional engagement strategy; consolidation opportunity identification; global success plan
Post-merger integration (customer was acquired): Customer communication and reassurance; transition success plan; value proposition update; reference continuity

Output

Customer Success Dashboard

CUSTOMER SUCCESS DASHBOARD — April 2025
=========================================

KEY METRICS:
  Gross Revenue Retention (GRR): 94.2% (target: >92% ✓)
  Net Revenue Retention (NRR): 118% (target: >110% ✓)
  Churn rate: 5.8% (↓ 1.2% from last quarter ✓)
  Expansion revenue: $1.8M (23% of total revenue)
  Dilation rate: 1.18x

HEALTH DISTRIBUTION:
  Healthy (80-100): 342 accounts (57%)
  Good (60-79): 156 accounts (26%)
  At-Risk (40-59): 67 accounts (11%)
  Critical (<40): 35 accounts (6%)

RENEWAL FORECAST (NEXT 90 DAYS):
  Accounts up for renewal: 78
  Confirmed renewals: 52 (66.7%)
  At-risk renewals: 18 (23.1%)
  Expansion renewals: 6 (7.7%)
  Expected revenue: $4.2M
  Expected expansion: $580K

AT-RISK ACCOUNTS:
  Total at-risk: 102 accounts (17% of book)
  At-risk revenue: $2.1M
  Intervention plans active: 89 (87.3%)
  Resolved this quarter: 23 (moved to healthy/good)
  Escalated to executive: 12

EXPANSION PIPELINE:
  Expansion opportunities: 67
  Pipeline value: $2.4M
  Weighted forecast: $1.1M
  Top 5 opportunities: $680K
  Average expansion size: $35,820

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:
  NPS: +52 (↑ 3 from last quarter ✓)
  CSAT: 4.2/5.0
  Support satisfaction: 4.3/5.0
  CSM engagement score: 4.4/5.0

ONBOARDING METRICS:
  New customers onboarded: 34
  Avg time to first value: 12 days (target: <14 ✓)
  Onboarding completion rate: 91%
  90-day retention of new customers: 94%
  Onboarding NPS: +48

Trigger Phrases

"customer onboarding", "health score", "QBR", "quarterly business review", "renewal management", "expansion revenue", "churn prevention", "customer success", "NRR", "GRR", "land and expand", "at-risk account", "win-back", "customer advocacy", "customer satisfaction"