Mapping the “Customer” journey from lead to expansion: An important step to engineering Customer Success

In the context of sales and customer success, understanding and clearly defining goals for new customer acquisition and existing account management is essential. This differentiation not only ensures accurate performance measurement but also allows for a more tailored approach to client relations, from initial contact through expansion.

Differentiating Sales Goals: New Customer Acquisition vs. Account Management

1. New Customer Acquisition

This goal focuses on acquiring new logos and clients. It involves reaching a certain contract value at the point of signature, but it’s also about more than just initial acquisition. Each new client represents an opportunity to expand over time. Sales reps focused on this area are responsible for bringing in fresh business and setting the foundation for future growth. In that stage it is important to comfigure the client relationship the right way. Setting accurate expectations, negotiating contracts to incentivae the future i.e. a successful pilot or an expansion etc. For example, you can link a certain price point to a successful outcome within a timeline or the price on the number of expansions that will take place. 

2. Account Management and Expansion

In contrast, account management and expansion are about maintaining and growing existing accounts. Success is measured not only by the current signed annual value but also by the potential for expansion. Within this category, there is a further distinction to be made between standard accounts and “Pilots” — signed deals in the early stages of implementation. 

Pilots are a unique subset of accounts, often fragile and requiring “hypercare.” They are crucial because, while they represent potential long-term clients, they need additional support during their trial phase to reach a level of satisfaction that justifies full deployment or expansion. Only move clients out of the hypercare / pilot stage after a certain durarion and milestones achieved including a customer satisfaction survey that generally will also measure the implementation quality on top of the service or product satisfaction. A great product with a poor implementation cam also lead to churn. 

Why This Distinction Matters

It is essential to avoid blending these two types of sales goals. Comparing a rep focused on new customer acquisition with one managing and expanding existing accounts can lead to misalignment and unrealistic expectations.

For New Customer Acquisition, success is defined by the number of new clients brought in and their initial contract values. As well of the future additional opps that could be generated. Its important to look at this right as you may change your negotiation approach to enable what's next. In business, you always want to make the "next move" easier, thoughtfully and clearly planned. 

For Account Management and Expansion, success is not just about maintaining revenue from existing clients but also about growing that revenue. Expansion could involve successfully implementing pilots or identifying additional needs that the client may have, which can lead to upselling or cross-selling opportunities.

Mapping the Customer Journey

To achieve Customer Success, it’s necessary to define the customer journey and align team roles accordingly. Here’s a look at the stages involved (for example). In essence, try to break down your customer in key customer success stages, before but also after the deal is closed and what defines customer success. 

1. Lead

At this stage, the prospect may know little to nothing about the company or its offerings.  The goal is to educate them. 

2. Interested Party

At this point, they’ve been educated and are interested, but they have not yet committed. The goal here is to show them the value and get them to commit. 

3. Signed Client / Pilot Stage

Upon signing, the client may be piloting the service or product on a limited scale. This phase is critical as it determines if the client will see value and consider a larger deployment. The goal here is to ensure we deliver what we promised and that we provide a first great impression. Many clients typically churn from that stage so its key to put the adequate controls here. 

4. Happy Pilot / First Experience

This stage involves collecting feedback, often through a survey, to gauge satisfaction and lay the groundwork for expansion. The goal here is to have data to show back to the client to ensure they feel comfortable about staying or growing with us. Be weary as clients often can feel differently from what is actually happening. A survey is a great way to remove any noise from the process and focus on actual results. (For instance, you could have one loud user or manager who is bashing the product, while a majority of users are happy. The opposite could happen as well and blur your own vision of what needs to be done)

5. Expansion Opportunity

Here, the focus is on identifying ways to increase usage or offer additional services that meet the client’s needs. The goal here is to have a clear and timed process or project plan to roll out the solution. Clients typically like to have standardized operations. I.e. using the same solutions everywhere as opposed to having multi-approaches complexifying their businesses. Help them achieve that! 

6. Fully Expanded / Saturated Account

In this final stage, the goal shifts to maintaining satisfaction, ensuring retention, and potentially increasing pricing to reflect inflation or additional services. The goal here is to keep the clients happy and substantiating this with frequent customer surveys. Quarterly for strategic accounts would be a minimum. 

Each stage is pivotal, not only in securing the initial contract but also in ensuring ongoing success and growth. By organizing roles and responsibilities according to this journey, teams can better support clients through each phase, leading to improved customer retention and revenue expansion.