View the CSM Handbook homepage for additional CSM-related handbook pages.
Link to Commercial Renewal Process
A key part of the customer relationship lifecycle is the renewal phase. CSMs must proactively track the renewal dates of their customers and align with their Account Executive (AE) to ensure that a customer renewal takes place.
4 months before the renewal date for a customer, a CTA will trigger in Gainsight to prompt the CSM to reach out to their aligned account team to discuss strategy and next steps for the renewal. The expectation is that the team will meet internally and speak with the customer regarding the renewal within the following 30 days. This leaves three months to execute any renewal strategy, such as an account triage.
CSM Sentiment as appropriateOnce the above tasks are complete, the playbook and CTA can be closed out as all actionable items have been performed.
A renewal review meeting should have the following attendees:
For CSMs with larger books of business, it is appropriate to update an AE or SAE async that they are going to ask the soft renewal question in their next sync, to ensure they are aligned with other conversations that are ensuing.
Soft renewal questionThe CSM will ask the initial renewal question, this should be a 'soft' question to see if there is any risk in the account and to provide time to mitigate any risk. An example of this soft question is, "I know you have your renewal coming up in the next few months - how are you feeling about the renewal currently, and are there any changes you are considering that we can prepare for?"
If the status of the renewal is already known (renewal conversation with SAE or AE has happened, negotiations or contract is in-flight), the CSM can close the renewal CTA selecting the appropriate close reason.
The action items created from the “Renewal Review” meeting should be incorporated into the CSM customer cadence meetings and into any pending QBRs. The actual renewal plan will be documented by the SAE or AE in Salesforce.
For greater predictability across the customer base for renewal, upselling, downgrade, and churn, tracking account health and risks is incorporated into Gainsight. This process creates tighter collaboration with the overall CRO Organization and the rest of GitLab.
Note: This was formerly at the opportunity level instead of account level. It was moved to account to be long-term oriented and as Sales owns the opportunity.
To learn the full process, watch the At-Risk Customer Process video.
See the At Risk Customers Dashboard for more information.
CSMs can use Red, Yellow, and Green to reflect their sentiment of a customer's contraction or churn risk. Below is a brief explanation about how to think about colors in the At-Risk process. Links provide more detailed information.
At-Risk Update Timeline post marking CSM Sentiment as Red and any context for the at-risk accountAt-Risk CTA to track the high level risks, ORAt-Risk CTA overnight for the CSM if Requires Triage box was checkedAt-Risk Update Timeline post. Update CTA as necessaryAt-Risk Update type for CSM Sentiment as Green and final notesAt-Risk Update type with final updateTips:
closed-won when we saved the customer AND had a flat or positive net ARR opportunityclosed-lost when we churned the customer or had contractionThis can then be discussed with the Account Team during account reviews.
At-Risk Update Timeline post marking CSM Sentiment as Yellow and any context for the at-risk accountAt-Risk CTA to track the high level risks, ORAt-Risk CTA overnight for the CSM if Requires Triage box was checkedAt-Risk Update Timeline post. Update CTA as necessaryAt-Risk Update type for CSM Sentiment as Green and final notesAt-Risk Update type with final updateThis can then be discussed with the Account Team during account reviews.
When a CSM considers an account at-risk of contraction or churn, they should set the Account's CSM Sentiment to red. From there, the CSM can create an at-risk CTA on the account, or Gainsight will auto-create it during the nightly sync (within 24 hours).
Customer never adopted the product or specific features so they did not get value. This can be because of organizational silos or lack of internal resources. If they didn't adopt because they didn't see / experience value, it should be Product Gap
Prospect or customer used the product and features (i.e., trial, POV, or purchased product), but did not see the value. The product did not meet requirements of the customer. This can also be a prospect where they did not experience perceived value
Prospect or customer used the product and features (i.e., trial, POV, or purchased product) though they did not meet the prospect or customer's needs or expectations. This can be defects, poor performance, or uptime/availability issues. Includes both self-managed and SaaS products
We lost or were never able to get engagement with the prospect or customer team. The champion / sponsor left, changed responsibility, or became unresponsive. We were never able to re-establish connection with a new sponsor or champion
The prospect or customer lost budget due to business contraction, change of priorities, reduction of employees, or other. This was not a competitive loss.
Due to management decision or policy, the prospect or customer chose a different product but not because of product gaps, adoption, etc. This would be a top-down decision (e.g., ELA, decision to commit to a single provider)
To create a CTA manually:
CTA.Risk.Reason, select the appropriate reason. See Risk Reasons.Account Triage.An account risk issue should be created in the Account Triage Project if the customer health assessment is either yellow or red. These are also viewable in the CSM Risk Account Issue Board.
When an account is in triage, keep the triage issue updated as follows:
If nothing of note has occured since the last update, indicate that as well as the next steps you are taking.
When creating an issue in the Account Triage project, the default template will set up the details you should include. Follow the instructions laid out in the issue description by the template for what information should be documented in the issue.
When creating triage issues, it's important to apply the correct labels to the issue, so that we can easily track, have a holistic view of the at risk accounts, and be able to triage regionally and/or by priority. It is expected for each issue to contain one of each of the below label categories. Please refer to the issue template for more details on how to use them.
~HS::Green: Green Health Rating~HS::Yellow: Yellow Health Rating~HS::Red: Red Health Rating~US-WEST~US-EAST~EMEA~APAC~LACSM~Commercial~E&A Expected and Avoidable~E&U Expected and Unavoidable~U&A Unexpected and Avoidable~U&U Unexpected and Unavoidable~risk::lack of adoption~risk::product experience~risk::lack of engagement~risk::loss of sponsor or champion~risk::customer sentiment~risk::other organizational factors~risk::lack of budget~risk::competition~risk::covid-19If the account is labeled with a Customer Success Risk Reason of "product experience",
CSMs are encouraged to add a DevOps stage label (i.e. ~devops::*)
to the triage issue, and clearly identify any related issues that are blocking adoption or required
to improve the customer's product experience within the triage issue.
Identify the Product DRI by from our product categories page and ping them in the issue. As the CSM responsible for the at-risk account, you are accountable for coordinating all resources. Engage early and often with product and any other groups required to advocate for your customer's desired outcomes.
Because devops:: labels are scoped; please choose the highest-impact stage label and apply it.