As a member of the pre-sales team, closing another successful deal for GitLab, it is important to pave the way for the TAM. A successful TAM introduction is a critical step in the customer lifecycle. An effective TAM introduction will lead to customer excitement about the product and increase the TAM's credibility as they assist the customer through onboarding, implementation, and adoption.
Please review this course on Introducing the Technical Account Manager.
| Team | Stage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial | Closed Won |
Once a prospect opportunity reaches stage Closed-Won, the AE/SA and TAM should begin the transition process. The AE/SA will send an email to the technical customer team to introduce the TAM. |
| Enterprise | 5-Negotiating or Closed Won |
Once a prospect opportunity reaches stage 5-Negotiating or Closed Won, the SA and TAM should begin the transition process. The SA will set up a call with the customer team to introduce the TAM. |
The transition process is further outlined in the sections below.
Most of the process outlined below should occur between the opportunity reaching stage 5-Negotiating and Closed Won.
TAM engagement prior to the sale should occur in the following situations:
In preparation for introducing the TAM, the account team should schedule a meeting to discuss general information about the customer, to include:
If the Solutions Architect created a collaboration project, the TAM and SA should review it together, and ensure that readme details and issues are up to date.
At the conclusion of the pre-sales engagement, the Account Executive or Solutions Architect should set up an introduction to the TAM, provide the customer an overview of the TAM role, and what the TAM engagement will look like going forward.
For Enterprise customers, the TAM should work with the SA to prepare the TAM program overview deck to be presented as part of the meeting. This will be starting point of the TAM's relationship with the customer, and it's important to convey what the TAM's role is, and the expectations from both sides. As this is part of the SA's review with the customer, the TAM portion should not be extensive and should be used to set the stage for future conversations.
For Commercial customers, the AE/SA will need to ensure that Command Plan and Pitch Deck (R7) are complete before scheduling an internal transition meeting to brief the TAM. AE/SA will then introduce the TAM via email.
From this initial introduction, the TAM should schedule the kickoff meeting with the customer to go into more detail about the customer's objectives and the TAM program. Please review the details for the TAM kickoff call to learn more about how to conduct this meeting.
| Commercial | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|
| Who will coordinate the TAM introduction | SA/AE | SA |
| When will the introduction happen | Closed Won |
5-Negotiating or Closed Won |
| Fromat of the introduction | SA/AE will send an introduction email to the technical team on the customer end. | SA will schedule a 1 hour call with the technical team on the customer end. |
| Where can the TAM access account information | - Custom Pitch Deck - Command Plan - POV (when applicable) |
- Account plan POV - Command Plan - SA-TAM existing best practices |
Once the account is in post-sales, the TAM takes primary responsibility for guidance & best practices conversations, customer enablement, and product usage. Most responsibilities of the AE/SA will transition to the TAM at this point.
During customer onboarding, the SA may choose to stay engaged with the customer to help facilitate a seamless introduction and address any ongoing activities from the POV. This should be done in such a way as to allow the TAM to take over those activities, so all conversations with the customer on these items should include the TAM.
Once the account is fully transitioned to post-sales, the SA may be invited by the TAM for the following activities:
The SA may also be involved, as needed and at the discretion of the SA & their manager, to support customer enablement, EBR delivery, product demo, or other customer-facing activities for which the TAM may ask for assistance.
There are also instances where the TAM will need to reengage the SAL/AE and SA. Here are a few examples of customer requests the TAM can listen for in order to reengage them:
us-public-sector parent project for all public sector work
account-management parent project for account-specific work and collaboration with the rest of the sales
customer-success parent project for Customer Success employee, shared or triage work
