View the TAM Handbook homepage for additional TAM-related handbook pages.
Customer Onboarding is the beginning phase of the customer lifecycle.
The customer onboarding phase is critical to getting a customer started on a successful journey with GitLab. This is our opportunity to ensure the customer achieves value and success from the start of their GitLab usage.
The onboarding process should begin when the customer opportunity reaches stage "5-Negotiating" in order to introduce the TAM while we have high-touch engagement to close the opportunity. Once an opportunity that will qualify a customer for TAM alignment reaches stage 5, a Gainsight CTA will be created for the TAM Manager to assign the customer to a TAM. The assigned TAM should then start the onboarding process with the rest of the account team.
⚠️ NOTE: Please review the time to value metrics for target completion timeline.
The first part of onboarding is to do a review of the customer with the account team. The SAL/AE and SA should meet with the TAM to review the Command Plan, what the customer is trying to solve for, and anything else that's relevant for the TAM to know about what motivated the customer to purchase GitLab.
As part of this discussion, the SAL/AE and TAM should arrange an introduction of the TAM to the customer. Since the SAL/AE has the relationship with the customer, they are in the best position to facilitate that introduction and help clarify the role of the TAM.
The TAM should send the intro email that describes their role and value to the customer, using the email template provided in Gainsight as part of the onboarding CTA. This should be completed prior to the kickoff call, and is typically done after the internal transition meeting.
⏰ Target time: within 14 days of customer start date
The kickoff call is the first conversation between the TAM and the customer. This is when the TAM describes their role to the customer, and starts their own discovery process to fill in details they don't have from the internal transition in order to start an effective engagement and create a success plan.
A kickoff slide deck is provided as part of the onboarding CTA, to help drive the discussion about the role of the TAM. The TAM should review and revise this deck in advance of the kickoff call based on what they already know about the customer, and what they are still looking to understand.
One of the most important points of discussion for the kickoff call is establishing the cadence call. The TAM should have the cadence call schedule determined with the customer by the end of the kickoff call, and a plan for the first cadence call.
Once the kickoff call is complete, the TAM should have sufficient information to start developing the success plan. This is a critical step in successful onboarding and long-term customer engagement.
⚠️ NOTE: While the TAM should be able to create an effective first iteration of the success plan at this point in onboarding, the success plan is a living document, so the TAM should continue iterating the success plan throughout the customer lifecycle.
Please review the success plan handbook page for more details on how to do this.
⏰ Target time: Within 30 days of customer start date
The first cadence call is typically the TAM's second conversation with the customer, and is when we can start to deliver value through our efforts as a trusted advisor. In addition to the general recommendations for a cadence call, the agenda items for this call are to include the following:
The completion of this second customer call marks the completion of customer onboarding, moving the customer into the adoption phase of the customer lifecycle.
The Time to Value KPIs are developed to help us understand key facts about how we are serving our customers, and how we could improve. Below are the processes for how TAMs should update and track their Time to Value KPIs. For definitions, please see Time to Value KPIs. For data visualization, see Customer Onboarding Dashboard.
Goal: 14 days
Time to Engage is calculated by taking the days between Salesforce's Original Contract Date and subtracting the date of the first Timeline call or meeting entry. Example: Original Contract Date is 2020-01-01 and the first call was 2020-01-12, then it would be 11 days.
Goal: 30 days
Time to First Value is calculated by taking the Original Contract Date and subtracting First Value Date, which is a manual input on the customer's Attributes section of the C360.
If Seat Link is enabled, the First Value Date will be automatically populated by the system when Known License Utilization meets or exceeds 10%. If Seat Link data is not available, it is the responsibility of the TAM to manually update the date field based on their best estimate.
First Value DateGoal: 45 days
Time to Onboard is the difference between Original Contract Date and the date the Onboarding CTA is closed. For example, the Original Contract Date is 2020-08-15 and the Onboarding CTA was closed on 2020-09-18, the Time to Onboard would be 34 days.
Given the importance of onboarding to the customer's journey and our ability to drive success, we want to move through it as quickly as possible. If onboarding is delayed, either because of something on the GitLab side or the customer side, we need to document the reasons and take appropriate action.
The details around why onboarding is delayed should be documented in the following places:
If the delay is caused by the customer (e.g. disinterest, lack of engagement/"going dark") then the account has risk and should be flagged.
TAM-assigned accounts: When a customer signs at or reaches the TAM-assigned threshold, a Call To Action (CTA) is triggered within Gainsight.
Onboarding Pilot: We are also piloting in Q4 of FY21 an onboarding experience for a cohort of customers in the Commercial book of business. For these customers, a Call To Action (CTA) is triggered within Gainsight
For both use cases above, a CTA is created for the TAM Manager if the TAM field is not populated. Once populated, an Onboarding CTA is kicked off for the TAM. The Onboarding CTA creates a Playbook with guided steps for the next several weeks.
The CTA guides the TAM through the initial customer engagement. The tasks and associated content are as follows:
Use the Gainsight TAM Dashboard and the Customer Onboarding Dashboard to manage customers currently in Onboarding.
Please also review our TAM and Support interaction page as well as our Support handbook section to assist with sharing support information with customers.
While an Onboarding CTA is an automated process, it can also be created manually by going to the Cockpit, clicking + CTA and then choosing the Onboarding playbook.
During Onboarding, the TAM should also review the fields in the C360 to create a full picture. Here are a few examples:
