How do you influence the C-Suite to get more resources?

Question

Jeff Beaumont · Accepted Answer

Your plan must be concise, strategic in nature, and has a high ROI.

The other piece here is frequent communication. Make sure they hear from you, know you, and trust your judgment. Relationships help them know that you've already thought it through, have a plan, and are determined to execute and see it through.

1. Concise: As with most things, you must have the details but save them for later. Give the very very high level summary. Think just a few sentences up front and then the appendix can have the details. It should be like a mullet: short in the front, long in the back.

2. Strategic in nature: This is where a lot of us get tripped up when we use the word "strategy". My best reference is the book Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. "Strategy" is a list of actions in response to challenges. With that, whatever you are proposing cannot be in a vacuum, and it must be a significant challenge that is important to the company. Easier said than done. An example could be:
    
    1. Challenge: Renewal rates have been low due to macroeconomic events and the layoffs within the tech sector
    
    2. Coherent set of actions: We will ___________ (improve onboarding, better sales handoff, improve our qualification...)

3. High ROI:
    
    1. High. It's one thing to have a return on investment, but the risk must pan out. Meaning, it can't just be a 2-3x ROI. But don't make stuff up, either!
    
    2. ROI. Think of what their return on investment will be. If they say yes to you, how much money do they need to spend over how long and when will they see their return? How safe is it? Is this a sure thing, a complete guess (then it's an experiment). It's okay if it is an experiment, but frame it as such. And then help them understand what it will mean for them, the business overall, and the long term valuation of the company

Michael Maday · Answer

In this current economic landscape, the only teams that are going to be allocated resources are the ones that are able to show and substantial return on investment (ROI) to the organization. For example, Customer Success teams must be able to project how adding resources or technology will positively impact Retention Rates, Drives Expansion, or Reduces churn. Additionally, these requests must be as data-driven as possible and not hypothetical scenarios. Be critical in your assessment and if your ask is not going to bring a 5x-10x return, it will not be accepted.

Amara Okoli · Answer

Help the C-Suite understand how additional resources will achieve company goals in addition to core CS goals (retention rates, expansion targets, reduction in churn). If you can leverage a data-driven approach to help the C-Suite gain a 360 degree view into how the business is operating today and how it could be operating for the better in the future, you will be better situated to, at a minimum, have your proposal be heard.

Here are a few examples of company goals:

* Operate more efficiently: Perhaps you might leverage existing teams and provide mutually beneficial outcomes. Let’s say today your sales engineers and professional services teams only get involved pre-sales but you think these skills can assist in discovery for post-sales opportunities and scoping for projects. It would be helpful to review the last few quarters of successful deals and show several examples where the involvement of sales engineers alongside CSMs and AEs, shortened sales cycles and resulted in higher revenue renewals and expansions than opportunities where they were not involved. Or perhaps you can forecast out for the next several quarters where there is a competitive risk, what might be the impact of including professional services to optimize current implementations.
 * Deliver a best-in-class customer experience: Review the customer experience from multiple different lenses. How do customers interact with Marketing? How easy is it for customers to learn the software?  Meet with various stakeholders from cross-functional departments and try to find areas of alignment. With the support of other departments and their executive sponsors, perhaps you can build a stronger case for increased resources where there are common goals (Ex: Increase customer advocacy, improve billings; exceed certification targets).

In this economic climate, the reality is that unless NRR has been steadily dropping, other business priorities may take precedence. But if you can demonstrate operational improvements, cross-functional wins, and forecast significant CS gains, you will create a much stronger case for the additional resources you need such as headcount and tools.

Related Ask Me Anything Sessions

Clari Vice President, Customer Success, Nicole Alrubaiy on Influencing the C-Suite

GitLab Senior Director Customer Success Operations, Jeff Beaumont on Influencing the C-Suite

MURAL Director of Customer Success, Amara Okoli on Influencing the C-Suite

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