How do you think about shared KPI’s with your sales team? And what are ones that customer success teams often miss?
Unlike a lot of Customer Success departments, we’ve chosen to align our team to customer KPIs rather than commercial/upsell targets. As such, we have less overlap in goals between CS and Sales. Of course, we’re both targeting Gross Renewal Rate and ensuring we maintain the customer base, but we don’t extend that to upsell targets in the same way as commission-based CS teams.
Currently, we’re focused on exploring how we can share “time spent” efficiency and reach KPIs to help keep us accountable for spending as much face time with our customers, tech, and agency partners as we can over the course of many key city hubs whilst being mindful of the cost of trips.
Shared KPIs between sales and customer success teams foster collaboration and alignment toward common goals, and it depends on how the organization is structured regarding these shareable metrics with departments.
Key shared KPIs include Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), Customer Retention Rate, Net Promoter Score (NPS), Expansion Revenue, Customer Onboarding Time, and Customer Satisfaction Metrics.
Additionally, the ones we miss often or should track are Product Adoption and Usage, Health Scores, Customer Journey Milestones, and Customer Education and Training to drive long-term success and to the lagging indicators.
Yes, I think it is great to have share KPIs between Customer Success and Sales Teams.
Alignment: Shared KPIs foster alignment between Sales and Customer Success, ensuring that both teams are working towards common objectives.
Collaboration: Encourages collaboration and communication between sales and post-sales teams, leading to a more cohesive customer experience.
Accountability: Shared ownership of KPIs promotes accountability and a sense of shared responsibility for customer outcomes.
Customer-Centric Focus: Allows both teams to focus on the entire customer journey rather than just their respective parts, leading to improved overall customer satisfaction and retention.
By sharing KPIs, Sales and Customer Success teams can work hand-in-hand to acquire, retain, and grow customer relationships effectively, ultimately driving sustainable business growth and success.
Best KPIs for Customer Success and Sales Team Shared Ownership
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Customer Retention Rate (CRR)
Reason: Both teams share responsibility for ensuring that customers continue their relationship with the company.
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Churn Rate
Reason: Helps identify how many customers discontinue services and understand the effectiveness of customer satisfaction efforts.
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Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or CLTV)
Reason: Indicates the total revenue a business can reasonably expect from a single customer account, emphasizing collaborative efforts to maximize customer value.
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Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Reason: Reflects customer satisfaction and loyalty, indicating the likelihood of customers referring the company to others.
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Upsell and Cross-sell Revenue
Reason: Highlights how well both teams collaborate to drive additional sales and expand within existing customer accounts.
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Time to First Value (TTFV)
Reason: Measures how quickly a new customer starts realizing value from the product or service, essential for setting the initial tone and expectations.
Effective Shared KPIs:
Deal Quality Metrics
% of deals meeting minimum readiness criteria
Technical fit score accuracy
Implementation scope accuracy vs reality
Time from close to successful onboarding
Revenue Collaboration
Account expansion rate from CS-identified opportunities
Renewal rates by sales rep/deal type
Joint upsell win rates
Reference customer creation rate
Commonly Missed Opportunities:
Pre-Sale Engagement Impact
Win rates with CS involvement vs without
POC success rates with CS guidance
Risk assessment accuracy
Technical validation completion rates
Early Warning Signals
Implementation milestone variances
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Usage vs committed volumes
Deal Quality Feedback Loop
% of deals requiring unplanned resources
Customer effort scores in first 90 days
Feature usage alignment with sales use cases
Actual vs forecasted support needs
Key Success Factors:
Share visibility into metrics both ways
Define clear handoff criteria
Create regular feedback mechanisms
Align compensation on shared outcomes
Build joint account planning process
The Customer Success and Account Management relationship is critical to the overall health of the business, especially if Net Revenue Retention is a key metric. Often times, for this relationship, Customer Success can help identify sales opportunities in the form of CSQLs for the Account Management team to close and Account Management can spot potential risk for Customer Success to get in front of to prevent churn. Ensuring the team's scorecards are aligned to a common goal is necessary to foster collaboration.
In terms of missing KPIs, although Customer Success often is left with NRR, it's truly a business metric. If you have a bad product, even heroic efforts from a CSM will not save a customer. For those KPIs within a CSM's control, I find that QBRs can be hard if you don't prioritize them early in the quarter.