Customer Success Optimisation for B2B SaaS Solution Providers

Breaking your customers through the SaaS change barrier to achieve churn-proof, upsell ready ROI

SaaS B2B Customer Success is much more than a post-sales service to stay close to your customers, help them with queries, and check-in to see how they're doing, hopefully securing their renewal; it's about forming a strategic, symbiotic partnership, ensuring your customers maximise the value from your SaaS offerings, and your company maximises the value from your customer accounts.

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Don’t support, drive

Supporting your customers to succeed will not suffice for most; they need you (whether they know it or not) to guide, challenge and drive them to succeed! Implementation, onboarding, training and handholding, even hypercare, won't suffice for most to truly succeed. They need you to drive them through the SaaS change barrier in order for them to deeply embed your solution and achieve churn-proof ROI. They need you to challenge and drive them to define clear objectives, success metrics, and manage change effectively. This is essential, not just for their success but for establishing your role as an indispensable strategic partner.

Proven Adaptable framework

Embrace a proven, adaptable, and resource-light framework to deliver 'software with batteries included', ensuring game-changing success for your customers and securing long-term retention and an abundance of upselling and expansion revenue for your company.

ExpertisE

The Batteries Included Approach.

Implementing software, and embedding software are worlds apart! Your customers require you to guide them through fundamental change management practices in order to deeply embed your software and the new ways of working into their daily business operations. Providing your software solutions with batteries included involves:

Drive your customers to success

supporting them to succeed won’t suffice for most

Before the sale closes

condition the customer to understand the importance of working together to proactively drive success

Ride the momentum of the sale

to lock-in senior relationships

Clearly define key challenges and objectives

to ingrain within the customer organisation the importance of succeeding with your solution

Deploy guerilla change management

using only the most resource-efficient, high-impact tactics to drive change within your customers' organisations

Harness the approach of your most successful customers

to guide the rest of your customer base

Beyond implementation

is where the most important work begins

ROI, ROI, ROI

are the three most important outcomes expected by your customers

results

Tangible, quantifiable results measured in top-line revenue growth.

As I preach to my clients, the three most important outcomes their customers desire from implementing their software are ROI, ROI and ROI! The same is true for my clients when they engage my services:

"Double-digit percentage point increase in NRR within 2 years"

Senior Leader at a small-medium sized B2B SaaS firm

"Dan had a transformative effect on our Net Retention Rate"

Betina Nygaard, CEO, Scanmarket

“near elimination of churn with a substantial increase of upsell opportunities"

Malcolm McClenn, Operations Director, Due North

Services

Powering your Customers’ Success with Batteries Included.

By working closely with SaaS leaders and their CS teams, I help rapidly optimise, and where required transform, their CS function to best-in-class. I focus my energies on collaborating with them to pinpoint their most crucial areas of improvement and introduce, co-implement and co-embed sustainable enhancements to their strategy and processes. Ultimately, this results in maximising Net Retention Rates for my clients and ROI for their customers. From challenges around lack of customer value realisation or absence of senior customer relationships to poor retention, upselling and expansion rates, if you're looking to optimize your CS results, and resonate with my philosophy, please get in touch to explore how we can work together.

On-Site Workshops

Detailed step-by-step training on how to prepare for and implement every component of the framework. Includes documentation and tools required to successfully implement, and up to three follow up calls within six months to help embed the new strategy and processes.

Interim Engagements

2-day, 6-week and 12-week bespoke programmes to help you level-up your CS offering based upon your business, software, objectives/challenges, goals, and resources. Includes training, mentoring, slide deck content, checklists and follow up calls to embed the new strategy and processes.

Testimonials

  • Scanmarket image

    Scanmarket (2023)

    Betina Nygaard - CEO, Scanmarket

    Dan's most significant contribution was in our Customer Success (CS) department. His strategic and proactive approach transformed our CS function into a powerhouse that relentlessly pursued and achieved value for our clients.

    Under his leadership, the team not only boosted customer retention but also mastered the art of account expansion and upselling. This had a transformative effect on our Net Retention Rate, creating a lasting positive impact on our business. In addition to this, our CS function and approach became a USP that helped us not only win new business but also attracted inbound prospective customers.

  • Due North image for the testimonial

    Due North (2023)

    Malcolm McClen - Operations Director, Due North

    Dan switched roles to lead the account management team and the results were transformative for the business. His approach was a masterclass in driving customer value and ensuring an excellent customer experience. His deep-rooted customer-centric philosophy sets him apart. This, and his ability to cross-functionally collaborate within our teams, significantly enhanced our operations.

    Under his management of the Account Management function we saw a near elimination of customer churn and a proactive, substantial increase in upselling and growth opportunities, resulting in a truly exceptional improvement in our Net Retention Rates.

  • Image of an iPad taken from a client of Customer Success Consultants Batteries Included

    Customer Sure (2024)

    Chris Stainthorpe - CTO, CustomerSure

    Dan’s enthusiasm, intelligence and persistance have resulted in significant changes in our business.

    He’s challenged our entire team to think differently about how we interact with customers and prospects. In contrast to many consultants, he’s also got his head down and produced real, measurable outputs. It’s easy to tell people what to do, but Dan has showed us how it should be done.

    Throughout the process of working with Dan, he’s been very clear and specific about the outcomes he wanted to be measured by, held himself accountable for hitting them, and held us accountable for the input he needed to hit them.

Case Study

Discover how I worked with CustomerSure to:

  • devise and implement a new, “game-changing” commercial strategy,

  • enhance and systematise their Customer Success function,

  • “open up a whole new world of upselling and expansion opportunities”

Background 

CustomerSure are a SaaS firm, selling a Voice of the Customer platform to large midmarket firms. 

They are recognised internationally by firms offering a ‘premium’ customer experience, both for their unusually easy-to-use product and true ‘partnership’ approach to improving CX, but lack broad market recognition due to under-investment in sales and marketing. 

Problem 

CustomerSure’s leadership team identified that to grow the business beyond its existing niche, they needed a strong commercial strategy, a clearer understanding of their existing ideal customers, stronger positioning of the business to more-clearly demonstrate CustomerSure’s unique value to these customers, and proven, repeatable tactics to present the repositioned business to these ideal customers. 

Solution 

Dan quickly assumed responsibility, crafting a strategic plan and diving deep into our core values through discussions and customer interviews. His initial analysis produced actionable insights, leading to intensive workshops that revamped our marketing and positioning strategy, marking a significant shift in how we communicate our value, as well as opening up a whole new world of upselling and expansion opportunities.

 He directly influenced the development of new sales materials, a 12-month marketing content plan, and the implementation of best practices across multiple business operations. Crucially, Dan identified that we had underrepresented the value of our Customer Success services and guided us in more formally structuring and systematising our approach. He then led efforts to enhance its communicability to potential clients, making it a pivotal element of discussions at every stage of the sales and marketing process

Outcome 

With Dan’s guidance, our team now effectively showcases our enhanced customer success expertise, boosting confidence and resonating deeply with potential clients. This led to closing a major client deal, affirming the success of the new strategy Dan helped implement, setting a solid foundation for future growth. Everyone in the business has embraced working with Dan, and we hope to engage more with him in future.

“... opening up a whole new world of upselling and expansion opportunities. Everyone in the business has embraced working with Dan, and we hope to engage more with him in future. ”
— Chris Stainthorpe, CTO, Customersure

EVENTS

I deliver full-day group onsite workshops (chargeable) throughout the country, and 45-minute introduction presentations (free of charge) online and onsite.

Upcoming Events

Title

Breaking Your Customers Through the SaaS Change Barrier

Location:

EagleLabs TusPark, Grainger Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 5JU

Event Type:

Face-to-Face: A 45-minute onsite introduction presentation (FREE)

When:

TBC

Register your interest below and select a preferred location. You will then receive more details regarding what is included in the event, and the price list. You will also be notified when an event in your preferred location is confirmed and scheduled.

  • Implementing vs embedding software are worlds apart!

  • Implementing a solution doesn't achieve value, using it does

  • The important work begins, not ends, after implementation…but the foundations are laid before the sale is even closed

  • Success hinges far more on the actions of the customer than those of the solution provider

Questions + Answers

Got Questions?

  • Customer Success is much more than just a post-sales service to stay close to your customers; it's about ensuring you and your customers maximise the value from your SaaS offerings. This means actively working together to achieve their business goals and yours, leading to mutual growth and success, and long-term partnerships. Importantly, the CS function isn’t a subservient valet service, it’s a trusted advisor role between two teams of equal business stature. The ultimate role of CS is not to do on behalf of the customer, it’s to empower the customer to do, and succeed for themselves.

  • I believe in adopting a highly proactive, systematic approach to Customer Success. This involves:

    • challenging and driving customers, even before the sale has closed, to think and act differently regarding how to successfully embed new software and new ways of working into their daily work lives.

    • bottling the critical success factors of your most successful customers and using them intelligently to guide your other customers

    • harnessing the momentum of the sales process to lock-in senior customer relationships, define key objectives and ingrain the importance of the customer succeeding with your solution

  • My experience in SaaS spans 12+ years across multiple functions, namely lead-generation, sales, marketing, account management, senior leadership and last, but of course not least, customer success. This experience has ingrained in me a deep commitment to driving customers to succeed, combined with the boldness to challenge customers when necessary and the skillset to effectively sell and facilitate essential change at all levels of seniority within the customer organisation.

  • The results of my services should only be measured in terms of the increase in top-line revenue, mainly Net Retention Rate, but also Net-New Sales revenue will be impacted when the market realises that you’re the benchmark for customer value realisation in your space.

  • Definitely. By improving your customer engagement, building and maintaining senior customer relationships, becoming seen as a long-term strategic partner and, most importantly, driving game-changing results for your customers, you will see a significant increase in your NRR.

  • Firstly, the Batteries included framework is adaptable, meaning it can be tailored to meet your needs and resources. Although some time/resources will be required for us to work together to implement the changes, your CS team will make time back when you empower more and more customers to succeed more autonomously. Your CS function will become a profit centre, as opposed to a cost centre, meaning you will have the appetite and budget to grow the team in order to double down on and further evolve the new approach.

  • The first step is a discovery call to explore your current challenges and goals and so that we can establish if we’re a good two-way fit. From there, we’ll develop a high-level bespoke strategy that aligns with your business objectives, timeframes, and resources. You can then decide whether or not you would like to proceed.

  • My clients usually know intuitively on the first day of the engagement that the Batteries Included approach will significantly improve their processes, and results, and their customers’ engagement and value realisation. However, the tangible, quantifiable results of increased retention, upselling and expansion should be seen within 3-6 months of the end of the engagement, and they will snowball from there. My aim, which I have proven I can achieve on multiple occasions, is to help my clients achieve double digit percentage point increases in NRR within 2 years from my engagement ending.

  • Your customers will be delighted with the new, systematic, results oriented approach. They will appreciate you challenging them and proactively driving them to greater success.

  • Whilst the bulk of my experience lies in start-up and scale-ups, I have also worked with large SaaS companies. My expertise is in optimising and transforming customer success strategies and processes, which are applicable and adaptable to any B2B SaaS business, regardless of the size or vertical market.

Contact

Let's connect and start your Customer Success optimisation journey.

Ready for your SaaS solution to become the benchmark for customer value realisation in your space? Drop me a line, and lets discuss how you can start providing your software with batteries included.