Celebrating Women in CS: 5 Takeaways From Our Power Up Masterclass

As International Women’s History Month comes to a close, it’s a fitting moment to celebrate the powerful intersection of women in leadership and customer success. Gainsight recently launched Season 2 of our Women in Customer Success Power Up Masterclasses in partnership with Women in Customer Success.

The latest session, Revenue-Driven CS: Proving ROI & Driving Executive Alignment, featured our very own Chief Revenue Officer, Marilee Bear, who sat down with Marija Skobe-Pilley, Founder of Women in Customer Success. The session is an enlightening guide for CS leaders aiming to speak the language of revenue and tie their team’s efforts directly to customer retention and expansion. Let’s dive into our top 5 takeaways on how to tie CS to revenue generation.

1. Understand Your Metrics

Bear highlighted the essential metrics that Customer Success teams should be in tune with as a revenue-focused department. The spotlight was on Gross Retention Rate (GRR), pipeline metrics, and bookings. Let’s take a look at each:

Gross Retention Rate (GRR)

GRR addresses the ongoing value and retention from existing customers, exclusive of any new bookings from up-sells, cross-sells, or new logos. Previously NRR was the favored metric, but we’ve seen a shift toward GRR recently. According to our report, The CS Index 2024, 55% of companies surveyed are using GRR as a top measurement of Customer Success; 76% of companies indicated that customer retention is another primary revenue metric utilized.

Pipeline Coverage

CS teams should actively contribute to identifying upsell and cross-sell opportunities through Customer Success Qualified Leads (CSQLs).

Here’s what Marilee Bear, CRO, Gainsight, had to say about the impact of CS on pipeline:

Bookings and Revenue Linearity

Understanding bookings from existing accounts is crucial, given that a large percentage of SaaS bookings come from existing client bases.

2. Communicate the Value of CS

A significant takeaway from the Masterclass was the critical need for CS teams to articulate their impact in terms that financial leaders will understand. Executives are keen on data that ties customer engagements directly to revenue results. It’s important to convert qualitative success stories into quantifiable data points that showcase your impact on growth and retention. Here’s how:

Quantifiable Impact

Use hard numbers in discussions to resonate with C-level executives, focusing on how CS activities translate to retention and revenue.

Track Churn Reasons

Implement AI-driven tools to predict churn and customer behavioral patterns. Adopting a product that provides real-time insights on customer health, like Staircase, is a game-changer for sentiment analysis.

3. Enhance Cross-Department Collaboration

Collaborating effectively across departments can amplify the impact of customer success efforts. Here are some actions you can take to make CS a company-wide priority:

Join Forecast Calls

Establish your presence by participating in forecast and planning calls. This is a strategic move to align with organizational goals and showcase the CS team’s role in revenue growth.

Engage With Sales Teams

Regular syncs with Sales to exchange insights on customer health can inform pipeline and bookings strategies. It’s worth taking the time to ensure all teams are in lockstep toward pipeline goals.

4. Embrace a Consultative Role

In transitioning CS from a support function to a strategic revenue driver, Bear emphasized the need for CS members to adopt a consultative mindset. This involves:

Training and Development

Pursue sales training and value-based selling courses to strengthen your team’s ability to identify growth opportunities within existing accounts.

Enablement and Tools

Encourage your team to leverage AI and data analytics for personalizing engagement strategies, predicting customer behavior, and preemptively managing churn risks.

5. Advocate for CS to Have a Seat at the Table

An overarching theme in the Masterclass was empowering CS leaders to secure a seat at the executive table. Here’s how:

Be Proactive

If CS is not already part of key meetings, proactively request inclusion to ensure that CS perspectives are represented in strategic decisions. Even the request itself can go a long way toward getting CS priorities on the agenda.

Become the Voice of Customer-Centric Growth

“Retention is revenue insurance,” a concept Bear emphasized during the Masterclass. This framing helps underscore CS’s strategic importance in board-level discussions. After all, the most sustainable, profitable growth is customer-led growth.

Watch the Revenue-Driven CS Masterclass

The Power Up Masterclass was more than a dialogue between Gainsight and Women in Customer Success. It was a call to action, a reminder of the crucial role women and Customer Success leaders play in driving impactful, revenue-centered outcomes within their organizations. As we close out this International Women’s History Month, let’s continue to celebrate trailblazing women who are elevating the stature of CS at their organizations and across the industry.