Introduction
Consistent and effective management of customer risks requires standardized processes across teams. By creating and automating Cross-Functional Playbooks, you ensure that every team—Customer Success (CS), Sales, Product, and Support—follows a unified approach when dealing with risks. This article will guide you through setting up and automating playbooks using Gainsight’s tools, ensuring that all teams are aligned and equipped to handle risks consistently.
Step 1: Develop Playbooks for Key Risk Types
Start by creating Playbooks for different types of customer risks, ensuring each playbook clearly outlines the roles of each team involved:
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Product Risk Playbook: For customers facing recurring product issues, create a playbook that escalates the issue to the Product Team for resolution. Include steps for the CS Team to communicate updates to the customer. Use Playbooks to standardize this process.
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Low Adoption Playbook: Build a playbook that prompts the CS Team to engage customers with low feature usage. Include actions such as offering training sessions or providing additional support resources. Monitor adoption trends with Adoption Explorer.
These playbooks help ensure that each team knows exactly what steps to take when a specific risk arises.
Step 2: Automate Playbook Deployment with Rules Engine
Once the playbooks are created, automate their deployment to ensure they are triggered when needed:
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Set Up Automated CTAs: Use Rules Engine to automatically trigger CTAs and deploy playbooks when certain risk indicators are detected. For example, if a customer’s health score drops below a specific threshold, the Low Adoption Playbook should be triggered.
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Trigger Playbooks for High-Risk Accounts: Ensure that high-risk accounts are prioritized by setting higher severity levels for their CTAs. This ensures that playbooks for critical accounts are triggered immediately, prompting your team to act quickly.
Automating the deployment of playbooks guarantees that risks are addressed consistently and without delay.
Step 3: Align Playbooks Across Teams for Seamless Collaboration
Ensure that playbooks are aligned across teams so that everyone is on the same page when risks are identified:
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Coordinate Cross-Functional Actions: In each playbook, define the role of each team (CS, Sales, Product, and Support) and the specific actions they need to take. For example, when product risks are identified, the Product Team should address the issue while the CS Team communicates updates to the customer.
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Hold Regular Team Reviews: Use weekly or monthly risk review meetings to ensure that all teams are aligned on how playbooks are being executed. Use Dashboards to track the progress of playbook execution and ensure accountability.
Aligning playbooks across teams ensures seamless collaboration and consistent customer engagement during critical moments.
Step 4: Monitor Playbook Effectiveness and Make Adjustments
Regularly monitor how well your playbooks are working and make adjustments as needed:
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Track Playbook Performance: Use Dashboards to track how well playbooks are addressing risks. For example, measure whether the Product Risk Playbook is leading to quicker issue resolution or whether the Low Adoption Playbook is improving feature usage.
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Adjust Playbooks Based on Outcomes: Gather feedback from CSMs and other team members to understand where playbooks may need to be refined. If certain steps are not yielding the desired results, update the playbooks to include new actions or modify existing steps.
By regularly reviewing and refining your playbooks, you ensure that they remain effective and aligned with evolving customer needs.
Next Steps for Success
With cross-functional playbooks in place:
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Automate playbook deployment: Ensure that playbooks are automatically triggered when risk indicators are detected, reducing manual intervention.
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Monitor and refine playbooks: Use dashboards to track the effectiveness of playbooks and gather feedback from team members to continuously improve them.
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