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Introduction

For high-severity risks, immediate attention and intervention from leadership may be necessary to prevent customer churn. Escalating critical risks ensures that high-impact accounts receive the attention they need from senior stakeholders. This article will guide you through the process of escalating critical risks to leadership using Gainsight’s tools, ensuring timely resolutions and better customer retention outcomes.

 

Step 1: Define Escalation Criteria for Critical Risks

The first step is to define clear criteria for what qualifies as a critical risk that requires leadership escalation:

  • Severity Score: Use Scorecards to assign severity scores based on factors such as ARR, contract value, or time to renewal. Define a threshold (e.g., a severity score over 50%) that triggers escalation.

  • Risk Indicators: Escalate risks tied to loss of a key stakeholder, significant drop in product usage, or recurring product issues. Monitor these indicators using Sponsor Tracking and Product Analytics.

Clearly defined escalation criteria ensure that only high-severity, high-impact risks are brought to leadership’s attention.

 

Step 2: Automate Escalations Using the Rules Engine

Once your criteria are in place, use Gainsight’s Rules Engine to automate escalations:

  • Set Up Automated CTAs for Leadership Escalation: Configure the Rules Engine to automatically create CTAs for leadership when a customer’s severity score crosses the defined threshold. For example, if product usage drops significantly for a strategic account, trigger a CTA for leadership to get involved immediately.

Automating the escalation process ensures that high-risk accounts don’t fall through the cracks and are prioritized for executive attention.

 

Step 3: Engage Leadership in Weekly Business Reviews (WBR)

Once escalations are triggered, ensure that leadership is actively involved in resolving critical risks through Weekly Business Reviews (WBR):

  • Review High-Risk Accounts: Use Dashboards to highlight high-risk accounts and review the escalation status during WBR meetings. Leadership can review progress, assign next steps, and ensure accountability for addressing risks.

  • Align on Strategic Actions: Engage leadership to agree on specific actions, such as executive outreach to the customer, product intervention, or other targeted strategies to mitigate the risk.

Involving leadership in WBRs ensures that high-risk accounts are reviewed regularly and that decisions are made quickly to address critical issues.

 

Step 4: Track Escalation Outcomes and Refine Escalation Criteria

Regularly review the outcomes of leadership escalations to ensure that critical risks are being addressed effectively:

  • Track Outcomes via Dashboards: Use Dashboards to track the outcomes of escalated risks. Identify which strategies worked and where improvement is needed.

  • Refine Escalation Criteria: Based on the outcomes of escalations, refine your severity scores and escalation criteria. For example, if certain risks are resolved quickly without leadership involvement, adjust thresholds to focus on more complex issues.

By continuously refining escalation criteria, you can ensure that leadership’s time is spent on the most critical customer risks.

Next Steps for Success

With a structured escalation process in place:

  • Monitor high-severity risks: Use dashboards to track risks that meet your escalation criteria, ensuring timely intervention by leadership.

  • Engage leadership in decision-making: Involve senior executives in WBRs to ensure strategic actions are taken for critical accounts.

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