WHAT IT COSTS YOU
The money on the line.
If you never confirm the customer's goals, your whole team spends the year delivering the wrong thing beautifully. The customer doesn't churn right away. They renew flat, they never expand, and then they leave.
FROM THE FIELD
What I've seen.
I joined a kickoff as VP of CS because the customer's executive would be on the call. We built the deck from the sales handoff notes, and on the goals slide the exec said, "Those aren't our goals. I don't know where you got that information." We tried "maybe things changed on your end," and he said, "Nothing has changed."
The rest of that call never recovered. We reset the goals, and at renewal they told us, "We'll give you one more year and see where this goes." They renewed flat, never expanded and churned the next year.
Nobody had lied. The rep just never asked the probing questions.
SIGNS IT'S BROKEN
Customer goals live in the sales notes and nowhere else.
The last time anyone captured goals was onboarding, even for customers who've been with you three years.
Customers say "I thought the product did that."
Every customer has the same seven goals, because nobody made them choose.
WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE
Goals are confirmed with the customer's executive before onboarding starts.
Customers pick three goals and stack rank them, so onboarding chases number one and the CSM picks up number two.
Goals get re-validated at least once a year and every time a new executive shows up.
On large or complex deals, CS pressure-tests the goals with the buyer before the contract is signed.
ALWAYS ON
When this motion restarts.
Goals have a shelf life. Validate again when:
A new executive arrives. New exec, new objectives, so be willing to re-onboard toward their plan.
The customer hits the goals they set, and needs the next ones.
An expansion adds new teams with their own definition of success.
It has been a year. If the last time you captured goals was onboarding, you're working from old news.
ASK YOUR TEAM THIS WEEK
For our top 10 accounts, what are each customer's top three goals, in their words?
When were those goals last confirmed, and by whom on the customer side?
What happens to the plan when a customer gets a new executive?
WHAT TO MEASURE
Share of accounts with documented, ranked goals
Days since goals were last confirmed
Goals achieved versus goals set, by segment
FAQ
What is value validation in Customer Success? It's confirming, with the customer, what success means to them and how they'll measure it, before you build a plan to deliver it.
Why do customers renew flat even when they seem happy? Often because you delivered against assumed goals. They're getting something, just not the thing they bought you for.
ALWAYS ON
Which motion is costing you the most?
Ten questions, about ten minutes and you'll know where to start.