WHAT IT COSTS YOU
The money on the line.
The person who signs the renewal is almost never the person using your product every day. If they can't see what they got for their money, your renewal comes down to a budget line and a gut feeling, and that's when "let's look at other options" shows up.
FROM THE FIELD
What I've seen.
At one company, every time a customer hit an onboarding milestone, an automated email went to their executive: what the team had done and what they could now do. Data uploaded meant a 360 view of their customers instead of data in 10 places. The email asked for nothing and needed no reply.
Sometimes we believe the value has to be so grand to tell a story that we have to have cured cancer. That's not true.
If you have a quick win and you don't tell anyone, it's like a tree fell in the forest.
SIGNS IT'S BROKEN
Your team knows the customer is getting value, and the customer's CFO has no idea.
Value only gets talked about in the renewal meeting.
Business reviews show usage, not outcomes.
Customers who say they're "fine" churn anyway. Neutral is as bad as a detractor.
WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE
Every milestone and quick win gets reported to the executive sponsor, in their language.
Outcomes are tied to the goals confirmed in Validate, with a number attached.
Your team can tell each customer's value story in two sentences.
ALWAYS ON
When this motion restarts.
Value isn't a renewal-week activity. Share it again when:
A customer hits a milestone or a quick win, however small.
A new executive arrives who never saw what you delivered.
Goals get re-validated, so the value story has to match the new ones.
A renewal is coming. In complex enterprise deals, procurement alone can take 120 days, so the value story has to be ready long before the renewal date.
ASK YOUR TEAM THIS WEEK
For our top 10 accounts, what measurable outcome have we delivered this year?
Does the executive who signs the renewal know it?
When did we last send a customer's leadership a win without asking for anything?
WHAT TO MEASURE
Goals achieved and documented, per account
Executive touchpoints that share an outcome
Gross revenue retention for accounts with a documented value story versus without
FAQ
How do you prove customer value to executives? Tie outcomes to the goals they set, put a number on them, and share wins as they happen instead of saving them for the renewal meeting.
Why do happy customers still churn? Often because the people using the product are happy and the people paying for it never saw the results. Value nobody sees doesn't protect the renewal.
ALWAYS ON
Which motion is costing you the most?
Ten questions, about ten minutes and you'll know where to start.