What is a Customer Champion?

In the B2B SaaS world, securing a sale is just the beginning of the customer journey. Long-term growth depends on two key elements: customer retention management and creating opportunities for renewal and expansion sales. This is where a Customer Champion on the buying team can make a significant impact. A Customer Champion is a crucial advocate within your client’s organization who supports your solution, drives its adoption, and ensures its continued success. Let's explore how having a Customer Champion on the buying team can directly influence retention, renewals, and expansion sales.

Customer Retention Management: A Customer Champion’s Role

At the core of any SaaS business strategy is the need for effective customer retention management. A Customer Champion is not just an advocate but also a key influencer who helps ensure your solution delivers value to the broader organization. By driving user adoption and ensuring the SaaS product meets business objectives, they help keep the entire buying team engaged with your solution.

Customer retention is often the result of constant reinforcement of the product’s value. A Customer Champion within the buying team acts as the internal spokesperson who can communicate this value to decision-makers and end users alike. They keep your solution top of mind and ensure it continues to align with the company’s evolving needs, which is essential to long-term retention.

Net Revenue Retention: Expanding Opportunities

Net revenue retention (NRR) is a key metric in SaaS that measures the revenue you retain and expand within your existing customer base. Having a Customer Champion on the buying team is crucial for driving NRR because they can advocate for additional investments in your solution.

When your Customer Champion sees firsthand how your product solves problems or delivers significant ROI, they are more likely to support upsells and cross-sells within their organization. They understand the business’s goals and can identify where new features, upgrades, or additional services might be needed. By having this internal advocate, you have someone who’s already bought into the value of your solution, making it much easier to expand your footprint within that customer’s ecosystem.

Renewal Management: Ensuring Long-Term Success

Renewal management is one of the most critical aspects of a SaaS business model. While the renewal process often falls on the vendor’s account managers or customer success teams, having a Customer Champion within the buying organization can make the difference between renewal and churn. They can influence decision-makers and make a compelling case for why your solution is vital to the company’s ongoing success.

Customer Champions help ensure renewals by continually demonstrating the value of your solution to key stakeholders. When they share success stories, highlight cost savings, or showcase how your product has enabled the business to meet its objectives, they make the renewal decision easier. In essence, they help eliminate friction in the renewal process, which is key to improving your overall retention rates.

Retention Strategies: Partnering with Your Customer Champion

Having a Customer Champion on the buying team allows you to implement more effective retention strategies. By fostering a partnership with this internal advocate, you can create a more personalized approach to managing the account. Here are a few strategies you can employ with the help of a Customer Champion:

• Collaborative success plans: Work with the Customer Champion to develop a tailored success plan that outlines clear goals and KPIs for the product’s usage.
• Proactive problem-solving: Encourage the Champion to flag potential issues early, allowing your team to address them before they escalate.
• Exclusive insights and updates: Keep your Customer Champion informed of new product updates, upcoming features, or best practices that can help them succeed.

The Takeaway

A Customer Champion on the buying team is one of the most powerful tools for driving customer retention management, improving net revenue retention, and ensuring smooth renewal management. They advocate for your solution, drive adoption, and influence decision-makers, making it easier for you to secure renewals and identify opportunities for expansion. In the competitive SaaS landscape, developing strong relationships with Customer Champions is a retention strategy that can lead to sustained success and growth.