Clouded Judgement

MARCH 22, 2024

Enterprise software businesses strive for 90-95% gross retention (generally the percent of revenue that sticks with you vs churns altogether), with net expansion in the 120%+ range (the aggregate change in expansion - contraction - churned revenue). Namely, retention!! The biggest culprit is describing non recurring revenue as ARR. .”

AI 190

AI Revenue Cloud Technical Advisors 190

SaaSX

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

This INCLUDES headcount-related expenses. If you are utilizing Gusto or a similar payroll tool, your headcount expenses are likely coming into your P&L as one (or maybe two) line item(s). these figures are going to be WRONG because you haven’t properly accounted for your headcount costs in Sales & Marketing.

Finance 118

Finance Sales Hiring Headcount Scale 118

Clouded Judgement

APRIL 6, 2023

That’s a big difference, especially when you layer in the growth in headcount from 2021 to 2022. Essentially companies grew headcount significantly to add less ARR. We’re obviously seeing the rightsizing of this now with headcount reductions. The second chart comes from the latest MS CIO survey (below).

Cloud 130

Cloud Headcount Subscription Payment Features 130

Clouded Judgement

MAY 24, 2024

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen… The Workday earnings call summarized it well: “But within the quarter, we experienced increased deal scrutiny as compared to prior quarters, and we are seeing customers committing to lower headcount levels on renewals compared to what we had expected.

Cloud 157

Cloud Software Headcount Scale 157

Intercom, Inc.

OCTOBER 29, 2019

For example, our leadership team might decide to focus our company strategy on targeting the segments with the best revenue retention. You can’t find email lists using Job-to-be-Done, but you can find ones for B2C subscription businesses that have a high volume of website traffic. Informing our approach to the market.

Business 184

Business B2C Scale Headcount 184

Totango

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Customer retention is the continuation of a valued service. In B2B terms, it is still possible to maintain your customer relationship and even improve customer retention during uncertainty, but you will need to focus on five key steps: Understand Your Customer. How Customer Success Can Improve Customer Retention.

Retention 63

Retention Headcount Customer Success Engagement 63

Clouded Judgement

MARCH 31, 2023

If we believe that AI will ultimately allow us to do “more with less,” we may see headcount growth slow for traditional roles. Most public companies don’t report net new ARR, so I’m taking an implied ARR metric (quarterly subscription revenue x 4). What do I mean by this?

Cloud 130

Cloud Sales Hiring AI Headcount 130

SaaSOptics

MAY 2, 2022

If you observe the average sales headcount of early-stage product-led companies, you’ll find that many have already laid the foundation of a hybrid model because (in most cases) a strong sales team is what ultimately allows them to scale and maintain their hold on the market. There Aren’t Many True Product-led Companies.

Scale 97

Scale Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Sales 97

InsightSquared

MAY 7, 2019

At the highest level, SaaS companies look at sales expense, headcount, sales productivity and SaaS metrics like: The cost of new customer acquisition (CAC). Customer churn or retention rates. Typical SaaS Sales Metrics. Customer lifetime value (CLV).

Scale 102

Scale Sales Hiring Metrics Sales 102

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 29, 2019

When I started, they had a big growth plan as far as headcount, but they were a little bit looser on processes and cadences and things like that framework I was talking about. So again, we got aggressive headcount to see the growth, and we put together a plan where we can actually see maybe even a little bit more growth with the same people.

Scale 172

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Payment Services 172

Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 3, 2025

Traditionally, scaling support meant simply adding headcount, creating a linear relationship between business growth and support costs. The results are game-changing not just for your support team, but for player experience, retention, and ultimately, revenue. Decreasing their cost-to-serve over time.

Payment Services 104

Payment Services AI Underperforming Technical Team Technical Review 104

ChurnZero

DECEMBER 19, 2024

Revenue Hero: Protenus Protenus used ChurnZero to streamline and unite their retention and expansion workflows. We closed out Q3 2024 with a 10-point NRR increase year-over-year, and a gross logo retention increase to 98%, says Christa. We also expanded our ARR by almost 25% without needing to add any CSM headcount.

Customer Success 52

Customer Success Scale Underperforming Technical Team Innovation 52

OPEXEngine

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

This INCLUDES headcount-related expenses. If you are utilizing Gusto or a similar payroll tool, your headcount expenses are likely coming into your P&L as one (or maybe two) line item(s). these figures are going to be WRONG because you haven’t properly accounted for your headcount costs in Sales & Marketing.

Finance 52

Finance Sales Hiring Headcount Scale 52

Totango

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

Flexible subscription and recurring revenue models mean the customer is in control of their service and tech partnerships and reserve the right to move on to a competitor. Customer success and retention have therefore become critical to achieving maximum customer lifetime value.

Customer Success 83

Customer Success Trends Scale Customer Lifetime Value 83

User Pilot

MAY 11, 2022

It helps you receive valuable insights, and detect common behavioral patterns that you can use to improve your product retention rate. H3 Improve customer retention rate. Customer segmentation can help you improve retention rate and reduce churn as you can easily identify disengaged users who are at high risk. Job Titles.

SaaS 98

SaaS Underperforming Technical Team Onboarding Churn 98

How To Buy Saas

MAY 21, 2025

This model offers easy accessibility (anywhere, anytime), automatic updates, and lower upfront costs (subscription-based pricing). Paid plans include Startup (around $189/month), Growth ($329/month), and Business ($529/month) annual subscriptions come at a ~17% discount. separate pipelines per client, invoicing).

Systems Review 52

Systems Review Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Technical Review 52

Sales Enablement, SaaS and Growth

MARCH 23, 2020

Subscription business model. The Horizons Framework is an effective way to categorise projects, which in turn helps with assigning budget, headcount and timelines. When successfully applied to training , gamification increases engagement, productivity and knowledge retention. Customer data. Economies of scale. Personalisation.

Underperforming Technical Team 215

Underperforming Technical Team Scale Sales Hiring Marketplace as a Service 215

Sales Hacker

MARCH 1, 2024

The real value of owned media is in building an engaged audience within your customer base and prospects, which can grow the pipeline, assist sales in closing deals, and improve retention. Here are a few benefit sticking points: Owned media can be measured by subscriptions.

VP of Engineering 88

VP of Engineering Scale SaaS AI Search 88

OPEXEngine

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

From variations on the subscription model itself, to inbound marketing or product led growth, account based sales models and Customer Success organizations, the CFO is in the driver’s seat to guide the corporate vessel through evolving models and changing economics.

Benchmarks 52

Benchmarks Sales Hiring Headcount Customer Lifetime Value 52

CustomerSuccessBox

DECEMBER 3, 2021

You may find yourself protecting your headcount, rooting for investments you want in tech, and giving suggestions for new product features. The biggest cost areas are typically staff-related (salaries, tax, travel, training, recognition), systems (software subscriptions), and facilities.

Customer Success 52

Customer Success Data Technical Review Headcount 52

CustomerSuccessBox

DECEMBER 14, 2021

That’s the beauty of the subscription economy. Additional Read: Why is customer retention important. Thus, Customer Success is the one responsible for getting more licenses and subscriptions from those customers. A mere 5% increase in retention leads to 25 to 95% increase in revenue. ” Read : Customer Success KPIs.

Customer Success 52

Customer Success Customer Lifetime Value Headcount Forecasting 52

ChurnZero

NOVEMBER 16, 2018

The Subscription Model Gives Power to the Customer = Power to Customer Success. Customer Retention is Your Lifeblood. How to Scale without Scaling Headcount. To ensure you success function scales without scaling your headcount, make sure everyone in the company is bought into the success mindset. Follow the Customer Code.

Customer Success 49

Customer Success Scale Headcount Sales Hiring 49

ChurnZero

DECEMBER 18, 2020

Like let’s take a more conservative approach in the earlier months of the year in terms of adding headcount. Or your retention might not be where you want it to be. Learning Subscriptions: The Future of Customer Education – Read how SaaS companies can catch up to create a customer education program. .

Customer Success 87

Customer Success Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Finance 87

ProfitWell

DECEMBER 6, 2019

Your top subscription news. And in this article he explains why, and proposes a different approach to thinking about the optimal CSM headcount to help you build a more effective customer success organization. And that’s a wrap for your December 6 subscription news. On today’s episode, we’re calculating the ROI of your CSM.

Scale 43

Scale CTO Hire Sales Hiring New CTO 43

ChurnZero

JUNE 3, 2022

I bet most, if not all, of them were based on a subscription. I’d go even further to say that somewhere in your business you’re probably already thinking about how you can launch your own subscription-based service to take something you’re already doing or maybe something new and extend it through an as-a-service delivery model.

Customer Success 52

Customer Success Sales Hiring Technical Review B2B 52

ChurnZero

JUNE 3, 2022

I bet most, if not all, of them were based on a subscription. I’d go even further to say that somewhere in your business you’re probably already thinking about how you can launch your own subscription-based service to take something you’re already doing or maybe something new and extend it through an as-a-service delivery model.

Customer Success 52

Customer Success Sales Hiring Technical Review B2B 52

Chart Mogul

MARCH 10, 2023

– Nicholas Mills, President, Pitch The shift to subscription-based models has changed how a company operates. Slack’s magic in their use of PLG was that they were landing with software engineers in tech companies that were probably 40 to 50% of the overall company headcounts and very influential. That has gone away.

VP of Engineering 52

VP of Engineering Sales Hiring Sales Compensation 52

SmartKarrot

NOVEMBER 23, 2022

You will drive the Customer Success strategy and mentor the team on the best ways to support the clients from pricing to invoice and everything in between. Accurately forecast efforts for capacity planning and develop an accurate capacity model to ensure proper headcount throughout the year. Apply here: [link]. Apply here: [link].

Customer Success 19

Customer Success Headcount Payment Features Forecasting 19

SmartKarrot

DECEMBER 18, 2020

With so much competition in the marketplace, customer servicing plays a crucial role in customer retention. Hence, companies would be more interested in measuring the impact on final outcomes like customer retention or reducing churn rate through customer service. #2 2 Instant access to service for the customers.

Marketplace as a Service 10

Marketplace as a Service Trends Customer Lifetime Value Headcount 10

SmartKarrot

DECEMBER 18, 2020

With so much competition in the marketplace, customer servicing plays a crucial role in customer retention. Hence, companies would be more interested in measuring the impact on final outcomes like customer retention or reducing churn rate through customer service. #2 2 Instant access to service for the customers.

Marketplace as a Service 10

Marketplace as a Service Trends Customer Lifetime Value Headcount 10

Kellblog

NOVEMBER 23, 2022

(In a small initial land and big expand model, this may run much higher than 30-40% but that also depends on the definition of land – i.e., is the “land” just the first order or the total value of subscriptions acquired in the first 6 or 12 months). The next block focuses on headcount: Total employees, at end of period.

Technical Review 138

Technical Review Software Review Forecasting Churn 138

Intercom, Inc.

JULY 29, 2021

SaaS is the subscription business. So your goals in terms of headcount remained stable from pre-pandemic to post-pandemic? But at that level, it’s about more than just adding some headcount to individual teams, you’re building new teams, you’re creating new roles, potentially new reporting lines.

Sales Hiring 223

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team 223

ChurnZero

DECEMBER 27, 2022

Throughout the year, the ChurnZero team has shared content that explores so many different aspects of Customer Success, from career growth strategies and team management frameworks to retention tactics and industry benchmarks. Learn the retention strategies ChurnZero’s most resilient customers use—and how you can apply them too.

Leadership 90

Leadership Benchmarks Headcount Artificial Intelligence 90

Intercom, Inc.

JUNE 3, 2021

” I think the “Sure thing boss, give me more headcount” is obvious. Whereas if things are going well and you’re beating your targets and you can continue to invest in sustainable headcount growth next year, then I think there’s more opportunity to bet on something that will take place tomorrow. Paul: Yeah.

Strategy 228

Strategy Software Review Development Team Review Sales Recruiting 228

Sales Hacker

MARCH 11, 2025

Cassie’s time in tech dates back to 2006, when she joined TheLadders.com as an early employee and managed marketing and analytics for the company’s subscription business. And, you know, quite frankly, we even hadour challenges in terms of employee retention right through this challenging period. And I call it.

Scale 76

Scale Technical Advisors Sales Hiring Technical Review 76

Kellblog

JUNE 17, 2023

Executive Summary: Sales KPIs (Slide 5) Here we can see key metrics, cut by size, and grouped into five areas: growth & profitability, sales efficiency, retention & churn, GTM strategy, and sales productivity. Net revenue retention (NRR) aka net dollar retention (NDR) [6]. Sales headcount as % of total headcount.

Scale 131

Scale Sales Benchmarks Metrics 131

Kellblog

JANUARY 2, 2024

Customer retention came into sharp focus in 2023 and with it a new, balanced view relying on both NRR and GRR as key retention metrics. While UBP companies were hit harder, as this slightly confusing slide from Iconiq demonstrates [1], they nevertheless grew faster than their subscription counterparts in 2023.

AI Search 133

AI Search Technical Review Technical Advisors ChatGPT 133