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Depending on the type of SaaS you offer, it can sometimes take time to onboard new customers. This is especially the case if there is lots of red tape or if your solution is dependant on information being provided by the customer to get them set up. Depending on the level of investment made by the customer, you might want to consider how you can improve time to value through workshops.
Improve time to value through workshops
Let’s take an example of a company selling beauty products that have just subscribed to an e-commerce platform. This customer will have been invoiced from day one, but they will not see any return on investment until at the very least they have configured the platform’s settings (payment, shipping, tax, etc) and listed some items for sale. Left to their own devices it might take them a few weeks or months to do this. Resulting in a slow and long time to value. However, if you, as the e-commerce provider were to run a 2-hour workshop with the company to get them configured and their first items listed, you could drastically improve the time to value. Not only that but you have a perfect opportunity to enhance their customer experience, build a relationship, and an opportunity to identify cross-sale opportunities.
Even if you run a SaaS offering that requires no information from your customers and no setup, both parties can still benefit from a short workshop. A workshop can be used to guide your customers around your product, cover any frequently asked questions or common hiccups, and help set your customers on a pathway to success. As mentioned previously, it is a great opportunity to build a positive relationship with your customers, understand their business goals and potentially identify future opportunities to expand their account.
Physical Workshops Vs Digital Workshops
Where possible, for your premium customers I would always recommend a physical workshop over a digital workshop. Purely because it’s so much easier to build new, strong relationships in person than it is over the internet. You also get opportunities during a physical workshop to have informal conversations, over a coffee or during a break. These opportunities let you build more natural relationships, as well as relationships with other people, not just the project lead. It is far easier to also judge how the workshop is being received when you are physically with the participants.
That being said, there are a number of other factors that should be taken into account. Location of the customer vs supplier, amount of revenue from the customer, depth/type of workshop, etc. Digital Workshops are still very worthwhile and beneficial for both the customer and supplier. They are incredibly cost-effective and great for customers with distributed teams and limited time.
Set expectations and requirements prior to the workshop
To ensure your workshop is as successful as possible, it is vital to set your customer’s expectations before the workshop. This is especially the case if you need the workshop participants to bring specific information to the workshop. Such as Payment details, account access, etc. Where this type of information is needed, be sure to send the customer a checklist in advance of the workshop. Just in case they need to reach out to other people/departments.
By setting expectations in advance you can also ensure that the right people within your customer’s business attend the workshop.
