Dorie Wallace Leadership

We’ve all heard that sentence or some variation; we may have even said it.

It’s a powerful sentence, especially when that customer has a lot of zeros on their renewal. That one little sentence can distract your executive team and derail a roadmap, impacting even more customers.

You can’t really say “no”, can you?

You can and you probably should. In fact, it is your responsibility to say “no” when necessary. Here’s why:

1. If that one feature is really the difference between a renewal or a loss, then let’s be serious – you’ve most likely already lost that customer. Especially if it is a feature that isn’t pervasive throughout the market.
2. If the feature isn’t already on your roadmap and/or isn’t aligned with your current strategy, then spending resources on it has a bigger cost than just the development costs. The opportunity cost alone of having to shift everything and upset the customers who were counting on the enhancements that moved are significant.  At the end of the day, it’s a symptom – it’s not the real problem. It’s an indication that your product is not aligned with the market. There could be a lot of reasons for this – insurmountable tech debt, lack of resources, shifts in the market landscape, etc. And solving the symptom won’t solve the problem.

But we don’t live in a fantasy world; saying “no” isn’t always possible.  So what do you do?

Ensure you solve the need for the market, not just the single customer.

1. Clarify the problem that needs to be solved. Customer Success & Product should collaborate to investigate and articulate the needs of the customer. Talk to the customer and dig into their specific use cases. Using tools such as the Five Whys can be especially helpful to make sure you understand the true problem that needs to be solved.
2. This is the most important – take the problem to the market. This is the critical piece some companies miss. By understanding how this need impacts other clients, you can build a solution that serves the market instead of just taking an order from a client. Talk to other customers, post on the community, and review the idea portal and support tickets to understand the impact of this challenge.

Do the Research.

What other customers have this problem? How many are there? What do those customers have in common? This will provide the quantification needed to support the investment. And if it isn’t a pervasive need, then you have the ammunition to address this through customization instead of a new feature.

If other customers have this need, what are their specific use cases? What is unique about their situation? What critical success factors do they have for a solution? Use this information to inform the roadmap and solve a universal need.

Taking this approach will enable you to solve that specific customer’s problem, avoid building a solution full of bolt-ons, and deliver value to the broader market!

Check out this example.

Wallace, Inc. demands you add a standardized report to your solution. It is a must-have for them because they have to provide it to the board every month. They are astounded that the software doesn’t already have this report. They send you a copy of what they build now.

You have determined that you have to build this feature. You could just take this report, share it with your Product organization, and have it added to the next release. The Product organization mimics the exact report and Wallace, Inc. (and likely only Wallace, Inc.) is happy.

Or…you talk with your relationships at Wallace, Inc. to understand the need for this report. Why do they need it? What questions does it answer? What decisions will be made with the information provided? and more…

You then take those learnings out to your community, idea management portal, focus groups, etc., and find out if other customers have this need.

Now you know how to move forward with your decision.

And check out this blog on how to get out of this dangerous cycle.