Season 1 - Episode 6 : Customer Special Request Mayhem
If you're running a B2B SaaS company, you'll inevitably land a "big deal" that requires your team to step up and go above and beyond your current product offering. It’s stressful but it’s also pretty awesome. In this episode, we'll give you some tips to keep those projects from going off the rails and sinking your company.
Background Story
Dave here. Effectively once a year we’d land a huge “life changing level” of deal at AppArmor. It required an insane level of development effort and had the price-tag to support it. The effort was huge but it was also necessary - it was the evolution of the size and importance of our company. Some biggies? The entire State of Colorado, huge universities, and massively important healthcare organizations. It was this combination of terrifying and awesome: terrisome.
Even after we were acquired by Rave, I noticed this same pattern: big sales effort, land the huge deal, development and implementation mayhem. It feels like something that might happen to many businesses, but it definitely happens in SaaS. There’s a way to manage these biggies, which we cover in detail.
Outline
How can these projects fly off the rails
Why enormous special requests projects are important for your business
How to manage expectations.
Busted Myth
Myth: You don’t need to stretch your business offerings to expand. On the contrary, you need to reach to move your business to the next level. Doing something scary can be really good - it keeps you innovating and your team motivated.
Learnings
How these projects can fly off of the rails:
Customer special requests consume time instead of things that are actually in the scope of work.
The incorrect expectation that your customer will understand that you did a bunch of special requests, and that's why you're behind on the main scope of work.
Get a tight scope of work that is objective. Avoid language in the scope of work like "product will be easy to use" or "Product will be intuitive for novice users" because the client can constantly make these objectives unreachable. Instead focus on objective goals for the project.
How special requests can actually help your business
You’ll gain important insight into the industry, making your product appealing to more potential customers
It's difficult for a customer to know all their requirements when the project is scoped, so having flexibility to accommodate changes midstream makes customers happier (if managed properly)
Sometimes you can use special requests as opportunities to gain from your customers. For instance, if a customer asks for a special feature, you agree to do it if they participate in a case study that you can share with prospective clients.
Some tips to help manage customer expectations
Always try to do the scope of work in the contract first. That way you've met your contractual obligations before considering additional requests.
Make sure that all special requests are recorded during the project. Some of the requests may not be necessary in the end. Others might require changes now to accommodate them later.
Clearly explain that any special requests from your client need to apply more broadly to other customers, otherwise they won't be considered. You can't have “orphan features”.
Basic negotiations skills - Nothing is free. So if you do something extra for a client, you need to get something from them (e.g.: Referral to another client, etc).
Summary
Special projects are important, but can go awry
Stretch to achieve these goals, but don’t leave your company totally dependent on the needs of a single customer
Manage expectations and have clear lines of communication with the customer.