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      How to Build a 10/10 Next Steps Page

      This article outlines best practices for mapping out your customer-journey in the Next Steps page.

      One of the first questions new Accord users ask is, how do I build out a 10 / 10 Playbook? This article goes over how to translate your customer journey into a process that wins more deals and gets customers to success faster. 

       

      Overview

      • Step 1: Start with Stages – Overview of how to map out your Stages (with suggestions!)
      • Step 2: Then move on to Steps – How to build Steps to live under those Stages (examples provided)
      • Step 3: Fill out your Steps – Add important details to your Steps, making them clear and easily digestible for your customer.


      Step 1: Start with Stages


      The Next Steps page breaks up the customer journey into Stages and Steps. Stages are the highest order in terms of organization. Steps are grouped under each Stage.

      When in doubt, stick to the 3 to 5 principle. More than 3 to 5 Stages or Steps is difficult to parse. 

      Pre-Sales Examples

      Keep in mind this example is based on a typical pre-sales use case. Each organization is different, so don’t be afraid of getting creative!

      1. Exploration – This is where you’ll outline the Steps required to complete the Discovery Stage of the Evaluation. We call it Exploration in order to sound as client-friendly as possible. Always try to avoid using “sales lingo” like “Discovery.”
      2. Formalize Partnership – Where you’ll have Steps needed to finalize the deal. This can include review / signing NDAs, any legal work, redlining of contracts, and of course signing a contract. 
      3. Implementation & Onboarding – The Stage where you lay out how the customer will adopt/implement your solution. List any IT calls, resources to help set up integrations, kickoff calls, data migration, and if suitable, check-in meetings with your customer.



      Pro-tip: Even if you are building a pre-sales Playbook, don’t end the Playbook at Formalize Partnership with a contract signed. Add a Stage (Implementation & Onboarding) that gives a brief overview of the onboarding process. Reminder, your customer is focused on hitting their goals with your help – signing the contract is just a step on that journey. Customers want to know exactly what the next steps are once they sign with you, and giving them a glimpse of that BEFORE they buy is extremely valuable when it comes to making their decision.


      Step 2: Add Steps to Stages

      Again, we're continuing with the pre-sales example.

      Partnership Exploration (Stage)


      Steps:

      • Intro Meeting – Intros, discuss pain points, agree on next steps
      • Deep Dive – Tie client objectives to pain points, and explain how your solution will solve the pain points
      • Proposal Alignment – This is where you’re gaining up front permission to hand them a contract, negotiate terms/pricing, and set a date for signing/launch (if you haven’t already)


      Feeling stuck? To get started, here are some questions to ask yourself:

      • What happens during the early days of your usual selling process, once you’ve gotten past initial qualification?  
        • Is it a demo?
        • An introductory call to confirm pain points that were uncovered earlier in the process?

      What’s the Next Step after the demo?

      • Are you sharing collateral?
      • Is the client providing you with a data set or information that you require to move the process forward?
      • If you or the client are sharing an essential resource, create a Step to indicate that and assign it to the appropriate Step Owner. If the client is responsible for it, make sure they’re the Step Owner.

      Write down some of the Steps you’ve come up with, and continue reading this article :)

      Formalize Partnership (Stage)

      Steps:

      • Security / Compliance Review – Each side will likely have some form of security/IT review. It’s extremely important that this gets done before handing them the final version of your contract.
      • Legal Review – Same as Security Review. Getting this out of the way early makes getting signatures a smooth process
      • Complete Contract – All your ducks are in a row. All that’s left is signatures and celebrations.

      Implementation (Stage)

      Steps:

      • Kick Off Call – Outline the steps required to implement and launch your solution successfully. If there are specific people who hold specific responsibilities required to complete the implementation, make sure you identify them on this call and set timelines for completion of all tasks. Write the Steps out in the Implementation Stage and assign appropriate Step Owners.
      • Migration – Who owns migration? What are the sub-tasks involved? Make sure you clearly lay those out, and assign an appropriate Step Owner.
      • 1-Month Check-in – Where you’ll discuss the success metrics you agreed upon earlier in the partnership exploration: are we tracking well to those goals? If not, what can we do to get there?


      Step 3: Add Details to Steps


      Now that you’ve created the skeleton of your customer journey, it's time to add context to each Step. Your goals here should be to offer a light overview of each Step, and share any necessary resources. Remember, keep it short and concise. 


      Step Description – Adding a description to each Step is essential to your client understanding what needs to be done. This is usually only a few sentences.

      Resources – Add relevant resources directly to Steps. By adding a Resource to a Step vs sharing it via email, it retains the context of the Step and the why behind you sharing that resource at that specific time. As a cherry on top, you’ll be notified via email when a customer clicks on a Resource.

      Step Types – You have the option of three types: Task, Meeting, and Approval. All three have their own unique traits, so select the one that makes the most sense for the Step in question. Having a Deep Dive call? That’s a meeting. Asking the customer to give sign-off on a plan? That’s an approval. Have a list of onboarding to-dos? That's a Task. 

      Assigning Placeholders – Placeholders will save you a ton of time down the road. Create Placeholders on the Team Tab, then assign them as Step Owners or Stakeholders throughout the Playbook. When you go to create the Accord, you’ll then be able to assign real people to those Placeholder slots, automatically assigning them to the Steps the Placeholders originally occupied.

      Internal vs External – Internal Steps and Stages  can be used as quick reminders to do something (schedule a meeting with a Solutions Engineer, as an example) or used as light project management for your company. We recommend using internal Steps and Stages sparingly. 


      One final tidbit: don’t aim for perfection!


      Your Playbook will improve with trial and error. The most important thing you can do is start using the Playbook on real deals. 


      Questions? Concerns? We love to jam out and assist our customers in creating their 10/10 Playbooks. If you’d like help, please reach out directly to support@inaccord.com.