The Two Sides of a Job Change - Defend vs Win

We’ve already covered how job change events are actionable sales triggers and how GTM teams can make the most of these events to connect with previous customers at new accounts to land net new logos.

But, job changes are equally, if not more, important when it comes to the old customer account:

1. Defend – Incumbent technology providers need to maintain the existing relationship when their champion leaves to maximize the odds of retention.
2. Win – New providers have a golden opportunity to poach the account in the absence of the original buyer, decision-maker, or power user.

Let’s take a deeper look at how go-to-market teams on both sides can leverage real-time job change insights to either win or defend the old account.

‍

Defend – The Best Defense is a Good Offense

‍

While it might sound cliche, the best way to defend and retain an existing account is to not leave room for new technology providers to sell to your account.

Incumbent technologies have the advantage of an existing relationship, existing points of contact, and hopefully an existing history of positive experiences and results.

Thus, if you know that your previous buyer or champion has left the account before your competitors, your customer success team can reach out proactively to:

1. Create a relationship with the new buyers and decision-makers
2. Double down on efforts to deliver value
3. Help smooth the transition if the person who left was the primary user or was the internal source of knowledge
4. Reevaluate the account needs potentially offering new terms, discounts, upsells, etc.

The good news is that as the existing provider you have a major advantage over your competitors – you already have your customer in your CRM.

By tracking job changes for the customers already in your database, you can be the first to know when the change occurs and can start your retention efforts before your competitors start to sell.

‍

Win – Make the Most of a Period of Change

‍

Out with the old, in with the new.

Key employee job changes frequently signify broader changes across a company or department. Here are a few examples of the potential knock-on effects when one employee leaves:

1. Previous blockers are gone – if the exiting employee was the champion of your competitor's product, they are no longer around to influence decisions.
2. Internal team members get promoted – promotions to fill vacant roles frequently come with audits and reevaluations of existing processes and systems.
3. New hires may be on the way – new hires bring their own preferences with them and are often given more budget and authority.
4. Broader reorganization and restructuring – in the case of more macro changes to the company or department structure, the existing solution may no longer be the right fit.

Each of these potential knock-on effects opens the door for new technologies to sell into previously inaccessible accounts. But, most teams miss the opportunities created by job change events because they have no way of getting real-time updates in their CRM.

‍

Are You Missing Your Best Opportunities?

‍

Whether you are the incumbent technology working to retain an existing account or the competitor trying to woo a new customer, job changes events are only useful if you know about them.

The rate of job changes has never been higher and there is likely no mechanism in your database to help you make the most of these opportunities.

Multiple studies have found that the average enterprise CRM decays at a rate of over 2% per month and is more than 20% out of date at any given time.

This means that there are thousands of job changes that go unrecognized until it’s too late.

Most job change events have an actionable time frame of ~100 days. After that, new hires will have spent the majority of their budget, and companies and teams will have adapted to the change.

Unlock your best revenue opportunities by getting real-time updates to your most actionable GTM data – your customer and prospect data.