Comscore, Inc.

As Sales Director, my role was to generate revenues through new sales, renewals and upsells. I worked with key client stakeholders & decision makers – Heads of Digital Business & CXOs to get their buy – in.

Key Accomplishments:

# Contributed to >60% of revenues for Comscore India. Exceeded annual contract value & revenue targets in all quarters since the time I stepped into the Sales Director role. 
# Highest contributor to revenues from new business in FY 2021-22 in India. Signed the largest new logo deal in Comscore APAC in FY 2021-22, involving complex commercial and legal negotiations with enterprise client.

Sales Director

Promoted to nurture relationships and streamline client success function for the rapidly expanding Comscore India operations, currently the largest market in APAC in terms of revenue & number of clients. Direct line of reporting to the APAC Servicing head and dotted line of reporting to APAC and India Business Head.   

Key Accomplishments: 

# Recruited and nurtured Client Success team adept at solution consulting using suite of Comscore products, facilitating near 100% renewals consistently, contributing to 80% of India revenues. The team has the highest revenue to cost ratio among Comscore APAC markets.
# Designed and implemented the first ever playbook for India that could effectively manage over 100+ clients with a lean team. The proven efficiency of the blueprint led to its formal adoption across APAC. 
# Envisioned and implemented the initiative to deepen contacts and quality of relationships within the client organisations. Developed processes for formal stakeholder mapping, sharing of critical information and internalising the learnings of consistently converting clients into champions. This resulted in 3x increase in contacts engagement and 1.2x increase in reports usage
# Contributed to Comscore’s market share growth by identifying upsell opportunities, qualifying leads and establishing the business value of the solution to influencers and decision makers. Established India as the No 1 market in terms of Comscore reports usage (product adoption) within APAC, thus delivering predictable revenues
# Reinforced Comscore’s authority as a trusted partner to evaluate digital trends through initiatives like periodic industry whitepapers, sharing trends at industry events, newsletters and webinars
# Presented at the APAC executive Business Review multiple times. Shared Client Success best practices established in India.

Director and Head Customer Success (India)

Second person hired at Comscore India. Played a critical role in setting up and expanding the India business since its inception in the country. Swiftly established relationships with clients in India where Comscore had just forayed

Key Accomplishment:

#Established proficiency in Comscore methodology and offerings to become the Subject Matter Expert for assessing product fit for client needs, onboarding clients, implementing the solutions and presenting ROI 
# Became the trusted advisor to publisher clients on identifying insights that highlight their strengths and positioning themselves amongst competition, making Comscore the cornerstone of their sales and marketing strategy
# Launched an education drive in person and online across media agency clients in India to orient them towards data led media planning and buying. Comscore became the go to tool for media planning in a short span of time post its launch
# Lobbied with multiple global teams within Comscore for specific product launches and enhancements for Indian market 
# Networked with C-level Decision Makers and influencers. Established strong networks amongst publishers and agencies thus strengthening Comscore’s foundation in its initial years in India.

Customer Success Manager

Saatchi & Saatchi

Developed brand strategies for clients. Conceptualised, sold and delivered integrated programs across print, TV, Digital and BTL activities.

Account Manager

9.9 Group

Established and managed a premium networking platform for Chief Information Officers in India.

Manager

ABP Group

Conceptualised and executed solutions, using a bouquet of media vehicles and event properties of the company, for marketing challenges faced by advertisers.

Area Marketing Manager

Contract Advertising

Summer Intern

Customer Success and Sales leader in SaaS (MarTech) space. I am passionate about transforming clients into champions. My 16 years of work experience spans across Media (offline and online), Advertising and MarTech/ AdTech (SaaS). Skilled in Customer Success, SaaS sales, People Management and Digital Media.

Although not a business or financial metric, risk management is crucial for the survival of businesses. 

However, it tends to be overlooked in favour of financial metrics like revenue and EBITDA.

Let’s simplify risk management so the concept is appreciated. 

Imagine you're running a hot dog stand. 

Your objective is to make a profit. 

But sometimes, things may not go as planned. 

Maybe it rains, and no one wants hot dogs that day. 

Or you run out of sausages. 

These are risks—things that might mess up your hot dog business. 

Risk management means having a plan to deal with these problems. 

It's about thinking ahead. 

So, if it looks like it could rain, you might decide to stay closed that day instead of wasting hot dogs. 

Or you could keep some extra sausages in the fridge, just in case customers turn up. 

Here’s the direct application: 

𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐬: Just like a hot dog stand owner thinks about rain and sausages supply, businesses should identify potential risks. 

These could be market changes, competition, or technical issues that might harm the business. 

𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐬: Businesses need to figure out how likely these risks are. 

Are they high-impact, like losing a major customer, or lower-impact, like a minor software glitch? 

This helps prioritize what to focus on. 

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝: Just as the owner of a hot dog stand decides what to do if it rains, businesses should have plans in place. 

For instance, have a backup supplier for crucial materials or a strategy to diversify their product offerings if competition increases. 

𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞: If the business faces unexpected challenges, flexibility is key. 

Like keeping extra sausages, businesses should be prepared to pivot or adjust their strategies when circumstances change. 

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬: Risk management isn't about avoiding risks entirely; it's about protecting the business. 

𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬: In a business environment, risks can evolve or new risks can emerge. 

Startups should regularly review and update their risk management strategies to ensure they remain effective in addressing current and emerging threats. 

This proactive approach helps the business stay ahead of potential challenges and maintain its resilience over time.

Just as a helmet keeps you safe while biking, having risk management strategies in place helps your business weather storms. 

And in the business world, it's essential to have a plan for when things don't go as expected. 

That beats metrics that can fall like a pack of cards.
 
#startups #growth #investments

Neha Singh

Coming Soon - How to make workplace politics work for you.

In the upcoming Bridge To Leadership podcast, Kathleen Reardon, an authority on workplace politics and author of "The Secret Handshake" talks to me about the most coveted prize in business  i.e. “the secret handshake”, how the path to its acquisition is purposely kept ambiguous and how you can use political moves to gain admission to the inner circle of your organisation.

Be the first to know about the episode release by signing up. (Link in comments)


Neha Singh on LinkedIn • 3 min read

Playbook of the Politically Savvy

How I saw client success when I moved to sales

𝑴𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒔

1/𝐏𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨– As a CS head, I wanted to educate users on everything that could add value to them. The detail often led to a comatose audience. In sales, I learnt to demo just enough to pique their interest, not completely reveal the solutions till the prospect was asking questions and slowly lead them to a close. Imagine how interesting trainings would be if CSMs did that?

2/𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐈𝐂𝐏𝐬 (𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬) – In order to grow revenues, I was meeting new people, from new industries. It was refreshing to know them, their challenges and identify areas where my product could add value. As CSMs its quite natural to stick to the existing list of clients. But give yourself a breath of fresh air and meet people outside that list. Tag along with your sales counterpart once in a while, ask to attend an industry event, meet the clients of your client and so on. Be creative and increase your circle of influence. 

3/𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 – As a CSM, I met clients who were all ears to know what we could do for them. In Sales, getting the prospect excited enough  explore the product’s benefit is an art. I learnt how to be relevant and communicate impact in the least amount of time. Customer Success have a lot to gain by being relevant specially when it comes to establishing executive relationships

𝑴𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔

1/𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥– As a sales director, I would hand over the client to my competent customer success team and know that I could focus on other prospects and grow business. I interacted with the client stakeholders off and on, but the onus of yearlong relationship management was on customer success team. 

2/𝐍𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 – In sales, I did have the challenge of crushing my sales targets. However, as long as I was chiseling my skills (prospecting, persuasion, communication, negotiation et al) and diligently following the sales process, I knew I won’t be far behind. However, as a CSM there are unseen challenges that erupt often and resolving them while maintaining a long-term relationship is an ability that’s worth it’s weight in gold

3/𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 – This is a serious and strenuous responsibility. Every time I renewed a client smoothly, I acknowledged the year long effort of the CS team in supporting successful outcomes despite many breakdowns. 



#SaaS  #Sales #Customersuccess

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𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝑺 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉-𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒚. 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒊𝒐

Rookie mistakes I made while building customer relationships

1. 𝘿𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮-𝙩𝙤-𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙨 – It felt only natural to know the product users on the client side better than anyone else. When I looked at it from a renewal and new business perspective, I realized that the decision makers and influencers had to realise the impact of my product on their business success. Depending solely on the product users to showcase this impact was not very savvy. Later, when I knew better, identifying and deepening relationships with executive level stakeholders was a key metric my team and I tracked. 

2. 𝙈𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧– I made sure to know the business priorities of the client organization during the hand off and kick off calls. But I stopped there. I should have known my stakeholders a little better. What motivated them beyond the overall business priorities?  What were their key business objectives, what goals did they have for their careers, their teams, their pet projects and so on. When I came around to knowing these, I got an additional dimension to deliver value on and it created a relationship that endured the onslaughts of many crisis.

3. 𝘿𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 – It is critical to develop champions in the client organizations. It is equally critical to not sit on your laurels once you have achieved your goal. Unfortunately, that is exactly what I did in my early days. The champions can always move on from the organisation or simply turn cold for any number of reasons. Even if you feel that you have one or two people to defend you in the client org, never stop nurturing contacts into champions. 

Not sure if you are steering your stakeholder relationships correctly? 

Put yourself in the shoes of the renewal manager.

If you have to get the contract renewed year after year, preferably with an upsell, then who all will you need on your side? 

It's funny how clarity will suddenly dawn on you 😊 

Share in comments what this clarity brings you!

#customersuccess #SaaSsales #SaaS

----------------------
𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝑺 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉-𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒚. 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒊𝒐

Low product adoption and utilisation? What to do about it?

The utilization of SaaS tools is less than 50%

And it will cause your clients to churn. 

Reports from Gartner, Productiv, Ascend and many more point that organisations are not making the most use of the tools that they are investing in. 

What can SaaS orgs do about it?

1./ 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞 – SaaS sales teams should understand how their products will fit into their prospect’s strategy. Hopefully the client is already thinking on these lines, but the shiny object syndrome entices the best of us. 

2./ 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬- The prospect should know what is possible, what is not and what is possible at a cost before the deal is signed


3./ 𝐄𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐊𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐎𝐟𝐟 – Once the client commits, the customer success lead on the account must review the above two points (i.e. “the reason for purchase” and the “capabilities” of the tool) with the client, preferably with their sales team present during kick off 

4./ 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – You client might be working with legacy systems or your competitor tools. If migration or integration feels more effort than benefit, you have lost them already. Do a thorough project management at this stage and communicate the progress consistently and clearly


5./ 𝐔𝐩𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 – This is a big factor in ensuing your clients makes the most out of their investments. Trainings can go wrong in many ways, starting with lengthy, unpalatable formats to downright irrelevant content. Make it right

6./ 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐞 – Guide and advise clients on what features, data, dashboards in your tools are relevant for their business outcomes and what are not. Accordingly to Statista, the average number of tools used by an org was 130 in 2022. Your client is drowning in dashboards, siloed data, conflicting insights and unending features. Pointing them to the relevant will enhance adoption and utilization


7./ 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 – The more impact your client sees, the more they use the tools and the more secure your renewals are. Remember that impact will mean different things to different stakeholders. Communicate accordingly.

What are you doing to enhance utilisation of your product? 

#SaaS #SaaSsales #Customersuccess

------------
𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝑺 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉-𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒚. 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒊𝒐


Insult and offence are not the same. Tune in to Spotify or Apple to listen in detail. (Link in comments).


𝐆𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐨𝐧 - 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞? Every environment has its own language. The politically savvy make an effort to understand it. 

In the upcoming Bridge To Leadership podcast, Kathleen Reardon and I talk about :

1./ Why politics gets a bad rep?

2./ Characteristics of politically savvy people?

3./ How to develop your political muscle? 

4./ Tactics to overcome impact of gossip, offence and insults etc.

5./ Cues that give away political intensity in an organisation.

6./ Equation between power and politics. 

Be the first to know when the episode releases by signing up on Bridge to Leadership site (Link in comments)

𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞! 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 (𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬)

Kathleen Reardon and I discuss on this latest podcast from Bridge To Leadership:

1./ Why politics gets a bad rep?

2./ Characteristics of politically savvy people?

3./ How to develop your political muscle?

4./Tactics to overcome impact of gossip, offence and insults etc.

5./ Cues that give away political intensity in an organisation.

6./ Equation between power and politics.

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Neha Singh

Neha Singh's Best Posts .css-qqfgvy{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);}(last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Neha Singh's Linkedin Analytics

Neha Singh's Best Posts (last 30 days)