Planning Support for a New Product During Paid Partner Program vs. Post-Partner
Bridget Lamb
Member Posts: 19 Thought Leader


Hi GGR community!
I'm facing a scenario and I've searched the past conversations, finding some similarities (still helpful!) but not quite the same. If I missed something please point me in the right direction! We're not a startup company, but we're launching a new product and building new processes/systems/resources, so this may resonate with folks working in startups.
I'm Director of CS for a very small healthcare tech company. I've been asked to define our support offering for customers who sign on to use our new product under our paid Partner Program versus the support customers will receive after they complete the program and convert to a regular contract. The Partner Program has a limited scope, one-year term, and reduced pricing, but it's a very complex product and we want them to convert so the expectation is we will give them premium service during implementation, onboarding, training, and post go live. However, we can't maintain this kind of support beyond the Partner Program so we need to be clear with customers about what to expect. How do I decide what's offered for Partner Program versus post-Partner Program? How do you help customers understand service/support will go from high touch to less than that?
If you're still reading ;-) here's more context:
1. We have 0 customers using the new product so I have no history or data to draw upon regarding onboarding and training needs, product adoption, support ticket volume or type, etc.
2. The new product is significantly different than our existing product. Not only will the buyer (e.g., hospital, health system, ASC) use the product, now their patients will also use the mobile app part of the product. This is a new user type for us.
3. We have a support ticket system (Jira), and I'm developing training/user guides, a Knowledge Base, and a QBR template.
4. I don't have any CSMs right now. Tier 1 and 2 support tickets will be handled by me and a colleague on a different team. Issues beyond that, Tier 3, will be handled by developers.
5. We don't have a CS platform that can help with automating anything. I hope to implement something late this year.
I welcome any advice or experience from this group!!
I'm facing a scenario and I've searched the past conversations, finding some similarities (still helpful!) but not quite the same. If I missed something please point me in the right direction! We're not a startup company, but we're launching a new product and building new processes/systems/resources, so this may resonate with folks working in startups.
I'm Director of CS for a very small healthcare tech company. I've been asked to define our support offering for customers who sign on to use our new product under our paid Partner Program versus the support customers will receive after they complete the program and convert to a regular contract. The Partner Program has a limited scope, one-year term, and reduced pricing, but it's a very complex product and we want them to convert so the expectation is we will give them premium service during implementation, onboarding, training, and post go live. However, we can't maintain this kind of support beyond the Partner Program so we need to be clear with customers about what to expect. How do I decide what's offered for Partner Program versus post-Partner Program? How do you help customers understand service/support will go from high touch to less than that?
If you're still reading ;-) here's more context:
1. We have 0 customers using the new product so I have no history or data to draw upon regarding onboarding and training needs, product adoption, support ticket volume or type, etc.
2. The new product is significantly different than our existing product. Not only will the buyer (e.g., hospital, health system, ASC) use the product, now their patients will also use the mobile app part of the product. This is a new user type for us.
3. We have a support ticket system (Jira), and I'm developing training/user guides, a Knowledge Base, and a QBR template.
4. I don't have any CSMs right now. Tier 1 and 2 support tickets will be handled by me and a colleague on a different team. Issues beyond that, Tier 3, will be handled by developers.
5. We don't have a CS platform that can help with automating anything. I hope to implement something late this year.
I welcome any advice or experience from this group!!
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