Saving the $2.2 Million Deal w/ De'Edra Williams from DeepHow

Jun 2, 2025

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De' Edra Williams, Chief Customer Officer of DeepHow, shares how her team turned a potential $2.2 million customer churn into a full renewal with expansion by mobilizing cross-functional resources and developing a strategic intervention plan. This customer success recovery story demonstrates the importance of proactive renewal planning, deep customer listening, and aligning solutions with specific business outcomes.

• Building a rigorous renewal process that starts 6-12 months before contract end dates
• Implementing a red-yellow-green forecasting system with clear intervention triggers
• Mobilizing cross-functional "red teams" for at-risk accounts below 40% renewal probability
• Sometimes breaking up with customers is necessary when product-market fit is lacking
• Maintaining candor and trust even when parting ways can lead to future opportunities
• Customer success must embrace revenue metrics (ARR, NRR, customer lifetime value)
• Creating strong partnerships across sales, marketing, and product teams
• Focus on solving customer problems: making money, saving money, or saving time
• Understanding the value of referrals and brand evangelism from satisfied customers

For more insights on customer success strategies, follow De'Edre Williams on LinkedIn and check out her Star Trek-themed newsletter that breaks down customer success concepts.

Find De'Edra on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deedraswilliams/

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