# Customer playbook

URL: /workflows/customer/playbook · Id: `page:workflows/customer/playbook`

> How the Customer Team gets each Customer to first value by hand, answers in one Thread, listens for signal, and makes a cancel one step.

A [Customer](/business/nouns/customer) is won once and kept every month. The [Customer Team](/agents/customer) keeps them by doing setup by hand, answering in one [Thread](/business/nouns/thread), catching silence early, and making a cancel take one step.

## First value, by hand
Activation is the moment a Customer gets the result they paid for, not the moment they sign up. Each [Product Template](/business/nouns/product-template) has its own first value, and [Onboard a Customer](/workflows/processes/onboarding/onboard-customer) works toward it.

| Example | First value |
| --- | --- |
| A court-filings [Dataset API](/products/templates/dataset-api) for litigation teams | The first docket pulled into the Customer’s case system |
| A bookkeeping catch-up [Service](/business/nouns/service) run as [Services-as-Software](/products/templates/services-as-software) | The first month’s books closed and accepted |
| A meal-planning [SaaS](/products/templates/saas) for households managing diabetes | A first week of plans, with three dinners logged |
| A [Marketplace](/products/templates/marketplace) of licensed home inspectors | The first inspection booked, done, and paid on both sides |

The [Onboarding Specialist](/agents/customer/onboarding-specialist) does the setup for the Customer. For the bookkeeping Service, it connects the bank feed, maps two years of vendors to accounts, and runs the first close itself. A start that stalls gets one rescue.

Each hand step is counted. The third time a step repeats, it becomes an [Issue](/business/nouns/issue) for the [Product Team](/agents/product). Work that does not scale becomes the next thing the [Product](/business/nouns/product) does.

## One Thread per Person
Each [Person](/business/nouns/person) has one Thread with the [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) across every [Channel](/business/nouns/channel): email, chat, phone, and the portal. A new [Conversation](/business/nouns/conversation) starts [Answer a message](/workflows/processes/support/answer-message). The [Customer Lead](/agents/customer/customer-lead) answers from the record before the [first-response target](/systems/customer-service/response-times) the terms state.

The answer fixes the cause, not the symptom. A miscategorized expense is corrected, and the rule that caused it is fixed for every Customer. A defect the team cannot fix becomes an Issue linked to the Thread, so the Person hears when it ships.

One owner for every outbound word prevents collisions. The Customer Lead owns each [Mailbox](/business/nouns/mailbox) the Startup sends from. A renewal notice due during an open complaint arrives inside that Thread, never late.

## Listen for the signal
Right after the first acceptance, [Signal interview](/workflows/processes/customer-research/signal-interview) asks one question: what the Customer did and paid before. The answer is graded and lands as [Evidence](/business/nouns/evidence) on the Startup’s [Hypothesis](/business/nouns/hypothesis).

Support feeds the same record. When a [Message](/business/nouns/message) names a competitor, a workaround, or a price, the answer asks at most one question and records the reply as Evidence.

[Must-have share](/agents/product#must-have-share) and [Month-3 retention](/agents/customer#month-3-retention) show whether Customers keep the Product. A retention curve that flattens is the strongest sign the Startup has found something people want.

## Silence comes before churn
Customers rarely announce that they are leaving; they stop showing up. Every day the [Silence watch](/workflows/processes/retention/silence-watch) finds Customers inactive for twice their usual interval. Each hears once from the [Success Manager](/agents/customer/success-manager), with help on the last step that failed.

A household that logs dinner every night and goes quiet for six days gets one message about the recipe it skipped. No second message follows. A silence that traces to a defect becomes an Issue instead.

## A cancel takes one step
A cancel starts [Save and win back](/workflows/processes/retention/save-and-win-back). Cancelling takes one step, the Customer answers one question about the reason, and a full export of their data follows. No maze of retention offers stands in the way; the one offer comes after the cancel, in the [save window](/systems/customer-service/cancellation#the-save-window).

The reason becomes Evidence. Once the cause is fixed, the Success Manager writes once, with the fix as the reason to return.

Refunds go to the [Billing Specialist](/agents/finance/billing-specialist). A refund is a one-way [Action](/business/nouns/action), so it waits out its [delay window](/systems/trust-and-governance/controls/one-way-windows) before money moves.

## Expansion follows usage
Expansion is earned from usage, not pitched. When usage nears a [Limit](/business/nouns/limit), the [Usage upsell](/workflows/customer/plays/usage-upsell) [Play](/business/nouns/play) offers the next [Price](/business/nouns/price) tier in one click. When a Service finishes, [Next outcome](/workflows/customer/plays/next-outcome) offers the one that comes due next.

Larger signals, such as a new team at the Customer or a champion who changes jobs, go to the [Sales Lead](/agents/sales/sales-lead) through [Signal expansion](/workflows/customer/plays/signal-expansion). Satisfied Customers are asked for a review.

## Handoffs
| From | To | What passes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sales Lead | Onboarding Specialist | Each won [Deal](/business/nouns/deal) |
| Onboarding Specialist | Success Manager | Each activated Customer |
| Onboarding Specialist | [Product Lead](/agents/product/product-lead) | Steps done by hand three times |
| Customer Lead | Billing Specialist | Refunds |
| Customer Lead | [Privacy Officer](/agents/legal/privacy-officer) | Privacy requests |
| Success Manager | Sales Lead | Expansion signals |

## Next
- [Customer Team](/agents/customer): who does what, and what it measures.
- [Sales playbook](/workflows/sales/playbook): how the Customer was won.
- [Rhythm](/workflows/rhythm): every [Workflow](/business/nouns/workflow) by when it runs.
- [Answers](/systems/customer-service/answers), [response times](/systems/customer-service/response-times), [customer health](/systems/customer-service/health), [renewals](/systems/customer-service/renewals) and [cancellation](/systems/customer-service/cancellation): each practice in depth.