SPICED is the diagnostic framework that powers customer-centric conversations across the entire customer journey. It's the universal language that enables every customer-facing role, from marketing to sales to customer success to understand, document, and act on what truly matters to your customers at every stage of the bowtie.
Unlike traditional sales methodologies that focus primarily on closing deals, SPICED is designed for recurring revenue businesses where profits are realized through sustained customer impact over time. It shifts the focus from "Do we have budget?" to "Is this a priority?" with priority being determined by the customer's desired impact.
It is built on five foundational components that work across both sides of the bowtie:
1. Situation (S): The Customer's World Situation captures the relevant background facts and circumstances about your customer's environment. This includes company size, industry, tools they use, organizational structure, maturity level, and strategic initiatives.
"Situation defines the tools, people, industry, and landscape of the company. Situation questions help you understand the size of the opportunity, tools they use, and other facts to determine whether the prospect is a good fit for your solution."
On the left side of the bowtie, Situation helps qualify prospects and determine fit. On the right side, it evolves to track changes in the customer's environment that create new opportunities for expansion or signal potential churn risks.
2. Pain (P): The Problem That Drives Change Pain addresses the acute challenges and frustrations that brought the customer to you. These can be emotional issues affecting individuals or rational issues affecting the company—cash flow problems, costly mistakes, or pipeline generation challenges.
"Pains are often expressed at a superficial level. To identify the true needs requires a deeper diagnosis."
Pain isn't static. On the left side, you diagnose the initial pain. On the right side, you monitor whether that pain is being resolved and identify new pains that emerge as the customer's business evolves.
3. Impact (I): The Desired Outcome Impact reveals the core business objectives your solution helps achieve. This includes both Rational Impact (increasing revenue, decreasing costs, improving customer experience) and Emotional Impact (individual benefits like career advancement or reduced stress).
"Impact can be both emotional, focused on individuals, and rational, focused on the overall company."
Impact is the North Star for the entire customer journey. On the left side, you align on the desired impact. On the right side, you measure and optimize for recurring impact delivery, ensuring customers achieve their goals consistently over time.
4. Critical Event (CE): The Urgency Driver Critical Event is the deadline by which the customer must achieve impact or suffer negative consequences. This creates urgency and drives behavior—whether completing implementation, expanding usage, or renewing contracts.
"Critical Events drive behavior, whether that be completing implementation, expanding use, or completing renewals or upsells."
Critical Events exist throughout the customer lifecycle. Initial events drive the purchase decision, while ongoing events drive adoption, expansion, and renewal decisions on the right side of the bowtie.
5. Decision (D): The Process and People Decision encompasses the people involved, the process they follow, and the criteria they use to evaluate solutions. This includes understanding stakeholders, approval workflows, and success metrics.
"Decisions are usually made by a group of stakeholders rather than a single decision-maker."
Decision-making continues post-sale. While the initial decision focuses on purchase approval, ongoing decisions involve implementation choices, expansion approvals, and renewal commitments.
The Real Job of SPICED
SPICED's job is to create a uniform, customer-centric approach that facilitates seamless handoffs and provides a consistent, high-quality experience throughout the entire customer journey.
•How to diagnose customer needs with precision and empathy
•How to align all customer-facing teams around what matters most to the customer
•How to track and optimize for customer impact across the entire lifecycle
•How to identify expansion opportunities and renewal risks before they become critical
It is the essential framework for moving from product-centric selling to impact-centric customer success.
Because here's the truth: In recurring revenue businesses, the conversation doesn't end at the sale, it evolves. SPICED ensures that evolution is guided by customer impact, not internal processes, creating the foundation for sustainable, recurring revenue growth.
De'Edra leaves us with a powerful call to action for customer success leaders who want to elevate their function from a silent engine to a strategic revenue driver.
"Understand your numbers... NRR, ARR, customer lifetime value, COGS, CAC. Know these acronyms by heart. When you know those acronyms, go and make friends with your CFO... I present to my boards. I don't let the CRO do it. I don't let the CFO do it. I do it myself."
Her final message emphasizes that the biggest gap in organizations isn't between sales and customer success, it's the lack of understanding from the C-suite about the revenue drivers that customer success can bring. The solution is for CS leaders to own their numbers, present their own results, and demonstrate the measurable impact of the right side of the bowtie.
"The close ratio for marketing qualified leads is about 2 to 3%. The close ratio for CSQLs, Customer Success Qualified Leads" is significantly higher, proving that customer success isn't just about retention—it's about driving the most efficient revenue growth in your entire GTM engine.
Order you text workbook on Revenue Architecture - more than a 'read' this is a comprehensive workbook to ensure you up skill your knowledge.
A little about Mike who hosts the show. Please connect with me on LinkedIn I'd love to have you as part of our professional network.