---
name: customer-win-story
description: "Transforms customer successes into internal win stories with metrics, timeline, and key moments for team motivation and learning."
allowed-tools: Read Write Glob
metadata:
  author: matthewhitcham
  version: "1.0"
---

# Customer Win Story

## When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:
- Document a customer success as an internal motivational story
- Capture the timeline, metrics, and key moments of a customer win
- Create shareable win stories for team meetings or company updates
- Build a library of wins that reinforces what good looks like

**DO NOT** use this skill for customer-facing case studies, testimonials, or marketing materials. This is for internal documentation of customer successes.

---

## Core Principle

WIN STORIES ARE NOT BRAGGING — THEY ARE PATTERN RECOGNITION. DOCUMENTING HOW WINS HAPPEN REVEALS WHAT TO REPEAT AND GIVES THE TEAM EVIDENCE THAT THE WORK MATTERS.

---

## Phase 1: Capture

Gather the raw details of the customer win.

### Required Inputs

| Input | What to Ask | Default |
|-------|------------|---------|
| **Customer name** | "Which customer is this about?" | No default |
| **The win** | "What did the customer achieve? Be specific." | No default |
| **Timeline** | "How long did it take from start to this win?" | No default |
| **Your role** | "What did your product/service specifically contribute?" | No default |
| **Key metric** | "What is the headline number? (revenue, time saved, growth %)" | No default |
| **Turning point** | "Was there a specific moment where things clicked for the customer?" | No default |

**GATE: Confirm the key facts before structuring the story.**

---

## Phase 2: Structure

Build the win story using a narrative arc.

### Win Story Template

```
## Customer Win Story: [Customer Name]

**Date:** [Date of win / date documented]
**Category:** [Retention / Growth / Transformation / Efficiency / Revenue]
**Headline metric:** [The single most impressive number]

---

### The Situation
[2-3 sentences: Where was the customer before they worked with you? What problem were they facing?]

### The Challenge
[2-3 sentences: What made this difficult? What had they tried before? What was at stake?]

### What We Did
[3-5 bullet points: Specific actions your product/service/team took]
- [Action 1]
- [Action 2]
- [Action 3]

### The Turning Point
[2-3 sentences: The specific moment or decision that unlocked the result]

### The Result
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|--------|--------|-------|--------|
| [Metric 1] | [Value] | [Value] | [+/- %] |
| [Metric 2] | [Value] | [Value] | [+/- %] |

### Timeline
[Start date] → [Key milestone] → [Key milestone] → [Win achieved on date]

### Customer Quote
"[Direct quote from the customer about the experience or result]"

### Lessons Learned
- [What can we repeat with other customers?]
- [What did we learn about our product/service?]
- [What should we do differently next time?]

---

**Documented by:** [Name]
**Shared with:** [Team / Company]
```

**GATE: Present the structured story for review.**

---

## Phase 3: Enrich

Add context that makes the story useful for the team.

### Internal Annotations

```
### Why This Win Matters
- [Strategic significance — new market, new use case, proof of concept]
- [Revenue impact — contract value, expansion potential]
- [Replicability — can we do this for other customers?]

### Playbook Connection
- This win validates our [specific process/strategy]
- Key differentiator was [what set us apart]
- Replication requires [conditions or resources]

### Team Recognition
- [Person] did [specific contribution]
- [Person] did [specific contribution]
```

### Win Categories

Tag each story for easy retrieval:
- **Revenue win** — customer generated significant revenue or ROI
- **Retention win** — saved an at-risk customer
- **Growth win** — customer expanded their usage or contract
- **Transformation win** — customer achieved a fundamental business change
- **Efficiency win** — customer saved significant time or resources

---

## Phase 4: Share

Distribute the win story for maximum impact.

### Sharing Formats

**Team Meeting (2-minute version):**
- Headline metric
- One-sentence situation
- What we did (top 2 actions)
- The result
- One lesson learned

**Weekly Update (1-paragraph version):**
"[Customer] came to us with [problem]. After [timeframe] of [what we did], they achieved [headline result]. The key lesson: [one takeaway]."

**Win Library Entry:**
Add to a searchable document or database organized by category, date, and customer type.

### Win Library Structure

```
## Win Story Library

| # | Customer | Date | Category | Headline Metric | Story Link |
|---|----------|------|----------|----------------|-----------|
| 1 | [Name] | [Date] | [Category] | [Metric] | [Link] |
```

---

## Anti-Patterns

- **Vague wins** — "Customer was really happy" is not a win story. "Customer grew revenue 40% in 90 days" is.
- **Only documenting big wins** — small wins compound. A customer who saved 2 hours per week is worth documenting.
- **No lessons learned** — a win story without takeaways is just bragging. Extract what is replicable.
- **Forgetting to capture wins** — build a habit: document wins within 48 hours while details are fresh.
- **Never sharing them** — win stories locked in a folder do not motivate anyone. Share them regularly.

---

## Recovery

- **User cannot quantify the win:** Ask "What would the customer say if you asked them what changed?" Often customers can articulate the impact even if you do not have hard numbers.
- **Customer did not provide a quote:** Draft a summary of what they said informally and ask permission to use it. Alternatively, note the verbal feedback.
- **Win feels too small to document:** Document it anyway. "Customer said this was the easiest onboarding they have ever experienced" is a valid win that reveals what works.
- **User has no wins to document yet:** Start with any positive customer feedback, no matter how small. The habit of capturing wins builds over time.
- **No one reads the win stories:** Share them in existing channels (team meetings, Slack, weekly updates) rather than expecting people to seek them out.
