Pre-workshop survey, review draft

1. What's your first name?

So we know who said what when we read responses back during the workshop.

2. And your last name?

3. What's your work email?

Used only to deduplicate responses if someone fills the form twice. We will not add you to a marketing list.

4. What's your role?

This decides which questions you see next. We tailor the survey because each role sees a different slice of the customer reality (an exec sees strategy, a salesperson hears the prospect verbatim, customer success hears the complaints). Pick the closest match.

5. Which SGO are you answering for?

Tick all that apply. We are working two SGOs in parallel: a Niche SGO (a hyper-specialized service line, ~60–70 globally addressable accounts, deeply personalized outreach) and a Broad SGO (a mass-market service line like customer service, scaled outreach across many companies). If you work across both, tick both — answer the rest of the survey for the SGO you spend the most time on.

6. Years in this SGO at Cognizant?

Helps us weight the responses. A 10-year veteran has a different read of the market than someone who joined this quarter — both useful, just different.

1. In one sentence, what is the buying use case that defines a strong-fit prospect?

The "use case" is the specific business problem a buyer is trying to solve when they consider us. Specific beats broad. "A US health insurer running 3+ legacy claims platforms post-M&A who needs them consolidated in 18 months" is far more useful than "enterprise BPO buyers." This sentence becomes the headline of the ICP card.

2. What change inside a prospect company most reliably triggers them to call us?

A "trigger event" is the change in their world that flips them from passive to actively shopping. We use these as outbound signals (e.g. monitor for a CFO change at target accounts, send our pitch within a week). Pick up to 3.

6. What is the strategic vector for this SGO over the next 12 months?

Where do you want this SGO to be a year from now, and what is the biggest blocker? The workshop output should support this direction, not work against it.

1. In one sentence, what is the buying use case that defines a strong-fit prospect?

The specific business problem a buyer is trying to solve when they consider us. Specific is far more useful than broad. Example: "A US health insurer running 3+ legacy claims platforms post-M&A who needs them consolidated in 18 months" beats "enterprise BPO buyers." This sentence becomes the headline of the ICP card.

2. What firmographic signal makes a company a strong fit?

Firmographics = the company-level facts you can find on a list (revenue band, employee count, vertical, geography, current tech stack, ownership type). What combination of these tells you "yes, this is one we should pursue"? This drives our target-account list.

3. What firmographic signal almost guarantees a "no"?

The companies you would not bother prospecting if they landed on your desk. We use this to filter the list before sending — saves your time and theirs.

4. What change inside a prospect company most reliably triggers them to call us?

A "trigger event" is the change in their world that flips them from passive to actively shopping. We monitor for these signals at target accounts and time outreach to land within days of the trigger. Pick up to 3.

5. When prospects describe the problem we solve, what words do they use?

Verbatim means word-for-word — the actual phrases they say in calls, RFPs, or emails. NOT how Cognizant or your CMO describes it. Their language. If you can quote a real prospect, do. This becomes the headline copy in cold emails and on landing pages — prospects respond when they see their own words mirrored back.

6. When prospects describe what they want, what words do they use?

Same as above but the desired outcome instead of the problem. Verbatim quotes preferred. ("We want to ship this in six months without a CFO blowup.") We use this for value props and demo openings.

10. What do prospects type into Google when they have this problem?

List 3 to 5 phrases. Front-line keyword seeds — what real buyers Google before they know what to call the solution. We use these for SEO and ad targeting. Even guesses are useful.

1. In one sentence, what is the buying use case that defines a strong-fit prospect?

The specific business problem a buyer is solving when they consider us. Concrete beats abstract. This becomes the headline of the ICP card.

2. What capability gap do prospects raise that we struggle to address?

The objection you wish we had a better answer for. The feature, certification, geography, or service that prospects ask about and we end up dancing around. Knowing this lets us either build the capability, partner for it, or tell sellers to disqualify upstream.

3. What technical objection comes up most often in RFPs or discovery?

The recurring "but what about…" question that shows up across multiple deals. We pre-empt these with proof points and FAQ content on the website.

4. What proof points actually move the needle?

Proof points = case studies, named references, specific results, demos, certifications, analyst recognitions. Which 1 or 2 do you reach for first when a prospect is on the fence? These get prioritized in the sales deck and on the landing page.

7. When prospects describe their technical pain, what words do they use?

Verbatim = word-for-word. The phrases prospects use when describing the technical mess they want help with. Quote them if you can. This drives landing-page copy and headline writing.

8. What 3 to 5 questions do prospects ALWAYS ask in early discovery?

The questions that come up before the prospect even knows what they want. These become FAQ content on the website (great for long-tail SEO) and they pre-arm sellers with answers.

1. What outcome do customers in this SGO actually achieve in the first 6 months?

The real results — what we can defensibly claim, not what was promised in the sale. Quantify if you can: percent cost reduction, cycle-time savings, headcount avoided, error rate dropped. These numbers go into the messaging guide and case studies. Be conservative; we will only claim what we can prove.

2. What was promised in the sale that we struggle to deliver?

The gap between sales-pitch and actual delivery reality. We need to know what NOT to put in marketing copy so the sales team does not over-promise and you do not get stuck under-delivering. Honest answers protect everyone.

3. What is the one thing customers tell you they wish we did better?

The most common piece of negative feedback you hear. Goes into the product/service improvement list and into messaging (so we set expectations correctly upfront).

4. Which customers are most likely to expand vs. churn — and what is the early signal?

The leading indicator that tells you in month 2 or 3 whether a customer is heading toward expansion or toward churn. We feed this into account scoring so customer success can intervene early.

5. Name 3 clients in this SGO who would go on record for us, and the line they would say.

A promoter is a customer who genuinely loves us and would publicly back us up — case study, reference call, named quote. Format: "Acme Health: 'Cognizant cut our claims-cycle time 40% in 9 months.'" Even if the quote is your best guess of what they would say, that is fine — it gives us a starting point for case studies and reference outreach.

6. When customers describe the value we delivered, what words do they use?

Verbatim = word-for-word. Quote real customers if you can. The way they describe the value (in their language, not ours) is what we want on the landing page and in cold emails — it is what other prospects will recognize.

1. When promoters say nice things about us, what do they actually say?

Verbatim quotes from happy customers. The exact words, not your paraphrase. This is gold — it goes straight into outbound copy, case studies, and testimonials. CS teams have the best access to this language because you hear it weekly.

2. What do customers complain about most often?

Quote them. The exact phrases. We need to know the weak spots so we either fix them, address them in messaging upfront, or qualify against them in sales. Negative feedback is more useful than positive feedback for shaping the offer.

3. What triggers an expansion or upsell? Name the signal.

The behavior or event that consistently leads to a customer buying more from us. Could be a new exec, a successful pilot, a regulatory change at their end. We use this for account scoring and to design upsell campaigns.

4. Name 3 clients who would go on record for us, and the line they would say.

Promoter = a customer who would publicly back us up: case study, reference call, quoted testimonial. Format: "Client name: their likely quote." Even your best guess is useful as a starting point for reference outreach.

5. Top 3 reasons customers churn from this SGO.

The most common reasons we lose customers, ranked. We use this to tighten qualification (so we stop selling to bad-fit accounts) and to fix retention drivers.

6. Which customer wins should we be using as case studies but currently are not?

Successes nobody outside CS knows about. List them — we will work with you to package them into proper case studies for the website and sales team.

7. What is the most surprising thing a customer has told you about why they stayed?

The unexpected reason. Often the real reason. Customers do not always stay for the reason we sold them — they stay for something we did not pitch. That something belongs in our messaging.

3. Which 3rd parties move buyers in this SGO?

A "3rd party" is anyone outside of Cognizant whose opinion buyers trust when they are evaluating vendors — analysts (Gartner, Forrester), researchers (Everest, ISG, HFS), peer networks, ex-colleagues, LinkedIn voices. We need to know who to court for analyst briefings and where to place content.

4. Which channels have produced pipeline in the last 18 months?

Where actual qualified opportunities have come from. We double down on what works and cut what does not. Be honest — "none" is a real, useful answer for a channel that did not perform.

5. What content do prospects actually engage with?

Specific assets — name the report, the calculator, the case study, the webinar series. And a sentence on why you think it works. This tells us what content forms to invest in vs. avoid.

6. Which 2 to 3 events have produced pipeline for this SGO in the last 18 months?

Order by ROI if you can. If the answer is "none," write "none" — that is also useful signal. We will reallocate sponsorship budget toward what works.

7. Name 3 websites (any industry) that nail their positioning.

Sites that you personally find beautiful, clear, or powerful. Any industry. We use these as visual and voice references for the new website. A short reason for each helps us understand what specifically you respond to.

8. What conversion does the website need to drive?

A conversion is the action a visitor should take that turns them into a lead. Pick the primary one — every page on the new site will be designed around getting visitors to do this.

10. Top 3 verticals by pipeline volume for this SGO?

The 3 industries (banking, insurance, retail, healthcare, public sector, etc.) where this SGO has the most active pipeline. We build industry-specific landing pages for each — strongest SEO play for a BPO or IOA business.

1. In one sentence, what is the buying use case that defines a strong-fit prospect?

The specific business problem a buyer is solving when they consider us. Concrete is far more useful than abstract.

2. What change inside a prospect company most reliably triggers them to call us?

A "trigger event" is the change in their world that flips them from passive to actively shopping. We use these to time outbound. Pick up to 3.

3. When prospects or customers describe what they want, what words do they use?

Verbatim = word-for-word. Their language, not ours. We use this in messaging because prospects respond when they see their own words mirrored back.

5. Name 3 clients who would go on record for us, and the line they would say.

A promoter is a happy customer who would publicly back us up. Format: "Client name: their likely quote." Even your best guess is useful for reference outreach.

1. If we only have 30 minutes with you in the workshop, which output matters most?

Pick the one workshop deliverable that, if the workshop produced nothing else, would make this exercise worth your time.