The Beginner's Guide to Customer Success

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Customer Success

The Beginner's Guide to Customer Success Strikedeck Inc., Sonia Siganporia, Miku Seko, and Paul Reeves

Have we invested enough in customer requested product enhancements to ensure minimal churn? LOCATION: 8740 #churn

Are we measuring our cost to retain a customer? LOCATION: 8740 #csMetrics

Another key to getting a seat at the table is to build strong internal relationships. You need to work well with your peers in Sales, Marketing, Finance and Product. LOCATION: 8740 #csLeadership

Figure out how to add value, and don’t fall into the trap of only raising issues. LOCATION: 8741

Focusing only on raising issues will only garner you the reputation of being negative. LOCATION: 8741

differently. Provide regular data-driven report cards to the other departments so that you increase the visibility about how particular actions impact customers and how that results in impacts to revenue, renewals/churn, and upsell. LOCATION: 9176

Are you being proactive or are you spending most of your time being reactive? Figuring out where to spend your time is required to create your desired business results. LOCATION: 9176

What are some of the strategic things to focus on? Put in place processes to collect the data you need for business decisions will that drive revenue and profitability. Define and track your metrics and measures and understand the data. Evaluate the best way to segment your customers. Align compensation to make sure the right behaviors are being emphasized. Don’t get entrenched in fighting the day to day battles and escalations at the cost of being a strategic contributor. LOCATION: 9177

Another way to ensure that CS thrives is to evangelize the amazing work done by CS and the outcomes that result from this work. LOCATION: 9178

Use storytelling to promote how you and your team contribute to other staff throughout the organization. LOCATION: 9178

Also think about what it means if you are a first time CS leader or if you have limited executive experience. Ask for help, join a community, get a mentor, watch how other executives work and learn. LOCATION: 9615

Customer Success Management is the active management of customer relationships toward their desired outcome. LOCATION: 10923

They encourage customers to renew their subscription, and upgrade their contract. LOCATION: 10923

Proactive in their approach LOCATION: 10924

Regarded as the trusted advisor within the company with a holistic view of the customers LOCATION: 10924

Relationship oriented LOCATION: 10924

Help customers achieve their desired outcomes LOCATION: 10924

Monitor tickets and keep track of customer performance LOCATION: 10924

Day to day support NOTE: Customer success is not this - this is customer support LOCATION: 10924

to learn something new about your customer or their business every time you speak with them. LOCATION: 11361

Furthermore, if you always hand-hold your customer through every difficulty with your product, they’ll never learn how to problem-solve by themselves. LOCATION: 11798

promote self-service by creating a comprehensive knowledge base so clients can fix their own issues. Help videos, documentation, and how-tos go a long way towards empowering your customers and freeing you up to work on more critical achievements. LOCATION: 11798

Customer Support helps consumers after they reach out to the company to voice a concern. In fact, most customers don’t report when they are having issues with a product, before they’re already halfway out the door and into the arms of your competitor. LOCATION: 11798

Customer Success is a preemptive solution that detects and solves issues even before they are reported. It is your responsibility as a CSM to reach out to the customer on a regular basis and find out if they are experiencing difficulties with your product. LOCATION: 11799

Don’t: Make Promises You Cannot Keep LOCATION: 12671

time. Always be truthful about how much you can accomplish. On the flip side, under promising and over delivering is a sure-fire way to exceed your client’s expectations. Understate how much you will accomplish and make it a point to do a few more tasks than what you originally stated. LOCATION: 12672

answer each and every message you get. It is the least you can do since they have taken the effort to reach out and provide feedback. LOCATION: 12672

process. Customization is easier to do if you pre-segment your customer base into the related cohorts. LOCATION: 13109

CSMs need inherent enthusiasm, and a positive outlook that is infectious and irrepressible when times get tough. LOCATION: 13983

Times will get tough, people will get frustrated, and CSMs are on the frontline of every battle. LOCATION: 14418

Not only will this help CSMs do their job exceptionally well, but it will also uplift their entire team. LOCATION: 14419

Some of the most important relationships are with the support team, and the product team, where you will be consistently seeking help and input to answer important questions for your customer. LOCATION: 14421

This varies by company, but the ability to deeply understand the intricacies of a customer’s business problem and how your technology/ solution solves that business problem is of paramount importance. LOCATION: 14856

a top-notch CSM that has this combination of skills is positioned to be a rock-star in their organization. LOCATION: 14856

Process your emails twice a day. Check it when you get into the office, then check it again after lunch. LOCATION: 15294

When going through your email, ensure that you do so in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent item in your inbox. LOCATION: 15295

However, being a CSM means you need to be proactive, and being proactive includes regularly making time to reach out to your customers, even when they haven’t contacted you first! LOCATION: 16167

Sometimes, you might even need to pass the baton to the customer. Your job as a CSM is to help them with long-term success. LOCATION: 16168

As a CSM, you have to be in control of your time. Prioritizing and managing your time well is the only way to take care of your customers. LOCATION: 16604

Track your top 20% customers daily, your next 30% customers weekly, and rest of the 50% monthly. LOCATION: 17914

Use a tool specifically meant for Customer Success Professionals that integrates with your existing SF. That way, you can clearly manage the metrics and share what is needed with key players. LOCATION: 17914

Each quarter, you should be adjusting any flaws or weaknesses in your plans and constantly improving. Just like you hold QBRs with your customers, make sure that you’re meeting the stakeholder’s expectations so that you ensure expanded budgets in the future. LOCATION: 18351

List the success milestones that map out the customer’s path toward their desired outcome LOCATION: 20099