In the Customer Success world, the idea of handing-off a customer from one group to another is a big deal. Whether it’s from Sales to Onboarding or Onboarding to Customer Success, these handoffs can make or break the customer’s experience with you. I’ve even written about the less-often-discussed nailing of handoffs between Customer Success Managers (CSMs)
Customer Success is not just an organization, but is really a philosophy and requires the whole company to be behind it. If that isn’t true, then the odds of being successful at this are pretty small because like most organizations, Customer Success does not live on an island. Retention truly depends on every part of
I get asked all the time how you will know if your Customer Success initiative is, well, successful. First, you have to focus on your customers and remember that they have a desired outcome. Solve for that and know what it takes to get them there. Measure and monitor to ensure they’re successful along the way;
For many companies, implementing “customer success” processes and capabilities is a relatively new concept. SaaS companies have been the early adopters of institutionalizing customer success as a core function – Customer Success Managers at SaaS companies are focused day-to-day on driving renewals, increasing up-sell and cross-sell revenue, and managing their customers more proactively and efficiently.
I’m often asked what the best ways are to test whether you are satisfying customers, but I think those questions are actually misaligned with what we really should be focusing on. Before I go on, I have to say that I still say things like “make the customer happy” (even though I wrote this article) and “improve
One of my favorite Customer Success sayings is: “Not only is the customer not always right, they’re almost always wrong.” When Dan Steinman, Chief Customer Officer here at Gainsight, came up with that saying, he did so to be provocative and to make a point. Now, to bring it back around and put everyone at ease,
If you’ve ever had – or ever will have – turnover in your Customer Success Management organization, this article will help you improve the transition from one Customer Success Manager to another, ensuring your customers have a seamless, painless experience. In the Customer Success industry, we frequently talk about nailing the handoffs from group to
When I talk about reducing churn through Customer Success Management, to really drive the point home I’ll mention both Customer Retention and Renewal. This always raises a few eyebrows (which is why I do it) and prompts the “wait, aren’t those the same?” question. They’re not… and here’s the logic I used to get to
I’m fortunate to have the great privilege to get to speak to lots of groups of Customer Success professionals. I’m brought in as the expert but, as often as not, I learn just as much as they do. It’s truly one of the most enjoyable things I get to do in my job. I have
The CIO. Steve Jobs was adamant about not wanting to take Apple into the enterprise business because it would mean, “we would have to deal with 500 orifices called CIO’s.” I’d like to think things have moved on – Apple has now made a huge move into the corporate sector and partnered with – of all