Customer Success

Customer Success is a department, a job, a philosophy and a discipline.

• Empathy: Can this person put themselves in their Customer's shoes to truly understand their pain points & motivations?

• Product & Domain Knowledge: Is this person well-versed in data and analytics? Does this person have the ability to learn the ICP domain and the product?

• Project & Time Management: Will this person juggle multiple priorities while driving action?

• Commercially minded POV: Does this person know how to prioritize their efforts for what’s best for the business? Are they comfortable suggesting cross-sell/up-sell opportunities to customers?

Customer Success = Customer Experience + Customer Outcomes

Scott Hudgins, the Chief Commercial Officer at Walt Disney World once said, "No one owns the customer, but someone always owns the moment.” Customer Success Managers own a lot of moments, but it's the whole of every engagement a customer has, whether human or digital, that makes up their experience. 

Experiences happen in moments 

1. Buying Moments

• How did the Sales team engage?

• Was the Salesperson a human being I can relate to? 

2. Onboarding Moments

• Was there solid project management? Was the project well organized? Were my team and I prepared for what to expect? Was the project delivered on time, on budget, and to the quality I expected?

• Did I get everything I expected and/or was promised?

• Was the solution easy to onboard? 

• Are my end users ready to rock and roll?

3. Adoption Phase Moments:

• Is my CSM a human being I can relate to?

• Do I (or do my end users) enjoy using the solution? Is the UI easy to understand and pleasing to look at? Does the workflow make sense to me?

• Do I get the (timely) help I need when I need Support?

4. Renewal Journey, etc.......you get the idea. 

Assuming these Moments are all positive, the Experience contributes to the desired Outcomes.

To me, the Customer Success Manager's primary role is to ensure that customers enjoy the promise of what they were sold. That promise is the Outcome. When we map and align the customer's objectives with their results, whether quantifiable or qualifiable, the customer gets value. In order to be real, though, the customer needs to agree they're enjoying that value.

Outcomes are on a long timeline, they hold the value and they keep check-writers writing checks 

1. Top-right customers are Happy and Successful. We'll be able to renew and expand them because they enjoy working with us and they are enjoying the promise of what they were sold.

2. Bottom-right customers are Trapped. It may be difficult for these customers to justify the cost of switching solutions because they are getting what they need, but they don't like it or their end users are complaining. These customers will definitely not expand and they may tell their friends about their negative experiences. 

3. Top-left customers are Accessible to competition. It's hard to justify the expense of something you "just like."

4. Bottom-left customers are at High Risk.

Without both CO and CX, customers can end up either Accessible, High Risk, or Trapped. As Jonah Hill said in Moneyball, “Are those my only options?” Yikes. 

As a Customer Success leader, it's my job to identify at-risk customers and move them up and to the right. That's where 100%+ net retention lives and where B2B SaaS companies get to make history.

Where are your customers?