<aside> 💡 Goal - to help you achieve set KPIs and ensure the growth of both the customer and the provider companies. These rules are guidelines for building long-term and successful partnerships.
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Customer Success is a Team Effort Customer success isn't solely the responsibility of one team. It's the result of alignment between products, customers, and services. Without this alignment, customers leave.
Helping Customers Succeed is Our Goal Your goal is to help customers achieve their objectives, even if it means doing things that don’t scale.
Setting the Right Expectations Avoid overpromising and overselling. Be truthful and transparent with customers to build trust.
Sell Only to Customers Who Benefit from Your Product If there's not a strong fit, don't make the deal.
Deliver Quick Wins for Customers The goal of introducing a product/service/solution is to provide customers with quick benefits. Prove the product's value and gain their agreement to play the long game.
Churn Results from Failing to Achieve Goals Churn doesn't occur because the product was too expensive. It ultimately stems from customers not achieving their goals. Identify where and why they're failing.
Early Rejection of Poorly Fitting Customers Filter out unfit customers sooner rather than later. Continuing to invest resources in such customers leads to inevitable churn.
Build Relationships from the Start Establish relationships early. Trying to win back customers who left on a bad note is much more challenging.
Measure Customer Success by Their Outcomes Customers measure their investments in your product. Measure their success as they do.
Focus on Customer Benefit, Not Your KPIs Don't waste your customers' time. Be insightful and listen to their needs. Engage with them only when you can be helpful. NO SPAMMING!
Take the Bull by the Horns Don’t guess or assume. Ask your customers for contract renewals and referrals.
Find Solution Opportunities You don’t need to have all the answers right here and now. The key is to find solutions and opportunities. Customers don’t care who thought of them.
Using QBR to Develop Customer Strategy
Utilize Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) as a strategic asset to understand what worked, what didn't, and why. Make them customer-centric.
QBR (Quarterly Business Review) is a quarterly strategic meeting between the company (provider) and the customer (client). Its purpose is to discuss results and the effectiveness of collaboration, as well as to plan future actions.
QBR serves two purposes. For companies, it helps continually improve their services and deepen relationships with customers. For customers, it provides an opportunity to actively participate in the process and shape the quality of service they receive. This symbiosis leads to deeper understanding and, ultimately, more successful and productive cooperation.
When discussing QBR in the context of Customer Success, it's essential to initially evaluate the actions taken in the previous quarter. To do this, we address the following questions:
This simple analysis not only helps understand what was done correctly but also identifies areas needing improvement in the next quarter.
Start from Scratch Begin each interaction with a customer as if it's the first. Understanding your customers' needs correctly increases the chances of success by up to 80%.
Help Customers Bridge the Gap A customer's path to success is the gap between where they are now and where they want to be.
Collect Feedback as Customers Want to Give It Gather feedback in the way customers want to provide it. Surveys with a 2% participation rate are useless.
Show Customers You Care About Their Success Demonstrate genuine care for their success. Ask open-ended questions as often as possible, but otherwise let customers speak for themselves.
Commercial Success Aligns with Customer Success Don't fear the commercial aspect of customer success. Making customers successful makes them want to buy more from you.
Technology Follows Strategy Technology follows strategy, not the other way around. Customer success isn't what CS software providers want to see. It's what customers decide.