In Defense of Customer Success
By Kristen Hayer
I’ve seen a number of notable articles recently that claim, “Customer Success is dead!” Twelve years ago, as a Sales VP, I would have agreed. Actually, I would have said that customer success isn’t alive in the first place. I would have called it glorified Account Management or rebranded Support. And I would have been wrong.
The unfortunate truth is that most leaders still don’t understand what customer success is, or how, in very tangible terms, it helps a company succeed. Yes, customer success is about customers, but it is also about the success of your software organization. Customer success is a function focused on ensuring that customers see long-term value from your product. That your solution has been enough to make their business successful. That they get enough of a return on their investment to renew. That they are willing to stick around long enough to make your company successful.
It's a tall order. Making another business successful is hard work. It takes focus. It requires a commitment of resources on your part to create a customer-centric product, build a team focused on customer success, listen to customer feedback, and organize around customer needs. All while still being innovative and competing in the market. Nobody said customer success is easy.
C-level leaders often give up on Customer Success too easily. They see it as a cost. As a “happiness department”. Alternatively, they may see it as a technical team, a high-end, expensive, driver of adoption. While both adoption and happiness are amazing outcomes of a strong customer success effort, the true focus should be on customer value. Customers who see value in a solution will adopt it more fully and be happy about doing business with their vendor. Instead of going after the outcomes, we should be going after the driver: Customer Value.
So, how do you drive value?
Focus on Customer Outcomes – Of course, you have KPIs to hit. But who is going to help you hit your numbers? Customers. Your customers achieving their business outcomes is what is going to make you hit your company’s metrics. Customer outcomes might be outside of what you expect, and the only way to uncover what they are looking for is to ask them. Ideally, your customer success efforts should be organized around the business value your customers have confirmed that they desire from your product.
Organize around Customer Value – Build teams that focus on single aspects of delivering value to customers. For example, if your solution drives more value when more users are using it effectively and daily, invest in training and onboarding users. If instead, your solution drives the most value when a small set of administrators derive specific value from aspects of your tool, focus on setting goals and working toward those value-drivers. Know what your customers want and design your program around how to help them get it.
Educate your Team on Value – There are still lots of customer success teams that are, in fact, glorified account management or support teams. Make sure that your CS teams know what business value your customers expect and how to best deliver it. Train your teams on communication skills, business, and how to engage with decision-makers. By investing in education, you can level-up your customer success teams, and ensure that they are delivering on their mandate: Customer Value.
Customer success isn’t a tool or a team. It is a company value. And it isn’t dead. Not if you want your software company to succeed.
The Success League is a global customer success consulting firm. We also offer a comprehensive CS Leadership Certification program that teaches CS leaders to focus on data and to deliver a solid return on investment. Find out more at TheSuccessLeague.io
Kristen Hayer - Kristen founded The Success League in 2015 and currently serves as the company's CEO. Over the past 25 years Kristen has been a success, sales, and marketing executive, primarily working with growth-stage tech companies, and leading several award-winning customer success teams. She has written over 100 articles on customer success, and is the host of 3 podcasts about the field: Innovations in Leadership, CS Essentials with Gainsight, and Reading for Success. Kristen serves on the boards of the Customer Success Leadership Network, the Customer Success program at the University of San Francisco, and the Women in Leadership Program at UC Santa Barbara. She received her MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle, and now lives in San Francisco.
