The Customer Success Pioneer

How long have they been a customer?
• How many contact points do you have in their company?
o How broad and deep is the relationship? This can be particularly important if a main sponsor moves to another role or company
• How many are advocates and coaches for your service/product?
• Do you have access to and sponsorship from senior management and finance?
o The people who sign the cheque/contract!
• Does the relationship work as a trusted partnership?
• How was the onboarding process?
o How was the handover from sales > onboarding > CSM?

key to success is understanding your customers’ reason for buying and using your service:
• What are their expectations?
• What are the outcomes for which they are striving?
• How are you able to contribute to those outcomes?

Customer Success is not about making customers happy. It is about making them successful

Undertake your own research into what Customer Success means to you and your company; use the Resources content at the back of this book to get you started. Find and talk to your peers; make connections

• CSMs should absolutely have a compensation plan which includes other metrics, such as Net Retention Rate, Gross Retention Rate, Adoption, case studies, etc.

Influencing the direction of our product and programme

n a world where the customer is once again and more than ever, in control, every person working in B2C and especially B2B should also be thinking about what the customer wants.

Customer’s Success = Company’s Success
Their Success = Your Success
Customer Success = Customer Growth
Customer Growth = Revenue Growth

companies, particularly those whose revenue model is based on subscriptions, should be very focused on customers, their outcomes and success as this is intrinsically tied to the company’s own success.

Without Customer Success, your Sales team needs to find new customers to replace the customers who do not feel compelled to stay with you. This means you will always be chasing your tail, rather than maximising the opportunity of retaining and growing your existing customers, at a fraction of the cost.