14 Keys of How to do Customer Success

Why Customer Success Matters in B2B 

2014 and 2015 saw a huge rise in User Generated Content, as brands found new ways to engage with social media savvy Millennials. In B2B Marketing, this took another form, the rise of Customer Success that have a more authentic ambience. A branded testimonial is no longer believable, or does it provide social clout. Unless, unless it's a video! 

Kiwi Cloud POS superstar Vend, showcases this well. Video on the landing page for mobile viewers, customer success video, believable more authentic video testimonials that give you a feel of ease and grass-roots believability. Not too pushy, not to sales-minded, just right. It's not just B2C that has to adjust its tone to Millennials, it's B2B as well. #BigIdeas2016 isn't just about disruption, it's about doing what matters, better. 

Let's view the video together now: 

 Notice how it celebrates its customers, these retail stores? It's customer centric, not sales centric. It's value branding, without perplexing gimmick sounding promises. 

Notice how it's not over-produced? This is what B2B needs, brand trust that doesn't try too hard. The sales emphasis has to be replaced with a more human-centric branding tone. If Vend simplifies a store's management, Thirdshelf augments their ability to have high-value relationship with their customers. 

Why Does Customer Success Matter?

14 Keys 

Demonstrate customer experiences that other customers can easily identify with 

1- It relates directly to customer experience, solution based answers to real-life problems.

Build trust with video content that is unscripted, but from their own heart. 

2- Don't take our word for it, take their word for it. A more authentic source is more persuasive and improves brand trust.  

Identify the human element of their story and show them proof of #ROI in simple terms. 

3- For B2B give not just case studies, but real human stories that illustrate the benefits to the end-user. Case in point, a loyalty automation marketing solution connected to a cloud POS, has a huge advantage over other loyalty programs, embedded analytics that can demonstrate campaign performance of ROI in terms retail owners can understand, in dollar signs. 

Don't assume you know what Their Success Means 

4- Listen to your B2B client, and their customers, let them decide what Success is, don't imagine you have all the answers. 

Embed CSR into your company's DNS and value proposition to truly be a Millennial B2B Brand 

5- Brand the Customer Success you offer with a mission statement that is aligned with corporate social responsibility. How does your solution contribute to sustainability, social good and improving how people relate and their customer experience in the real world. 

Create vivid and authentic content from real customers including quotes, text, audio and video. 

6- Actively interview, collect quotes, statements and conduct video campaigns to celebrate your most satisfied customers. Let them loose, let them talk and share their passion about how your solution improves their relationship with their customers. 

Improve customer experience dynamically in real-time, conduct cross-department Customer success optimization sessions 

7- Talk with your customer success, customer service and sales teams often to generate feedback on how you can improve your product so your customers can be more successful. Never stop improving all the touchpoint of your customers, all points to the experience of the customer buying cycle and even pre and post phases require in-depth study and real-time evaluation, tweaking, data collection and optimization. We contribute a solution to an ecosystem, stay rooted to who you serve. 

Chronicle their journey with your product, Interrupt their dormancy with offers of help

8- Benchmark where your customers start, where they were without you and how being in relation to your solution has changed them. The before and after effect. Contrast this with your competitors. When they join your service or buy your solution, ask them what their goals are, and track them customized to what they are seeking out of your solution. Automate escalation if there is incongruence with their stated goals and real-time lack of results. Proactively reach them before they need to contact you. To do this, require sophisticated levels of customer success automation. 

Celebrate customer experience milestones and benchmark their analytics with an interactive interface 

9- Identify success milestones, have automated feedback systems so the customer can recognize how well they are doing with your product or service in relation to similar customers in their segment or vertical. Gamify the customer experience, create internal incentives in the infrastructure that reward the customer's engagement with the product or service.

Build personal relationships with your VIP customers 

10- Build personal relationships with your highest-value customers, so if you'd like to do a video with them, or they want to share their experiences, that's an open channel of communication.

Proudly conduct Customer Success campaigns and support your customers in SM

11- Interact with your B2B clients on social media, retweet their content, feature them, create #hashtag branded contests with them and celebrate them. Don't talk about yourself much, talk about your customers. UGC for B2B, becomes something like customer augmentation content campaigns.

Gamify WOM marketing with refer-a-friend bonuses to Scale

12- Want to champion customer success, give them lucrative incentives to refer another customer, 1 month free of your service may not be enough. Let them help you scale your business. This is gamified word-of-mouth marketing at its best. 

Have an omnichannel social tone that conveys Customer-centric Success

13- Feature your Customer Success stories prominently on your blog and in your Email marketing campaigns, with a careful emphasis on the uniqueness and specialness of each case, not in ways that make you look good, but in ways that are interesting to other businesses. 

Hire the most talented people 

14- Hire only the best customer success managers (CMS). For many B2B companies, this is the pro-active level of engagement that reduces retention and maximizes the value the customer lifetime value of your customers. This is especially key if your service involves a monthly subscription. The best CMSs are those with high levels of initiative, empathy and EQ all-stars. 

Last words

 For B2B, embed customer success with knowledge authority, social authority, analytics & automation that optimizes customer satisfaction in real-time and proof of ROI at every touch point of the customer journey.