Customer Success continues to grow

I hadn't anticipated this. Yes, I hadn't foreseen that Customer Success, the new Front Line Business Unit at SAS, would grow at this speed, accustomed to the wise and thoughtful rhythms of the company where I've been working for a while.

Instead I should have foreseen that the accelerated digital transformation impacts both suppliers and customers, and that the transition from an economy of possession to one of use or rather of subscription, would have put the management of the entire post-sales process at the center of the model of business.

In fact, the mission of Customer Success is precisely to help users of SAS solutions to use what they have available, to make known (and appreciate) the benefits and business value they can derive from it, in order to renew their trust every year in software and in business.

A growth in Volume and Value.

Volume in terms of customers managed, because if at the beginning only a small percentage of customers were under the full responsibility of the Customer Success team, now, two years after the kick off, the post-sales of the vast majority of customers is managed by the customer success.

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The more you go into the details of the support to the many customers acquired, in particular the many requests and needs, the fewer customers can be managed by a single Customer Success Manager, the greater the amount of activities to be done every day: it follows that the team is growing rapidly of size, throughout the territory for which I am responsible, both nationally and internationally.

A growth in Volume that must be appropriately managed from a managerial point of view in order to dedicate the right attention to individuals, both as areas of individual improvement and professional development. It is a question of organization and enhancement of individual aptitudes, from the more technical to the more relational and developmental ones.

As an engineer, the method can only be that of successive approximations: we start from the cases of priority support with a vertical approach, on a single customer, to the horizontal extension of the offer of Customer Success services to all the companies of the group or to all customers in the same market sector.

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The volume of the team's activities therefore grows such as not to leave any customer alone in the delicate phase that follows the production of a new technological platform: it is time for use and optimization, it is time for the first measures of the return on investment and its value.

Value therefore enters the field: the one perceived by the customer but also the internal one.

In the end, the value perceived by the customer is the real objective of Customer Success: what has been sold must be used, appreciated, valued and compared with the initial objectives. It is absolutely not easy to measure the benefits on the business or the savings obtained but it is a fundamental analysis for the further development of the collaboration and commercial development. In fact, if we manage to draw concrete conclusions, positive measures of specific indicators together with our client, then the main objective is achieved with satisfaction by both parties. To calculate the business value, we don't lock ourselves in a room doing exercises on Excel but we need to talk about it together with our customers as long as there is that level of trust and real collaboration which is the basis of a healthy partnership.

The Value of Customer Success is also the one perceived internally by the company, in my case SAS, as it is a paradigm shift and business model that is happening very quickly and which undoubtedly has an impact on other departments and on other colleagues .

When the support and help that the Customer Success team can give to sales colleagues is experienced in the field, then the direct and indirect value is concretely understood. In fact, time is short, resources are pure, targets are ambitious and to be achieved every three months: Customer Success helps sellers to devote themselves to the development and research of new business without wasting precious energy in the demanding after-sales work.

I must also say that it is here that the "hunter" seller who actively seeks the development of the market with new customers is recognized, from the "farmer" who relies exclusively on "up-selling" or "cross-selling" starting from those existing.

In conclusion, the Volume and Value of Customer Success grow in unison with the passage of time and with the accumulation of successful experiences and initiatives.

I warmly invite every company (even small and medium-sized ones) to dedicate their best people to the care of acquired customers even in the absence of short-term commercial developments: they will be resources absolutely well spent for the health and future of your company.