Customer Success is not a Strategy-It's Who You Are!
Alex Burgin ???
Founder & CEO of Canyon Payments, Your Trusted Partner for Payment Implementation
"Investing early and often in customer success is essential to keeping a fast-growing SaaS business’s momentum." Tomasz Tunguz
The term customer success has emerged dramatically over the past few years, primarily within SaaS companies (Software as a Service). On LinkedIn there are 100K+ results for Customer Success Manager jobs, the majority of those titles likely didn't exist 5 years ago. Defining what customer success means varies widely and is usually applied differently at each company so it’s critical that your customer success strategy reflects your values.
Companies who aren't focused on customer success will be left behind, however your strategy has to be more than a mission statement on the wall. Your approach to customer success must become organically interwoven into every person and action of the company. In today’s transparent world you cannot fake customer success for long.
Do what's right for the customer because it's right for the customer
Investing in customer success means doing what’s right for the customer because it’s right for the customer. Recently I bought a used truck sight unseen from a dealer a thousand miles away. The salesperson walked me through the entire vehicle over the phone and I felt confident that it met my needs and was in good condition. After making a deposit and booking travel to pick it up I noticed in the pictures it didn't have a trailer hitch, the ad indicated it was standard equipment. I contacted the dealership and was told it was an oversight on their part but that they would take care of it immediately and have a new hitch installed. The salesperson didn’t try to back out of the deal, ask for more money or blame anyone else for the mistake. He said he would make it right and he installed a more expensive, heavier duty hitch than what was standard or what I was expecting. His ultimate goal was to make sure he had a happy customer. It worked.
Pictured with Chad Burgin
As you think about your customer success strategy, make sure it becomes part of each interaction of every employee in the company. If you can accomplish that you will likely see more happy customers, less churn and a more efficient team.
General Manager at Lenzner Lines Tour and Travel, a sister company with WindStar Lines
10 年Well said Alex, well said.
Professional Longarm Quilter
10 年Great article, Alex
Great article and example of a positive customer experience. Unfortunately there are many examples out there of businesses who care more about profit than their customers. I am always loyal to those that take care of me as their customer. Great points.
Senior Business Leader | Mental Wellbeing Advocate | Psychotherapist | Building Trusting, Lasting Relationships Across Industries
10 年The best stuff goes around and gets re-named. Grateful for the creative vision Wilson Ku had in encouraging me to read this back in 1992; https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DZRamXAwIcoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Jim+Clemmer%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1JbtVJqDMeLY7Ab4wYC4BA&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA/
Director of Product Growth Acceleration and Strategic Partnerships at Visa
10 年"Do what's right for the customer because it's right for the customer" - this is often overlooked but should be the primary focus of every business. Great post!