Mastering High-Touch Enterprise Customers

Handling high-touch enterprise clients can be challenging, especially when the stakes are high. When you’re managing large Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) accounts, as a Customer Success Manager (CSM), you’re always in the spotlight. Company leaders, cross-functional teams, and your clients are all focused on one thing:

Are you consistently delivering the value that was promised?

Managing these clients is not just about keeping a good relationship. It’s about driving real business outcomes, managing different stakeholders, and being the go-to person for advice.

These clients want personalized attention and tailored solutions that fit their specific business needs. As a CSM, you need to:

• Act as a program manager: This means overseeing every interaction, from implementation to product adoption, and ensuring renewals go smoothly. You must coordinate with other teams and always stay on top of what’s happening.
• Be a consultant: You should provide strategic advice to your clients. To do this, you need to be a subject matter expert (SME) on your client’s industry, the challenges they face, and the product or services they’re using. Clients want someone who understands their world and can guide them in the right direction.

Example: If your client is considering a major project, like a digital transformation, your role isn’t just to support the implementation. It’s to offer guidance on whether this shift aligns with their business goals and help them weigh the risks and rewards.

But, managing enterprise clients is a team effort. While you’re the face of the relationship, many other teams are involved in delivering value. Here’s how they contribute:

• Sales team: They make the promises during the sale, and as a CSM, you ensure those promises are kept. Regular communication with sales helps make sure the client’s changing needs are always met.
• Product team: Enterprise clients often need special product features or adjustments. A strong relationship with the product team is key to advocating for these customizations.
• Professional services: These teams handle technical setups and implementations. Their work directly impacts how clients perceive your company’s ability to meet their needs.
• Support team: They manage day-to-day issues. It’s crucial that you and the support team work together to solve problems quickly, minimizing any friction for the client.

What Do Enterprise Clients Expect?

Enterprise customers have high expectations. They don’t just want good service—they want results that help their business grow. Here’s what they typically expect:

• Tailored solutions: Every conversation and solution should address their unique needs.
• Proactive communication: They want you to anticipate problems before they arise and have solutions ready.
• Executive attention: They like knowing that your company’s leadership is as invested in their success as you are.
• Seamless experience: Clients expect that all teams within your company work together without any issues, providing a smooth experience from start to finish.

Enterprise clients need more than just a vendor; they need someone they trust. As a CSM, you build that trust by:

• Listening actively: Make sure your client feels heard. Understand their goals and show them that you’re the problem-solver who can help them succeed.
• Delivering constant value: Don’t wait for quarterly reviews to engage. Stay in regular contact, sharing helpful insights and advice that keep your client on track.

Imagine a CSM named AR, managing a major enterprise client in the e-commerce industry. One day, the client reports that the platform's performance has significantly degraded, leading to slow response times during their peak sales season. This was a high-stakes situation as the client relied on the platform for their busiest period.

AR immediately assembles a cross-functional team involving support, engineering, and product development to identify and address the root cause of the problem. He organizes daily syncs with the client, ensuring transparent communication at every step. While the engineering team worked on a short-term fix to stabilize performance, AR helped the client implement a temporary workaround to minimize the impact on their operations.

Simultaneously, AR worked with the product team to craft a long-term solution, involving infrastructure upgrades to prevent future issues. AR presented a detailed action plan, including timelines, ongoing performance monitoring, and regular status updates, making sure the client felt supported and confident in the resolution process.

High-touch enterprise management is all about delivering consistent value, being a trusted consultant, and ensuring that your client feels heard and understood. It’s not a one-person job—it requires teamwork and coordination with various departments to deliver a seamless and delightful customer experience.

When you focus on building trust, staying proactive, and being an expert in your client’s industry, you set the foundation for a strong, lasting partnership that grows over time.