Ready for your annual Customer Success Kickoff (CSKO)?

Protecting current customer revenue and expanding customer relations have been central for most companies this year after so many new opportunities in the pipeline were put on hold because of the pandemic.

Regardless of events that have impacted all of us in 2020 (many companies are also prospering in this new economy!), it is a good idea in a subscription economy to deepen your relationships with your customers.

Why not only focus on new logos?

According to Invesp Consulting, existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more on your products, when compared to new customers.

As a result, fast-growing companies like Square Inc. understand that “closed won” in your CRM is no longer the end of the revenue stream from that customer, but rather, the beginning of a partnership where both your company and the customer can benefit for years to come if shared goals are achieved. Last week Square held a customer success summit, bringing together people from multiple teams from multiple departments to learn and grow. I had the opportunity to host a workshop with them where global leaders discussed best in class technology. It was so refreshing to hear so many engaged leaders volunteer to speak up and work together to create a better customer experience. It is never too early to start planning for 2021!

One of my favorite Customer Success Kickoffs. Learn together and then cook together...the BrightEdge crew!

Some might argue “We don’t have time for a customer success summit. We are in firefighting mode.” Even if it is a 90-minute workshop one afternoon to focus on one key theme to better enable your team, your company will benefit. It is an opportunity to educate your customer’s trusted advisor, your CSMs! Bringing your team together to improve skills and to talk strategy, whether on Zoom, Google Meet, or in person, will lead to more confident and energized employees. 

Including other teams in Kick-Off and learning events or hosting customer success summits like Square did last week is a trend that will continue even if teams can’t get together in person; customer-centric companies understand that employee enablement has an immediate impact on the organization. One of my favorite texts from a client after their company Kick-Off reads, “We have already started implementing the frameworks you taught in our internal meetings - thank you!" Another customer told me, "I wish Product was part of these Kick-Offs too, so they can better understand how Sales sells the product and how we enable our customers.”

Companies are also recognizing the need to include Marketing and Sales members in some of the customer success summit sessions. This results in multiple teams speaking the same language when it comes to Sales and CS handoffs. It further means that there will be a mutual understanding of what customers look for and demand and what impact a product has on a company.

‘Scaling’ can’t just mean adding reps in new territories since customers need full end-to-end experience for success. Sales shouldn’t have to feel responsible for the entire buyer’s journey. Instead, Sales and Customer success should work together, to multithread opportunities across organizations, expanding relationships with people who can benefit from using your product while creating impact for your customers along the way.

Hitting 1000 customers was a big deal when Jobvite was much smaller than it is today. How did we plan for the next 1000? By looking at our strengths, establishing Success Pillars, and aligning with all the other teams in the company.

Investing in your employees for cross-team enablement on a yearly and biannual cadence is a strategic investment in your company and customers. If you create experiences for your team where they can learn, role-play to practice what they are learning, and work through cross-functional challenges, they will deliver a better customer journey. I’ve had the pleasure of helping customers address these challenges at their Kick-Offs through keynote speaking, running workshops, and facilitating strategic sessions. The results are consistently high impact.

These actions can ultimately lead to Increased retention as your team gains confidence with a better understanding of what drives your customers and the power of your product.

Chorus.ai brought the entire company together in London for a week of learning and bonding in January 2020. I am thankful to have been part of this very speciaal Kickoff! 

It’s not just about Sales teams coming together, it’s about including your go-to-market teams when planning 2021. Bringing people across teams together to discuss the gaps, to identify where there is an opportunity to strengthen customer cross-team relationships, and to embrace goals for the new year is key to continued success.  

Imagine what you can accomplish if you start including your Customer Success and Marketing teams in your annual events. How can you incorporate Product and Engineering? Your Growth team? Bringing people together from different teams to share perspectives, learn from each other, and to agree on shared goals without email, slack, and meeting disruption can be powerful. Having a shared vision and goals across teams, renewing morale with a themed event, and having tough conversations about what the team is doing well and where there is an opportunity to improve, will only make the whole company stronger going into the new year.

Must-Dos:

• Create an inspirational experience with a key theme: think of your favorite cliche saying and then keep brainstorming until you find a purpose that will invoke excitement about coming together to get uncomfortable, to learn, and to grow as a team.
• Include some non-work elements: making masks to show off your creativity, cooking contests (it doesn’t have to be in person!), skill competition that has nothing to do with work (playing instruments, poetry, growing a garden, drawing contest). Make it fun!
• Each session should have a central focus: Even with a 90-minute session, you can have a big impact by cutting the noise and going deep on one topic.
• Bring in outside perspectives to discuss trends: Your customers! Consultants who have been in your shoes before. So often companies forget to look at what best-in-class looks like and fresh ideas will invigorate your team thinking.
• Customer Success Conferences: So many of them are free this year and online. Carve out time to be part of them as a team.
• Learn together: If you are a leader, attend the trainings. I have hosted workshops where the leader was on their phone the whole time and where the leader was engaged and learning with the team. You can guess which event was more successful.
• This is the beginning: Don’t let the learning die at the end of the event. Sign up for key initiatives that come out of the event and hold regular power sessions to review the initiatives and status. These events are meant to kickstart growth.

My partner’s company hosted a mini-team event & sent everyone drawing supplies. They also had a professional artist guide them through a drawing lesson. My 8-year-old joined in on the fun…!

I’m excited and hopeful for the coming year. 2020 can either bring us down or fire us up to make a change starting now. It is never too early, to planning how you are going to make an impact on your teams, your organizations, and your customers.

If you need help planning your next Customer Success Summit to drive meaningful impact for your organization, reach out. I love helping companies and people grow.

Emilia