Your clients have amnesia - you MUST remind them of the impact they were looking to achieve, before it's too late

When coaching Customer Success teams, I often joke and tell them that their clients have amnesia. They forget why they bought your product or service in the first place. After being a customer for some time they forget what life was like before you, and they just get used to the good life and their bar and expectations are set higher each time they renew. It is your job to constantly remind them of the impact they were looking to achieve when they first bought and the impact they continue to achieve - before it's too late.

What do we mean by "too late"?

Here is an example of a hotel scenario I have encountered in the past.

When staying in a hotel, what is the impact I am looking to achieve?

• Typically, when I travel for work, I am looking for a great night's sleep (free from kids and snoring husbands) and feel refreshed (Impact 1).
• So that I can be well-rested for my meetings the next day and do great work for my clients (Impact 2).
• I am also looking for a great shower to get clean and wash away the plane, ubers, conference rooms, etc. (Impact 3).
• Lastly, a nice/functional gym to get some exercise (Impact 4).

Most hotels check you in - they are very pleasant, wish you a wonderful stay and then upon check out ask "how was your stay?" At this point, there is nothing that can be done. If I did not achieve my desired impact (feeling rested, clean, and energized) they cannot help me at that point. All they can do is mitigate my feelings of dissatisfaction. It is too late.

Pro-active Interactions

Hotel Zetta, on the other hand, gives you a call a few minutes after you get into your room and asks, "How is your room? Do you have everything you need? Do you require more towels?" At this point, while they can't help me get a good night's sleep - if I happen to notice I'm too close to the elevators or have a rowdy group next door, I can change rooms. All things that might impact my stay. By asking specifically about towels they are prompting me on something they know many guests need to ask for in advance so I get it before I need it. Otherwise, I will likely realize I need an extra towel when I'm standing soaking wet and at that point, it's too late. This process ensures that I am set up for the best stay possible to deliver the greatest impact.

They do this for every customer, for every room. Is this super scalable? No. However, they become more efficient because they can call when they have a free moment. It saves them the time and headache of risking a customer calling in the middle of them speaking with another customer (with others potentially waiting) causing a ripple effect of unhappy customers. It prevents them from having to run "save plays" for customers who are unhappy after the fact.

A side note, they also were one of the first hotels to send an email for auto check in to help save time at the counter when you first arrive, which both increases customer satisfaction, (because who wants to take extra time checking in) and also helps free up their time proactively helping guests. They also provide notes and instructions for how to work the nuances of their hotel to help proactively answer questions in a scalable way so that they can save their personalized moments for when it matters most.

Did they need to ask me what my desired impact was? not at all. They know because they have hosted thousands of customers and they know what we are looking for, to some degree.

How can we implement this in Customer Success?

You generally know what your customers are looking for since you have worked with hundreds of customers like them previously, so you should at least have some idea.

It is now your job to look at the way your CSMs manage your customers. Are they proactively reaching out and ensuring your customers are getting their desired impact consistently? Or are they sitting back on their heels waiting to get the call?

Too often I work with Customer Success teams that are stuck in a reactive zone and can't escape. You as a leader need to help them shift gears, let support do their job, and handle the reactive cases so that your CSMs can focus on connecting with your clients at key moments to ensure they are achieving their desired impact, meeting their needs, and helping them proactively think of new ways to drive impact for their business.

Here are three things you can do to get started.

1. Identify what impact your customers are looking to achieve (either what they identified in the sales process, during a kick off call, or pick a common one).
2. In your next conversation with each customer ask them the following: "When you initially purchased you were looking to achieve <insert impact> is that correct?" now that you have been using this product for <x amount of time> are you achieving that impact?"
3. If the answer is yes press forward to identify new areas of impact that they can achieve, typically this is a great time to share a customer story. If the answer is no, seek to understand and better diagnose the situation and get them back on the right path to impact.