Many organizations are missing a true understanding of their customer.
They think about the customer in terms of how they use the product, not how they leverage the product to achieve their own business objectives.
Consequently, vendors organize themselves and their teams to drive product use out of context to the customer’s business environment and culture, and to react to customer challenges in the context of their own business objectives.
This inevitably creates an operational discord, preventing companies from delivering effective customer experiences and maximizing customer revenue.
Companies operating in this manner tend to deliver customer success at the customer, not for the customer.
I call this Random Acts of Customer Success.
Does the customer really want that quarterly business review (or does your organization think this will improve retention)? Do they want to sit through all of the educational material to become an expert on your product (or does your company not know how to provide just the relevant amount of information that the specific customer needs to achieve their goal)?
Probably not.
They are looking to learn and use the product only insofar as it helps them to achieve their own goals.
The easier and faster that can occur, the better.
Create opportunity through your customer’s point of view.
When a company understands its customers - what they are trying to achieve, why the bought the product and how it seamlessly fits into their organization – it can create an intelligent framework that anchors on the customer’s total business.
This customer centric point of view allows vendors to service customers in the context of what they need and when they need it, allowing for a more natural adoption of the product within the customer’s own environment.
Often it highlights what additionally a vendor can do to make product adoption easier which they may not have otherwise thought about when thinking only from a product centric point of view.
This holistic approach allows vendors to align their business to its customer’s – organizing its teams to map, execute and measure a playbook across the total “customer funnel” – to drive repeatable, customer success in the most efficient and proactive way.
An approach that unifies both your business and customers’ objectives ensures everyone wins: your customers who grow their business by realizing the true value of your products, your business that maximizes its customer revenue potential and your employees, who gain greater job satisfaction from helping customers reach new levels of success.