10 Must Read LinkedIn Posts: Customer Success (Mar 2023)
Good management is important.
Of course- we all want a good one or want to be one. Or both 😉.
Have you been thinking about new or better practices to bring into your management practice?
Well- especially if you’re in the customer success space- we've got some goodies for you.
Like always, LinkedIn’s been a wealth of knowledge. So here are our top posts from the previous month.
Hope you enjoy these as much as we did!
1. CS as a Growth Engine
We loved Bhumika’s point of view that customer success is so much bigger than just renewals and trying to put a cap on churn. Customer success is not the same as customer service- a trap we’ve seen far too many businesses fall into believing. It’s much bigger than that. It’s more than trying to put temporary band-aids on big customer problems. This unified culture of customer-centricity should be permeating through your entire organization. And when that happens, we can really see customer success teams thrive and take on a larger role in broad growth across the organization!
2. The Chief Customer Officer Maturity Model
Rob’s post really resonated with me- not just because it was about being a better leader, but because this model he presents can also be used as a tool for less senior employees. By having multiple levels of seniority all rank themselves according to the same markers, leaders can foster a sense of equity. And by naming these various areas, it gives people specific things to work on, rather than just broad ideas of how they can improve.
3. Don’t Treat All Customers the Same!
Is Kristen reading our minds here at Tingono? She dives into why treating all customers the same can actually hold you back from a successful customer success motion. We’ve talked in depth about this! Like she says, all customers deserve a great experience. We should always aim to give them the best. But, the best might not look the same for each one of them. Some need more, some need less. A customer that enjoys a more hands-off experience may not constantly want a bug in their ear from their CSM. But a customer who’s totally new to a product like yours may need some prodding to get full value from it. Finding that sweet spot for each customer can help you ensure they have a longer LTV with you.
4. Thinking about the Customer Versus the Account as Your Marker for LTV
This might not be something you fully commit to, but it’s certainly an interesting philosophy to consider. Maranda speaks about how when she has a successful relationship with a vendor, she will champion them at every company she works at after. By investing in a deeper relationship with her, vendors can win at her current company, and if she leaves, hopefully still keep the account, AND get a new one with wherever she heads next.
5. “Customer Success was never designed to do more with less (scale)”
In the first post here, we touched on customer success as a growth motion. And here it is again- Asaff dives into just why customer success needs to be more than just a department in a company- it needs to be something that everyone in the company takes responsibility for and works towards. And marking success with ROI’s is key to this being a truly successful motion. So what steps are you taking to ensure that customer success is reaching beyond your team?
6. Making Everything we do More Specific, More Pointed
Like always, but especially now, we can’t just expect to throw spaghetti at the wall and hope our team achieves renewals off that. Creating a game plan for every possible situation with specific steps can save us a lot of heartache down the road. No one wants to plan for downgrades or churn- but thinking about combatting them before they happen can be a huge help in still achieving a longer relationship with customers.
7. Pushing Customer Success to the Next Level
Kevin makes a tough to hear, but probably truthful point- the champion leaving the account shouldn’t put the account in danger. If your product is being used to its full capability, and used well, it shouldn’t be just your champion advocating for it. Are you taking steps to ensure that your team isn’t leaning on just one champion per account? What does leading your team away from this common issue look like in your company?
8. Customer-Led Growth isn’t Going Anywhere in 2023
Customer-led growth- we all seem to be talking about it. Even if it’s not a fit for your company right now, it doesn’t hurt any leader to be aware of the current trends in SaaS. And Gemma is putting up the big claim that it’s cheaper than new business (most things are), but also that it’s faster and reliable. Is customer-led growth coming your way in 2023? Are you ready to compete with competitors using it?
9. Grow Your Empathy for Others
We can all learn from this post- although Valeriya is specifically aiming at customer success managers working with their customers, leadership can always do better by having more empathy, especially with less senior employees. With burnout becoming a larger issue, we can all do better to serve ourselves and our colleagues with more empathy.
10. Laughing at Ourselves can be the Best Medicine
No, this isn’t explicit to customer success. But we can all do a little better to make our work a little bit brighter- whether that’s through empathy, humor, or teamwork. We can cultivate a stronger, better bond with our colleagues that make us feel more unified, and help us work towards our shared goals. And like we’ve read, customer success should be everyone’s goal 😉.
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