How to Drive Your Customer Success Team to Excel
4 Ways to Improve a Customer Success Team
Managing a successful customer success team can be a challenging task. The needs of your team will change as it grows and matures, and so of course will your customers’ needs. Often, strategies that once worked when the requirements were simpler to understand and to perform and less diverse in their range of knowledge and skill requirements might begin to falter. For example, new recruits might increasingly struggle with onboarding, and the team fails to meet the demands of the company. However, there are several ways to overcome these challenges and drive your customer success team to excel continuously. In this article, we will explore four key strategies to improve your customer success team.
1. Develop and Manage Team Culture
One of the foundational elements of a high-performing customer success team is a strong team culture. Recognizing that each team member thrives in different environments is crucial for increasing productivity. By understanding the individual needs of team members, you can create an environment where everyone can thrive and work together effectively. This involves fostering open communication, encouraging collaboration, and promoting a positive and supportive atmosphere. When team members feel valued and supported, they are more likely to excel in their roles and contribute to the team’s success.
When recruiting new team members, think “How can this candidate contribute to our existing culture?”. You are not looking for carbon copies, you are looking for the ability to increase your team’s diversity but in a way that complements and works well with the existing team’s capabilities, philosophy and way of working.
2. Build a Framework
To ensure efficiency and order within the customer success team, it is essential to establish a clear framework. Working within a team often involves making decisions, both trivial and critical, on a regular basis. By implementing a specific workflow or process, you provide a structure that guides team members in their tasks and responsibilities. A well-defined framework helps streamline operations, reduces confusion, and allows the team to work cohesively towards achieving their goals. Remember, failing to plan is planning to fail, so investing time and effort into establishing a robust framework is crucial for long-term success.
The good news is that there is no need whatsoever to start from scratch. Our own Practical CSM Framework is a generic framework for Customer Success Management best practice that will take your team through the typical engagement lifecycle of an entire post-sales customer journey, including research, onboarding, adoption, value realization, loyalty-building, and so much more. Want to learn more? Go here.
3. Collaborate
Effective collaboration is a cornerstone of any successful team. A customer success team cannot operate in isolation, and it is important to foster collaboration among team members. Building strong working relationships and promoting open communication channels are essential for sharing information, ideas, and insights. Encourage team members to actively participate, contribute their thoughts and suggestions, and provide feedback. By embracing collaboration, you create an environment where innovative ideas can flourish, hidden talents can be discovered, and collective intelligence can drive success. Remember, the collective wisdom of the team is often greater than that of any individual member.
Try to recruit for the gaps in your existing team’s knowledge, skills and experience. That way you will rapidly increase the overall capability of the team. Run regular team meet-ups where the emphasis is on the transfer of expertise so that ultimately everyone in the team becomes as expert as the person who first brought that particular aspect of expertise into the team.
4. Allow Growth
Investing in the growth and development of your customer success team is vital for their success and the overall success of your organization. This is especially important for new team members who may lack customer success experience or familiarity with your company’s culture and workflow. Providing comprehensive training programs ensures that new hires quickly acclimate to their roles, understand their responsibilities, and become productive contributors. Additionally, ongoing training is essential for keeping the team updated on the latest strategies, trends, and industry developments. Empowering your team with the knowledge and skills they need to excel sets them up for success and drives better results.
To do this, take the time to learn about each team member’s individual career goals and aspirations. Do not make assumptions about team members and do not place your own limiting beliefs on them. Work with them each year to agree a set of targets for them to attain over the next twelve month period. Make sure these targets will stretch them sufficiently to ensure they grow but at the same time are realistically obtainable so that they are not asked to perform the impossible. Over the year play your part in coaching and mentoring them, and in ensuring they have sufficient resources (for example training) to do what was agreed.
Conclusion,
To drive your customer success team to excel, it is essential to focus on creating a supportive team culture, establishing a clear framework, fostering collaboration, and investing in growth and development. These four strategies work in harmony to build a high-performing team that can consistently meet and exceed the demands of your company. By valuing each team member’s individual needs and strengths, promoting open communication and collaboration, and providing comprehensive training, you empower your team to excel and achieve success. Remember, the true path to success lies in the collective efforts and dedication of an engaged and empowered team. By implementing these strategies, you set the stage for continuous improvement and outstanding performance in customer success.
If you would like help mastering the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to be a truly great team leader and team manager, visit practicalcsm.com/checkup/ to learn more about how we can help you.
