Data is the new Oil   The more you refine it, the more valuable it becomes. An old business partner once told me, a business with one window for paying out, and five windows for paying in is the right sort of business to invest in – think casinos. Casinos prosper because many of their customers believe they are more intelligent than the house and can beat the odds with bold betting strategies; these are the gamblers who drive most of their profits.  The 'investors' as the casino would like to call them, who win in the long run

7 Essential Steps for Customer Success Managers to Create a Successful Customer Journey  What is the Customer Journey?  The Customer Journey is a holistic approach to understanding customers’ interactions with a company or brand over time. It consists of every touchpoint, from awareness and consideration through to purchase and long-term loyalty. It involves both tangible experiences, such as product design and delivery, as well as intangible experiences, such as customer service, communications, and marketing. The concept of the Customer Journey was first introduced in the early 2000s to emphasize the importance of creating an end-to-end customer experience

What is a Customer Success Manager? Why should I want to be one? "This is a non job!" "It's just another sales job; I don't want to be a salesman with another name!" "I don't have any interest in doing tech support or the knowledge." Perhaps the first thing to admit here is that we must up our game! We need to get the message out to a broader audience that a Customer Success Manager role is not just another name for a sales job or tech support. A Customer Success Manager is a crucial player in an organization's sales strategy,

Community and Customer Success in 2023  Three (3) 2023 Predictions on Community and Customer Success Management  Customer Success is essential for businesses to thrive in the modern world. But how can companies ensure that their customers have a successful experience with their product or service? The answer lies in building strong customer community relationships and giving customers autonomy over their experiences. By fostering customer autonomy through community-driven growth, Customer Success Managers (CSMs) will be able to do more with less while providing greater value to customers.  In this blog article, we'll explore how leveraging communities can help

Utilizing Data and Technology to support Customer Success Management efforts   The role of data and technology in Customer Success Management  Data in Customer Success Management Data and technology are essential components of successful business operations, providing the insights and tools needed to manage customer success effectively and any aspect of an organization through evidence-based decision-making. It helps organizations measure performance, identify trends, understand customer needs, and recognize opportunities for growth. For example, data can show what customers want or need so that businesses know which products to make or services to offer. It also helps them figure

How Customer Success Managers Can Reduce Churn and Increase Retention in 2023  Churn, or customer churn, is the term used to describe when customers decide to stop doing business with a company. It is a particularly important metric for SaaS businesses, as high customer churn can lead to significant losses of revenue and therefore of profits. Customer churn is most commonly measured by assessing how many customers have left the company in a given period of time. There are several factors that can contribute to customer churn, including dissatisfaction with the service or product offering, competitive pressure

Customer Success Manager Salary Levels Are you getting paid fairly for Customer Success Management? What it takes to be a Customer Success Manager To be a great CSM, you need a combination of knowledge, skills, and experience including: Customer domain knowledge (an understanding of your customers' industries and how they work) Product knowledge (a good technical understanding of your company's product range including what each product does and how it works) Analytical skills (the ability to analyze data and resolve technical issues) Business knowledge (an understanding of how businesses function and how value is created) Interpersonal skills

Melting Pot or Salad Bowl Creating a Productive Team Culture I have worked and managed at both ends of the behavioural spectrum. As a trader in London's financial markets, I encountered a high-pressure environment that was immensely competitive and solely results-driven. As a consultant at a UK university, I found myself immersed In a much more laid-back culture where productivity was perhaps just one of many ways of contributing towards corporate achievement. Despite the wildly differing cultures, from aggressive to academic, there was a constant 'accommodation' - an acceptance that everyone had something to contribute to the whole.

Take Me to your Leader Analysing leadership skills and qualities Whatever your industry or sector, the number of competitors in your marketplace, each with their own value proposition and each with their own approach towards the customer relationships model, is likely to have grown over the last few years. Although this is undoubtedly a threat to your profitability, margins, and possibly even your existence, it is definitely a positive from the customer's point of view. Accompanying this increase in options are higher expectations from the vendor. This is not confined to the quality and functionality of the

The 5 Whys – problem-solving for CSMs Most of us have been confronted with either our own or other peoples’ small children repeatedly asking ‘Why…?’. This can be frustrating, but it can also make us question our own assumptions. For example: “Why are those people standing in a line?’ ‘It’s a queue’. ‘Why are they doing that?’ You know it’s the fairest way to wait for something, but when you hear yourself explaining it to a small child, you may begin to question your own norms. That’s the strength of the “5 Whys” technique; in 5 or

She canna take anymore Cap'n' Dealing with work overload, becoming more effective and meeting your goals. You often hear that the wife is the last to know when their partner is having an affair. Well, you could say something similar about stress; the person suffering from it is usually the last to know. It's unlikely you will have moved from being stress-free to being stressed overnight, as this condition gradually builds up, so it has become the norm for the stressed person. It also presents in different ways in different people; working as a trader in a

2023 for Customer Success Management What Customer Success professionals should look forward to this 2023? Customer Success has come a long way since its inception. In 2023, Customer Success Management will be more developed and widespread than ever before. Training and certification programs in Customer Success are expected to become increasingly popular as Companies focus on retaining customers through improved customer experience initiatives. Predictions for this emerging field include AI-driven automation becoming routine; companies investing heavily into CSM technology stack toolsets; data analytics taking center stage when it comes to understanding user behavior patterns; remote workforces being commonplace

Active Listening A new application of the 80/20 rule A few years ago, I had a very interesting lunch with a linguistics professor. His area of interest was AI speech recognition and understanding how we listen. What he told me has stayed with me and helps to explain something that had always puzzled me. See what you think and do let me know your own thoughts on this important topic. Have you ever noticed how someone will answer a question that has not been asked? For example, you meet someone you know and start the conversation by

Workload Pressure: Its Management for Success 3 Tips for Effectively Managing Workload Pressure Customer Success Managers have a heavy workload.  Being responsible for the overall post-sales journey towards the customer’s outcome success, it is common to find Customer Success Managers buried in work and often running out of time in which to complete all required tasks and activities. To ensure maximum value realization, Customer Success Managers monitor their clients' progress and any difficulties they face. They need to build tight working relationships with the customers' stakeholders and much more, while all the time ensuring that both customers and

Overview  Thank you to all the Customer Success Leaders who have already contributed to our Customer Success Management Training & Certification Survey 2022/23. The good news is that we have been delighted with results so far, and we hope to end up with over 250 validated responses from senior CS leader such as yourself. This will mean that the data we will have access to will be more than sufficient to draw truly meaningful statistical conclusions from for the CS Profession as a whole.  Customer Success Training, Certification, & CPD Survey 2023