Pragya Dubey’s Post

The evolving and expanding scope of revenue teams! What am I talking about ? How Customer Success. It's Not Just About Closing the Deal (But It Helps!) Remember the days when a sale meant the finish line? Yeah, those days are long gone. In today's competitive landscape, customer success is the new closing handshake. Here's why prioritizing customer success is a win-win for everyone: Happy Customers = Loyal Customers: When you help customers achieve their goals with your product, they're more likely to stick around for the long haul. Think recurring revenue and glowing testimonials! Proactive Problem Solving: By focusing on customer success, you identify issues early on and prevent churn. It's like fixing a leaky roof before it rains cats and dogs (metaphorically speaking, of course). Upselling & Cross-Selling Opportunities: Happy customers are open to exploring other products or services that can further benefit them. It's a natural progression when trust and value are established. But wait, there's more! Here are some ways to elevate your customer success game: Focus on Onboarding: A smooth and personalized onboarding experience sets the stage for long-term success. Think clear communication, helpful resources, and readily available support. Proactive Communication: Don't wait for customers to come to you. Schedule regular check-ins, gather feedback, and proactively address any challenges they might be facing. Become a Customer Advocate: Your customer success team should be the customer's biggest cheerleader within your company. Advocate for their needs and ensure they have a positive experience at every touchpoint. Ready to make customer success a priority? Share your best customer success strategies or favorite customer success tools in the comments...

Customer Success Management is a Growth Engine. But it has been misused for a decade as glorified support and became perceived as a cost center. CSMs have been made to believe, that they have to choose between delivering value and creating revenue. That's how Customer Success Management has gotten such a poor reputation among the leadership in many SaaS companies. The truth is that delivering value and creating revenue are connected throughout the entire customer journey. 1. Customer onboarding has nothing to do with features and functions. It's supposed to give customers proof of value to justify renewing for the next month(s) or upgrading to an annual contract. 2. Long-term renewals depend on customers achieving their initial desired outcomes. Customer Success teams need to provide them with the education and training that enable customers to solve their initial problems 3. Successful Customers are looking for ways to further scale their value. This is where CSMs can shine as strategic advisors. Helping customers to improve their inputs beyond the level they can achieve through the basic program. 4. Customer value can not only be expanded vertically but also horizontally. You can find additional use cases within the customers' company or even create them by helping customers raise the bar (next-level goals). 5. If you deliver significant value to your customers, you have earned the right to ask for referrals. Asking who else would benefit like they do is a super powerful question. Remember: The more value you create for your customers, the more revenue you will create for your company. PS: Here are 40 free questions to challenge yourself and improve your performance --> https://lnkd.in/dPDMrPUA

"So, what's the deal with Customer Success? Is it just fancy support?" I hear this a lot, both inside and outside of my SaaS circles. Unfortunately, in many cases, it's true. It boils down to how the Customer Success Managers position themselves: - The first impression often involves diving straight into technical problem-solving during onboarding. - All interactions are reactive; CSMs wait for customers to reach out. - Conversations revolve around product features rather than business outcomes. - The true value of the CSM role isn't effectively communicated during the sales process. No wonder Customer Success gets mistaken for support. Here are 5 game-changing adjustments: 1. Lay Down Goals and Expectations Early Discuss business objectives with customers upfront. This lays the foundation for a relationship focused on achieving business goals, not just fixing issues. 2.Speak the Business Language Get acquainted with customers' industries, business models, and KPIs. Talking about product features in terms of business impact elevates discussions from technical to strategic. 3. Embrace Proactive Engagement Initiate conversations with customers, offering insights, recommendations, and strategic guidance. This positions you as a trusted advisor, not just a support contact. 4. Educate and Empower Equip customers with knowledge, best practices, and strategic advice. This makes you an invaluable resource for their growth and success. 5. Foster Internal Advocacy When all departments understand the strategic role of Customer Success, it reinforces its importance externally. Aligning everyone internally helps customers see CS as a strategic function. Let's aim for a world where when I explain what we do at Startdeliver, people respond with: "Customer Success... that's a strategic partner helping customers achieve their business goals and driving internal growth, right?" We'll get there.

🤷♂️🤷♂️Ever Wondered what are Customer success strategies : 5️⃣steps to success.. Customer success is a strategic approach in business that helps users derive maximum value from the product or service they have purchased. For SaaS companies, this means helping your customers make the most of their software from day one. Though it sounds a lot like traditional support (and frequently overlaps with it), a customer success strategy focuses on building long-term relationships with customers rather than solving one-time issues. The purpose of customer success teams is to work closely with your customers to track the value they are gaining from the software. 5️⃣Steps to Customers Success include the following.. 🍁Build a better onboarding process : Onboarding is the most critical element in the entire customer journey. The onboarding experience sets the tone for your relationship with customers, and it can lead to higher satisfaction, retention, and ultimately, success. 🍁Personalize the customer experience :Personalization is even more important in the B2B realm because users want to feel valued and understood as individuals — tailoring our interactions with them can go a long way in building strong, lasting relationships. 🍁Educate your customers: One of the pillars of a successful customer success strategy is to educate your customers. By providing valuable information and learning resources, we empower our customers to maximize the benefits of your product or service. 🍁Support users through the right channels: Customer support is critical to the success of your business, so you’ll have to build a knowledgeable customer support team. But there’s one little detail many SaaS companies forget, and that is to figure out their users’ preferred communication channels. 🍁Provide ongoing support : Customer success doesn't end when a sale is made or a contract is signed — it's an ongoing process that requires consistent and attentive support. Hence we can understand about the steps that are needed for customer success. Do share your experiences on it and express your views on the same. Follow Siddharth S. Gupta🌟 for more valuable posts on customer success.

Customer Success Management is a Growth Engine. But it has been misused for a decade as glorified support and became perceived as a cost center. CSMs have been made to believe, that they have to choose between delivering value and creating revenue. That's how Customer Success Management has gotten such a poor reputation among the leadership in many SaaS companies. The truth is that delivering value and creating revenue are connected throughout the entire customer journey. 1. Customer onboarding has nothing to do with features and functions. It's supposed to give customers proof of value to justify renewing for the next month(s) or upgrading to an annual contract. 2. Long-term renewals depend on customers achieving their initial desired outcomes. Customer Success teams need to provide them with the education and training that enable customers to solve their initial problems 3. Successful Customers are looking for ways to further scale their value. This is where CSMs can shine as strategic advisors. Helping customers to improve their inputs beyond the level they can achieve through the basic program. 4. Customer value can not only be expanded vertically but also horizontally. You can find additional use cases within the customers' company or even create them by helping customers raise the bar (next-level goals). 5. If you deliver significant value to your customers, you have earned the right to ask for referrals. Asking who else would benefit like they do is a super powerful question. Remember: The more value you create for your customers, the more revenue you will create for your company. PS: Start growing your revenue impact --> https://lnkd.in/eHeA2GkR

Unpopular opinion: What most SaaS companies are doing is not Customer Success Management. It's extended Customer Support. Don’t get me wrong - every company needs great support. But Customer Support and CSM don't have the same purpose and goals. They don't follow the same approach. There's a simple reason why 95% of CSM is - 80-90% reactive work - aimed at keeping churn under control - focused on activities rather than impact It's the CSM training and education of the past decade. CSMs have not been taught how to proactively lead customers to success. They have been taught to prioritize internal processes, efficiency and scaling. As if customers with their needs and goals can be tailored to it. A few examples: 1. Customer Health Scores is the top CSM metric instead of customer progress. 2. The goal of CSM is to maximize product adoption and usage instead of customer value. 3. Content and service performance is measured by consumption instead of impact. 4. CSMs are checking in in with customers if usage or health drops instead of following up to ensure steady progress. 5. Customer Success Plans are use case documentations based on a superficial information rather than roadmaps built on in-depth discovery. And because everybody copied from everybody these practices have become the industry standard. As long as CSM teams follow them they are doomed to failure. PS: Here’s the alternative --> https://lnkd.in/d3Mk-wt3

Attention entrepreneurs! 📣 Customer Support isn't a substitute for unskilled Customer Success Managers. 🚫 You can't just patch up issues and automate processes without a solid foundation. Customer Support is a strategic ally that unblocks skilled teams and allows them to excel in their craft. 🚀 By optimizing processes, promoting effective communication, and delivering exceptional experiences, Customer Support empowers Customer Success Managers to focus on their core responsibilities. 📈 They can define customer success strategies, nurture relationships, and prioritize actions to drive satisfaction and retention. 🎯 Let's be clear - Customer Support doesn't diminish the significance of a Customer Success Manager's role, it amplifies it! 🙌 This collaboration empowers Customer Success Managers to harness their expertise and empathy, while relying on the operational excellence of the Customer Support team. 💼 In essence, Customer Support serves as the infrastructure that enables Customer Success Managers to be efficient and effective. 💡 It streamlines workflows, optimizes resource allocation, and reduces friction in the customer journey. This isn't about replacing anyone or adding unnecessary "middleman" roles - it's about empowering everyone involved to reach their full potential. ⚡️ So, let's raise a toast to the partnership between Customer Success Managers and Customer Support! 🥂 Together, we can enhance what's already there and push the boundaries of what's possible in delivering remarkable customer success. 💪🌟 #CustomerSuccess #CollaborationGoals

I hear debates all the time about what Customer Success is and is not, so let’s take a moment to clear up any confusion and bring some clarity. To start, let’s just forget Customer Success for a moment and discuss what happens when a customer purchases a software subscription. 👨🏻🔧Professional Services 👨🏻🔧 Once a new customer is kicked off, there are many tactical, and often technical, things that need to occur so the customer can get value out of the platform: - Creating an instance - Configuring and setting up this instance - Converting and importing data - Creating custom items like workflows or reporting - Educating users These are the domain of professional services, which is work that we do on behalf of the customer so that they are able to use and receive value from the platform. With services complete, the customer can begin to use and experience value. 🛠️Support 🛠️ Once customer are using the platform, two things are likely to happen: - The customer will have questions on how to do things; - The customer will run into technical issues. These two needs are the realm of support, which exists to: - Answer how-to questions and direct customers to resources; - Troubleshoot and solve technical issues. 👩🏻💼Account Management 👩🏻💼 If a customer is using the platform, seeing value, getting questions answered, and getting problems solved, eventually they will need to purchase more product or service or eventually renew their subscription. This is the work of account management, a sales function focused on existing customers. Account Managers qualify opportunities, running a sales process, and close business. ❓So What’s Missing? ❓ In the process above, who’s accountable for ensuring the customer sees value from this process? 🚫 Not Services – they’re accountable for effective and efficient delivery. 🚫 Not Support – they’re accountable for efficiently resolving questions and problems. 🚫 Not account management – they’re accountable for hitting retention targets. ✨Customer Success ✨ Now the gap, and who fills it, becomes clear: Customer Success ensures the customer sees value from the subscription. How does it do that? Well, for one, using the resources at its disposal, namely services, support, and account management. But also, customer success must have its own methodology that mitigates risk and drives toward measurable success. But to start, simply remember that Customer Success... - IS NOT Onboarding - IS NOT Consulting - IS NOT Development - IS NOT Training - IS NOT Answering how-to questions - IS NOT Solving technical issues - IS NOT Renewing subscriptions - IS NOT Upselling or expanding subscriptions #customersuccess #customerexperience

For professionals transitioning from Customer Service, Customer Success roles leverage their customer-centric skills while opening new avenues for career advancement and personal development. In the latest live session of Diversity in Customer Success, brought to you in partnership with Success in Black, a panel of professionals explored how individuals from various Customer Service environments can leverage their backgrounds to thrive in Customer Success roles. During the webinar, host Virginia Bloom and expert guest panelists–Asheley Griffin, Mukhtar Mohamoud, and Nesha Knox–discussed: ⭐️ Customer Success and its opportunities for professionals with Customer Service experience ⭐️ Key differences and similarities between Customer Service and Customer Success ⭐️ Common obstacles encountered during the transition and strategies to overcome them ⭐️ Practical advice for those looking to enter the Customer Success field from a service field And so much more! Check out the replay and transcript on the SuccessCOACHING Blog to gain invaluable insights into transformation and career growth. Comment below your favorite part of the webinar! https://lnkd.in/gtaYcDVe #customersuccess #customersuccessmanager #successcoaching #CustomerService

What Customer Success Is Not vs. What Customer Success Is ❌ Customer Success Is NOT: 1️⃣ 📞 Customer Support: It’s not just solving tickets—it’s proactive, not reactive. 2️⃣ 🔄 Chasing Renewals: It’s not about pressuring customers at renewal time; success is built long before. 3️⃣ ⏳ A One-Time Activity: Success isn’t achieved during onboarding alone—it’s ongoing. 4️⃣ 🚦 Just a Nice-to-Have: It’s not optional—Customer Success drives retention, growth, and loyalty. 5️⃣ 🏢 The Responsibility of One Team: Success isn’t siloed; it’s a company-wide mindset. ✅ Customer Success IS: 1️⃣ 🤝 Proactive Partnership: It’s about understanding customers’ goals and helping them achieve them. 2️⃣ 🏆 Driving Value: Ensuring customers get the maximum benefit from your product or service. 3️⃣ 📣 Advocating for Customers: CS bridges the gap between customer needs and internal teams. 4️⃣ 💡 Retention + Growth: Happy customers stay longer and grow their investment with you. 5️⃣ 🔄 Continuous Engagement: CS is an ongoing journey of listening, adapting, and delivering. 💡 The Best Customer Success Managers Know: Success is about ensuring your customers thrive—not just with your product, but in their broader business goals. What does Customer Success mean to you? Let’s discuss in the comments! #CustomerSuccess #Retention #CustomerAdvocacy #ProactivePartnership #Growth