4 mistakes to avoid when managing your customer success team
You finally figured out what you need from your customer success team, but figuring stuff out is just the beginning of the journey that is customer success. Everyone wants to jump on the customer success bandwagon but executing those strategies is the real battle.
The definition of customer success is very broad and can mean anything from customer success managers doing expansion activities to people that work with account managers to help expand accounts. Whatever your organisation’s definition of customer success is, here are 4 mistakes customer success leaders can avoid when setting up customer success teams.
Not investing in the right software for your customer success team
To answer the most obvious question in your mind as a customer success leader: No, Salesforce.com will not cut it. You can buy add-ons etc., but plain and simple Salesforce.com is not built for customer success and will not cut it.
The next question to ask is: what solution should you buy? There is no simple answer to this question. You need to analyse the success metrics you want to track in a solution and then look for a solution that can help you track the success metrics. Don’t make the mistake of first buying a solution and then figuring out if it will work for you or not.
However, the biggest mistake a customer success leader can make is not having a customer success software at all!
Not nailing down your own and your team’s KPIs
Like we mentioned in the beginning of the post, the definition of customer success is different in different organisations. If you are an existing customer success manager or are planning on building a team, the first thing you need to nail down is the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) you need to track.
There is no point in starting out a team and then realizing that even though you were hitting your dollar targets you were supposed to concentrate on churn!
Conversely, don’t try to be the master of all either. That is, don’t take on everything under your KPIs in one go. Start with short terms goals while reaching for long term goals.
Expecting quick results
Customer success by nature is designed to run for much longer as compared to your regular sales cycle. If your management or you as a sales leader are expecting results in a month or so, then the expectations are already incorrect. The best-case scenario you should be expecting in a couple of months is development of a pipeline or increased customer engagement.
If you are dealing with particularly challenging sectors like government, education and not for profits, you will find customer success taking even longer to hit the mark.
Having said the earlier, the nature of the product you sell will also greatly influence how quickly you get results.
Failing to establish a repeatable and measurable process
Your KPIs, success metrics and your customer base all determine what your customer success strategy will be like. However, one thing that customer success does depend on is how well you put in a framework for success in place. In addition, you should be able to measure the success of your initiatives, this is the only way to guarantee that your framework will evolve.
You can cut down on costs of hiring additional employees by putting in a customer success framework in place.
Stay tuned for more on customer success and strategies that can help you succeed. Don’t forget to subscribe if you want the latest delivered to your inbox.