Customer Success
How are innovative companies reducing churn and growing recurring revenue?
I recently read a book titled “Customer Success” and it’s amazing. I recommend it to every CEO or leader out there who is truly seeking to build a customer success-centric company.
The ‘subscription tsunami’, as outlined in this book, has disrupted the software world, and forced a focus on customers that did not exist previously. This book will help those looking to venture into this new world who are looking for some guidance on how to execute successfully in the subscription economy. Tien Tzuo, the 11th employee at SalesForce, famously once said, “In traditional businesses, the customer relationship ends with the purchase. But in a subscription business, the customer relationship begins with the purchase.” Delivering success today requires constantly checking in with the customer and adapting products and services based on their needs. Ultimately, this approach helps the company to preserve its book of business, opens up doors for additional opportunities, and creates lifelong advocates in our customers. When optimized, Customer Success is the best sales and marketing engine possible.
Customer Success is more than just the right thing to do, it is becoming a business imperative. For this reason, CS teams in many companies today are accountable for customer usage, adoption, and ultimately revenue. Our success is directly tied to that of our customers. The book goes on to explain the fundamental difference between a loyal customer because they have to be (behavioural/intellectual), and then there are customers who are loyal because they love a particular brand or product (attitudinal / emotional). As a vendor, the latter is highly preferable for many reasons: willingness to pay a higher price, less vulnerable to competition, more likely to advocate for “their” brand. There’s just a certain quality to Apple’s product, packaging, ads and presentation that set it apart. It feels almost like magic, but it clearly isn’t. Jobs figured out how to deliver attitudinal loyalty, perhaps better than anyone else.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to build a company that’s customer-success oriented, read ‘Customer Success’ by Nick Mehta, Dan Steinman and Lincoln Murphy.