Tips & Tricks to Maintain Customer Centricity in a Growing Organization Are you struggling with creating a meaningful engagement strategy for your growing customer base? Maheen Memon, Director of Customer Success at Nulogy, will share tips and tricks to make sure you don't lose sight of the customer as your organization scales up. She will discuss how her organization moved from a reactive, hero-based model to a measured, proactive approach.

1. Customer
Engagement
Strategy -
7 Tips & Tricks
Customer Success Meetup
November 20, 2017

2. Maheen
Memon
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmemon/
@maheen_memon
http://maheen.yelp.ca
Director, Customer Success

5. Some Definitions - Customer Success
● "Customer success is the function at a company responsible for managing the
relationship between a vendor and its customers. The goal of customer success
is to make the customer as successful as possible, which in turn, improves
customer lifetime value for the vendor."
● “Customer Success is when your customers achieve their Desired Outcome
through their interactions with your company”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_success
http://sixteenventures.com/customer-success-definition#cs

6. Some Definitions - Customer Experience
● “Customer experience is the product of an interaction between an organization
and a customer over the duration of their relationship.”
● “The entirety of the interactions a customer has with a company and its
products. Understanding the customer experience is an integral part of
customer relationship management. The overall experience reflects how the
customer feels about the company and its offerings.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_experience
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/customer-experience.html

7. Some Definitions - Customer Journey
● “The customer journey spans a variety of touchpoints by which the customer
moves from awareness to engagement and purchase.”
● “The customer journey is the complete sum of experiences that customers go
through when interacting with your company and brand. Instead of looking at
just a part of a transaction or experience, the customer journey documents the
full experience of being a customer.”
https://www.forrester.com/Customer-Journey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/map-customer-journey-keep-customers-happy/

8. Customer Engagement - The Stats
Customers who are fully engaged represent a 23%share of profitability, revenue,
and relationship growth compared to the average customer.
http://www.gallup.com/services/169331/customer-engagement.aspx

9. Customer Engagement - The Stats
By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product
as the key brand differentiator.
https://www.walkerinfo.com/customers2020/

10. Customer Engagement - The Stats
Why businesses are focused on improving Customer Experience:
42%want to improve Customer Retention
33%want to improve Customer Satisfaction
32%want to increase Cross-selling & Upselling
http://www.genesys.com/

11. 7 Tips and Tricks

12. Tip #1
CSMs are the window into
the customer’s soul
(make sure your company knows this)

13. Why?
● Weak Relationship Building - accounts for
16% of average customer churn
● Evolve to beyond just being a vendor -
become partner your customer can trust
● Gain access to strategic information to
help both organizations grow
https://www.retently.com/blog/three-leading-causes-churn/

14. CSMs are the window into the customer’s soul
Behaviour Demonstrate capability and effectiveness to develop trust early
in the relationship
Show that you are reliable and dedicated to the customer’s
successes as well as their concerns
Communication Be available to for omni-channel communication (eg. email,
phone, in-person) to build reliability and responsiveness

15. Tip #2
First impressions matter!
(do not let Customer Success
be an afterthought)

16. Why?
● Poor onboarding - results in 23%of
average customer churn
● Start off on the right foot with high
level of engagement from day 1
● Create a partnership as they begin
their journey with your organization
https://www.retently.com/blog/three-leading-causes-churn/

17. First Impressions Matter
Behaviour Include the CSM to be a part of the sales cycle - do this before the
deal closes
Start building the customer relationship as soon as the deal is signed
Tool Create a handoff plan between sales and professional services that
firmly establishes the CSM team as the single point of contact

18. Tip #3
Have a success plan
and stick to it

19. Why?
● Always stay aligned to the key goals
from the initial sale
● This demonstrates focus towards the
bigger picture with the customer
● Mitigates churn risk and guides
customers through implementation to
the first time to value

20. Have a Success Plan and Stick to It
Action Define implementation “success criteria” - constantly remind
your customer on why they bought into your solution
Tool Build a 30-60-90 plan post implementation - recap again the
“success criteria” at the 90 day mark
Behaviour Follow through with your customers and hold them accountable
to their success plan goals

21. Tip #4
CSMs aren’t order takers,
we are success planners!

22. Why?
● Taking orders traps you in a reactive
mode of interaction with the customer;
you can only attain success if you
proactively guide the client
● Work beyond just the current issue - look
at issues holistically and how it impacts
the long term relationship
● Connect the dots & conversations to the
right stakeholders in the customer’s
organization and ensure your
conversations happen at the right level

23. CSMs aren’t Order Takers
Behaviour Partner with the customer’s senior level leadership to communicate
your organization’s value
Steer the customer towards their corporate priorities and “success
criteria”; drive product adoption beneficial for the customer
Operate with a high level of integrity and objectivity with the customer
Communication Communicate your Product Roadmap regularly
Action Identify win-win situations - avoid “freebies”

24. Tip #5
CSMs are money makers,
do not forget this!

25. Why?
● It’s 50%easier to sell to existing
customers compared to new
prospects
● Renewals and upsells account for
70-95%of actual revenue
● CSMs impact the top line growth of
your organization
https://learncore.com/3-mind-blowing-statistics-customer-success/

26. CSMs are Money Makers
Behaviour Have CSMs compensation tied to upsells, cross-sells and renewals
Set boundaries with your customer - do not become an extension of
support - this diverts attention from the growth conversations
Communication Own the conversations with customers about growth opportunities -
this often is a sales responsibility (sometimes shared)
Action Make sure CSM has a seat at the table for strategic planning
for revenue/sales

27. Tip #6
Representing the voice of the
customer is a CS thing.
(do not let anyone steal it!)

28. Why?
● Professional Services, Support, Product, Sales - will
all try and steal being the voice of the customer
● Simply put…
○ Sales knows the client until they sign the dotted line
○ Support knows the client until the ticket is closed
○ Product knows the clients you put them in touch with
● You are the only one accountable for the overall
happiness of all of your clients, 24/7/365
● Customer Success knows the customers best.

29. Representing the Voice of the Customer
Behaviour Have Customer Success be a part of Product’s planning process; be sure
to offer access to clients only when you are able to participate
Involve your customers on beta releases and work with Product directly
Ensure that professional services and sales do not cut deals with the
client directly, without you brokering them
Communication Find effective methods to share customer feedback internally
Action If it makes sense, create a customer advisory board/voice of customer
program to get alignment on your product strategy

30. Tip #7
Customer Success is central to
your organization’s brand

31. Why?
● Customer experience is driven by
customer success
● Alignment with all the organization’s
marketing initiatives and other external
facing content
● A great product brand can make customers
feel like they are part of something bigger
than just a SaaS application
● Customers will continue to buy from a
brand they can trust

32. CS is central to your organization’s brand
Behaviour Hide your organization’s dirty laundry
Build strong integration with the Marketing team
Communication Promote industry events to your customers
Share organization updates on a regular basis
Action Understand what matters to your customers and make sure
your brand plays a big part in it
Follow your customers on social media

33. BONUS
Tip #8
Not all customers are equal
(organize your team to meet their special needs)

34. Why?
● Every customer has different needs -
there is no one size fits all approach
● Effective segmentation allows your
organization to handle scaling up
● Behaviours change by segment which
means communication, analytics and
overall management need to reflect it

35. Not all Customers are Equal
Action Identify your customer base, their needs and segment accordingly
Monitor key success metrics by segment
Check to see whether your tools and templates need to be
differentiated by segment
Behaviour Automate certain parts of your Customer Success approach to
maximize your CSMs value
Tool Build your Customer engagement approach after the customer
segmentation - do certain segments require a high touch model vs.
low touch model

36. Recap
● 23%of customer churn is due to poor onboarding
● 16%of customer churn is due to weak relationship building
● It’s 50%easier to sell to existing customers compared to new prospects
● Renewals and upsells account for 70-95%of actual revenue

38. Thank You!

39. Maheen
Memon
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmemon/
@maheen_memon
http://maheen.yelp.ca
Director, Customer Success