Data for CS through an internal lens
The easiest way I have found to think about CS using data to its advantage internally is by imagining it as the access point for those organizations to the customer. What I mean is, in addition to its obvious responsibility for delivering services that help customers, CS can help customers in another way. They can direct insights learned from observing the customer’s use of the product and their perceived experience of working with the company and turn inwards to share their insights with their peer organizations. They would do this so that those organizations would have much more critical up-close and personal information about the customer that is otherwise extremely difficult for them to acquire. Those shared insights could then be used by those organizations to improve their deliverables – deliverables that eventually combine and flow toward improving the company’s overall ability to market, sell, and support customers. That’s how a customer-centric company operates under the covers, by ensuring that the work it does is fueled by information about customers from their perspective.
The bonus for Customer Success Managers (CSMs) to proactively behave like this is that their value will rise in the eyes of the other organizations and instead of just being seen as a person working in the service delivery arm of the company, as critical as that is, they, too, would be seen as an agent of customer intel.
That’s not to say those other organizations will immediately see CSMs in that way – proof is required before belief can take hold – but that shouldn’t stop a CSM from making moves in that direction. What’s important is the CSM sees themself that way and works to generate the insights only they are positioned to do. It would fit well with the CS organization seeing itself as being the main representative for the vendor and responsible for nurturing the company’s relationship with the customer to foster the best environment for long-term mutual value.
The success of the effort to nurture is dependent on the quality of the service they provide to the customer. If it works for the customer – that is, they perceive it as useful, and it helps them advance toward their business goals – then the overall relationship between the two companies will be thought of as positive, and there will be an increased propensity for both parties to continue, and perhaps, expand it.
Before we go any further, it’s important to comment on the mechanics of data collection, retrieval, and viewing (leveraging). I fear that too often in the tech world, we tend to drop in words such as data, data-driven, data-centric, and data-minded without considering that, for some, an explanation would provide a real benefit. So, for the rest of this chapter, and indeed for this entire book, you should know that when we use the word data, we are talking about information that has been collected by tools such as products themselves, processes that extract or take samples of information, a manual effort by humans to query databases (example) and to produce reports, and so on.
Data can come from virtually anywhere – something that’s one of the biggest challenges in business today. Tech Target explored this topic in this article you might find illuminating: https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatamanagement/tip/10-big-data-challenges-and-how-to-address-them. This quote jumped out to me as a good summation of the challenge:
Essentially, he’s saying that data today is a product of technology but the challenge of managing it and extracting necessary insights is a human problem. Perhaps artificial intelligence (AI) will go a long way to minimizing the problem, but it’s too early to know.
With that as the setup, what you can expect to see in this section are my thoughts on these three aspects of the internal lens:
- Understanding user/customer behaviors and patterns of product use
- Assessing risk and developing predictive customer retention strategies
- Refining personalization for more precise expansion approaches
I’ll speak about them partly by relating some personal experiences I’ve had or observed while performing in CS roles.
When I was in the role of CSM and I determined that I needed to be seen as being a credible company representative, the first thing I needed to accept was that it wouldn’t be me that assigned that adjective. In the same way that the phrase trusted advisor can only be granted by the customer, I had to understand that only the recipient of the information provided by a service gets to decide whether it is credible or not. This can be hard for some people to accept because it’s natural to believe in the truth of what you are communicating. But if the information isn’t credible to the customer in the way they think it could help address a challenge or an issue, then you won’t come across as being credible. So, to get to a place where I might be viewed as credible, I chose nurture as the pathway to get there. How did I nurture? I knew that credibility was another way of saying something could be trusted, and it is human nature to trust that something is true only when it’s observed and experienced to be true. So, I relied on data to continue to underpin my approach for each of the accounts I was assigned to. This meant researching industry best practices, knowing my customer’s situation and their business, and knowing our products well enough that I could connect all three into a coherent insight.
Over time, and using the methods we’ll describe elsewhere in this book, I demonstrated to customers that I was trustworthy because my guidance was credible. The proof for them came via my consistent ability to provide them with the information and assistance they needed to extract the value they expected from the products they licensed from the company I worked for. While I endeavored to help all my assigned customers reach the highest level of success, the truth is that I couldn’t make it happen for all of them. For several reasons, it was more challenging to help some customers move toward success than it was for others. That’s the nature of business, and that is something else that CS professionals need to understand and accept. The important thing to note, though – and it’s something I did exceedingly well – is that no matter the customer, the way you conduct yourself and the way you deliver service to customers should not vary. To be viewed as credible and trustworthy requires a consistent approach and that approach is something entirely in the control of the CS professional. Think of it as you developing a personal brand, one wholly separate from your company and one you could take with you anywhere. I’ll highlight a brief example to help illustrate this point.
Earlier in my career, before I was promoted into a leadership role, and when I was in the position of Technical Account Manager (arguably, the forerunner to CSM), I was assigned responsibility for three of Canada’s top five banks, along with responsibility for two of the top three telecommunications providers. Those five companies, collectively, comprised a significant portion of Canada’s overall gross domestic product (GDP) – and therefore, an even larger significance for my employer’s revenue – and it was not lost on me that many eyes were on me as a result. While I employed the same approach for each of the customers, I had to strategize and treat them all differently too. Why? Because they were all unique businesses, even when they were in the same industry vertical. Each had its unique mix of our products. Each had its specific business challenges they were attempting to address through our products. And each had unique individuals on their team with a wide range of skills and motivations. So, no matter what I tried, all the customers moved toward success – their definition of it – at different speeds. That’s something I had to understand and accept too. What was important for me, to stay grounded, was to have a belief in three things:
- Helping customers achieve success cannot be done by one person. I accepted, and relished, that I was the point person for the strategy and the execution, but much of what I needed to deliver hinged on the work of other organizations, such as support, product, and sales.
- Customers all want to realize value, but some want it more urgently than others. Often, the reasons for this variation were due to their own company culture, their own company’s fiscal calendar, and their own leadership team’s priorities. My job was to work with them all and to appreciate that they all viewed me and my company’s products differently.
- By focusing on providing a great experience for my assigned customers, despite all their differences, it would ultimately pay dividends for them and for the company that employed me. I had to believe that my effort would translate to increased customer satisfaction and increased revenue for my company. That attitude is, I believe, what the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has proven is a winning one in the research they’ve conducted. The major eye-openers are that companies that are leaders in providing great customer experience compared to peers realize 55% higher 5-year growth in total shareholder return, generate 190% greater revenue growth over 3 years, and enjoy 70% higher customer loyalty (for the full report, you can visit https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/building-customer-experience-for-the-future).
The story I just relayed about being a successful CSM is meant to support my argument that to best leverage data internally within your own company, you need to have been able to demonstrate credibility and trust externally with customers. If customers think of you as being credible, your value within your own company will rise and your reputation will too because your company will hear about your work. But it cuts both ways. Suppose you can’t build credibility as a CS professional without the involvement and contributions of other organizations. In this case, their willingness to work with you is low until they see you as being credible. What can you do to build credibility with customers? You must produce guidance that’s built on data-backed proof. Once you’ve done this, you must turn around and make that proof visible to your company – proof of how the customers benefited from your work and/or your team’s work. It’s the steady drip of good customer stories that eventually builds up enough of the notoriety CS needs if it wants to be seen as a highly valued contributor to the overall business.
