Customer Success Tips & Advice

Looking for advice and best practices on Customer Success and customer management? Follow Keeping CS Simple.

Aug 31, 2022

Anatomy of a Good Follow-Up Email

As a CSP you are probably meeting with your customers on a regular cadence, maybe weekly during onboarding and then bi-weekly or monthly during the course of the partnership. To execute a high value discussion with your customer you are probably spending a good amount of time preparing - pulling together data and insights, updating project plans, building presentations, preparing renewal contracts and more. While all that preparation is required to have an engaging discussion

Aug 31, 2022

Have You Been Ghosted? 5 Tips to Help You Engage Dark Customers

It's been two weeks and 4 emails since you've heard from your customer, looks like you've been ghosted? Now yes, it's possible they are out of the office, maybe they are super busy, maybe they are no longer at the company ... but maybe they are not compelled to respond. Do your emails keep asking the same thing - "Hi Customer, It's been 4 weeks since we last spoke so I was hoping to lock down our next meeting. Is there a day and time that works for you?" If this sounds famil

Aug 31, 2022

Setting Your Week Up for Success as a Customer Success Manager

As a Customer Success Professional there is never a shortage of things to do; in fact there is usually more to do than time permits. So what's a CSM to do? You need to take control of your time and focus on your priorities. Monday's are a great place to start; it's the beginning of the week (for most) and you can use this time to map out how you are going to use your time. I've created a short checklist of activities I've had my teams do each Monday to take control of their t

Aug 31, 2022

Agenda vs. Objective: Why Your Customer Meeting Needs Both

You'll hear most people make the recommendation that every meeting, especially customer meetings, should have a clear meeting agenda, and yes, it should, but it should also have a clear objective as well. Think about going into a meeting with your customer and not only have a clear overview of WHAT you will discuss but also have a clear understanding of WHY you are discussing those items. Having a clear agenda and objective helps frame the conversation giving it clear purpose

Aug 31, 2022

Onboarding Ownership: Dedicated Team vs. Customer Success Management

Many organizations spend a lot of time trying to determine who should manage Customer Onboarding. These 5 factors can play a part.

Aug 31, 2022

Early Arrival: 4 Reasons to Introduce Customer Success in the Sales Cycle

As a former Customer Success Professional, there were several times where I wished I was invited to participate in the sales process to help assess fit, to set proper expectations or to simply hear directly from the customer, what they are looking for from the partnership. There are many benefits to including CSP into the sales process: 1. Adds another point of engagement with the customer: If you are an AE advancing the sales process with your customer, you are probably look

Aug 31, 2022

Forget the Onboarding Kickoff, it's all about the Partnership Kickoff

For years Customer Success teams moved customer right from the sales cycle right into Onboarding without using this transition to align on the partnership. I recognized this was a huge missed opportunity and added a new step in my Customer Journey, the Partnership kickoff. What is the Partnership Kickoff? The Partnership Kickoff is a formal meeting with the Customer and the Account team that takes place as the very first step in the customer engagement. This meeting allows bo

Aug 31, 2022

Sales to Customer Success Knowledge Transfer: The Most Critical Internal Discussion

The Sales to Customer Success handoff is a critical step in the Customer Journey. If the Customer Success team cannot be involved in the sales cycle it is imperative that the handoff happen in a timely manner and cover the critical details needed to ensure an effective partnership kick off with the customer. So while everyone knows that the handoff is a key step, people often fall short in making it effective because they haven't align on ensuring the right information is sha

Customer Success Tips & Advice

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