A Customer Success Manager may prove vital to to improving your customers experience, and enhancing your customer experience is the key to success for any business. It’s not just about making a sale but about keeping your customers happy and coming back for more. In short, it’s about pushing the idea of customer success in your business.

First, what does ‘customer success’ mean?

Customer success is a holistic approach to retaining your customers. It focuses on the experience of the customer, and how this experience leads to a successful outcome – both for the customer and for your business.

Customer success is about more than just delivering product or service value to customers. It’s about anticipating and meeting customers’ needs before they even know they have them.

To be proactive with your organisation’s customer success you should:

• Proactively manage each customer’s relationship with the company, so you can curate their customer journey from beginning to end.
• Make sure all your paying customers have a positive experience with the company’s products or services (and ask them for their feedback on this experience).
• Identify potential problems in advance and provide resources and assistance to resolve these issues efficiently (reducing negative feedback).
• Offer technical support to help customers overcome any issues, so your products or services work as expected and deliver the expected value.

What is a ‘Customer Success Manager?’ What do they do?

A customer success manager is a professional who works with clients to ensure their satisfaction and success with a product or service. They are the primary contact for customers, often serving as the liaison between them and the company.

The role of a customer success manager is to develop relationships that promote client loyalty and maximize business opportunities.

The primary responsibility of a customer success manager is to identify areas in which clients have difficulty or need assistance and then provide solutions tailored to their individual needs. This involves analyzing data and trends, tracking interactions, giving support, resolving issues quickly and efficiently, and understanding customer expectations.

They also work closely with other departments, such as sales, marketing, operations and technical support teams, to find ways to improve overall customer experience. By doing so, they can reduce the attrition rate while increasing revenue.

Who can be a Customer Success Manager?

Many organizations will hire someone specifically for this role. They see the value that when things go wrong or a customer needs help, it is actually an opportunity to turn them into an extremely loyal customer who uses your products/services for years to come.

Not every company can hire someone specifically for this role though and will sometimes designate someone in their organisation as their Customer Success Manager instead. This is okay while you are still growing, but ensure that this person is given ample time to thoughtfully plan and create the resources they need to create a positive experience with your customers. Juggling unrelated and demanding responsibilities while also trying to be patient with disgruntled customers can sometimes take the “success” out of Customer Success Manager.

Focusing on creating the best customer experience

As any successful business owner will tell you, customer experience doesn’t stop at the point of making a sale. Customers are no longer satisfied just by receiving a product or service; they want to be delighted by it. They want to feel that genuine thought was put into their purchase and that they are being properly taken care of by the company.

Because of this, you need to focus on the entire customer journey.

This means taking care of your customer from their first contact with the brand, through to the point of a sale being made – as well as the after-sales care and long-term value you offer them. These are they key points where a customer success manager will prove important to your business.

Xero has woven customer success into the DNA of the business with a big focus on education, content and community to increase the skills, knowledge and confidence of their customers. Read More Here!

Do you believe your organisation needs a Customer Success Manager, but you just aren’t sure where the money can come from? This is the most common response we hear, but our excellent Business Advisory services can often uncover money you didn’t even know you had AND how much delaying on an important business decision may be costing you.