Scaling Customer Success On a Budget

kabhatia
kabhatia Member Posts: 9 Navigator
2023 Success Network - Supporter First Comment Name Dropper Photogenic
Any advice on handling scaling CS requirements in terms of team and tools?

We are a Fintech providing offline and online payment solutions to business owners, but our core focus at the moment remains offline payments (POS, QR Pay and bank transfers). 

Some of the core CS activities right now include:
- POS usage follow ups
- Bank transfer usage follow ups
- Sign Up conversion follow ups
- POS distribution, delivery and activation
- Account Upgrade Assistance

With a team of 5 (including me), how do you suggest we handling scaling?

Comments

  • Mukhtar_cs
    Mukhtar_cs Member Posts: 3 Newcomer
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    Hi kabhatia,

    I'd love to know how you are currently managing the actions and takeaways that comes from your CS Activities?

    Any particular tools you use that you are struggling to scale etc?

    Thanks,
    Mukhtar
  • kabhatia
    kabhatia Member Posts: 9 Navigator
    2023 Success Network - Supporter First Comment Name Dropper Photogenic
    Hi Mukhtar, mainly from a volume of activities perspective. Our team has 5 people only and we want to be more proactive, but then we realise the tasks per person is too much for a team of our size, yet we don't have the budget to increase it right now. That's basically what I want to figure out.
  • William Buckingham
    William Buckingham Member Posts: 39 Expert
    5 Insightfuls First Anniversary First Comment Name Dropper
    Hi @kabhatia

    I think it would be helpful to know the following so we can better answer your question:

    1. Does your company currently use a CRM tool (i.e. SalesForce, Hubspot)?  If so, which CRM?
    2. Do you currently use a CS Specific tool (i.e. Gainsight, ChurnZero, Client Success, etc.?
    3. Any other tools currently using in your practice? 
    Understanding your current resources is likely going to help us best understand what that next efficiency could be.   

    Will Buckingham

    Customer Success Operations Manager, Enablement

    www.CustomerSuccessEnablement.com

  • dianej27
    dianej27 Member Posts: 7 Navigator
    First Comment Photogenic Name Dropper
    Like @William Buckingham said, it would be great to know what tools you have. My first thought is that you should check out what your team is doing that can be automated. For example, if "Sign Up Conversion Follow Up" is generally sending the same email every time, you could set that up to go automatically.
  • REmery
    REmery Member Posts: 6 Navigator
    First Comment
    kabhatia, but also think about customer tiering to ensure you provide the right level of service for each customer based on their subscription. Other questions to consider: Are there things I can push to the customer to do? Can we optimize the platform to automate in-app? Are there things we can charge a premium for? All fun possibilities.
  • REmery
    REmery Member Posts: 6 Navigator
    First Comment
    kabhatia, but also think about customer tiering to ensure you provide the right level of service for each customer based on their subscription. Other questions to consider: Are there things I can push to the customer to do? Can we optimize the platform to automate in-app? Are there things we can charge a premium for? All fun possibilities.
  • Brian O'Keeffe
    Brian O'Keeffe Member Posts: 197 Expert
    First Anniversary Photogenic 5 Insightfuls First Comment
    edited October 2022
    Start with digital for all customers. Map out the customer lifecycle and create a digital communication plan. I have used Gainsight and Totango. Work into those digital touch points an ability for the customer to respond, this will allow you to catch the most vulnerable customers and then have your team work according to responses. These are the customers that need help the most. High ARR customers may also get a monthly scheduled account review with an assigned CSM.

    It's tough when resources are limited but a fairly effective and strategic use of resources and ability to address customer needs can be achieved using an almost all digital approach with a pooled CSM customer assignment. The myth is it must be one to one and follow a traditional playbook or that digital will be less than or less effective. 

    I am happy to talk if you have questions! 
  • Yuya at Commune
    Yuya at Commune Member Posts: 11 Navigator
    First Comment Name Dropper 5 Likes Photogenic
    Hi Kabhatia!
    It all depends on how healthy your customer success team is in terms of metrics imo.
    - ARR/CSM
    - NDR
    - Client churn rate
    etc.
    If the numbers are satisfactory, the real problem is not you, but the budget.
  • kabhatia
    kabhatia Member Posts: 9 Navigator
    2023 Success Network - Supporter First Comment Name Dropper Photogenic
    @William Buckingham the tools we currently use are Freshdesk for CRM and ActiveCampaign for Marketing Automation activities. We currently don't have a CS specific tool honestly speaking, so if you suggest doing a deeper research into that, I definitely will.