Is your company really Customer-Success driven?

Andreas Knoefel
Andreas Knoefel Member Posts: 74 Expert
10 Comments
edited July 2020 in Strategy & Planning

I is now en vogue to claim on annual reports that Customer Success is the main focus. How far does this statement really go in your company?

I am curious to hear why you answer yes or no. 

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Comments

  • David Ellin
    David Ellin Member Posts: 169 Expert
    100 Comments Third Anniversary Photogenic
    edited May 2020

    @Andreas Knoefel, my experience in dealing with many companies is that most say they're customer centric (IE: Customer Success is important to them) but the question is whether they really know what that means and are actively working to achieve true Customer Success. The statement is likely to get glossed over by shareholders in an annual report.

    If ownership and senior execs are truly bought in (IE: support from the highest levels), it's likely to be pervasive throughout the company's culture. One very quick way to find out if a company is truly customer centric is to see where the highest level of CS leader sits within the organization. If customers are at the center of everything the company does, they should have a seat at the C-suite table. If the highest CS leader reports to the CRO or CCO, the company may feel customer success is important but not as important as new revenue.

    There's so much undiscovered and unrealized value companies can gain from having customers represented in the C-Suite.

  • Lauren Mecca
    Lauren Mecca Member Posts: 29 Expert
    edited June 2020

    I agree @Andreas Knoefel that is's so easy to say you're customer-centric and much harder to practice. 

    One way I have gauged this from the outside (when considering working with a company) is by asking questions that tell me how well each functional leader understands the customer base, their segments, relative performance of each, etc. 

    And as a leader within a company, I put a lot of effort into educating other functions about those topics. Sharing observed behaviors and anecdotes at every All Hands, for example, goes a long way in adding context to the numbers. 

    Ultimately, everyone telling the same story about who customers are and what impact they're looking for not only shows a curiosity about the customer base but ensures that decisions made every day across the org will continue to benefit customers. 

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