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Welcome to the first edition of our weekly newsletter. This week we talk about:
Listening to customer concerns
Understanding goals
Identifying personal motivation
Let’s get into it…
A Message from our Partner
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While recording our latest podcast episode last week on renewals, Gavin asked, "What's something you've seen a CS team do early on that had a huge impact months down the line?" I had a great example of this while working at a Martech platform several years ago.
Not all kick-off calls go well
Starting on the Back Foot
We had just won a new account through this company getting acquired by an existing customer. Consequently, we set up a call with the new team to introduce ourselves and start the onboarding process. We were surprised to be told very clearly on that call that they were pleased with their existing platform and felt aggrieved that they'd been told to move on to ours. This wasn't a great way to start a new relationship.
Make a Point of Active Listening
However, my colleague did something that helped get things on track at that moment. He listened and asked questions to understand their frustration better. He wasn't defensive, he didn't dismiss their concerns, and he didn't try to ignore the situation and carry on with our plan.
Taking the time to understand what they liked about their existing solution and what value they had already had from it helped us align our success plan with them. It showed us where to focus our onboarding, with a milestone set that would represent the initial time to first value.
Understanding Personal Motivation
This might seem obvious, but the care and attention my colleague took to make sure he fully understood where they were coming from and their personal motivations really turned a negative situation into a positive one. Within a few weeks, we demonstrated the same value they had seen with their previous solution and were soon adding additional benefits. We went on to form an excellent bond with the team, and for many years afterwards, I even remained a personal friend of one of our main stakeholders.
Onboarding is your customer's experience, not yours.
If we had tried to make that call about us, and our targets, we could have risked losing that account at the first opportunity. But by making it about their challenges and goals, we put ourselves on the right path to delivering value for them and our business.
Have you recently faced this situation? What did you do to turn it around?
See you next week!
Simon.