Remark-able 

Your customers don’t care about features and functions.

They care about outcomes.

If you don’t deliver what they want they will be gone within the blink of an eye. 

And their expectations have reached an all-time high. 

But you don’t have the skills, knowledge, and processes to deliver exceptional value. 

As a result, you are leaving 90% of revenue on the table

Because 

- your retention rate is low
- your existing customers don’t grow
- you rarely get any referrals 
- you don’t win customers for life
- you are forced to charge low “competitive” prices
- you don’t have the insights to build value-adding features

forcing you to continue spending fortunes on acquiring new customers from scratch. 

Putting your company at risk of collapsing. 

Now, imagine growing your company faster, further, and more profitable.

Where you are acquiring your Ideal Customers, casually growing them to 5x-10x their initial size while reeking in new acquisitions through referrals.

With less stress, pressure, and anxiety.  

How can you get there?

Here’s how I can help

1. Consulting → I help you to transform your business and implement a Customer-Value-Led-Growth business model

2. Customer Success Creator Course → Designed for CSMs and CS leaders who want to create exceptional value for their customers and their company

3. Newsletter → Weekly in-depth guides and strategies to help you deliver, grow, and monetize customer value on your own

Ready to rock?

Let’s get the party started. 

Send me a DM or head over to my Featured section and check out my offers.

Catalyst Software

Building the most powerful growth engine the SaaS industry has ever seen as part of an invite-only community of 100+ CROs, CCOs, VPs of CS, and VPs of sales, launched by Edward Chiu and Kevin Chiu.

Customer Led Growth Advisor

SaaSelerate

Growing with profit can be hard. But it does not have to be. I help SaaS companies to dramatically shift their spendings from low- to high-ROI-generating initiatives and processes.

I create strategies for SaaS companies to deliver more customer value. Grow faster, further and more profitable through expansions, upsells and referrals.

Customer expectations have never been higher.

Their willingness to pay has never been lower.

CFOs everywhere are looking for ways to cut their expenses.

They are no longer paying for product usage and convenience. 

They will scrap every product that does not deliver a sky-high ROI. 

But you don't have the skills, knowledge, and processes to lead your customers to the promised land. 

As a result, you are leaving 90% of revenue on the table

Because 

- your retention rate is low
- your existing customers don’t grow
- you rarely get any referrals 
- you don’t win customers for life
- you are forced to charge low “competitive” prices
- you don’t have the insights to build value-adding features

forcing you to continue spending fortunes on acquiring new customers from scratch. 

Putting your company at risk of collapsing. 

Now, imagine growing your company faster, further, and more profitable.

Where you are acquiring your Ideal Customers, casually growing them to 5x-10x their initial size while reeking in new acquisitions through referrals.

With less stress, pressure, and anxiety.  

How can you get there?

Here’s how I can help:

1. Consulting → I help you to transform your business and implement a Customer-Value-Led-Growth business model

2. Customer Success Creator Course → Designed for CSMs and CS leaders who want to create exceptional value for their customers and their company

3. Newsletter → Weekly in-depth guides and strategies to help you deliver, grow, and monetize customer value on your own

Ready to rock?

Let’s get the party started. 

Send me a DM or head over to my Featured section and check out my offers.

These numbers are scary as hell. 
 
- Most SaaS companies lose 75% of their new users within the first week.
- 40 to 60% of free trial users will use your product once and never return.

Ok, that certainly includes a number of people who realize the product is not the right choice. 
 
But there are way more customers who leave due to a poor experience. 
 
It ranges from
 
- letting customers figure out everything on their own
- overwhelming customers with information
- using a one-size-fits-all-approach that points customers in the wrong direction
- introducing customers to features without making the connection to how to use them to solve a specific problem
 
Why is this happening?
 
For the same reasons why most CS efforts fail
 
1. Lack of understanding of customer needs. 
2. Not putting yourself into the customers’ shoes. 
 
Here’s how to change your onboarding game:
 
1. Change your mindset
 
Let’s start with the hardest part. Customer onboarding is not about introducing customers to product features. Its purpose is to give customers quick wins to deliver proof of value and get their buy-in for playing the long game. 
 
2. Focus on smaller goals
 
It’s unlikely that your customers will achieve their desired outcomes instantly because they are usually mid-to-long-term goals. Break them down into smaller goals that can be achieved within 30,60 or 90 days (or less). 
 
3. Determine customer needs
 
You may have customers that share the same problems and goals. They might also be rough of the same size and come from the same industry. But that does not mean they have the same needs. Because they may start from different levels in terms of skills and knowledge or have different priorities. 
 
4. Measure customer progress
 
It does not matter what features your customers use or how often they log into your product. What matters is how accurately they are able to achieve their initial goal within a certain amount of time. 
 
5. Seek customer feedback
 
A great customer onboarding is (usually) not the result of a single iteration. You need to find out what works, what does not, and why. I know that’s scary for some folks but you need to frequently talk to your customers. 
 
Put in the time and effort that customer onboarding deserves.
 
You can’t afford to deliver anything less than an A++.
 
#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth #onboarding

Markus Rentsch

Acquiring a bad-fit customer is acquiring churn.

It can't be said often enough.

Customer success managers can make all the difference but they are not magicians.

If

- the product does not fit the customers' needs
- they lack basic skills and knowledge
- they are not willing to put in the effort required
- they don't follow the advice

they will never become successful.

On the contrary, they will only pile up costs and frustration the longer they stay.

In the end, they will churn anyway and if you are unlucky, they’ll even share a bad review.

But it does not stop there.

Because your CSMs could have spent the time growing high-quality customers and creating additional demand instead.

Add the loss of potential referrals on top and you’ll get staggering opportunity costs.

It does not matter how many customers you acquire.

What matters is how many of them you can keep and grow.

It's time the leadership gets it and acts accordingly. 

PS: Sign up for my free newsletter if you like this post --> https://lnkd.in/djMQvmDV

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth #netrevenueretention

For too long you’ve been brainwashed and it’s time to wake up.

I’m talking to you SaaS CEOs, COOs, and CROs.

The SaaS business model is not built on

- raising a ton of cash
- hiring a legion of marketers and sales reps
- trying to acquire everyone with a pulse
- and hitting short-term growth goals

That’s how you end up with 0.1% conversion rates, 36 months of CAC payback, and 15% churn.

With economics like this, your business has no future.

Here’s how to grow faster, further, and more profitable in the most natural way:

1. Marketing’s purpose is no longer to create a high number of leads that don’t convert. Instead, they are educating customers with targeted content aiming to create demand from the customers who will benefit the most from the product.

2. As sales reps get fewer but much better leads, conversion rates increase while CAC and churn go down. They now only close deals with a strong customer-product-fit.

3. Customer success teams no longer spend most of their time firefighting, band-aiding, and quick-fixing. Instead, they can lead their customers to the promised land with a high-quality mix of training, education, and consulting services.

4. Because customers now get a ton of value, retention becomes a mere formality. Churn becomes merely a bump in the road instead of an existential threat.

5. Your customers won’t stop there but they’ll be looking for ways to further grow their outcomes. They’ll create demand for expansions-up- and cross-sells because they need more resources, features, and/or products for the next growth stage.

6. New acquisitions from referrals have insanely high conversion rates. Guess who likes to give them? Yes, highly successful customers is the correct answer.

7. Winning customers for life is the most underrated growth lever. People change their jobs every few years these days. When your raving, loyal fans start a new role, they’ll bring your product with them.

8. And finally, highly successful customers have a low price sensitivity. They are willing to pay more for more value. It’s as simple as that. Value-based prices are your most scalable growth lever.

Try the Customer-Value-Led-Growth business model.

It will pay off 100% and you’ll never look back.

PS: Want to learn more? Sign up for my free newsletter https://lnkd.in/djMQvmDV

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth

High churn rate that does not go down?

Here’s a 5-step framework on how to get rid of it:

1. Determine customer profitability

Churn and customer retention are not black and white. There’s good churn and there’s bad retention. Good churn happens when a bad-fit customer leaves and bad retention occurs when they stay.

Consequently, it does not make sense to fix the reasons why the former are leaving. Most prominently you must not build the features they demand because it won’t change a thing and costs money.

2. Identify the TRUE reasons for churn

Customers don’t churn because your product is too expensive or a competitor has a better offer. They leave because they do not get enough value. In your churn analysis, you need to determine why.

A practical tool to get to the bottom of the lack of value is the 5-WHY framework. The only exception is churn which happens for reasons out of your control (like customers going out of business).

3. Determine recurring patterns

It’s impossible to fix all churn, at least not in an economical way. Follow the 80-20 rule and eliminate the 20% churn reasons that account for 80% of your losses.

I like to call this systematical churn, and I consider the remaining churn reasons to be random. A recurring pattern would be a specific customer segment coming with unrealistic expectations.

4. Build a churn funnel

Too many execs think that CSMs can fix everything from product issues to wrong expectations and weak support. Churn must be fixed at the stage where it’s caused.

- Product design
- Product usability and stability
- Customer support
- Customer expectations (marketing)
- Customer-fit (sales)
- Onboarding
- Customer success services

These 7 categories are merely a basic outline. Depending on the size and structure of your company you may require more.

5. Fix it top-down

That’s it.

Now is the time to fix churn once and for all.

PS: Sign up for my free newsletter if you like this post --> https://lnkd.in/djMQvmDV

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth #retention #churn

Customer Success Ops helps Customer Success Managers (and others) to succeed.

Succeed with delivering, growing, and monetizing customer value.

Doing the right things (effectiveness) the right way (efficiency).

As a CSM it’s easy to get lost in a million tasks, metrics, QBRs, etc.

Resulting in doing things that don’t add customer value, avoidable churn, and missing growth opportunities.

CS Ops needs to take a bird’s-eye view and look at the bigger picture to improve the CS team’s performance.

So there are 3 key responsibilities in CS Ops:

1. Effective resource distribution

While all teams have to work with limited resources CS teams often find themselves at the bottom end in terms of budget. So spending your resources wisely is a top priority.

CS Ops needs to understand churn and customer segments regarding their success- and growth potential better than anyone else.

2. Program management

Most SaaS companies rely on guesswork about the customer success journey. It can’t be said often enough that customer success does not happen by accident, it’s engineered.

CS Ops need to understand different customer journeys and identify bottlenecks and service gaps to ensure customers get the right “treatment” at the right time.

3. Education and training

CS Ops have access to the collective insights, results, and experiences of their customer success managers. They can identify best practices, skill gaps, trends, and customer behaviors that influence the outcomes.

Consequently, they are well suited to develop the training and education programs the CSMs require to deliver exceptional outcomes and experiences.

Customer Success Ops is an investment that delivers an incredible ROI.

Don’t wait for things to go south before you implement it.

PS: Sign up for my free newsletter if you like this post --> https://lnkd.in/djMQvmDV

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth #netrevenueretention

The post below from Angie Judge is the perfect representation of what's going wrong in customer success.

Customer success is no longer customer-centric. 

- the vendor likely follows a "doing more with less" mantra
- Dexibit had a green health score and did not appear as a churn risk
- Consequently, the AM did not "waste" time talking to the customer in a 1:1 conversation
- Because an automated, generic renewal reminder would do the trick.

It's nothing but ridiculous to lose a 5-figure customer this way. 

And it's definitely not a single, isolated case - it happens frequently. 

Let that sink in for a moment.

In a world where 

- customer expectations have never been higher, 
-  and their willingness to pay never been lower
- companies deliver poorer experiences because they want to reduce costs.  

This is the road to ruin because your customers don't care. 

They only care about their outcomes. 

Forget the BS that you have been fed.

Your goal is to deliver more customer value than ever before.

Everything else is secondary. 

Act accordingly.

PS: If you can do it in a "scaled" way it's fine with me. But 95% of SaaS companies can't. 

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth

CSMs should spend >80% of their time

- delivering high-quality strategic services to
- help their best customers to grow their value further and
- drive expansions, upsells, and referrals

and <20% on

- firefighting, band-aiding, and quick-fixing to
- prevent mediocre fit customers from failing and
- struggle with getting them to renew

The reality for many CSMs is the exact opposite. 

It’s no surprise that so many of them are burning out.

I know, I would.

You need to break this vicious cycle of working your ass off without anything ever becoming easier. 

Here’s a 7-step framework on how to do it:

1. Run a churn audit and determine how much of it is due to

- Product: design flaws and operating issues
- Customer: misguided expectations and lack of fit
- Services: failed onboarding and long-term outcomes

to raise awareness that churn is a company-wide problem. 

2. Optimize your resource distribution

Focus on the customers with the highest profitability, growth- and success potential to score the big points. 

3. Change your mindset

Put your customers and their success at the center and build everything around it - processes, playbooks, etc. 

4. Create customer success programs

Your mission is to take your customers from A ( their starting point) to B (their desired outcome) which includes

- achieving milestones
- solving problems
- completing tasks
- acquiring skills and knowledge
- education and training required

5. Build customer relationships

The more you know about your customers the better you understand their needs and the less reactive work you need to put in.

6. Source meaningful feedback

Find out what works, what does not, and why to continuously improve your performance. 

7. Put accurate customer success metrics in place

Track the same metrics as your customers because that's how they will evaluate the ROI they get from working with you. 

Reactive customer success work wastes time, energy, talent, and growth.

Leave it all behind and follow your destiny. 

PS: Want to get there faster and easier? Check out my Customer Success Creator course https://lnkd.in/dSn4CUas

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth

I still don’t understand why so few SaaS companies prioritize customer success. 

It’s the most potent growth strategy available. 

And the data leaves ZERO doubt about it

1. Selling to existing customers has a 60-70% conversion rate as compared to 5-20% for new customers → that’s 3-14 times higher

2. It costs at least 5x as much to bring in a new customer than to retain an existing one (Gartner)

3. Increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95% (Harvard Business Review)

4. Companies are losing $ 1.6 trillion of revenue through a churn in the US alone (Accenture)

5. Companies with gross retention rates over 85% grow 1.5-3x faster than their peers(Chartmogul)

6. Companies with a Net Retention Rate (NRR) >100% grew 1.5x-3x faster than their peers (Chartmogul)

7. The median revenue churn rate is 14% annually (KBCM) → that means that half of the companies lose almost 50% of their customers within 3 years

8. Companies like Snowflake or Gitlab have 150% NRR → They are growing 50% YoY without acquiring a single new customer which is more than most SaaS companies grow in total

Not investing in the success of your existing customers is a race to the bottom. 

PS: Sign up for my free newsletter if you like this post --> https://lnkd.in/djMQvmDV

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueldgrowth

Saying that 2023 will be challenging for CSMs is an understatement. 

The only way to make it through without burning out is to set the right priorities. 

Here are my top 10 (in no particular order):

1. Run effective discoveries

Getting a hand-off from sales is a great way to learn more about your customer. Continue the discovery to identify the training, education, and consulting services your customers need to achieve their desired outcomes. 

2. Identify your customers’ value metrics

Relying on inaccurate metrics like NPS, CSAT, or health scores is playing with fire. Customers with high scores churn all the time. Measure customer success with the metrics they use. 

3. Follow up regularly

Don’t rely on your customers being able to implement their learnings in their business successfully. Also, don’t count on them to reach out if they run into a problem. LEAD them to the promised land. 

4. Build close customer relationships

The more you know about your customers and their business the higher the odds of success. But they are not sharing these insights with random vendor employees. Trust and transparency have to be earned. 

5. Focus on the right customers

As a CSM, it’s only natural that you want to help everybody become successful. But not everybody is meant to be. Identify the customers with the most success potential where you can make the biggest impact.  

6. Grow subject expertise

Your customers don’t need someone to tell them where to click on the product. They need a sparring partner and business consultant to help them solve complex problems. You will only qualify for that role if you’ve built more than solid subject expertise on your own. 

7. Build internal relationships

Customer success teams can’t win on their own. It’s a mutual effort of all GTM teams. Traditionally, every team sits in its own silo and chases its own goals. Invite them to collaborate by bearing gifts they can’t resist - customer insights that help them improve their performance.

8. Promote your work to the C-suite

Lots of CS teams have been reduced or even disbanded. There are no guarantees but the best protection is to continuously show the ROI of your efforts. What your leadership cares about is revenue - demonstrate how much you’ve generated through expansions, upsells, and referrals. 

9. Go the extra mile

It feels like 95% of CSMs have lost their way. They are helping customers to succeed but only on their terms. Dictated by their tech stack and internal procedures built on an inside-out point of view. Making customers successful is your only goal.

10. Sell the outcomes

Never assume that customers are actually aware of the ROI the get out of your product. Ensure that the people who are using the product, their managers, and the CFO are all aware of the value they get. 

That’s it.

PS:Need help? https://lnkd.in/dSn4CUas

#saas #customersuccess #customerledgrowth #customervalueledgrowth


As a customer success consultant and coach one of my top priorities is to help CSMs achieve their full potential.

I’ve met so many of them that are held back by misguided beliefs, distractions, and so-called “best practices”.

In addition to the 6 changes in behavior, I've identified 5 key areas to improve your performance:

1. Mindset
2. Knowledge
3. Skills
4. Focus
5. Changing environment

If you are a CSM or CS leader looking for a way to build excellence, check out this episode of my newsletter to learn more:

https://lnkd.in/dvzyhwRe

#saas #customersuccess #clg #customerledgrowth

CSMs, there are no guarantees that you will keep your job.

But you can raise the odds by making yourself less dispensable.

Here’s how:

Your C-suite does not care about

- NPS
- Health scores
- CSAT
- Product usage

What they care about is

- revenue at risk saved
- churn recovered
- expansions and upsells
- new acquisitions through referrals

The more value you can demonstrate to your leadership the less likely you will be made redundant.

Here’s a 7-step framework on how to build a high-performing customer success program that delivers customer value and revenue in return repeatedly:

1. Understand the customer journey

Determine all the steps customers need to take from where they start to their desired outcomes. Start with an “MVP” and refine your success plans as you are learning more.

2. Experiment with inputs

It’s unlikely that you find the perfect success program with the first iteration. Test various formats, contents, and channels for delivering your services.

3. Measure the effectiveness

It does not matter how many people read guides, watch tutorials, join webinars, etc. The quality of your inputs is defined by whether it helps customers complete critical tasks and solve complex problems.

4. Adapt your inputs

Progress results from understanding what works, what does not, and why. Put your egos aside and iterate as often as necessary to achieve ~95% accuracy for your inputs and services.

5. Build customized paths

One size does not fit all. Even 2 customers of roughly the same size, from the same industry, the same structure, etc. have different needs. Build customized journeys for different customer segments.

6. Add fitting technology

Your tech stack must never determine your strategy, it has to support it. Build your tech stack so that you get a 360° customer view (quantitative and qualitative data) to see the full context and make the right decisions.

7. Scale what works

Premature scaling is responsible for a lot of the firefighting, quick-fixing, and band-aiding. Scale your inputs and services only after you’ve got definitive proof that things are working accurately and repeatedly.

That’s it.

PS: Need help nailing it? Check out these 37 lessons https://lnkd.in/dSn4CUas

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth

The CSMs who are winning right now:

- Understand their customers' needs inside out
- Grow their subject expertise non-stop
- Lead their customers to the promised land all the way
- Build relationships with their customers for life
- Demonstrate value to every stakeholder at every opportunity
- Forge cross-functional alliances where everybody wins
- Get the feedback they need to build a world-class service performance

The best CSMs are masters of the basics.  

They don’t care about what everybody else is doing. 

They don’t care about certifications. 

They create top results for their customers and their company.

They never have their ROI questioned. 

The CSMs continuing with the status quo will become obsolete. 

Now’s the time to bring on your very A-game. 

PS: Here are 37 lessons to make customer success simple, effective, and customer-centric https://lnkd.in/diSKNmDB

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth

The old customer success manager:

- product educator
- random vendor employee
- providing band-aid solutions 
- optimizing internal metrics
- revenue protector

The new customer success manager:

- subject expert and problem solver
- an extension of the customer's team
- educating and training customers to build expertise
- delivering and growing customer value
- revenue growth accelerator

The old customer success manager is becoming obsolete quickly.

Your customers need more value.

Your company needs profitable revenue.

It’s your mission to deliver on the former to unlock the latter.

PS: Want to learn how to deliver, grow and monetize customer value? Join 3.125 other CS professionals and sign up for my free newsletter --> https://lnkd.in/djMQvmDV

The old ways of Customer Success are becoming obsolete at record speed.

Customer expectations have never been higher.

They are no longer paying for product usage and convenience.

If you can’t deliver and demonstrate ROI they will be gone within the blink of an eye.

A new era requires a new type of CSM - the Customer Success Creator.

This is not a new buzzword, it’s a new way of thinking and operating.

Enabling customer success and trying to be proactive is not enough anymore.

The CS Creator leads customers to the promised land all the way with intention, direction, action, and precision.

Here are the 12 puzzle pieces you must put together to become one:

1. Discovery prowess

The CS creator picks up the information from the sales handoff and starts digging deeper. They know that despite their best efforts, their colleagues from sales can’t determine a customer’s needs in terms of education, training, and consulting. 

2. Building relationships

There’s no second chance for a first impression. The CS creator starts new customer engagements with a kick-off meeting. Where they ask open questions but otherwise let the customers do the talking because they understand that customers want to feel heard. They lead with transparency to build trust right away. 

3. Customer segmentation

Every customer has different needs. They may have the same size and share the same industry but that’s irrelevant. The CS creator segments customers by their goals, the problems they need to overcome, and the level of skills and knowledge they start from. 

4. Customer success plans

Viable customer success plans are not built on guessing and assuming. They are a roadmap on how to bridge the gap between your customers’ status quo and their desired outcomes. Broken top-down from the milestones in between to the inputs customers require to complete their tasks and solve their problems. 

Read the full article in the newest edition of my free newsletter 👇 

https://lnkd.in/ddbsB4rp

#saas #customersuccess #customerledgrowth #customervalueledgrowth

The Top 5 skills CSMs need to build in 2023 and beyond

The customer success manager role is changing.

Customer expectations have never been higher, and their willingness to pay has never been lower. 

It’s no longer enough to be “productive” (whatever that means) and stay in your comfort zone. 

After spending 1k+ hours of research and deep thinking I’ve isolated the 5 most important skills to build in 2023 and beyond:

1. Active listening

There’s no one-size-fits-all in customer success as your customers have different needs.

They may have the same size, are from the same industry, and share the same goals.

But that does not mean they share the same problems and start from the same level in terms of skills and knowledge.

Your customers need are determined by the gap between their desired outcomes and their status quo.

Ask your customers open questions to understand their business and let them walk you through their processes.

Use the hand-off you got from sales as a “blueprint” to go deeper from there. 

Your goal is to understand their problems and why they exist on a granular level.

If I’d have to give any number I would say that it makes up for 50% of your success.

Practice makes perfect so use every conversation with your customer effectively. 


2. Design thinking

Understanding the customer's problem is one-half of success.

The ability to lead customers to the promised land is the other half.

Most customer success plans I’ve seen are quite useless because they don’t outline how customers master the transition.

What you need to create is a plan that includes

- milestones in your customer success journey
- the problems they need to solve
- the tasks they need to complete
- the skills and knowledge they need to acquire
- and ultimately the kind of input required

While you can source the information about the former 2 points from your customers, the latter 3 are rarely things that customers are aware of.

Start by creating prototypes and refine them with growing knowledge and experience about your customer success journeys. 

Read the full article in this episode of my free newsletter:

https://lnkd.in/dGpVsj8e

#saas #customersuccess #customerledgrowth #customervalueledgrowth

The average CSM

- Skips discoveries and relies on the (superficial) sales handoff
- Builds customer success plans based on guessing and assuming
- Points customers to generic education and training material
- Checks in when customer usage drops
- Leverages QBRs to talk about things the customer does not care about
- Avoids talking to customers because it does not scale
- Hopes customers have miraculously found enough value 
- Wonders why the C-suite views the CS team as a cost center

A world-class CSM

- Runs effective discoveries to determine customer needs
- Builds success plans to close the gaps between the status quo and the desired outcome
- Provides education and training services with a clear goal in mind
- Follows up regularly to ensure customers don’t leave the success path
- Leverages QBRs to get meaningful feedback and adapt the success plan if necessary
- Forges meaningful relationships that give them access to customer data
- Demonstrates value to every stakeholder
- Monetizes customer success through expansions, upsells, and renewals

The difference is HUGE. 

Become the 2nd one.  

PS: Want to get there faster and easier? Check out my Customer Success Creator Course: https://lnkd.in/dSn4CUas

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth

The single reason why so many SaaS companies struggle.

The addiction to shiny objects and instant gratification.

New customer acquisition is to get the foot into the door.

Sustainable growth and profit come from existing customers.

That's how the SaaS business model works.

It does not change because you wish it would. 

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth

CSMs, doing your work the old way is no longer viable.

Because customer expectations have never been higher.

Their willingness to pay never been lower.

They are no longer paying for product usage and convenience.

Anything but delivering exceptional value is not an option.

You need to build systems to lead your customers to the promised land precisely and repeatedly.

Here's how: 

1. Discovery

It’s not enough to understand your customers' goals’. You need to understand what keeps them from getting there. An effective method to get to the bottom of your customers’ problems is the 5-Why analysis. 

2. Customer success plan

- Desired outcome
- Milestones to achieve
- Problems to solve
- Tasks to complete
- Skills and knowledge to acquire
- Inputs and services from the CS team required 

3. Customer success program

It does not matter how many customers watch your tutorials, download your guides or attend your webinars. What matters is how many can successfully implement their learnings. Design every piece of content, input and service with a specific goal in mind. 

4. Segmentation

Splitting your customers by industry, size, etc. makes it easy to assign them to your CSMs internally. But it’s completely irrelevant in terms of customer outcomes. Segment your customers by their needs and build out specific plans and programs. 

5. Measure success

Track your customers' progress and results with the metrics they are using. Because that's how they will evaluate the ROI from your product and decide whether they will renew. 

6. Get meaningful feedback

Find out what works, what does not, and why. Engage with your customers in old-fashioned 1:1 conversations where you can ask open- and follow-up questions. Your QBRs offer an excellent opportunity. 

Do you have a system in place that leads your customers to the promised land accurately and repeatedly?

PS: Want to learn how to build such a system? Check out my Customer Success Creator course https://lnkd.in/diSKNmDB

#saas #customersuccess #customerledgrowth #customervalueledgrowth

90% of SaaS companies are missing their growth goals.

And the reason is simple.

They leave 90% of revenue on the table.

Because they still don't double down on customer success.

Instead they keep relying on new acquisitions from scratch.

Coming at low conversion rates and high costs.

The best SaaS companies have figured it out years ago.

That's why they are still growing profitable while everybody else is desperate to reduce costs.

The best-in-class 

 - say no to customers who are not a good fit for their product
- take their customers to the promised land accurately and repeatedly
- build customer relationships for mutual long-term benefit
- monetize customer success through expansions, upsells, pricing and 2nd order sales

Stop copying the failing growth strategy from the masses.

Copy and adapt what the top 1% is doing.

PS: Sign up for my free newsletter if you like this post https:/markusrentsch.substack.com 

#saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth




Opinion: 95% of SaaS companies don’t have a customer success strategy.

There’s no

- effective discovery framework to identify customer problems and the resulting needs
- customer success plan that outlines the steps customers need to achieve their goals
- specifically designed services and inputs to close the gaps
- segmentation that considers the needs of different customers

There’s only a random mix of tactics, reactive playbooks, and generic inputs. 

The golden mantra of customer success “deliver value with every interaction” is just wishful thinking. 

In the current economy, you can no longer afford “randomness” because it’s costing you a lot of money.

Customer success needs to be scientifically engineered. 

Here’s how:


1. Discovery

It’s not enough to understand your customers' goals’. 

You need to understand what keeps them from getting there. 

An effective method to get to the bottom of your customers’ problems is the 5-Why analysis. 

Example: Customer project was not completed on time

- Why? The scope changed multiple times
- Why? Because it was ill-defined
- Why? Because not all relevant stakeholders were involved
- Why? … 


2. Customer success plan

- Desired outcome
- Milestones to achieve
- Problems to solve
- Tasks to complete
- Skills and knowledge to acquire
- Inputs and services from the CS team required

Build one for every segment. 


3. Design services with specific goals

It does not matter how many customers watch your tutorials, download your guides or attend your webinars. 

What matters is that they are able to complete specific tasks or solve specific problems from the input they receive. 

Sticking with the example this could e.g. be how many customers (%) were able to identify all relevant stakeholders. 


4. Effective segmentation

Splitting your customers by industry, size, etc. makes it easy to assign them to your CSMs internally. 

But it’s completely irrelevant in terms of customer outcomes.

You can have 2 customers from the same industry and roughly the same size with different goals, problems to solve, and almost certainly different levels in terms of skills and knowledge. 

Segment customers by their needs for better focus and higher repetition. 

That's it.

PS: Join 3.127 CS professionals upgrading their game every week --> https://lnkd.in/djMQvmDV

#saas #customersuccess #customerledgrowth #customervalueledgrowth

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