Ghostbustin’ in Customer Success

Did you know that the Halloween tradition of giving out treats on Halloween came about so “families could...prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats”?  Treats to avoid tricks.  Huh? Putting on my Customer Success hat, I thought it’d be fun to reframe this as “how can Customer Success professionals prevent our customers from playing tricks on us by providing them with small treats?”  While there’s a slew of “tricks” everyone’s customers have played on them, I think the one “trick” every Customer Success professional has experienced (and dreads) is being ghosted by the client. So, in the spirit of our theme, what small treats can Customer Success professionals effectively deploy to avoid getting Caspered?  Here are three “small” favorites:

1. Actually send them a treat.  It doesn’t need to be expensive or radical (hello $5 Starbucks gift card!) or for any other reason than to say “thinking of you and thanks for being my customer!”  If, for whatever reason, your business balks at supporting the expense, switch it up and do a fun emoji email. Don’t wait for the holiday season to send this, save those efforts for another day and do this with the simple goal of putting a smile on someone’s face.

2. Show them you know they’re a star.  Automated account usage summaries are all the rage, but they tend to miss on correlating your product’s usage to the actual business outcome for the practitioner.  Close the gap by spending 15 minutes to create and send over a “hero” report to your practitioner. A “hero” report is something a practitioner can turn around and show their boss that says, “see, by using this we achieved that, and all under my guidance.”  Everyone wants to be a rock star.  Send them a nugget reminding them they are.

3. Drop some (relatable) knowledge on them.  Take 15 minutes to do some quick research tied to their industry, your contact’s charter, and your solution’s fit in it, craft a message that cites where you looked, and provide three nuggets for them to consider where they can accelerate their results using the subscription they have with you.  As always, pick up the phone and call first, then fire off the email thereafter.

No one likes getting spooked, least of all by a customer.  Taking a tip from Halloween’s story shows us little “treats” can go a long way to avoid being tricked.

Happy Halloween!

#csbydesign