Harsha K’s Post

Customer Success Matters As a customer success specialist, I'm the unsung hero who makes a significant impact on reducing support costs. By proactively addressing potential issues and educating customers on how to use our product effectively. I prevent problems from escalating into costly support tickets. My expertise lies in identifying areas where customers might struggle and providing timely interventions, such as personalized guidance, training, or connecting them with relevant resources. This not only resolves issues quickly but also empowers customers to become self-sufficient, reducing the likelihood of repeat support requests. By doing so, I help minimize the volume of support inquiries, resulting in lower support costs and a more efficient customer success operation. Join the movement to prioritize Customer Success and reduce support costs. Share your own CSM story and let's celebrate the unsung heroes of customer success. #customersuccess #proactivesupport #customersuccessheroes

Customer Success Thoughts and Opinions - I am approaching my 5th year in Customer Success, and my 10th year in customer-facing roles/relationships something has never changed. It's not the product or the presentation - although, they help out, a LOT! It's not the sales cycle/onboarding - those can help create a great relationship. It's not the QBR's - but we still need them! It's you, the CSM. Each company and CSM team is run differently, but don't run your book like the other CSM on your team, or the ones you follow here on Linked In. We are here for two things, relationships & renewals. I am arguing those are two very human-based interactions that we help control. Be yourself in meetings, and show an individual a part of an organization that DRIVES partnership. It's not the amount of calls you have that matter if all you do is stick to a script and send that template email. Be you, that is the differentiator on top of the product, the platform, the sale, the onboarding, the renewal, and the cross-sell. I guess that ends my rant.. this is what happens when I am left alone late into the weekend.

Customer success is a lot like climbing a mountain. It’s not always easy, and it’s rarely straightforward. Every step, every conversation, every solution we provide to our incredible customers, is part of a journey toward building lasting trust and loyalty. As a Customer Success Manager at Further, I’m reminded daily that success is about so much more than quick wins. It’s about understanding where our customers are headed, helping them tackle challenges, and celebrating their progress along the way. Sometimes, it means taking that extra step with them, even when the path gets steep. Customer retention is hard work, but there’s nothing more rewarding than knowing our customers feel supported and valued. It’s what drives me and keeps me passionate about this role here at #FURTHER! Here’s to pushing forward together and making every step count! 🚀 #CustomerSuccess #CustomerRetention #FURHTER #SeniorLiving #BuildingTrust

🌟 As a Customer Success Manager, our mission is to ensure customers achieve their goals with the product/service. 🚀 Here's what we do: 1. 🎉 Onboarding: Guide new customers through setup and features to kickstart their success journey. 2. 💬 Relationship Building: Forge strong connections by understanding needs and being proactive in addressing concerns. 3. 🛠️ Customer Support: Provide timely assistance to troubleshoot issues, collaborating with internal teams for solutions. 4. 🎓 Training and Education: Offer resources like webinars and tutorials for customers to maximize product/service value. 5. 📊 Success Planning: Collaborate on tailored success plans, tracking progress towards goals over time. 6. 💳 Renewals and Upsells: Identify opportunities for growth based on customer satisfaction and usage data. 7. 🗣️ Customer Feedback: Gather insights to drive product enhancements and improvements. 8. 📣 Advocacy and Retention: Encourage satisfied customers to advocate for the brand and address retention risks. 9. 📈 Metrics and Reporting: Track KPIs to measure success and communicate progress internally. 10. 🔄 Continuous Improvement: Stay updated on industry trends and competitor offerings for ongoing strategy enhancement. 🌟 The goal of a Customer Success Manager is to cultivate enduring, win-win relationships with customers, aiding them in extracting the utmost value from the product or service. This leads to customer satisfaction, retention, and advocacy. 🤝🔍#CustomerSuccess #MaxValue #LongTermRelations #RelationshipBuilding #CustomerValue #Advocacy

My Journey in Customer Success (6/N): The True Beginning I complete 6 months at the end of April at ZapScale. To be fair, while this journey has been very exhilarating and enriching, it has also been an eye opener for me in a lot of ways. Customer success in India and around the world does not fall under a singular operation. All organisations across different verticals tend to use Customer Success as a function differently. Often viewed as a cost centre, CS is definitely not prioritised at the right time, which then leads to a sense of dissatisfaction towards Customer Success as a team. In my humble opinion, this is a myopic view. At ZapScale, we are a team dedicated to change the way the industry looks at Customer Success. When it comes to our own CS, we are very clear on the goals we want to define for our customers. We want them to get the true value out of CSP, We want them to feel empowered with a tool, that translates into a strong asset for their CS functions, and not as a liability. Our culture, while internally is filled with challenges, ownerships and having fun, as a business, we are obsessed with our customers. Our priority are always our customers. And that is not because we are in early stages and all our customers are a critical revenue for us. It is because, to build a power house of a customer success platform, we are thriving on setting new benchmarks in the industry when it comes to customer success. I would take a moment here and give a huge shoutout my CS team head - Jaya Choudhary, my senior Rohit Abhishek, and my co founders - Manasij Ganguli, Mausmi Ambastha and Bratish Goswami and the entire team at ZapScale. The team here knows what real customer experience is all about. I am thankful for all the learnings I owe to everyone here. And this marks the true beginning for me in customer success. What happened next? Follow my LinkedIn post series "My Journey in Customer Success" to stay updated. I want to reiterate that I'm not an expert but rather sharing my ongoing learning journey. I welcome your thoughts and feedback on this.

ONBOARDING CUSTOMERS AS A CUSTOMER SUCCESS MANAGER It's a brand new week In hope that We are abreast with the milestones for the new week . I will quickly explore more on what it entails in onboarding a Customer . A Customer Success Manager primarily focuses on Customers . There are basic steps of getting customers running up and about in getting them to purchase the New products and services . These steps Includes : ⭐Introduction and Welcome ⭐ Understanding Customer's needs ⭐ Setting objectives and expectations ⭐ product training and orientation ⭐ Customisation ⭐Addressing concerns and objections ⭐ Regular Check-in and progress According to Cristina Fernández Urbano 🙋♂️ onboarding of customers. " During the initial interactions with the customers , it's crucial to confirm their objectives and based on these ,you draft a Collaborative success plan. This plan should include KPI's related to their RIO and it should define ownership and timing. All these will reduce customers'frustration and set them to purchase the New products and services while working with their plan. Having done this you have successfully onboard a customer. Once again I am Chisom Egoigwe, your go to Customer Success Manager. I can tailor customers'needs and complaints to a success story . #customersuccessmanger #linkedinfamily #letsconnect #letsgrowtogther photo credit :Google photos

Last summer, I made the career transition to go from post-sale customer success to becoming a pre-sales engineer. While I had thought the two roles were quite different, in reality, the two roles were not as different as it may seem. 💡 Here's what I've learned in the last year and a half: 📕 Approach discovery calls as you would if it was a cadence meeting. Learn about their use-cases and practice goal setting with your customer. In this way, like a CSM would generally document a success plan in post-sale, the SE is starting to document a mutual action plan to shape the PoC and identify the success criteria important to the customer. 🤝 Establish a rapport with your customers; people generally buy from who they like! Similar to when a CSM establish trust with customers by advocating for their feature requests, the same customer empathy is a valuable skillset and applicable in pre-sales. 🌟 Lastly, while some companies have a distinct hand off process from pre-sales to post-sales, the line is blurred these days. Customers may want to stay with the person they purchase from. While the sale may be done, the work is never finished! The next milestone is actually implementing the tool and seeing the hard-work come to fruition. ❓ What do you think? Do you think there are overlaps between the two roles?

Ready to become a Customer Success Manager? 🚀 Explore the critical skills, educational background, and steps needed to help customers thrive and grow long-term relationships. 👉 Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/de6Nb472

Searching for a role in customer success made me reflect on the stages customers (who I refer to as ‘Awesome People’) go through in their journey, and how challenging it can be for us, Customer Success Managers (CSMs), to maintain an optimistic view throughout the process to keep our clients engaged. Customers meet us post-sale, after they have experienced all the ‘GLAM’ the product has to offer. Now, the real journey begins, with the potential for technical issues, a product adoption process, and the discovery of aspects of the product they haven't yet met. So how can we keep those awesome people on the same page, with high energy and motivation to use our product? ⚡History - Make sure you gather all previous information from other stakeholders. Map any possible pain points and prepare potential mitigations. Understanding the customer's history and context is crucial for a smooth journey. ⚡LISTEN - Don’t just hear them out. Don’t multitask while you’re on a call with them, be present. Repeat what they’ve told you to make sure you understand their needs and show them you’ve listened. Ask permission to write down what they’re saying, and be an active listener. ⚡DON’T be afraid - Once you’ve done your homework on the two points above, don’t panic if something goes wrong during the process. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Difficulties in the first mile don’t necessarily mean the race is over. Remember, the awesome people know you’re there to help them succeed and continuously improve their experience. What do you think is the most important aspect of starting the customer journey? #customersuccess #customerjourney #listen #dontpanic

My journey in Customer Success (3/N): Who am I? Following my initial role, I delved into a world filled with ambiguity for the next few years. While these positions were all customer-facing, they didn't entirely embody the essence of what true Customer Success entails: Ensuring the success of customers through your product. Some of this time was spent as a client servicing manager, with the majority in operational roles. The routine was familiar – liaise with customers, coordinate with internal teams, deliver projects, and aim for profitability. Yet, amidst this, I sensed a gap. Side Note: In 2019, personal challenges hit me hard. I had to take time off for therapy due to clinical depression, a struggle that's difficult to articulate. However, let's reserve this discussion for more personal conversations. Throughout these experiences, I realized none of these roles truly prioritized delivering genuine value or driving tangible business outcomes for customers. It felt more about fulfilling obligations and generating revenue. This raised a fundamental question: Is this the true role of a Customer Success Manager? What's next? Stay tuned for the upcoming post in my series: My Journey in Customer Success. P.S. I'm not an expert but a learner, sharing my experiences. I'd love to hear your stories too – feel free to share in the comments or via DMs.