Segment Your Customers: First of all, you can divide your customers into segments based on their characteristics, behaviors, or needs – like how much they pay or what products they’ve bought. This allows you to tailor your approach to each segment and provide more personalized experiences, as well as grouping clients in relevant buckets together.

Map the Customer Journey: Next, identify the key stages of the customer journey, from onboarding to renewal, awareness to advocacy, and map out the touchpoints and interactions at each stage. This helps you understand the customer experience and identify areas for improvement.

Implement Customer Feedback Loops: You can also collect feedback from customers at various touchpoints in the customer journey. This can include surveys, reviews, or direct feedback. Use this feedback to identify pain points and improve the customer experience.

Personalize Customer Interactions: Plus, you can use customer data to personalize interactions and communications with customers. This can include personalized emails, offers, or recommendations based on their preferences and behaviors.

Provide Proactive Support: Next, you can anticipate customer needs and provide proactive support and guidance. This can include offering helpful resources, tips, or suggestions to enhance the customer experience.

Optimize Onboarding Processes: From there, streamline your onboarding processes to help customers get started quickly and easily. Provide clear instructions, tutorials, and support to ensure a smooth onboarding experience.

Encourage Customer Engagement: Then it’s about encouraging customers to engage with your brand through various channels, such as social media, forums, or events. This helps build a community around your brand and fosters loyalty.

Measure and Analyze Customer Metrics: Finally, you can key metrics related to the customer lifecycle, such as customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLV), and churn rate. Use these metrics to identify trends and areas for improvement.

Implement these steps and your average LTV will skyrocket!

The post Steps to Optimizing the Customer Lifecycle appeared first on RevSetter.

CS teams must leverage the right tools and technologies to streamline their workflows and maximize efficiency. For example, RevSetter, our comprehensive CS and revenue platform, offers a range of features designed to help CS teams thrive in their daily workflows. Here’s how you can make the most of RevSetter to enhance your CS processes:

Centralized Customer Data: RevSetter provides a central hub for all customer data, including contact information, interaction history, and account status. By centralizing this data, CS teams can easily access and update customer information, ensuring that everyone is working with the most up-to-date information.

Automated Task Management: RevSetter’s task management feature allows CS teams to create and assign tasks related to customer accounts. By automating routine tasks, such as follow-ups or account reviews, CS teams can focus their time and energy on high-value activities that drive customer success.

Collaboration Tools: RevSetter offers shared workspaces that enable internal and external collaboration. CS teams can use these workspaces to collaborate with colleagues, share best practices, and work together to solve customer challenges.

Customer Journey Mapping: RevSetter allows CS teams to map out each customer’s unique journey and milestones. By visualizing the customer journey, CS teams can identify areas for improvement and tailor their approach to meet each customer’s specific needs.

Integration with CRM Systems: RevSetter integrates seamlessly with popular CRM systems, such as SalesForce and HubSpot, ensuring that customer data is synchronized across all platforms. This integration enables CS teams to access customer information from within their CRM system, eliminating the need to switch between multiple tools.

Personalized Customer Engagement: RevSetter’s AI-powered tools can personalize customer engagement by analyzing customer data and tailoring communications to each customer’s preferences. This personalized approach helps build stronger relationships and drive customer success.

Performance Analytics: RevSetter provides performance analytics that allow CS teams to track key metrics, such as customer health scores and retention rates. By analyzing these metrics, CS teams can identify trends and patterns that can inform their strategy and improve customer outcomes.

RevSetter’s a winner and you can be too! Hit us up if you’d like to learn more and start your own CS journey.

The post Integrating CS Tools into Daily Workflows: Maximizing Efficiency and Impact with RevSetter appeared first on RevSetter.

While sales teams focus on acquiring new logos, account managers play a vital role in nurturing and expanding relationships with existing clients. By aligning their efforts and collaborating effectively, the teams can achieve better results and drive sustainable growth. 

One important thing is aligning sales and account management teams around shared goals and objectives. This could include revenue targets, customer retention rates, and upsell opportunities. By working towards common objectives, both teams are motivated to collaborate and support each other’s efforts.

It’s also essential to foster open and transparent communication between sales and account management teams by encouraging regular meetings, brainstorming sessions, and joint planning to ensure alignment and share insights.

The customer handoff process is where a lot of problems begin. You must implement a structured customer handoff process from sales to account management teams to ensure that all relevant information about the customer’s needs, preferences, and history is shared to facilitate a seamless transition and enhance the customer experience.

Collaborative Account Planning is also key. It’s important to engage sales and account management teams in collaborative account planning sessions. This allows both teams to share their insights, identify growth opportunities, and develop tailored strategies to maximize customer value. You also need to provide ongoing training and development opportunities for both teams. This ensures that they are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively collaborate and drive results.

Additionally, your tech stack needs to be leveraged by both teams, and ideally only share a single source of truth for data. Implement CRM systems, communication tools, and data analytics platforms that enable teams to share information and collaborate in real time.

You can then use this data to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of collaboration between sales and account management teams and provide regular feedback and recognition for team members who demonstrate alignment and collaboration.

Finally, everyone must adopt a customer-centric approach during all interactions with clients. Both sales and account management teams should prioritize customer needs and work together to deliver personalized solutions that drive value and ROI. Sales teams must be accountable for the deals they bring in, and AM’s must execute on the value initially communicated to the client!

The post Aligning Your Sales and CS Teams for Better ROI appeared first on RevSetter.

Stay Informed: Executives should make an effort to stay informed about emerging technologies that are relevant to their industry. This may involve reading industry publications, attending conferences, and networking with other industry professionals.

Embrace a Culture of Innovation: Encourage a culture of innovation within your organization, where employees are encouraged to experiment with new technologies and ideas. This can help foster a mindset of continuous improvement and adaptation.

Invest in Employee Training: Invest in training programs to ensure that employees have the necessary skills to leverage new technologies effectively. This may involve providing technical training, as well as soft skills training to help employees adapt to change.

Collaborate with Tech Partners: Collaborate with technology partners and vendors to stay abreast of the latest technological developments and how they can be applied to your business. This can help you identify opportunities for innovation and competitive advantage.

Pilot New Technologies: Consider piloting new technologies on a small scale before fully implementing them across your organization. This can help you assess their potential impact and identify any challenges that may arise.

Focus on Flexibility: Build flexibility into your business processes and systems to accommodate rapid technological change. This may involve using modular systems that can be easily upgraded or replaced, rather than monolithic systems that are difficult to change.

Monitor the Competitive Landscape: Keep a close eye on your competitors and how they are leveraging technology. This can help you identify emerging trends and technologies that you can incorporate into your own business strategy.

Adapt Quickly: Finally, be prepared to adapt quickly to technological changes as they occur. This may involve making strategic decisions to pivot your business model or invest in new technologies to stay ahead of the curve.

Don’t fall behind! Adapt to rapid technological change and drive innovation and growth.

The post Adapting to Rapid Technological Change: A Checklist appeared first on RevSetter.

We’ve gone ahead and compiled some basic tactics to consider for all those putting together those mid-year budgets:

Align Budget with Business Goals: Start by aligning your budget with your company’s strategic goals. Identify key areas where investment is needed to drive growth, such as product development, marketing, sales, and customer success.

Prioritize Essential Expenses: Identify and prioritize essential expenses that are critical for business operations and revenue generation. These may include salaries, technology infrastructure, marketing campaigns, and customer acquisition costs.

Monitor and Control Costs: Regularly monitor your expenses and identify opportunities to reduce costs without compromising on quality. This may involve renegotiating vendor contracts, optimizing resource allocation, or eliminating non-essential expenses.

Invest in Scalable Technologies: When investing in technologies and tools, prioritize those that are scalable and can grow with your business. This ensures that your investments continue to provide value as your company expands.

Implement Cost-Effective Marketing Strategies: Explore cost-effective marketing strategies such as content marketing, social media, and email campaigns. These strategies can help you reach your target audience without overspending on traditional advertising channels.

Leverage Cloud Computing: Take advantage of cloud computing services to reduce infrastructure costs and improve scalability. Cloud services offer a flexible and cost-effective alternative to traditional IT infrastructure.

Optimize Customer Acquisition Costs: Analyze your customer acquisition costs (CAC) and identify ways to optimize them. This may involve refining your target audience, improving your sales process, or investing in customer retention strategies.

Continuously Review and Adjust: Budget management is an ongoing process that requires regular review and adjustment. Continuously monitor your budget performance against targets and adjust your spending priorities as needed.

Invest in Employee Training and Development: Employee training and development are essential for maintaining a competitive edge in the SaaS industry. Allocate budget for training programs that help your team stay up-to-date with industry trends and technologies.

Consider Outsourcing Non-Core Functions: Evaluate whether certain non-core functions can be outsourced to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Outsourcing can help you access specialized expertise and resources without the need for large investments.

Do these things and maybe, just maybe, you can effectively manage budgets, drive growth, and ensure long-term success in the competitive SaaS market 🙂

The post Effective Budget Management appeared first on RevSetter.

In this comprehensive guide, we will delve deeply into the intricacies of structuring salary and compensation models for scaling SaaS companies. We’ll explore the various components that can be integrated into these models, including Net Revenue Retention (NRR), Gross Revenue Retention (GRR), and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). By examining real-world examples and comparing different compensation models, we aim to provide actionable insights that will help SaaS executives make informed decisions about their compensation strategies. We will also dedicate significant space to how these models align CSMs and Account Managers for maximum synergy, discuss how to pay the comp (commissions vs. bonuses vs. mix), and the optimal balance between base salary and variable compensation. Additionally, we’ll discuss potential pitfalls to avoid when creating compensation models.

The Importance of Aligning Compensation Models

Before we dive into the specifics of compensation models, it’s crucial to understand why alignment matters. In a scaling SaaS company, various teams collaborate to drive customer success and revenue growth. These teams, primarily CSMs and AMs, often have different objectives and responsibilities. Properly structured compensation models can align their efforts and create a shared focus on customer satisfaction, retention, and expansion.

Before you start

One important consideration before deciding on what type of compensation model and the different variables you want to include therein is to consider your business goals and objectives. Be specific in this thinking, “what does the CEO and/board expect from the business this year?”, “What business critical unit economics and KPIs are prioritized this year?”, and “Are we struggling in any particular areas, like retention, or have opportunities in others, like expansion?” are examples of questions to ask. The answers to these questions and others similar to them will help guide what variables you prioritize in the compensation models.  

Example 1: Mix-Model Compensation

How It Aligns CSMs and AEs/AMs:

• This compensation model combines elements of both revenue-centric and retention-focused models.
• CSMs receive a base salary and a percentage commission on all bookings (renewals & expansion deals) and bonuses tied to key KPIs and/or OKRs like NPS or usage.
• If you have AEs, they earn commissions on new deals and bonuses tied to renewals and NRR/GRR performance.
• If you have AMs, they earn commissions on expansion deals and bonuses tied to renewals and NRR/GRR performance.

Example: CSMs receive a base salary representing 60% of their total compensation, with the remaining 40% being variable. AM/AEs receive a 50/50 split between base salary and variable compensation. This mix-model ensures that both teams are motivated to drive revenue while also focusing on customer retention and satisfaction. 

Example 2: Retention-Focused Compensation Model

How It Aligns CSMs and AMs:

• CSMs are responsible for GRR & NRR, and the majority of their compensation directly correlates with GRR performance along with tiered NRR bonuses. 
• AMs are responsible for NRR & GRR, and the majority of their compensation directly correlates with NRR performance along with tiered GRR bonuses. 
• Both CSMs and AMs are motivated to close deals with a strong emphasis on customer fit and long-term potential, as churn & expansion impacts their bonuses and both GRR/NRR performance.

Example: CSMs are rewarded with a 3% commission for all renewals. AMs receive a 5% commission for all expansion deals. You can also tier the commission percentages, i.e. if GRR is <75 % = 1 % commission, 75-90 % GRR = 3 % commission, and GRR > 90 % = 5 % commission. This alignment ensures that both teams prioritize customer retention and growth.

Example 3: OKR-Driven Compensation Model

How It Aligns CSMs and AMs:

• OKRs are set collaboratively with input from both CSMs and AMs, fostering a shared sense of responsibility for customer success.
• Compensation is tied to the achievement of OKRs, ensuring that both teams work together to meet company objectives.
• OKRs can be time-bound, e.g. change each quarter or half year to adjust for evolving needs in the business. 

Example: Align the compensation model with OKRs, offering bonuses based on achieving quarterly targets regarding user activation, executive business reviews, projects completed, NPS or more. This approach fosters a sense of shared responsibility and accountability among teams.

Example 4: Revenue-Centric Compensation Model

How It Aligns CSMs and AMs:

• CSMs work closely with AMs to drive growth. Their compensation is equally tied to the upsell and cross-sell opportunities they identify and close as it is to the renewals they work on.
• AMs compensated for both renewals and expansion deals, working closely with the CSs to be successful with growing the customer base. 

Example: The CSM and AM teams meet regularly to discuss renewals and identify expansion opportunities within their customers. CSMs receive a 5% commission on renewals & expanion deals, while AMs, who drive the revenue execution, earn a 10% commission on renewal and expansion deals. This encourages both teams to collaborate on maximizing customer lifetime value.

How to Pay Compensation: Commissions vs. Bonuses vs. a Mix

• Commissions: Commissions are a percentage of the revenue generated by a team member’s actions. They provide direct incentives for renewals or expansion.
• Bonuses: Bonuses are lump-sum payments tied to specific achievements or milestones. They can encourage behaviors that lead to long-term success, such as hitting retention targets.
• Mix: A balanced approach, using a mix of both commissions and bonuses, can align short-term and long-term goals. Commissions drive immediate action, while bonuses motivate sustained efforts and results.
• Time-period: Consider your sales cycles, customer journey, your reporting and other factors to determine your Quota and payout periods (monthly, quarterly, annually). 
• Individual vs team: Using a mix between individual performance and team performance measurements can fuel collaboration, e.g. paying a bonus for the team hitting NRR target. 

Base Salary vs. Variable Compensation: Striking the Right Balance

Determining the right balance between base salary and variable compensation is critical. While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, several factors should be considered:

• Company Stage: Early-stage startups might offer higher variable compensation to attract top talent, while more established companies may opt for a more balanced approach.
• Risk Tolerance: Higher variable compensation can be riskier for employees who prefer a stable income, so consider the preferences of your team.
• Industry Norms: Research industry standards to ensure your compensation structure is competitive.
• Performance Expectations: Align compensation with performance expectations and KPIs.

For instance, a common approach might be a 60/40 split, with 60% of total compensation in base salary and 40% in variable compensation. However, this can vary widely depending on the factors mentioned above. It’s crucial to regularly reassess and adjust this balance to suit your company’s evolving needs.

Potential Pitfalls in Compensation Models

While designing compensation models, it’s essential to be aware of potential pitfalls that can hinder their effectiveness:

1. Misaligned Metrics: Using metrics that do not accurately reflect customer success and revenue growth can lead to suboptimal results. Ensure that the chosen metrics align with your company’s strategic goals.
2. Overemphasis on Short-Term Gains: Revenue-centric models can sometimes prioritize short-term revenue over long-term customer satisfaction. Striking a balance is crucial.
3. Complexity: Overly complex compensation models can confuse and demotivate team members. Keep them simple and transparent.
4. Neglecting Team Collaboration: Failing to encourage collaboration between CSMs and AMs can result in siloed efforts. Consider team-based bonuses to foster cooperation.

Conclusion

Scaling any business requires a multi-faceted approach, and compensation models play a pivotal role in aligning teams, driving desired behaviors, and achieving key business objectives. Whether you opt for a revenue-centric, retention-focused, mix-model, or OKR-driven model, it’s essential to continually evaluate and adapt your compensation strategy as your company evolves.

The post Salary and Compensation Models Guide: Mastering & Aligning Customer Success, Account Management  and Revenue Team Compensation Models appeared first on RevSetter.

Now more than ever, CSMs are expected to do more and manage all aspects of the business relationship. Balancing the responsibilities of providing value, offering support, and acting as a salesperson can be challenging. However, by implementing the following best practices, you can effectively manage your daily tasks and achieve your sales targets.

360 degree Client Understanding:

Bring value through understanding the business, how they operate, what their objectives are, why they bought your software and their vision for the future of the business. Collaborate with clients to define their desired outcomes and ensure your solutions align with their business goals. By understanding their unique challenges, you can tailor your approach and position your products or services as the ideal solution.

Build Strong Relationships:

Developing strong relationships with your clients is the foundation of successful customer success management. Actively engage with your clients, understand their goals, and establish clear lines of communication. Regularly check in with them to identify any concerns, provide support, and showcase new features or offerings that align with their needs.

Proactive Support and Education:

Take a proactive approach to support your clients by providing timely assistance and education. Offer training sessions, webinars, and resources that help them maximize the value they derive from your products or services. Anticipate and address any potential issues before they become major roadblocks for your clients. This proactive approach fosters trust and demonstrates your commitment to their success.

Continuous Engagement:

Maintain regular touchpoints with your clients to keep the relationship strong. Be available to answer questions, address concerns, and provide guidance whenever needed. Share industry insights, success stories, and best practices that can benefit their business. By staying engaged, you demonstrate your dedication to their growth and maintain a pulse on their evolving needs.

Upselling and Expansion Opportunities:

Identify upselling and expansion opportunities by understanding your clients’ evolving needs and business growth plans. Regularly analyze usage patterns, gather feedback, and identify areas where additional products or services can enhance their experience or drive further value. Position these opportunities as natural progressions that align with their existing investments and objectives.

Accurate Renewal and Upsell Forecasting:

Accurate forecasting is essential for meeting sales targets. To achieve this, maintain up-to-date and comprehensive customer records. Regularly review usage data, product adoption metrics, and customer feedback. Leverage data analytics tools to identify trends, patterns, and indicators that can help predict renewal likelihood and upsell opportunities. Regularly communicate with your clients to understand their intentions and align their needs with the anticipated forecast.

Collaboration with Sales and Marketing:

Collaborate closely with your sales and marketing teams to align your efforts and leverage their expertise. Share client insights, success stories, and feedback that can inform their strategies. Collaboratively develop campaigns and initiatives that highlight the value your company provides to clients, driving new business and expansion opportunities.

Once a CSM truly understands the business they are working with, they can establish a baseline of trust and put themselves into a position to renew and expand the partnership.

Want to learn what a day in the life of a CSM is like using RevSetter?

Be sure to check back for our next blog post to learn more!

The post Achieving Success as a CSM appeared first on RevSetter.

So, what should you do before you get your next CS software?

Check out the 5 checklist items below.

Step 1: Evaluate where you are

The first step is to evaluate and understand where you are today. Are you a smaller or growing CS organization or are you a mature and large organization? Chances are that if you are smaller and scaling, you will need a more focused approach and something that will scale with you. If you are a mature organization, you will likely need more customization and more capabilities.

Step 2: Understand your goals

This step can seem straightforward, but it is worthwhile spending time thinking about this. If you have a good product that your customers generally like, you will be less dependent on, or in need of, basic CS features – you are likely already driving good retention. Instead, you will need more strategic and growth-focused features. If you on the other hand are dealing with a “leaky bucket”, losing a lot of customers, then you will need the fundamentals first of a traditional CS tool.

Step 3: Who is this software for

This is important. If you – like most CS organizations out there – have an organization with multiple roles or a divison of labor (CSMs focusing on adoption/health, AMs focusing on renewals, AEs on expansion etc), you will need to think about who is going to be the main user of this software. If the CSMs are the main users, you need features that helps them the most and secondary features for your other roles. If the AM/AE is the main user, you need features that are built around account mapping, lead gen and growth and secondary functions for the CSMs.

Step 4: Make sure it connects to tangible ROI

When you invest in any software, and especially CS software, make sure you can connect it to tangible ROI over time. Many CS softwares out there are great, and feel great to use, but it is hard to connect their use to tangible ROI and improved Net Retention. They are activity-based, but it is hard to see or measure how churn improves or upsells & cross-sales increase. Make sure that you can connect the use of the software to tangible proof-points and ROI. Did we find more CS leads? Did we close more renewals or expansion deals? Is our Net Retention improving because of this tool?

Step 5: Evaluate broadly

Do not just evaluate the 2-3 most known players in the field. Customer Success, like the software and tools for it, is constantly growing and evolving. So evaluate multiple options and be sure to also evaluate different types of CS software. You will likely find key differences and have a better chance of finding the tool that is right for you. Here are a few categories:

Gross Retention & Health: Planhat, Gainsight, Totango

Customer Growth & Net Retention: RevSetter

Predicative: Involve

Feedback: Strikedeck, CustomerGuage

Note, for some of these – like Gainsight and Totango – you will likely need internal and dedicated resources (CS ops) to make good use out of them. For others – like Planhat and RevSetter – there are scalable options to get you started right away or to build it out much more customized. So keep that in mind when you evaluate so your time-to-value is not too long with the software you choose.

Summary

The most important thing when you are looking for a new Customer Success software is to do your due diligence, both in preparing & setting your criteria, and in evaluating tools on the market. Think about your current situation, your goals and who the tool is for. Then make sure you evaluate many types of options. Lastly, the software you select should be able to be directly tied to tangible ROI and results.

And don’t forget – there is a large CS community out there, ask for opinions and suggestions!

Good luck in your search=)

The post How to pick a Customer Success tool appeared first on RevSetter.

You are trying to figure out how to consistently hit (crush) your quota. But, it is a challenge. After all, you are probably not only measured on churn – even if that is your main target/quota. You likely have a lot of KPIs and goals to juggle – activity, adoption, NPS, bookings, logo churn etc etc.

It’s OK…you are not alone. Read on to learn how you start becoming a CS superstar (hint: no shortcuts, quick fixes or “do this and boom!” offered).

CS is complex and it is easy to get de-focused or prioritize the wrong things.

So let’s start here. Why all these KPIs and how does it all connect?

First, let us get this out of the way: the truth is that every KPI and activity you do is geared towards one thing: improving retention (Gross and particularly Net). Many with old-school CS mindsets (reactive, support, “stop the leaky bucket” mindset) will not articulate that reality, but it is one nonetheless. For example, you have activity goals, measure NPS or focus on product adoption to make your clients happier…so they will want to renew, stay longer and grow (expand) with your company. You do that to secure more revenue for a longer period of time (client lifetime value, CLV).

So remember that everything you spend time on should ultimately help you get closer to renewal and expansion (and thus your NRR target). If it doesn’t, or if a different activity will move the needle more, then prioritize differently.

Here are a few areas that will help you further.

Work ahead:

Working ahead, while focusing on the now, is hard in CS. Most of your incentives and KPIs are likely tied to results today, so that is where you spend your time. Do the following and you will see the impact down the line and overall. It will pay off in spades.

• Look at and evaluate your portfolio/renewal base 6-12 months out.
• Group, and work each part of that portfolio (e.g. clients 9-12mo from renewal) based on what they need at that particular stage to move towards renewal and expansion down the line.
• Map out your key accounts and create clear plans for success – do not just focus on churning/red flag accounts. Spend equal time on High Potential and Key accounts.
• Project what your Gross Retention (GRR) will be – you will typically know that with some certainty a few months in advance. Then calculate what you will need to close in upsells and cross-sales to hitt your NRR target. Knowing that months out vs as the quota period starts, will help you be much more proactive in your CS Growth approach.
• Be proactive and transparent. Ask if your customer would renew today even if they have 6 more months to go. Ask discovery questions to find growth opportunities. Learn something on every client interaction.

Plan for the month/quarter:

Planning and staying consistent with that plan and approach is key for success. And maintaining high standards and a high-degree of accountability to those standards, goals and plans is equally important. If you have a good plan, with clear goals, that you execute on consistently – period in, period out – you will be successful.

• Plan for your quota period (weather it is month or quarter).
• Where is your starting point, and where do you need to finish?
• Set a plan with clear, smaller steps to get there.
• Set weekly goals that will pace you towards your target. And break down your week in activities that will move the needle.
• Don’t be generic “I’ll do 25 % of quota each week”. Think about your true renewal and growth motion (likely most of your deals will not be generated and closed in the same week) and how that typically plays out throughout the quota period.
• Think about what leading indicators and KPIs move you towards renewal and growth, prioritize those at the right time (e.g. more prospecting/activity goals in week one, more booking & closing deals goals in week 3-4)

Make it happen:

Consistent success is not a coincidence in CS. You need to make it happen and you need to be proactive to do so. Not settle. not be afraid of asking questions, digging deeper or going outside of your comfort zone.

• Set a prospecting goal for yourself. Great leads will not consistently and magically find you in CS. You need to prospect and be proactive.
• Get on the phone (or in the room!) with your clients! Stop using email as a shield between you and your clients. As a comfortable buffer. Trust, relationships, opportunities happen in those conversations, not in long email threads.
• Turn reactive/support to proactive/growth. Have you ever gotten an email from a key client asking for help with something in your platform, e.g. “Hey, I need help setting up this new user.”? Odds are you replied back with a “sure thing!” and set up that user. That is a wasted opportunity. Call instead! (p.s. they will pick up since they are waiting to hear back on their question) Confirm that the user is now set up…and ask who this new user is, if they need training…maybe it is a new VP or decision maker that you would have otherwise missed. And worst case, you get a few minutes on the phone with your contact.
• Understand the decision tree and talk to the decision maker(s) often. Don’t get stuck too low on the decision tree, losing leverage and perception. You want to be on the decision makers level and on their radar as a resource and partner.
• Be uncomfortable. As often as you can. Outside of your comfort zone is where growth happens. This is the wonderful zone where you will ask the tough questions, cold call new contacts, turn tough cases around, close huge deals…and strike gold.

There are a million methodologies and truths that will be more or less important for you, your team and the business you are in. But the areas above – understanding the why & how of CS, working ahead, planning, and making it happen – applies across the CS spectrum. They will help you accelerate your development and improve your results. And they will help you level up in your role today and the one you will have tomorrow. For more questions, ideas or resources, feel free to reach out to me directly ([email protected]), follow me on LinkedIn or sign up for a free trial of RevSetter.

The post Help! How do I hit my CS quota? appeared first on RevSetter.