It's the Outcomes

Welcome to the second installment of the Howard Show, a look inside how a customer success (CX) organization successfully builds a FinTech startup.

Throughout my career, I have interacted with hundreds of Customer Service Managers (CSM’s) and noticed that they tend to look at, and measure, #CustomerSuccess in terms of their own company, number of open support tickets, churn rates, and the opportunity to capitalize on additional revenue streams.

 All of this helps me reflect over a favorite television quote that people often said to one another years ago. "The economy, stupid" is a phrase coined by James Carville in 1992 and was often repeated in his televised quips. As a side note, he was also a key strategist in Bill Clinton's successful 1992 Presidential campaign against incumbent George H. W. Bush and added it as a campaign motto by stating "It's the economy, stupid.".

My point in stating all this is that all customer success is dependent on outcomes. Simply stated, “It’s the outcomes, stupid.”  Please understand I am not inferring that any of my contemporary colleagues lack the common sense or brilliance to do the right thing, which is help the customer achieve their desired outcome and do it with enthusiasm and a dedication to exceed #customerexpectations.

My friend, Chris Adlard (along with Daniel Bausor) wrote in his book The Customer Catalyst that “Customers are the real source of company growth, not sales!”  Applied alongside law 3 from Customer Success (by Nick Mehta, Dan Steinman, and Lincoln Murphy) is the principle that “Customers expect you to make them Wildly Successful - Customers don’t buy your solutions to use your features and functions.  They buy your solution (and buy into the relationship with you) because they want to achieve a business objective.”

Going back to the CX build here at OneDonation.org, we are in the envious position of starting from ground zero. We have no red or yellow customers and all our relationships at this point are high touch. 

In my previous Blog, CUSTOMER SUCCESS, BUYER'S JOURNEY DÉJÀ VU IN CUSTOMER SUCCESS, I wrote “feelings are the same but building blocks are vastly different”.  Over the last few months the build has been:

1. Maturing the solution – thanks to great “Charter” customers we have had the right feedback to product and have delivered a solution that works.
2. Exercising the tools at hand – HubSpot is not  Gainsight by any measure, yet with a bit of work we can ensure we are keeping our fingers on the pulse of the customers.
3. Investing in Onboarding Excellence – there are no second chances.

The bottom line is we know that when the customer  puts her signature on a SaaS agreement that she (and her chosen vendor partner) are at risk and for her it is both personal and professional. For our partner, this directly impacts their reputation and churn.

It’s because of this that we are diligent in knowing the customer and their desired outcomes (success criteria), with a focus on proceeding accordingly in order to over deliver on the quality of what we have promised.

What I have learned is that it does not take big budgets, throngs of people or internal mantras to drive success. We enable client success through the expertise of our professionals, investment in innovative technologies, and maintain enduring relationships with highly rated Human Capital Management (HCM) vendors, Employee Benefit Providers, and financial institutions. 

The adventure of creating customer success motivates and drives everything we do at One Donation.

To learn more about who we are, and the key elements of our organization please go to  OneDonation.org.