Why Are Customer Success Managers So Important?

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At accessplanit, Customer Success is part of our DNA and central to our ethos.  It shapes every interaction that we have with our customers and is the cornerstone of our business growth.  And because we live and breathe it, it’s easy to forget that for some the idea of Customer Success is quite novel and for others it’s merely lip service with no substance! Let me explain.

I attended the Learning Technologies exhibition in January with our Sales team and found that when I introduced myself as accessplanit’s Customer Success Manager there were some very blank faces staring back at me followed by the question – ‘So what does that mean?’ Visitors were of course familiar with the idea of Account Managers but we are so much more than that!

For me, Customer Success is a philosophy. My role is to act as a point of contact for our customers ensuring that they are continually optimising and refining their use of the system to help them to not only grow their business but gain the best possible return on investment from the system.

In reality, how we achieve this varies a great deal from customer to customer and therefore there is no set ‘pattern’, each customer is supported dependent on their needs and their objectives for the future.  This can be as wide as ‘increasing course bookings through the system’ to something as defined as ‘send out certification through the system’.

Using our Driving Success Programme we are able to track and measure customer objectives continually and through regular reviews we put success plans in place to ensure these are achieved.

I am also responsible for organising customer events and resources such as training days, Customer Forums and our monthly newsletter which incorporates webinar invitations and Best Practice Guides which are available for all of our customers to access. The guides and supporting webinars are filled with handy hints and tips on making the most of our course management system.

For me, best practice is key, we have a fantastic active community of customers all involved in training whether it be internal or external who are facing similar challenges. I love being able to explore how we can overcome these challenges through the system and creating a sense of community.

In the spirit of community I thought it only right to ask some of my customers how they saw customer success:

"The role of the Customer Success Manager has been an asset to our business. Such personalised help and support has been much appreciated and has allowed us to explore growth and business development with ease. We have found that working with someone who understands our business and the way we work using the Driving Success Programme has made a great difference."  Anna Luxton, Yoga Campus.

So what does Customer Success actually mean? In short, whatever you want it to. We are here to support customers, and in many cases help them to expand their training businesses.  

Interested in finding out more?  Download our short eBook for more information.

Driving Success

Other related articles include:

5 Lessons Learned As A Customer Success Manager

How To Improve Cross Channel Customer Service | Infographic

How Important Is Customer Service In Management Software?

How To Get Faster Support From Your Software Supplier