Customer Meetings: The essence of Customer Success in the remote world

The top 10 public SaaS companies had a median NDR (Net dollar retention) of 131%! In simpler words, these companies grew 31% annually just from their previous year’s customers. That’s the impact of “Customer Success”.

According to Forrester Research, over 72% of businesses say that improving customer success is their top priority. However, with the CS teams going completely remote the challenges have multiplied.

Key challenges for Customer Success teams in the remote world

1. Sales environment is tougher now

With most businesses being forced to go remote, it is becoming more and more evident that acquiring new customers won’t be as easy as in 2019.  So retaining the existing customers is of prime importance and customer success teams are in focus more than ever before to bring in recurring revenues and renewals while being completely remote and doing only online meetings.

Take a look at the above illustration. The 3rd company “Brown Triangle” adds 1400 new companies every year and has a retention rate of 75%. However, the 1st company “Green Triangle” adds just 1000 companies each year but has a much better 95% retention. The impact: “Green triangle” outperforms the 3rd company by 18% even though it is growing slower new account-wise.

2. Market is more competitive and evolving

New products and companies are emerging tuned to specialized use-cases. The customer behavior has shifted post-pandemic as well. Some companies are prioritizing cost-cutting, some are focusing on more privacy and security. Are you observing the changing needs of your customers?

Meetings are your bridge with customers and keep tabs on their changing behaviors with a meeting intelligence tool.

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Advantages of contextual and regular success meetings

Nobody wants a meeting week after week. Such high-frequency meetings end up becoming weather talks often. Customers demand a fewer but right meetings at the right time. 

Let’s dive in to find some opportune time to make productive customer meetings happen.

1. Spot any risks or red-flags

If you do not meet the adoption goal, or see some disagreement from the customers during onboarding, it is advisable to connect with your team to rectify the situation immediately before it is too late!

Meeting Intelligence Platforms like MeetRecord can track keywords like “we are not happy”, and raise the “alarm bell” with the right deal owner. The earlier you act, the more effective this follow-up action will be.

2. Recover from a satisfaction survey response

Customer Success Manager has between 20 and 50 accounts on average. Doing the meeting after getting unhealthy feedback becomes a necessity to avoid accounts falling through the cracks!

For instance, quickly triggering a meeting following an NPS or CSAT note left by a customer allows teams to have an immediate return and understand the reasoning behind the client’s response. Most importantly, it shows to the client that their opinion counts!

3. Do not ignore anyone

There is no question about removing regular meetings with your key accounts. Important meetings like Quarterly Business Reviews allow all stakeholders to discuss the good and the bad of recent feature releases or changes, as well as possible shifts in the company, and the next steps for the partnership.

Frequency might vary depending on the type of customer but maintain a connection with all. Ignoring for long is inviting a risk!

4. Increase referral - Make them your fans

Acquiring new customers is expensive, except when they get directly recommended by your current customers, who are happy with your product experience and talk about it around them. They are your ambassadors, your fans.

Identifying these user ambassadors can be done simply: when they respond 9 or 10 to an NPS survey, or simply when they mention positively on social networks. To work on your ambassador base, you need patience and persistence.

Once you identify these favorable events, a CS meeting can be set up to check for referrals. The discussion will be an opportunity to show them that they are among the flagship users and offer them to be part of your ambassador program.

These meetings automatically make it possible not to miss potential ambassadors by identifying the most positive customers and putting them forward!

Fixing customer success meetings at the right time help you avoid potential tensions or provide opportunities that may go unnoticed in the daily flow. And of course, it keeps you in regular contact with all your accounts.

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Do you use any special tactics for your Customer Success meetings? Tell us about it!