In today's business world, many B2B companies are following in the footsteps of B2Cs that are essentially "getting in bed" (for lack of better terms) with their customers. Sounds a little weird, right? But it's absolutely necessary. When you get to know your customers on a deep and personal level, you gain valuable insight into their strengths, weaknesses, and objectives they'd like to reach as a company, especially while utilizing your products and services. What happens once you gain this insight? It's kind of like going on a first date. Theones that go well, at least.
You create a conversation, you get a feel for each other's needs, and (hopefully) develop a relationship built on loyalty. For businesses, it results in higher likelihood of continued purchases and most importantly, happy clients that generate referrals.
Coming from both a B2B and B2C background myself, I'll admit that there's a lot B2Bs can learn from their business counterparts. Thankfully, ImagineSoftware knows a thing or two about strategic insight. When I began working for the company, one of the first things I learned was that ImagineSoftware hasa near 100% client retention rate. How is that even possible?! At least, that's what I asked myself before I sat down with Gerald Hedrick, one of our Client Success Managers, to understand how the company has perfected the art of creating dialogue with decision makers and cultivating long-lasting relationships.
We are driven first and foremost by our focus on our most important asset – our clients. We never forget who we work for.
"As Client Success Managers, our primary function is communication. You can think of us as the client-facing concierges of the business. We excel in aspects of software functionalityandon the "how-to's" of the system. Our goal is togather insight into our customers' business, operational, and transitional situations.We get to know them really well-their strengths and weaknesses, company goals, and what they expect from us in order to make their business more successful and efficient. That's a necessity for us, how else would we be able to ensure our clients and partners that we can solve their issues?"
- We understand the benefit and necessity for regular, carefully structured client calls as a standard practice of CSM.
- It's vital for us to match the correct resource with the needs of every client, in every situation.
- Meeting commitments and delivering on expectations.
- We immediately establish partnerships and focus on forming relationships.
- We understand the different between fixing something andintentional excellence. We've formed a relationship and created conversation with the client. We already know how they use the software, so when they come to us for help, we know how to get it done the first time.
These are tips that we utilize daily.When they're executed, honestly it makes our clients feel awesome so it's something we strive to exude each day." So go ahead - communicate, assimilate, and skip off intothe sunset hand in hand with your clients... essentially. You'll thank us later.