3 Customer Success Tips for the "Working From Home" Era
Three customer success tips for the work-from-home era — show customers grace, stay flexible as plans change fast, and keep communicating even when apart.
TL;DR
- Your customers are working from home and facing the same challenges you are, so show them — and your team — grace when things on a call seem off.
- Flexibility is the new name of the game; the project plans you set with a client may not hold as conditions change quickly, so build in room to pivot.
- Being apart doesn't mean you can't communicate — use video conferencing to stay face-to-face with customers and make a point to stay social with coworkers.
Whether your team is figuring out a short-term remote work strategy or if you’ve received word that you’re going to be working remote until 2021, one thing is for certain: there will be more working from home ahead. Even as companies start to phase back into offices, capacity limits and restrictions means that there will still be some people working from home for the foreseeable future.
While working from home might not be anything new for customer success teams (especially if you work regularly with SaaS and/or start-up organizations that prioritize remote work) the sheer number of new challenges and concerns that many companies are facing adds a different twist to this era of working from home.
Here are three tips customer success teams can keep in mind to make the work from home era less of a challenge and more of an opportunity:
1. Your customers are also working from home and facing the same challenges you are.
Every single time you experience an issue or roadblock working from home, just know that your customers are experiencing these exact same things. So, when you’re on a customer call and things just seem a bit off, you might need to show your customers – and your team – some grace while working through things. The past few months have brought both professional and personal struggles to the foreground for many, and being cognizant of your customers can go far in establishing strong relationships.
2. Flexibility is the new name of the game in customer success.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the new motto for every customer success team trying to figure out their long-term work from home strategy should be to keep* it flexible*. As you’ve probably experienced over the last few months, things are changing at the drop of a hat. The project plans you put in place with a client might not still be applicable come July. While it’s easier to pivot a game plan with your whole team in the room, there are plenty oftools and resources (like ClientSuccess) that can help mitigate risk and hold team members accountable.
3. Just because you can’t be together doesn’t mean you can’t communicate.
Many CSMs and other customer success professionals get into customer-facing fields because they enjoy engaging and interacting with people on a regular basis. CSMs are often social creatures, which means that remote working isn’t the most ideal of working conditions. While video conferencing software has made it possible to stay face-to-face with customers, make sure you’re also taking steps to stay social with your coworkers both professionally and personally to help the days go smoother.
How ClientSuccess can help with this transition
Long-term remote work guidelines aren’t for everyone, especially if you’re used to working face-to-face with customers and co-workers every single day. But with a dedicated customer success management platform like ClientSuccess, your team can be on the same page – and in sync with customers – without putting health and safety at risk. You can get a personalized demonstration of ClientSuccesshere.
Frequently Asked Questions
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