Client Services can mean different things to different companies, but in the technology space, we are referring to the client/customer facing group who are primarily responsible for support, training, professional services and (non-sales) relationship management .
Over the years, we have helped many companies create Client Services strategies and Operational tactics. Here are our top 10 characteristics of an effective client services team.
1. C-Level Endorsement and Buy-in of the Strategic Importance of Client Services
Having the CEO and all other senior executives truly and sincerely understand the strategic importance of Client Services is a huge step towards having a world-class organization. To quote a very over-used phrase, it all starts from the top. The CEO sets the tone. An effective Client Services team is equally as important as an effective Sales team – albeit for different reasons – New revenue vs Revenue Protection. This should be communicated and frequently reinforced through actions and expectations.
2. Strategic Client Services metrics as a component of the Executive “Dashboard”
When the Executive are tracking corporate performance metrics, key (C-level relevant) Client Services data should be front and center. Example could be:
- Days between Sale and Revenue Recognition (bookings to revenue).
- Client Churn / Client Retention – Measured in Dollars.
- Client Renewal Health Score (see our previous blog: The Equation for Customer Retention Predictability)
3. Quarterly Client Services Reviews
The Client Services Team should be accumulating vital information directly from clients and provide it, proactively, to Development, Marketing, Sales, Product Management and then Executive Team to ensure that their respective activities will continue to evolve and improve the overall client experience. The Client Services Team is the hub client intelligence and is critical to the overall organization that it is shared with all key stakeholders.
4. A Sound Self-Service Strategy
Client Services organizations should be empowering their clients to be self-sufficient (to the extent that they would like to be) through the availability and wide array of self-service tools. Short, easily consumable, training videos, job aids, knowledge articles, support portals would provide clients with tools to seek out their own answers and to resolve their own issues, to their desired extent.
5. An Interactive Client Community
Create collaborative forums (social media or traditional) for clients to communicate with each other. Having a forum to communicate with peers to address challenges, talk about best practices and share success stories increases the overall creditability of your solution. Connecting your client base in a way that augments your value is a definite characteristic of a world class client services organization.
6. Client Advocacy
There should be dedicated individuals within the Client Services organization, such as Client Success Managers or Client Advocates, whose prime focus is to be a “trusted advisor”. Their prime objective is to have a pulse of the client and to understand and proactively engage with them when assistance or intervention is required. Additionally, they should be actively monitoring usage patterns to see if there are any trends that might indicate barriers to renewal. Ultimately they are responsible for ensuring high client usage, renewals and hopefully, expanded business.
7. Strong Subject Matter Expertise
It is extremely important that all members of the Client Services organization develop deep subject matter expertise. They must all be product experts and must truly grasp and can talk with a great level of confidence and detail regarding the features and usage of the product or service; especially as it relates to the client’s unique environment, processes and workflow.
8. Leverage Client Advisory Boards
Organizations should create Client Advisory boards to whom they can present marketing messages, sales approaches, and product roadmaps regularly (once or twice a year) to obtain feedback and keep their clients engaged and invested. An effective Client Advisory Board is made up of strategic clients who having varying experiences with your organization. It cannot be made up of only those who “love” your organization, but also those who hold criticisms as well. In either case, they need to provide sound, objective and valuable feedback.
9. Client Intelligence
A world-class Client Services Organization will be measuring and cross-referencing highly relevant and important client data to ensure the organization as a whole is making sound business decisions.
This can be as simple as having a CRM tool that has good categorization of issues, topics and subtopics, allowing Client Services organization to understand the patterns of interactions. For example, finding out that 70% of calls generated from a specific module of the software are “how-to” type calls, gives the organization a clear understanding as to training needs or product management priorities. Too many organizations track only the basics and are not able to identify patterns that have a significant influence on the client experience.
Almost as important as proper usage of a CRM tool is having great depth of understanding of how clients are using your solution. A fantastic example for SaaS companies is Totanto (www.totango.com) which provides incredible insight into which individual users use specific feature sets, when they use them, how they use them and then trend this information over time. This type of intelligence is beyond critical for any SaaS company. The impact this level of usage detail has on client services, product management, development and marketing cannot be over emphasized.
When you can cross reference this usage detail with the CRM detail, your organization is empowered with a level of client intelligence that will absolutely give you the knowledge needed to cement existing relationships, secure renewals, protect your revenue and trample a competitor.
10. Employee Empowerment
This is a point we have discussed before but it is essential that members within the Client Services organization feel empowered to make client impacting decisions, within reasonable boundaries.
If each individual has great clarity with regards to what their boundaries are, they will have the empowerment to make client impacting decisions that will be very valuable and helpful to their clients.
