On this month’s episode of The Customer Success Channel Podcast, brought to you by Planhat, I chatted with Dan Farley, VP of Customer Success at Seenit. Dan opens up to us about how COVID-19 has changed how he and his team are currently working together. It is especially important that Customer Success teams come together, strive to retain customers and support their customer base. As a business, it is difficult to know what to focus on, as there is no playbook for these events.
Dan chats to me about his journey to VP of Customer Success. He provides his perspectives on two vital parts of Customer Success, functional metrics of Customer Health and CS team unity.
During these unprecedented times COVID-19 has completely changed the global economy and how companies and teams work together is now, more than ever before, extremely important. It is especially important that CS teams come together and strive to retain customers and support the current client base. As your business adapts to the changes COVID-19 has had on the global economy it is difficult to know how to structure your team, what to do when your team has been furloughed, or even what to do when your customers have been furloughed.
As a business, it is hard to know what to do during these times because there is no playbook for everything that is happening. Dan has previously built teams at Marvel app and Spredfast and has some tips and tricks to share with us today regarding how to manage Customer Success in a time of COVID.
Further, Dan shares his insight on ways we can support each other and help build relationships. He’s had to adjust, re-prioritize time, and engage with customers in a different way. The most successful being webinar programs which have had a positive impact on customer experience.
We also talk about adjustments to his Customer Success metric strategy and behind the scenes events that can have an unexpected impact on the metrics.
Another key topic is the reality of working from home. The difficulties and challenges it brings and how it impacts teams. Dan shares how imitating and replicating the work environment can help with energy and productivity.
In our discussion Dan helps answer some of the tricky questions when it comes to engaging your team and customers during a pandemic:
- How has COVID-19 impacted your customer’s experience and how are you and your team coping?
- Many companies are busy dealing with fires and don’t necessarily have time for a CSM call or QBR, what are some things your team is doing during COVID-19 that are creating a lasting impact on your customers?
- How are you maintaining customer engagement with key sponsors being furloughed, etc?
Some key takeaways from this discussion:
- Try to think day-to-day, to be creative, and to be helpful, we are all going through tough times, and try to act with empathy
- You need to adapt and you need to be agile
- Engagement and segmentation looks completely different during a Pandemic
Make sure you listen to the full episode and let me know your thoughts in the comments!