Sales Team Coordination – the Missing Link in Implementing a Customer Experience Framework

A coordinated sales team is absolutely critical to implementing a superior customer experience framework for the following three reasons:

1. Superior Customer Experience is proven to drive more revenue

    

2. Setting up a Structure of Farmer Account Manager with an Inside Customer Success Manager is a one-two punch for Superior Customer Experience.

    

3. Look to Emerging Best Practices to stay ahead of your Peers.

    

Read our article, 4 Elements of Superior Customer Success and Customer Experience to see how you can leap frog your competition.

Download our SBI CX Strategy 2019 Workbook. Using this workbook will help you:

1. Implement the use of a CX Design Strategy (in order to have confidence that your teams can provide a superior customer experience).

    

2. Launch and maintain a successful customer-focused culture.

    

3. Understand if your company has both the capacity and capability required to deliver and maintain the ideal experience for your customers.

    

Superior Customer Success is the Difference Maker

Recent research showed that companies that focus on Customer Experience (CX) outpace their peers.

The top US CX leaders achieved 2X the % of revenue growth over their peers.  They also achieved 5X the % of EBITDA growth over their peers.

Any trip to an Apple store is met with lots of people in the store (Apple has a great following). What you also have is an incredible experience once you are assigned an Apple rep. These are the design starts for a sales organization to deliver on a superior customer experience. You need a person to manage the customer, the Account Manager.  They should be more of a farmer, nurturing the client relationship.  You also need a person that is available when there is a question or concern.  They are tied to the customer being successful (hence the Customer Success representative).

So, the prevalent question is, “How do I start to create a Superior Customer Experience to drive those kind of results?”

It helps to start at the beginning.

Recurring Revenue Sales is a Team Sport

Designing a sales organization with Farmer Account Managers and Customer Success Reps.

The most successful companies that are selling recurring revenue products know mover to higher touch.  Recurring Revenue Sales is not a one and done transaction.  The relationship with the customer is an ongoing journey.  With recurring revenue, business is earned from the customer!  Each Day…..Each Month….Each Year.

Those highly successful companies have designed a sales organization around the needs of recurring sales customers.  Their account managers are more Farmers looking to keep and expand their book of business.  Farmers are needed over Hunters because Hunters are onto to the next kill.  Great training for the first time you land a recurring revenue customer, but not for keeping them.  As a Farmer Account Manager, they will be more even keel.  They will work as the trusted business advisor for the client. They will help them look for new ways to look at and improve their business.  The Account Manager is the Quarterback, the strategist for the customer account.  But, they are often not in the office and hard to reach.

The secret sales weapon….The Customer Success Rep

Even the best Account Manager can’t shake the fact they are seen as a sales person.  No apologies necessary.  They are supposed to be seen as the commercial exchange between the company and the client.  But this can stand in the way of getting critical sales information.

Enter…….. the Customer Success Rep.  The secret weapon.

The job of the Customer Success Rep is as the name implies.  Make your customer successful, ergo happy…delighted.  Like a good waiter at a fancy restaurant, they anticipate the needs of the client.  They are never pushing and overbearing.  Most important, they are there when the customer needs help.  Because the Customer Success Rep is always available, they are able to build strong customer relationships.  The better ones able build a deep trust with their customer.  Because of these strong relationships their customer will share information about their company and their needs.  These needs can then be actioned on by the Account Manager.

Recurring Revenue Examples are EVERYWHERE

I was sharing a hotel breakfast with a gentleman that was in the cardboard manufacturing industry.   He said his company had over 350 sales people with over 10,000 clients.  I commented that his business was a recurring revenue model.   He was perplexed thinking this was reserved for SaaS companies not lowly cardboard companies.  Not True!  Any business with a consumable product has a recurring revenue model.   My breakfast mate saw his business as more of a hunter type business.  He did not see it as the farmer account manager with a customer success rep.  He then shared some unique Customer Success practices they used for their customers.  These turned out to be highly transferable to Software SaaS companies.

So, the prevalent question is, “Are you looking at your business through the correct lens?”  Your growth must just depend on it!”

My current company, SBI, works with companies in all industries to grow revenue faster than the market and the competition.

Read our article, 4 Elements of Superior Customer Success and Customer Experience to see how you can leap frog your competition.

Download our SBI CX Strategy 2019 Workbook. Using this workbook will help you:

1. Implement the use of a CX Design Strategy (in order to have confidence that your teams can provide a superior customer experience).

    

2. Launch and maintain a successful customer-focused culture.

    

3. Understand if your company has both the capacity and capability required to deliver and maintain the ideal experience for your customers.

    

Schedule a working session at SBI’s Studio. 

Located in Dallas, TX, our facility offers state-of-the-art meeting rooms, lounge, full-service bar, and a studio used to tape our TV shows. SBI provides the location and facilitators, all at a compelling price point.