3 Deadly Mistakes In Customer Success (And How You Can Avoid Them)

The fundamental rule in Customer Success is to understand what your customers need.

So far so good.

But the problem is most people don’t take the time to find out what’s happening behind the scenes.

These are moments when your customers pull the trigger and switch to your solutions.

And your primary goal is to decode their underlying desires and take action.

So, here are 3 mistakes you need to avoid to ensure you align with your customers’ deepest motivations:

1/ Don’t sell the mattress. Sell a good night’s sleep.

People don’t buy products.
They buy the promise of a change for the better.

Their emotions and feelings always come first before any rational decision and logic.

When you understand what they want, you can position your products as the right solution.
This is why you need to find out what their most selfish needs are first.
Then craft and laser-target your messaging with that idea in mind.

And beware.
Don’t talk about features and how great your product is.
Focus on what’s in it and what you can do for them.

So, don’t sell the product, sell the outcome instead.🤓

2/ Don’t sell the vitamin. Sell the pain killer.

Your customers bring you many concerns at once.

But your role is to define what priorities you should be working on first.
And these are your customers’ need-to-haves:

the most important and urgent problems they need to solve. See the Eisenhower decision matrix I described here for guidance.

And at the same time, they might also be looking for things that are not business-critical:

these are rather the vitamins, nice-to-haves that can wait for now.
And which one do you think you should focus on to get the most results?

Solving the pain of course.
As I say in a more poetic note:
Kill the pain, win the game. 🤓

3/ Don’t assume, but connect.

Assumptions rarely reflect reality.
There are reasons why your customers want to get on a call or meet with you. They have a task and believe you can help them with it.
But most people are too quick to reply.

They bring in the product and its features instead of listening to understand first.

Here are a few direct questions you should ask to clarify what your customers want:

Why are we meeting today?
What are you trying to solve?
Why is this important to you?

Can you tell me how you’ve been dealing with this so far?
What did you do to resolve it? How successful was it?

Did you try anything else?

These will help you get to the point fast, and uncover what the most painful problem is.

So, like with any other thing in your life, always take a step back and don’t make assumptions.

Rather, make lasting connections instead.
And that’s it. You’ve got this! 🎯🎉