As management consultant Peter Drucker once said, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” And of course, the only way to keep a customer is to ensure customer success. It’s the one true common denominator of any customer who purchases a business solution.
While each customer has a different set of needs and measures for success, there are basic tenets that you can apply when interacting with customers who deploy solutions like ProntoForms.
A quick note: Our business solution is used by small businesses, medium-sized companies and large enterprises for a variety of data collection tasks and business processes. We’ve tried and tested many approaches, formulas and resources and here are my top keys to driving customer success.
1. Listen and assess
It may sound elementary, but it absolutely rings true. You can’t deliver and ensure customer success without intimately understanding what your customer wants. In our case, the assessment involves truly laying out the customer’s current and intended business process. We find it essential to use workflow diagrams. A shared visual with the client helps to confirm that we’re all on the same page.
2. Simplicity works best
While some customer contacts may have a technical background and a good grasp on how various software solutions work, it’s never a good idea to delve too deep into the product unless you see that the interest is there. For example, in our business, our customer point of contact can be a small business owner, an enterprise business process owner or a field supervisor – all professionals with varying degrees of technology interest and knowledge.
Moreover, I’ve found that asking the simple question can sometimes lead organically to a conversation about a more complex business issue – and that’s when you can start to dig deeper.
3. Sell them only what they need
Stick to what the customer actually needs. Even if you think that you can 100% sell the customer an add-on, if it doesn’t help their business objectives, eventually, chances are it will negatively impact your relationship.
In addition to our SaaS subscription tiers, ProntoForms offers a variety of Setup Packages and Professional Service Packages to help our customers get the most out of the mobile solution. The Setup Packages are pretty self-explanatory, but the value added Services are introduced only when pertinent.
At the end of the day, our Support and Implementation Gurus like to focus on solutions that will help our customers look good with their customers; never a bad way to go.
For example, let’s say that a company intends to use ProntoForms for safety equipment inspection, and get a PDF report generated by the ProntoForms cloud. What if, at the same time, their customers could also receive a professionally formatted email thanking them for their business? Now we’re helping to improve their data collection and to re-shape their customer communication.
4. Check-in
Just because the customer is off to the races with your product, doesn’t mean that your quest to deliver customer success is complete. Make it a point to periodically check in with your customers. Get feedback on the product. Find out if they’re interested in expanding use. Let them know that they’re a valued customer. Don’t give them a reason to go elsewhere. Their customer success is your customer success
5 Nurture
As your offering evolves, be sure to keep your customers informed. We send focused emails to convey new information regularly. Customer newsletters and specific communication on product tips and news can be a big help in fostering customer success.
ProntoForms delivers tailored messaging to our customers, keeping them in the loop on educating them on how they can get the most out of the product. As customer knowledge about the product grows, so do the odds of customer retention.
Keep perspective
It’s our absolute pleasure to help our customers succeed. There’s nothing more gratifying than to see a business grow and know that you had a hand in it. This perspective has served the ProntoForms team very well – and I hope it, along with these five customer success keys, also inspire you.
Want to learn more? Request a demo or free trial.
