David Hartley, Author at 51��News Center

All for One Group Makes Customer Success Its No. 1 Priority

David Hartley — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 13:15:49 +0000

is growing on multiple fronts. In addition to its sales team targeting net new sales, the 51��partner with subsidiaries in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland established a Customer Success Management team to connect its base of more than 2,500 regular customers with the full range of products and services in its portfolio.

All for One Group realized, however, that customer success is about more than growth. The company views customer success as enhanced competitiveness in a digital world, stronger market position, and increased ability to face today’s challenges as well as those that lie ahead.

, managing director for Customer Success Management at All for One Group, says, “Our customers also made it perfectly clear that they wished for a stronger relationship and closer, better communication between our company and theirs in order to make our common projects and implementation processes more successful.”

“We aim for long-lasting, strong, and trustworthy customer relationships, which allow us to provide and implement services and solutions that perfectly meet – or, even better, exceed – our customers’ needs and expectations,” adds Zitz. “We want to be a strong and reliable partner so that they gladly recommend us within their network.”

Evolving into a Customer Success-Oriented Business

Establishing a business united to support and ensure the growth of its customer base was one of All for One Group’s major moves throughout its “Strategy 2022,” a comprehensive realignment its business strategy containing several cornerstones.

All for One Group established a Customer Success Management team, which consists of 50 team members, 35 of whom are customer success managers (CSMs). Dedicated to All for One’s existing customer base, CSMs serve as the primary points of contact for existing customers. Additionally, they take a proactive approach to providing comprehensive support throughout the customer life cycle.

CSMs are an integral part of All for One Group’s six-phase Customer Success Management program, the #Customer4Life Process:

Getting to know CSM: An initial meeting that can include discussion of a roadmap for partnership and establishing the role and importance of the CSM
Evaluating the status quo: Using a Qualtrics online survey to assess the status of the current partnership
Creating a future vision: Identifying the customer’s goals, ambitions, and visions based on the survey
Developing a success plan: Prioritizing topics and tasks that will help the client’s business meet its goals
Implementing measures: Defining concrete measures to achieve goals based on the success plan
Measuring success: Continually reviewing, giving feedback, and identifying potential areas for improvement

All for One Group is divided into market units that address specialized fields, such as conversion, intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP), 51��S/4HANA, customer experience, strategy and transformation, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Each CSM has market unit expertise, and they are assigned to customers based on geography and industries – including industrial machinery and components (IM&C), automotive, and consumer goods – as well as the types of solutions the customer uses. Additionally, all market units work together to meet customer needs and expand accounts with the products and features they need.

Enabling cooperation and communication across a team of 1,800 employees was a major undertaking for All for One Group. With the introduction of customer success management, the business initiated a cultural change that broadened an employee’s focus from only their market units to a company-wide, customer-focused perspective and established regular meetings where project statuses and new ideas can be exchanged.

“Although we have not yet fully completed our transformation, we are already seeing major changes in the mindsets of our colleagues and can feel the progress we make as a group,” Zitz points out.

Positive Response

Although All for One’s customer success management program is new, running its pilot from January 2019 to September 2019 and then fully launching in October 2019, the response from customers shows that they strongly agree with the new approach. Feedback includes comments such as, “This is exactly what we have been waiting for – a point of contact at C-level” and “After being introduced to All for One Group’s customer success management, I can confirm that this is 100 percent the right way for us.”

“A clear change we noticed right after introducing customer success management is that we were able to establish closer contact with our customers, allowing us to gain further trust and better, more direct and open communication with them,” says Zitz.

“The most important thing is always putting your customers first,“ he adds. “This might sound mundane, but we strongly believe it’s the only way to go if you want to establish long-lasting relationships built on trust and understanding of customers’ goals and requirements.”

“We continuously measure our customers’ opinions and satisfaction using Experience Management solutions from 51��and Qualtrics and, furthermore, maintain a fairly good overview of how successful we have been so far, based on our sales pipeline, key performance indicators, and by comparing our realized revenue per customer to numbers from previous years,” Zitz comments.

In the future, All for One Group plans to leverage experience management for automated feedback at each customer touchpoint. “This will allow us to react better to their individual needs, desires, and requirements and, ultimately, offer them exactly what they want and need,” he says. “We aim for a relationship at eye-level to which both parties contribute equally toward reaching one common goal: strengthening our customers’ competitiveness.”

How the VistaVu Customer Success Team Creates Great Customer Experiences

David Hartley — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 12:15:21 +0000

Building a loyal customer base and a predictable stream of recurring revenue takes more than selling technology, services, and solutions. Companies with strong market position know that it takes delivering customer experiences, building relationships, and helping ensure that customers realize the full benefits that their solutions offer.

That is why innovative companies like 51��gold partner are redefining sales organizations into teams with a dedicated focus on existing customers and adding Customer Engagement Executives (CEE) roles.

Distinct from the company’s Net New Sales team, the Customer Success group focuses exclusively on existing customers. According to CEO , since establishing the CEE role, VistaVu’s recurring revenue has grown year over year and now represents 50 percent of total revenue. This outcome aligns with research from the that says customer experience is highly correlated with loyalty and software companies stand to retain the most business from existing customers.

Characteristics of a Stellar CEE

Lamb said that success reflects the skills and characteristics of the people on the Customer Success team, such as CEE .

Burns, who formerly worked in the oil and gas industry, a target market for VistaVu, began her role at the company managing 40 to 50 customers. Her skillset soon proved to be so effective that her responsibilities shifted to that of only 15 key accounts so she could give even greater attention to helping them meet their objectives.

Although her focus has changed, her primary objectives have not: “It doesn’t matter who or what size customers are. They should all have the same experience,” Burns said. “We want everyone to be raving fans of VistaVu, whether they’re big or small.”

Burns said it is important to fill CEE roles with people who are organized and good communicators. “You need to be able to translate information to customers in ways they can understand, not using technical jargon or our own internal vocabulary.”

She added that successful CEEs are not necessarily money-driven either. “I’m more focused on customer happiness, and when they come back and show true, honest appreciation. That drives me more.”

Lezli Giguere, vice president of Customer Experience at VistaVu, pointed out that successful CEEs like Burns take initiative. “Ami has a willingness to ask tough questions and get into the thick of things with the customer,” she said.

A Day in the Life of a VistaVu CEE

Although each day brings new and diverse challenges, the CEE role at VistaVu can include the following on any given day:

Single Point-of-Contact: Any time a customer needs to address a problem, pursue enhancements to an existing process, or start a new project, CEEs are the first to get the call.
Advocacy: Burns describes the role as an extension of her customers, an advocate or “hound dog” working for them so VistaVu delivers what a customer needs to be successful and meet business objectives. CEEs work directly with one or two key contacts within the customer organization on the front lines of day-to-day operations and have direct influence on their buying decisions.
Listening for Opportunities: While the focus of customer interactions is not selling, Burns listens for opportunities: “They may say they’re spending too much time entering data and that they know they can build an integration, but they need to know how they can do it. Or, they may ask how they can reduce the time their employees spend on administration so they can focus on quality tasks. I take those opportunities from start to finish so they receive a consistent experience.”
Seamless Handover: CEEs lay the foundation for a strong relationship with a new client with a smooth transition from the Net New team. Burns prefers to begin her involvement during the implementation phase to understand details of the client’s solution. She also reviews documentation. “Clients are usually clear in the RFP what they want to achieve. The official handover process begins with a warm introduction and discussions about the client’s needs and objectives.”
Scheduled Calls: Burns establishes a calendar of calls with clients, depending on whether they prefer weekly, biweekly, or, most commonly, monthly calls. She tailors interactions based on initial goals and how much progress has been made. Progress can be measured quantitatively and qualitatively, reviewing data as well as asking the client’s perception of how the technology is working — “ensuring that the customer is leveraging their technology solution to their maximum value.”
Achieving Goals, Not Quotas: CEEs are not required to meet quotas; instead, team goals are set annually and relate to maintaining recurring revenue, gathering customer testimonials, and responding to customer feedback. “It’s the healthiest way to realize value for the customer,” Burns explained. Instead of being driven to meet quotas, she is encouraged to help her customers succeed. “When I see a customer’s corporate announcement about a new business accomplishment, I know we helped them achieve that.”

Future of Customer Success at VistaVu

The success of the first phase of VistaVu’s CEE initiative coupled with the positive feedback the company is getting from its Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys has inspired VistaVu to explore new opportunities to involve customers in its business growth.

The second phase is a deeper advocacy strategy and creating a symbiotic ecosystem with customers. “Customers are invested in wanting to make VistaVu better for them,” Burns said. “They want to learn what other VistaVu customers are doing to solve specific problems.”

In 2020, VistaVu will explore going deeper in understanding the customer journey and increasing the value it can bring. Customer communities will create opportunities to network, share information, and increase knowledge.

“We’re excited to see how that will develop, and the impact it will have on our overall company,” Giguere shared.

VistaVu’s New Approach to Customer Success Delivers Undeniable ROI

David Hartley — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 13:45:43 +0000

Since CEO Jory Lamb founded in 1996, customer success has always been one of his main objectives.

“From the beginning, we’ve been focused on business management software and assisting efficiency, operational effectiveness, collecting information to run a business in a timely manner, and presenting data in a format that managers can use to make good decisions,” he said.

However, Lamb also shared, “In recent years, we’ve become very conscious of how important it is to understand the customers’ journey and modify our processes and methodology to create not only consistent but delightful experiences as well.”

Customer Success Defined

The 51��North America partner works in competitive markets, including industrial machinery and components, life sciences, industrial , aerospace and defense, food and beverage, and high tech. Lamb pointed out that solution providers in these spaces are “only as good as your last project.”

Furthermore, customers talk: “Word of mouth is important in any business’ buying decisions. We set out to create engagements that are so remarkable that our customers are compelled to tell others.”

That is the basis for VistaVu’s “Rock Star” initiative, which aims to turn clients into raving fans.

“Success to me is our customers telling our story for us,” said Lamb.

Taking Action at VistaVu

To deliver customer experiences that turn customers into advocates, it takes more than situational awareness and core competencies, according to Lamb. For VistaVu, it meant establishing new roles and teams.

From its inception, VistaVu had operated under a typical organizational chart: Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance. In 2018, however, Lamb opted to divide its delivery team into two units: Net New and Customer Success.

VistaVu created the new role of customer engagement executive (CEE) and now places dedicated services teams with existing customers — now a focus for more than two-thirds of the company — and established a separate sales and delivery team for net-new customers.

“With a CEE, the goal isn’t about trying to sell something. It’s about creating an experience that is so valuable the client will want to go deeper with their relationship with us,” Lamb said.

The Customer Success team achieves that in part by clearly setting expectations and delivering value.

“ERP clients often under value the effort required in implementation while overestimating what can be accomplished,” Lamb pointed out. “We work with them to understand business objectives at the outset and set realistic expectations.”

CEEs are also tasked with moving clients from solution stabilization to optimization phases to considering new ways to leverage their technology to achieve greater benefits.

“CEEs look to understand upcoming customer needs and find opportunities to increase automation or improve decision making,” Lamb added.

At first, the new approach was met with skepticism internally. Some wondered about the potential for missed revenue as the balance shifted more toward improving relationships. Ironically, Lamb attributes VistaVu’s growing success to the entire organization embracing the model.

“It’s working well,” he said. “We’ve never been bigger, and Customer Success has never sold more. They don’t have quotas, but they find opportunities to help in every conversation.”

Recurring revenue has grown substantially year over year — now 50 percent of the total business — and VistaVu’s business valuation has grown five times.

Rave Reviews, Radical Realizations

In addition to establishing its Customer Success team, VistaVu began using Net Promoter Score (NPS) to understand its effectiveness in delivering experiences that delight customers. It asks the standard NPS questions: “How likely are you to recommend our company?” and “What can we do to earn a higher score?”

It is important to note that VistaVu does more than collect this data; it acts on it. When some clients requested faster response times, VistaVu reached out to see how they define acceptable turnaround and began capturing related data on a weekly basis — and soon achieved and exceeded the expectations.

“We’re insatiable listeners,” said Lamb. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure all customer experiences are remarkably positive.”

He explained that his company’s new organization has also changed the way they sell to net-new customers: “Years ago, we sold to everyone. Today, we’re a lot more selective. One of the first questions we ask is if they have a chance to become a raving fan. The size of the check isn’t what matters. The relationship needs to be successful. That’s what fuels ongoing growth.”

“Today we have over 50 percent of our client base that we can call to advocate and provide a reference for us,” Lamb said. “But we never want to get complacent. We want all of our customers to be pillars of our reputation and potential sources of new business.”

How Leading 51��Partners are Growing Their Businesses with a Focus on Customer Success

David Hartley — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 13:15:15 +0000

Some of the most successful 51��partners are growing their businesses with a strategy and culture of customer success that is supported by customer success business objectives, investments in post-sales customer engagement resources, and a pursuit of customer advocacy.

To shorten the learning curve for our partners, 51��is publishing a series to share best practices with the 51��partner ecosystem. We will hear from partners that are leaders in their approaches to customer success and hear from the Customer Success team at SAP

In these stories, learn how these partners define customer success, what drives the changes within their businesses, and how they measure impact. In interviews, partner customer engagement executives (CEEs) will share firsthand how they execute their business’ customer success strategy.

Benefits of a Customer Success Mindset

Implementing such a strategy can lead to substantial business growth and valuation, reduction in the cost to acquire customers, reduced time to sale, and increased customer references. This is supported by research from Bain & Company, which revealed and increase in customer retention by five percent can result in an increase in profits between 25 and 95 percent. Our interviews with 51��partners will demonstrate similar real-world results of adopting a customer success model.

Where to Start

Learn how some 51��partners came to realize the need to differentiate their businesses through exceptional experiences and strategies that ensure customer success. The first in the series will showcase customer success strategies at , a North American 51��Business One and 51��Business ByDesign partner, and how its CEEs put accounts on the path to success.

These inspiring stories and firsthand accounts of growing recurring revenue and business growth can provide the insights needed to begin to devise a customer success strategy of your own.

David Hartley, Author at 51����News Center