Want Clients to Trust You? Focus on Consultative Customer Success.

A consultative approach prioritizes the customer and makes it clear that their success, not unlocking upsell opportunities, is the top priority.
Written by Michael Hines
September 15, 2021Updated: September 20, 2021

Internally, tech companies can easily tell the difference between customer success and sales teams, but for clients it may not be that easy. While customer success managers (CSMs) don’t spend their days trying to close deals, part of their role does involve selling products and services, which can understandably cause the lines to blur for customers. That’s where the consultative approach to customer success comes in. 

A consultative approach prioritizes the customer and makes it clear that their success, not unlocking upsell opportunities, is the top priority. It’s high-touch and requires CSMs to stay up to date on their company’s products and services and hone a range of skills, including active listening, research and time management.

Consultative customer success is less of a set of best practices to follow or an enshrined methodology and more of a, “you know it when you see it” sort of thing. With that said, we caught up with three customer success professionals and asked about how they and their companies work to center the conversation around customers.

 

Claire Fundingsland
Client Success Manager • Hawke Media

When it comes to research, Fundingsland, a Hawke Media client success manager, makes sure to take a deep dive into both the companies she works with and the industries they’re in. However, Fundingsland’s research process doesn’t stop there. In addition to knowing her clients and their industries, she also makes an effort to better understand their expectations by reviewing the pitch decks they were presented with and the contracts they signed.

 

What steps do you take to better understand the needs, goals and expectations of your customers?

It sounds obvious, but I think active listening is most important to understanding your customer. Clients don’t always share a need or expectation, sometimes because they aren’t even aware of it! It’s important that we are proactively looking for opportunities in conversation to jump in and help them succeed. I’ve also found that a simple, “tell me more about that” question or prompt can help lead to an opportunity to meet a need, upsell or level set on expectations.

Doing thorough research prior to meeting is also critical to a stellar first impression. Review any information they have shared during the sales process, read through recent news about the brand or find them on LinkedIn. Anything you can do to connect and treat them like they are the center of your attention while you have them goes a long way.

 

What training is in place to help CSMs in your organization become experts on your products and industry? 

The best resources that we have are the service experts themselves. I never hesitate to ask a service expert to explain something to me and they’re always happy to teach. We are also required to share one article per week with the CS team about anything in the industry, so I spend significant time researching industry updates and best practices and diving into the articles my teammates share. 

While it isn’t our responsibility as CSMs to develop or execute on the product or service, it is mission-critical that we are able to support clients by answering questions and bringing relevant information to their attention. I also spend a lot of time reviewing sales materials, as they often teach the client about what they’re buying. Contracts and sales decks are a great way to learn about your product and what draws clients in.

I spend a lot of time reviewing sales materials, as they often teach the client about what they’re buying.


What soft skills have you found to be particularly important when it comes to consulting your clients? How have you strengthened those skills over time?

While client success is a role that requires a range of soft skills, I would argue that emotional intelligence is the most important. I spend most of my days listening to clients, understanding what they need, managing expectations and often reading between the lines, so it’s critical that we understand and can manage and align both our emotions and the client’s. One way I have really grown my emotional intelligence is by slowing down. On a call, I am mindful to take a deep breath before responding to a frustrated client and no longer respond to an angry email in 30 seconds. 

I’ve also worked on adapting my communication style to match the client’s. Sometimes you get a client who loves long emails and exclamation points and others who want a direct answer with as few words as possible. It’s important that we manage emotions in a way that will resonate. Though it sounds obvious, facetime with the client helps propel the relationship forward and reminds them that you’re on their team, so it’s important to manage your calendar so that you can participate in client calls with the service team.

 

Karl-Erik Leesment
Client Services Manager (CSM) • SmartFinancial

Working with insurance agents requires a CSM to be a domain expert in a complex industry. Rules and regulations can change quickly and aren’t always consistent between different types of coverage and states. Leesment, client services manager at SmartFinancial, said his team leverages their relationship with customers to both build their industry expertise and stay ahead of new developments.

 

What steps do you take to better understand the needs, goals and expectations of your customers?

We are focused on advising and providing support to our network of insurance agents and providers. Our motto is “KYA,” or “know your agent.” We have a set framework of questions that we ask agents during onboarding to ensure we understand their needs, expectations and goals for the program. We then discuss performance management with a strong focus on campaign diversification and cost per acquisition. Once the agent is actively receiving new business from us, we regularly analyze the data and check in frequently to ensure they are on track to hit their agency goals.

Consistency, time management and drive are all crucial aspects to successfully fostering productive and positive relationships with clients.


What training is in place to help CSMs in your organization become experts on your products and industry? 

We have weekly management meetings with senior leadership as well as daily check-ins with our director and other CSMs. We bounce ideas off each other and engage in cross-collaboration to create new standard operating procedures with the goal of advancing the organization’s vision. Because we develop great relationships with our agents, we gain insight on the insurance side of things directly from them and as well as any changes from the carrier. This enables us to better assist our agents moving forward while remaining current with emerging technologies and industry trends at all times.

 

What soft skills have you found to be particularly important when it comes to consulting your clients? How have you strengthened those skills over time?

Communication, problem-solving and negotiation skills. While consulting with clients, we are always looking for a win-win. We want to work in their best interest and also work in the best interest of our company. I have strengthened my skills over time by continuing to focus on gaining more active users and retaining my book of business. Consistency, time management and drive are all crucial aspects to successfully fostering productive and positive relationships with our clients.

 

Tia Jones
Sr. Account Manager • MasonHub

Earning a client’s trust is an essential aspect of customer success. After all, if a client doesn’t trust their CSM then they’re more likely to push back against their recommendations or outright ignore them. When it comes to earning that trust, Jones, a senior account manager at MasonHub, notes that there’s still no substitute for delivering results.

 

What steps do you take to better understand the needs, goals and expectations of your customers? 

I meet weekly or biweekly with clients to talk through concerns or questions. I review their forecasts and any special needs for the day, week or month. I ask questions about upcoming product launches or promotions happening. To prep for my calls, I also look into any pending issues to help make sure I have the follow-up needed for either a resolution or an update. I also check to see if there are any open inbound shipments pending in case questions come up about when they will be received. The goal is to be aware of anything that could be going on with the client prior to the meeting so I’m not caught off guard.

You improve by looking back at what didn’t work and knowing what not to do again.


What training is in place to help CSMs in your organization become experts on your products and industry? 

New members meet with each department head to understand their function. They spend time on the floor experiencing the flow of a client’s product from receipt through shipping. They are trained on how the system works from the client’s perspective as well. This insight helps with guiding clients through training on how to use our system and helps CSMs understand the proper procedures for their needs.

They also meet with other department heads, like product, tech and billing, to understand their procedures and the connection between their position and that department. The more a CSM understands every aspect of the business, the better they can communicate to the client what’s needed to help make the end customer satisfied.

 

What soft skills have you found to be particularly important when it comes to consulting your clients? How have you strengthened those skills over time?

The most important skills are problem-solving and exceptional follow-up skills. They can make or break a client’s trust. I’ve strengthened these skills over time by experiencing different situations and learning to anticipate all possible outcomes of a scenario. You improve by looking back at what didn’t work and knowing what not to do again. Another important skill is communication. You have to be able to clearly communicate a process or need for information both internally and externally to get things done. It’s extremely important to keep miscommunication or confusion to a minimum.

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