Customer management is a "Never Ending Story."
But what is this story all about?
It is a narrative written before they become prospects; optimistically speaking, it will not end as customers and vendors live happily ever after.
As CSMs, we “touch” different books:
1. The book of business
2. Playbooks – we build and maintain our virtual library of playbooks to create standardization in customer management.
3. Customer Success books – they inspire and help us improve as CSMs.
All of these books are relatively “static.” The book of business might change, but it does not happen every day. Same for playbooks.
And yet, CSMs are engaged in a very dynamic set of tales – all can be considered chapters in the book about a customer’s business journey.
In this respect, CSM influences multiple customer stories simultaneously. Each one looks different. Each one has a plot with risks and opportunities. Each has a unique theme highlighting the mutual vendor-customer relationships.
For those of you looking for some structure, I created a simple infographic with the main elements of a good customer story:
The 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 introduces the challenge, the needs, a possible unexpected chain of events, risks, and opportunities.
𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬– you can make them “heroes” in their organizations.
The customer 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (including People, processes, and Technology) may trigger multiple twists in plot twists.
Your 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 and its related services will significantly impact the plot's evolution. It may even "save the day" for the customers.
What else could you add? Which of them can CSM effectively “write” as part of the never-ending story?
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