CLIENT SUCCES COMES AFTER CLIENT HAPPINESS
Try to fix things in client management is always too late
6/18/20264 min read
Since college, I've always learned that the cheapest customer is the one who's already in the house: already acquired, already generating revenue every month, already having their acquisition costs amortized (at least partially), already knowing the company/product, and already having a communication channel with them that doesn't depend on media.
This seems obvious, but not for many companies. It seems that the more complete CRM solutions become, the more companies forget the "C" of Customer. They focus their efforts on bringing in new and new customers, and those who are already in the house, who have often accepted paying a higher price and have even forgiven the company's mistakes, seem to have no importance. The desire to acquire a customer ends when they are won over, and they become just another number.
Most people have experienced being a customer of a cable TV or telephone company and being indignant about the aggressive offers for new customers, while the company keeps increasing the price for existing customers. Worse: who hasn't called to try and renegotiate the price, given up due to the company's intransigence, opted to hire a competitor, and then received a call from the old company with the same offer that was previously rejected?
The most interesting thing is that this doesn't only happen in B2C and, almost in the same proportion, this mistake is repeated in B2B relationships. I have many cases to tell, from technology companies with beautiful Customer Retention or Customer Success departments that did exactly the same thing. I'll tell you two…
Customer Success with Delay - I worked with a renowned technology provider. Contract of US$6,000/month, excluding separately contracted services. Monthly relationship: zero. The only monthly communication was the email with the invoice. When I took over the contract, two things bothered me: the seemingly high price and the total absence of a description of what was contracted. So, the first thing I did was request a description of the services. The ordeal began: more than 2 months to get it. I managed to get through and realized things weren't working together. I asked for explanations. Nothing. I asked for a contract review. Nothing. I checked the notice period for termination and communicated my desire to terminate the contract while negotiating with a competitor. Throughout the entire process, not a single call, email, or WhatsApp message attempted to reverse my decision. As soon as the termination was finalized, who shows up? The Client Success Manager, trying to understand what had happened. I showed her the history of six months of exchanged emails and the company's complete lack of interest. She, quite aware, understood but still asked for a vote of confidence, which I refused, of course.
Client Embromation - we contracted a WhatsApp solution that started off on the wrong foot: as soon as we implemented it and it malfunctioned, the supplier explained that we had contracted the wrong version. The question was: was there another option? Apparently, there was. I then requested the correct version and kept an eye on it. Then came the second surprise: retroactive changes to the billing method. How so? Another complaint, more lame excuses. That's when the real problems began: a problem would occur with the tool, and support would always say everything was fine, until they admitted it wasn't. However, they acted as if they didn't know who the client was, and it was necessary to explain everything to each new person who handled the case. This is, in fact, a common practice in all customer service departments in the country. But that was just the beginning. When we questioned the charges, we discovered that they were inventing most of the amounts charged. Worse, they sent invoices with confusing dates, charging the same amount more than once. With all this, what could be expected? Contract termination. And what did the company do after more than 6 months of complaints registered at all levels of the company? An attempt at recovery through the customer success area.
CRM doesn't build customer relationships; it only records events and points out what's happening.
Banks learned this lesson in the early 2000s when they tried to replace human customer service with software. If a company doesn't have someone on the front line concerned with what the customer thinks, monitoring feedback, the CRM will just be another place to record errors.
In fact, anyone who has worked with Total Quality Management knows that things should be done right the first time. Implementing a Client Success area is equivalent to placing quality control at the end of the process, after errors have already occurred. Those who must ensure that errors are avoided are those in the production process, especially when the customer suffers the consequences. Instead of apologizing, true success is thanking for compliments.
I truly believe that if a Client Success area is to be implemented, the only way is with AI, but only if it is trained to understand what needs to be done and what constitutes a satisfied customer. Because it's not just about understanding what happened, but it was about doing the right thing.
But, to be honest, a customer generally makes the problems clear over time, unequivocally. A little Natural Intelligence and listening skills are enough to understand when the customer is not being served. Technology is great, but it will never replace common sense.