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  • Thought Rocket: Anatomy of a Perfect Customer Success

    I captured a few simple points in a video a few weeks back in a flash of contemplation (hence thought rocket). Other than capture and share it here I wanted to elaborate a little. First the video: The first thing to say is that customer success is not an isolated event or activity and this…

  • Adoption Hacks

    Adoption hacks are little tips and tricks you can use to stimulate adoption of technology. Actions that can include any number of activities, all designed to get users learning about, understanding and using features of a technology to get new value from it. Activities can be anything from communication, learning components, social proof (showing how…

  • Update on As a Service Trends

    As I think more about this whole space and track the developments in it with posts like this, I’m trying to envisage dynamics of the perfect business in it. That gave rise to the DanelDoodle at left. Just some fun and very quick so not sure they are absolutely right. I’ll get a better feel…

  • Role of marketing in customer success

    I attended a customer success meetup last Friday which produced some excellent conversation. I’ve been thinking about the topic of this post for a while so added it to the list of discussion topics in the meetup. From the link above you’ll see it amongst a bunch of Post It notes. It was bundled alongside…

  • Update on As a Service Trends

    When Ikea considers changing its business model then you know something is afoot. The big news this last week was Ikea thinking about making certain items available on a subscription basis. Good article on that here where the screenshot at left is from. It’s looking at doing so on a trial basis so this will…

  • The role of innovation in customer success

    Customer Success activities are maturing. I have been doing the job since at least 2012 and have seen the profession go through fundamental changes to the point where, to succeed now, you need to be innovating. I started writing about the role of customer success in relation to customer experience and the subscription economy almost…

  • Update on As a Service trends

    In my new eBook / trend report I will cover the As a Service trend (see point 9 here for more on that) and the role customer success plays in it. This post and others that follow will document examples of where I see companies exhibiting behaviours of this trend. I first wrote about them…

  • Playing your part in the machine of business is hard. Start with mindset.

    Business transformations or change management efforts are a dime a dozen. We are bombarded by the constant need for change in the face of accelerating change. We get we need to build an ability to master change. The problem is in the face of cynical change or transformation programs where many have gone wrong, we…

  • Considering buying a new technology platform, ask this about their customer success

    I’ve been on both the receiving and offering end of efforts so can speak to both. In the Software as a Service business especially, if that is how the platform is offered, the vendor should have a team supporting how the platform is deployed, adopted and maintained. Moreover, the team should be focused on helping…

  • Leading the right behaviours through metrics and new work models

    Metrics drive behaviour. Organisations also know that they can better manage, what they can measure. So if you want to change behaviours, look at the metrics you are using and how they are driving behaviours. You also need to look at the models and frameworks in which the metrics are contextualised and which drive them.…

  • Thought Rocket: The Conversation is the Collaboration

    Workplace chat is something I am heavily focused on at the moment, i.e. my customers use of Microsoft Teams. Either through lack of knowledge or legacy thinking, I’m faced with initial confusion. This quick video aims to tackle that. I’m trying to emphasise that it’s not about the many things I get asked to address…

  • Thought Rocket: Persona’s and knowing your users

    I put this simple video together the other day. I shared it on LinkedIn and it got some good feedback – check the comments. The post and comments go in to more detail in terms what I was thinking and how responses helped me flesh it out a little. So herewith, the video:

  • What good data looks like

    This last week I attended a meetup and workshop in London organised by Customer Success Network, a European based not-for-profit community for customer success managers. It had the same title as this post. An excellent session which started off with a few minutes of talking by Dan Steinman, GM Gainsight EMEA. I then facilitated one of the…

  • What business are you in?

    The question in the title derives from the classic marketing thought piece by Theodore Levitt entitled Marketing Myopia. At the time it rocked not just the marketing world but the business world in general and has shaped business thinking ever since. Published in the Harvard Business Review in July/August 1960, it is no less relevant…