Even with the best of our technology and the inventions that make modern life so much easier than it was once, all it takes is just one big natural disaster to wipe all that away and remind us that, we are here on Earth, under the mercy of nature.
Such beautiful words penned down by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Truly stated, we all bow down when it’s Mother Nature. In alarming times like Covid-19, people are more likely to work remotely than ever. Technology, as they say, is the future to behold.
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Statistics claim that in 2016, about 37% of the employees had telecommuted in the past and with the advent of the Coronavirus, the customer success teams see a huge hike in the percentage. As a matter of fact, many experts say that even the aftermath of this crisis will see a big working population, telecommuting!
As we are on the verge of dipping our toes into the wave of the future, it is best if we are prepared with a remote customer success team. Come what may, religiously following a few tried-and-tested ideas for remote customer success can truly bulge out a positive impact on your team’s efficacy.
#1 The First bit of Set-up
As you are aware that you will now be working from a distance, it is best that you draw a complete set-up first. As a customer success leader, ensure that your team has everything it needs to collaborate effectively. Just in case, you are already into telecommuting, chalk out ways in which it can be improved.
And to do that, you will have to discuss and develop clear and concise strategies. Assign each member of your team with a well-settled workspace. Remember, you will have to create the office environment in your home, or where you can work remotely. Steer away from kids, pets, or any other disturbing elements, if any near you.
You will see a sundry of potential solutions near you. Be it closed doors, or family discussions post office hours or maybe soundproofing your walls or windows. Aside from this, train your employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance. As they say, work smart, not hard. Encourage your team members to work smarter from home and set an example of how easy it is.
#2 Define etiquette for Conversations
As remote customer success teams are delving deeper into a ‘work from home’ culture, this means it is time to define boundaries. Simply put, you might have to turn off all the notifications for a certain time. You can also mute all of your other engagement platforms, say, while you are on a call.
It tends to become a lot easier when the whole team unites. This later prevents any unnecessary burnout and ensures that you all are on the same page, maintaining a healthy work-life balance. All of which means you will have to just communicate better.
Asana is a useful tool that comes to rescue. It not only supports you to plan your assignments, add ownership, and communicate in context. And if it is meeting-o-clock, you can always go on to Zoom for a longer-timed interaction with your team members.
#3 Target Key metrics and Goals
Times when all of your employees are scattered, perhaps the best tip you can curtail is to bind them with a united customer success key metrics. You can take up some of the business metrics. Some of these include putting a laser-beam emphasis on the current customer engagement strategies that are affecting the revenue generation.
Further, you can take a sneak peek into some of the adoption metrics such as feature adoption data, frequency of the product usage, and test it by using net promoting score, NPS. This will also let you know what improvements can be made in order to maximize its value.
That is not all, you will always need to have data on the outcome metrics with you. This might include renewal risks and rates and can tell you the amount of value your customers are getting from your product. It can help you plan out and make changes to whatever you need.
#4 Flexibility and Empathy
Since you are transitioning from one deck to another, things might turn out to be a little bumpy or can go ahead of your plan. But all of such issues can be put into control by using two tools of human nature, namely, flexibility and empathy.
While working with remote customer success teams, ensure that you are flexible and imbue empathy at every stage of their performance. This accounts to be one of the customer success best practices. Be lenient with their schedules, deadlines, and timings. Chalk out a planned way ahead of time and get ready for any potential setbacks. Try to build in work buffers wherever possible and help them relieve the pressure of working to tight deadlines.
Moreover, you can encourage social time to avoid any unnecessary burnout. This can help build team morale and synergy. Also, you may incorporate regular breaks to let them take a five!
#5 Procedures to aegis individual problem-solving
It is of high pertinence that your employees feel empowered to use their individual problem-solving abilities. Hence, you need to make the customer data easy to share and view. Bring down all the data from the sources, into a single access dashboard. With this, the customer-facing team can easily hem and utilize.
Final Take
Make the best use of digital platforms, and remain connected and in-sync with your team. This should be very much embedded in your company’s mission and vision statements.
As an efficient customer success manager, adapt to all of the motives of what an efficient remote customer success team looks like. Talk to your team about the core functions and practices in your vision. And let them know how proper discussion and teamwork can help you reach the pinnacle of success.
Kaustubh Sangam is a Customer Success Analyst with 2 years of experience. Committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences and driving business growth. Proficient in leveraging data analysis to optimize customer success strategies.
Published July 20, 2020, Updated June 07, 2023
