The Human Problem with Customer Success

1 00:00:02,525 --> 00:00:04,610 Speaker 1: Humans don't think or behave like computers. 2 00:00:04,610 --> 00:00:07,346 You can't just run a command and get them to do what you want 3 00:00:07,346 --> 00:00:07,807 them to do. 4 00:00:07,807 --> 00:00:12,608 So why are you still basing your CS strategy based solely on 5 00:00:12,608 --> 00:00:13,029 logic? 6 00:00:13,029 --> 00:00:17,106 I'm Rachel Provan, cs Leadership Coach, award-winning 7 00:00:17,146 --> 00:00:19,472 CS strategist and certified psych nerd. 8 00:00:19,472 --> 00:00:23,088 I teach CS leaders how to build and scale world-class CS 9 00:00:23,128 --> 00:00:26,164 departments using a combination of strategy, leadership and 10 00:00:26,204 --> 00:00:29,350 mindset, using my secret weapon, psychology. 11 00:00:29,350 --> 00:00:33,033 Come join me every Wednesday for Psychology of Customer 12 00:00:33,052 --> 00:00:36,243 Success, where we'll dive into why people do the things they do 13 00:00:36,243 --> 00:00:39,631 , what motivates them and the effect that has on your CS 14 00:00:39,651 --> 00:00:42,305 strategy, team dynamics and executive presence. 15 00:00:42,305 --> 00:00:46,329 We'll dig into subjects like the helper personality, how 16 00:00:46,368 --> 00:00:49,848 thought errors like it's just easier if I do it keep your 17 00:00:49,889 --> 00:00:53,521 department stuck in reactive mode, and how cognitive bias can 18 00:00:53,521 --> 00:00:56,484 really screw up your customer journey, plus much more. 19 00:00:56,484 --> 00:01:00,289 Make sure to subscribe on Apple Spotify or wherever you listen 20 00:01:00,329 --> 00:01:03,628 to podcasts and make sure to share it with your CS bestie. 21 00:01:03,628 --> 00:01:06,248 Talk soon and here's to your success. 22 00:01:10,980 --> 00:01:15,222 Welcome to Psychology of Customer Success, and today I 23 00:01:15,283 --> 00:01:19,691 want to go into kind of the basis of what this podcast is 24 00:01:19,751 --> 00:01:20,112 about. 25 00:01:20,112 --> 00:01:25,956 So I think one of the biggest mistakes that happens in CS not 26 00:01:25,975 --> 00:01:30,207 just by customer success leaders but sort of everyone who's 27 00:01:30,287 --> 00:01:34,721 perceiving CS as a whole is thinking it's going to be a lot 28 00:01:34,781 --> 00:01:39,403 simpler than it actually is, and I think that's because we're 29 00:01:39,463 --> 00:01:40,989 expecting it to make sense. 30 00:01:40,989 --> 00:01:44,248 You know we're expecting humans to make sense. 31 00:01:44,248 --> 00:01:48,709 We're designing our CS strategies as though they're 32 00:01:48,750 --> 00:01:53,022 going to be straightforward, when it's kind of like we're 33 00:01:53,042 --> 00:01:54,846 trying to design it for a computer. 34 00:01:54,846 --> 00:01:59,280 You know something that's repeatable and predictable the 35 00:01:59,340 --> 00:02:02,090 same thing is going to happen every time you write that same 36 00:02:02,150 --> 00:02:04,819 kind of code for any computer. 37 00:02:04,819 --> 00:02:07,948 It all speaks the same language , it all behaves the same way. 38 00:02:07,948 --> 00:02:10,944 You know garbage in, garbage out, you put good code in, 39 00:02:11,064 --> 00:02:11,769 you're going to get. 40 00:02:11,769 --> 00:02:14,823 You know you're going to get the result you want if you know 41 00:02:14,862 --> 00:02:15,364 how to code. 42 00:02:15,364 --> 00:02:17,128 But it's predictable. 43 00:02:17,128 --> 00:02:22,895 And we're trying to create a strategy for our customers that 44 00:02:22,995 --> 00:02:26,860 is predictable, that gets predictable results, and there 45 00:02:26,941 --> 00:02:28,829 definitely are ways to do that. 46 00:02:28,829 --> 00:02:31,247 Yes, there will be some margin of error, but there are ways to 47 00:02:31,307 --> 00:02:31,729 do that. 48 00:02:32,319 --> 00:02:35,709 But we're not considering a lot of different factors. 49 00:02:35,709 --> 00:02:40,288 You know computers even though they might not seem that way to 50 00:02:40,329 --> 00:02:44,409 those who you know aren't engineers, like I'm not doesn't 51 00:02:44,449 --> 00:02:48,485 seem particularly simple to me, but compared to humans, honestly 52 00:02:48,485 --> 00:02:52,399 they're not that sophisticated and there's not as many things 53 00:02:52,438 --> 00:02:53,644 you have to take into account. 54 00:02:53,644 --> 00:02:59,640 For example, computers don't have hidden motivations, they 55 00:02:59,721 --> 00:03:03,683 don't get tired, they don't have fear, they aren't resistant to 56 00:03:03,764 --> 00:03:06,991 new lines of code or they're not self protective like, oh, 57 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,421 you've never done that with me before, I don't know if that's 58 00:03:09,442 --> 00:03:12,610 going to make me self destruct, so no, not going to run that 59 00:03:12,669 --> 00:03:13,230 line of code. 60 00:03:13,230 --> 00:03:18,776 I'd imagine it would probably be be more difficult to create 61 00:03:18,816 --> 00:03:20,521 programs and such if that were the case. 62 00:03:20,521 --> 00:03:26,231 And they also don't lie or basically mislead. 63 00:03:26,231 --> 00:03:27,544 They don't tend to mislead. 64 00:03:28,219 --> 00:03:32,129 A lot of the times we will take what our customers say as face 65 00:03:32,210 --> 00:03:32,570 value. 66 00:03:32,570 --> 00:03:34,125 You can do that with a computer . 67 00:03:34,125 --> 00:03:37,387 You can't necessarily do it with a human, because a human 68 00:03:37,828 --> 00:03:39,050 will tell you what you want to hear. 69 00:03:39,050 --> 00:03:42,187 A computer will absolutely not do that. 70 00:03:42,187 --> 00:03:45,586 Input equals output every time with a computer. 71 00:03:47,379 --> 00:03:48,945 Humans are a lot more complicated. 72 00:03:48,945 --> 00:03:51,621 They have different perspectives, they have 73 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:53,086 different schemas. 74 00:03:53,086 --> 00:03:59,028 So schemas are basically the way that your brain builds 75 00:03:59,109 --> 00:04:01,734 itself to make shortcuts Right. 76 00:04:01,734 --> 00:04:05,770 So it's, it kind of creates if this than that in computer speak 77 00:04:05,770 --> 00:04:05,770 . 78 00:04:05,770 --> 00:04:09,645 But it becomes very sure about these things. 79 00:04:09,645 --> 00:04:15,137 So you know, based on the way you were raised, the things that 80 00:04:15,137 --> 00:04:16,781 you learned, the things that you saw. 81 00:04:16,781 --> 00:04:22,476 Different things became objectively true for you than 82 00:04:22,497 --> 00:04:25,625 they did for me, than they did for someone you know in a 83 00:04:25,685 --> 00:04:29,779 different political part of the country than they did of, 84 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:34,250 perhaps, someone of a different gender perspective is everything 85 00:04:34,250 --> 00:04:40,108 with humans, and it's entirely possible for two people to have 86 00:04:40,149 --> 00:04:43,382 a completely different perspective and for them both to 87 00:04:43,382 --> 00:04:43,942 be right. 88 00:04:43,942 --> 00:04:49,261 Given the background and the way they're looking at it, they 89 00:04:49,300 --> 00:04:52,557 just might not be able to communicate to the other exactly 90 00:04:52,557 --> 00:04:54,002 what it looks like from their point of view. 91 00:04:54,002 --> 00:04:57,007 So schemas are your view of the world. 92 00:04:57,007 --> 00:05:02,649 Now, for various reasons, mainly having to do with wanting 93 00:05:02,649 --> 00:05:07,845 to feel safe and secure, your brain has billions of bits of 94 00:05:07,904 --> 00:05:10,911 information coming to it at every single moment. 95 00:05:10,911 --> 00:05:15,762 Right, it can't possibly take all of that in, so it takes in 96 00:05:15,963 --> 00:05:18,170 only what it considers to be relevant. 97 00:05:18,170 --> 00:05:20,908 Now, it's only going to consider something to be 98 00:05:21,009 --> 00:05:25,781 relevant if it fits into those existing schemas, and it has a 99 00:05:25,841 --> 00:05:31,838 tendency to filter, delete or distort things that fall outside 100 00:05:31,838 --> 00:05:35,208 of those schemas because they don't fit into the world view 101 00:05:35,509 --> 00:05:36,511 that your brain has. 102 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,600 This is all happening without your ever realizing it, and I 103 00:05:41,682 --> 00:05:45,350 actually do a little bit of an experiment on my son sometimes 104 00:05:45,410 --> 00:05:48,584 to show him how this works because I'll tell him, like you 105 00:05:48,625 --> 00:05:51,641 can see something and not really see it, like it won't register 106 00:05:51,682 --> 00:05:55,088 with you or you will have seen it a different way. 107 00:05:55,088 --> 00:05:56,913 And you know he's eight. 108 00:05:56,913 --> 00:05:59,485 So he'll be like, no, no, that's not, that's not possible. 109 00:05:59,485 --> 00:06:00,990 I remember everything, I see everything. 110 00:06:00,990 --> 00:06:04,168 Okay, you know we'll be walking down the street and I'll say 111 00:06:04,208 --> 00:06:05,802 what was the color of that door? 112 00:06:05,802 --> 00:06:06,625 Three doors back. 113 00:06:06,625 --> 00:06:08,322 You saw it. 114 00:06:08,322 --> 00:06:10,404 You know, we walked right past it. 115 00:06:10,404 --> 00:06:11,242 I saw you look at it. 116 00:06:11,242 --> 00:06:13,204 Actually, what color was it? 117 00:06:13,204 --> 00:06:18,901 And he'll break out into a smile because he has no idea. 118 00:06:18,901 --> 00:06:22,218 And the reason he has no idea is because the brain decided 119 00:06:22,598 --> 00:06:26,769 that little bit of information was insignificant, he didn't 120 00:06:26,829 --> 00:06:27,009 need it. 121 00:06:27,009 --> 00:06:30,495 There's enough that is going to be going on in his brain. 122 00:06:30,495 --> 00:06:35,504 So it immediately disregarded it, deleted it and wasn't there 123 00:06:35,543 --> 00:06:35,845 anymore. 124 00:06:35,845 --> 00:06:37,877 Yes, he saw it and now it's gone. 125 00:06:37,877 --> 00:06:43,420 And that really colors our perception of the world and, 126 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:48,839 what's important, so does things like fear and the survival 127 00:06:48,860 --> 00:06:49,321 mechanism. 128 00:06:50,290 --> 00:06:55,536 Now, when your customers are looking at the software that you 129 00:06:55,536 --> 00:06:59,161 want them to be paying attention to, you want them to 130 00:06:59,262 --> 00:07:03,531 install it, their attention isn't locked there, right, like 131 00:07:03,653 --> 00:07:07,247 you've seen a PowerPoint or you've seen somebody try and 132 00:07:07,266 --> 00:07:07,990 teach you a software. 133 00:07:07,990 --> 00:07:11,507 You don't retain every single bit of information the way a 134 00:07:11,567 --> 00:07:15,516 computer would, even though you heard it, unless your memory is 135 00:07:15,557 --> 00:07:16,218 very special. 136 00:07:16,218 --> 00:07:18,702 You're not going to retain absolutely everything you hear. 137 00:07:18,702 --> 00:07:21,531 Like you can listen to this podcast again, you'll probably 138 00:07:21,571 --> 00:07:25,218 get more out of it the second time because there will be bits 139 00:07:25,398 --> 00:07:28,283 that your brain just went off and la, la, la and for a little 140 00:07:28,302 --> 00:07:30,634 bit and you missed a couple of things. 141 00:07:30,634 --> 00:07:32,579 And that's fine, that's how it works. 142 00:07:32,579 --> 00:07:38,160 But these things have to be factored in when you're setting 143 00:07:38,180 --> 00:07:39,122 your CS strategy. 144 00:07:40,089 --> 00:07:44,341 A lot of CS doesn't take the human element into consideration 145 00:07:44,341 --> 00:07:44,341 . 146 00:07:44,341 --> 00:07:48,632 You know they wanted the product, they bought the product 147 00:07:48,632 --> 00:07:48,632 . 148 00:07:48,632 --> 00:07:49,935 We showed them how to use the product. 149 00:07:49,935 --> 00:07:53,394 Success right and not quite. 150 00:07:53,394 --> 00:07:57,367 You know, adoption isn't even listed in the traditional 151 00:07:57,406 --> 00:07:58,009 customer journey. 152 00:07:58,009 --> 00:07:59,812 It's all just assumed. 153 00:07:59,812 --> 00:08:03,860 It goes from onboarding to maybe optimization, but often 154 00:08:03,901 --> 00:08:08,990 not just like usage, and then renewal, expansion, advocacy, 155 00:08:09,793 --> 00:08:13,754 all definitely going to happen, right and it just. 156 00:08:13,754 --> 00:08:15,560 It's not quite that easy. 157 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:20,458 But you know the traditional customer success model and what 158 00:08:20,538 --> 00:08:23,803 I'm still hearing from so many startups of what they're 159 00:08:23,843 --> 00:08:29,321 expecting their CS department to do is, you know, onboarding, 160 00:08:29,401 --> 00:08:33,033 focus on onboarding, which I agree very important, but focus 161 00:08:33,094 --> 00:08:33,654 on onboarding. 162 00:08:33,654 --> 00:08:38,404 Then have QBRs with the bigger clients, have some sort of 163 00:08:38,485 --> 00:08:40,950 digital strategy for the smaller clients or do nothing with them 164 00:08:40,950 --> 00:08:40,950 . 165 00:08:40,950 --> 00:08:42,918 They should be fine. 166 00:08:44,453 --> 00:08:48,927 But you know, onboarding QBRs and then QBRs can be for upsell 167 00:08:48,947 --> 00:08:50,009 and renewal. 168 00:08:50,009 --> 00:08:55,398 That is all very much based on what the company wants for 169 00:08:55,437 --> 00:08:59,884 itself, but it has nothing to do with what the customer wants 170 00:09:00,264 --> 00:09:00,946 for themselves. 171 00:09:00,946 --> 00:09:04,216 This is one of the reasons that I get very cranky when people 172 00:09:04,256 --> 00:09:07,644 talk about changing the name of customer success, because often 173 00:09:07,684 --> 00:09:11,176 when they do that, they take the customer right out of it and 174 00:09:11,397 --> 00:09:13,990 it's all right there in the name , right, customer success. 175 00:09:13,990 --> 00:09:17,875 We are there to make the customer successful with our 176 00:09:17,916 --> 00:09:22,884 product, not successful by our terms, successful by their terms 177 00:09:22,884 --> 00:09:22,884 . 178 00:09:22,884 --> 00:09:28,642 So what I mean by that is achieving their business outcome 179 00:09:28,642 --> 00:09:28,642 . 180 00:09:28,642 --> 00:09:34,945 So basically, yes, the results of customer success are renewal, 181 00:09:34,945 --> 00:09:38,455 expansion and advocacy, absolutely, but they're not 182 00:09:38,554 --> 00:09:39,037 automatic. 183 00:09:39,037 --> 00:09:44,918 They are the results of getting the customer their desired 184 00:09:45,057 --> 00:09:48,283 outcome, their business outcome that they were looking for when 185 00:09:48,303 --> 00:09:49,065 they bought the product. 186 00:09:49,304 --> 00:09:51,568 Because they didn't get a product, because, oh, that looks 187 00:09:51,568 --> 00:09:55,801 cool and you know, I want to use that as much as I possibly 188 00:09:55,841 --> 00:09:56,000 can. 189 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,816 I want all the bells and whistles and I just want to be 190 00:09:58,855 --> 00:10:02,510 able to do all the things that that product can do, as cool as 191 00:10:02,552 --> 00:10:05,099 it may be, people just don't buy products for that reason. 192 00:10:05,099 --> 00:10:10,320 They buy products to solve a problem or to take advantage of 193 00:10:10,340 --> 00:10:11,160 an opportunity. 194 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:15,418 Typically, that's going to be save money, make money, increase 195 00:10:15,418 --> 00:10:16,019 efficiency. 196 00:10:16,019 --> 00:10:18,591 You know, an increasing efficiency is really just 197 00:10:18,831 --> 00:10:22,115 another way to increase the amount of money you have, 198 00:10:22,756 --> 00:10:27,543 because the efficiency is you know the amount of time that the 199 00:10:27,543 --> 00:10:29,645 people you're paying are spending on something. 200 00:10:29,645 --> 00:10:33,576 You're not spending as much time on something that dollar 201 00:10:33,636 --> 00:10:36,522 per hour can be spent on something else and you can be 202 00:10:36,562 --> 00:10:37,524 accomplishing more. 203 00:10:37,524 --> 00:10:42,375 So the way I like to look at it and the way I like to explain 204 00:10:42,394 --> 00:10:48,082 it to people is the renewal, expansion advocacy. 205 00:10:48,283 --> 00:10:52,812 All that is what your company wants, because as a CS leader 206 00:10:53,393 --> 00:10:59,701 and as a CSM as well, you have to hold in equal weights what 207 00:10:59,721 --> 00:11:02,644 the customer wants and what your company wants. 208 00:11:02,644 --> 00:11:08,418 They both have needs right and you have to find a way to meet 209 00:11:08,458 --> 00:11:09,721 them both at the same time. 210 00:11:09,721 --> 00:11:11,716 It's not a zero sum game. 211 00:11:11,716 --> 00:11:14,456 It's not where somebody is going to win and somebody is 212 00:11:14,476 --> 00:11:18,437 going to lose, and if you look at it that way, that is very 213 00:11:18,496 --> 00:11:19,580 dangerous for your career. 214 00:11:19,580 --> 00:11:21,332 You have to find a way. 215 00:11:21,332 --> 00:11:25,200 Ok, how do we make the customer successful and how do we make 216 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:26,582 that a win for us as well? 217 00:11:27,652 --> 00:11:31,893 So it's finding that sort of compromise and what I found is 218 00:11:33,056 --> 00:11:37,102 the whole first part of that customer journey that post sale 219 00:11:37,123 --> 00:11:40,990 customer journey, is sort of the hard part on our side. 220 00:11:40,990 --> 00:11:45,360 It's the efforting part where we have to understand what they 221 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:45,662 want. 222 00:11:45,662 --> 00:11:48,960 We have to teach them how to use the product, the onboarding. 223 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:55,578 We've got to get them to an initial point of success, that 224 00:11:55,599 --> 00:11:59,424 first value, where they feel like it's worth continuing to 225 00:11:59,485 --> 00:12:01,648 put in the effort to. 226 00:12:01,648 --> 00:12:02,970 You know like this is going to work. 227 00:12:02,970 --> 00:12:04,897 I see the reason I'm onboard. 228 00:12:04,897 --> 00:12:08,677 I'm going to keep using it until I get the results I want, 229 00:12:08,717 --> 00:12:10,662 because I see that that's possible right. 230 00:12:10,662 --> 00:12:14,139 And then once they hit that result that they want, that they 231 00:12:14,139 --> 00:12:15,923 get the result they were looking for when they bought the 232 00:12:15,923 --> 00:12:16,384 product. 233 00:12:16,384 --> 00:12:17,990 That's sort of like when they get to the top of the mountain. 234 00:12:17,990 --> 00:12:21,366 You got to spend all that time climbing up the mountain to get 235 00:12:21,386 --> 00:12:23,485 them to their desired outcome and then you get to ski down the 236 00:12:23,485 --> 00:12:23,788 other side. 237 00:12:25,221 --> 00:12:28,374 The rest of it becomes really easy the renewal, the expansion, 238 00:12:28,374 --> 00:12:32,179 the advocacy, because you've proven that you deliver value 239 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:36,386 and that continuing to invest in you or investing more in you 240 00:12:36,847 --> 00:12:38,009 will continue to deliver value. 241 00:12:38,009 --> 00:12:44,259 And even more than that, the second order revenue of people 242 00:12:44,318 --> 00:12:47,724 telling others about how fantastic you are, you know, 243 00:12:47,823 --> 00:12:48,845 drives new customers. 244 00:12:48,845 --> 00:12:51,428 It almost becomes new sales and marketing for you. 245 00:12:51,428 --> 00:12:52,009 That's free. 246 00:12:52,009 --> 00:12:56,554 So there's tons of value in CS. 247 00:12:56,554 --> 00:13:01,520 But to assume that there's no real effort on our side where we 248 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,323 have to meet the customer halfway there, that's where I 249 00:13:04,384 --> 00:13:05,706 think a lot of people miss it. 250 00:13:36,023 --> 00:13:40,674 Now, where it gets even more tricky is there's not just one 251 00:13:40,735 --> 00:13:42,117 outcome, right? 252 00:13:42,117 --> 00:13:44,302 I mean, maybe there is. 253 00:13:44,302 --> 00:13:49,052 If you have a very simple product and you're maybe dealing 254 00:13:49,052 --> 00:13:54,491 with one type of customer solving one type of problem, but 255 00:13:54,491 --> 00:13:58,462 you're probably not necessarily like a SaaS model, then you're 256 00:13:58,482 --> 00:14:01,490 probably a very inexpensive B2C. 257 00:14:01,490 --> 00:14:06,171 So in traditional customer success, you're most likely 258 00:14:06,271 --> 00:14:09,463 going to have to deal with not just one outcome. 259 00:14:09,463 --> 00:14:12,445 We think of the outcome of the executive sponsor, because of 260 00:14:12,506 --> 00:14:13,528 course, that's important. 261 00:14:13,528 --> 00:14:17,847 But in order to get that, you also have to get the outcomes of 262 00:14:17,847 --> 00:14:21,242 the key stakeholders, because they're going to want something 263 00:14:21,283 --> 00:14:21,625 different. 264 00:14:21,625 --> 00:14:25,209 It's going to take something different for them to be 265 00:14:25,309 --> 00:14:29,262 motivated to show up and prioritize your product every 266 00:14:29,343 --> 00:14:30,606 day in their life. 267 00:14:31,679 --> 00:14:33,124 So we've got the executive sponsor. 268 00:14:33,124 --> 00:14:35,250 They want something, probably financial. 269 00:14:35,250 --> 00:14:39,927 The key stakeholder wants something else, probably for 270 00:14:39,947 --> 00:14:43,342 their department to do things more quickly or to look good to 271 00:14:43,382 --> 00:14:48,228 their boss and your end users, the people who have to actually 272 00:14:48,408 --> 00:14:49,170 use the product. 273 00:14:49,170 --> 00:14:52,019 They probably don't particularly care. 274 00:14:52,019 --> 00:14:54,266 I mean, I'm sure they care about the bottom line of the 275 00:14:54,286 --> 00:14:57,425 company, but they probably don't see how it's in any way tied to 276 00:14:57,425 --> 00:14:58,980 your product and to them. 277 00:14:58,980 --> 00:15:02,968 It's probably just kind of annoying to have to figure out 278 00:15:03,028 --> 00:15:08,288 something, figure out a new tool that they don't see, a real 279 00:15:08,367 --> 00:15:09,891 reason that they have to learn. 280 00:15:09,959 --> 00:15:13,081 It was easier to just do what they were familiar with, so 281 00:15:13,742 --> 00:15:15,868 there has to be something in it for them as well. 282 00:15:15,868 --> 00:15:19,267 There has to be a way that it's making their life easier, their 283 00:15:19,267 --> 00:15:20,030 job easier. 284 00:15:20,030 --> 00:15:22,947 What can it do that they couldn't do before without the 285 00:15:22,986 --> 00:15:24,309 tool or with a different tool? 286 00:15:24,309 --> 00:15:29,410 So you have to actually almost work backwards. 287 00:15:29,410 --> 00:15:32,430 You have to work first with the end user, because if they're 288 00:15:32,491 --> 00:15:36,125 not using it, you're probably not going to get the rest of the 289 00:15:36,125 --> 00:15:36,586 results. 290 00:15:36,586 --> 00:15:41,230 So you have to be able to be clear in your messaging to the 291 00:15:41,350 --> 00:15:46,179 end user of how this is going to make their life better, and you 292 00:15:46,179 --> 00:15:49,448 have to be coordinating with the key stakeholder of yes, 293 00:15:49,488 --> 00:15:52,485 we're working towards the outcome that your boss wanted, 294 00:15:53,279 --> 00:15:55,721 here's what we've been doing with it, here's what you can 295 00:15:55,761 --> 00:16:00,218 tell him or her that's going so well, and what you had to do 296 00:16:00,259 --> 00:16:02,786 with it to solve the greater business problems. 297 00:16:02,786 --> 00:16:06,909 And again, the outcome is never going to be. 298 00:16:06,909 --> 00:16:09,881 I want this program so I can use all the fun bells and 299 00:16:09,901 --> 00:16:10,242 whistles. 300 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:16,113 If we don't get the outcome that the customer wants, we will 301 00:16:16,173 --> 00:16:21,267 fail to get the results that we need as a company, from CS, from 302 00:16:21,267 --> 00:16:22,110 those customers. 303 00:16:22,110 --> 00:16:29,519 The whole point of CS is to systematize those outcomes and a 304 00:16:29,519 --> 00:16:32,887 predictable way to get that customer from here, where they 305 00:16:32,928 --> 00:16:36,105 started, to there, that result they want, where they want to be 306 00:16:36,105 --> 00:16:36,105 . 307 00:16:36,105 --> 00:16:41,307 And it goes beyond just teaching them okay, here's how 308 00:16:41,347 --> 00:16:42,370 you get from here to there. 309 00:16:42,370 --> 00:16:45,665 This is what success plans really are. 310 00:16:45,665 --> 00:16:50,390 It's the combination of okay, this is what you physically do, 311 00:16:50,679 --> 00:16:53,828 it's the how to in our product to get from here to there. 312 00:16:53,828 --> 00:16:59,021 But it's also motivating people , staying on top of them, almost 313 00:16:59,021 --> 00:17:04,373 project managing it and keeping everybody on track, because 314 00:17:05,421 --> 00:17:07,247 there's going to be resistance to do that. 315 00:17:07,247 --> 00:17:09,125 But here's where the problems come in. 316 00:17:09,125 --> 00:17:15,289 So, just because a person wants an outcome does not mean 317 00:17:15,309 --> 00:17:17,153 they're going to do the work to get there. 318 00:17:18,343 --> 00:17:19,307 Now let me tell you what I mean. 319 00:17:19,307 --> 00:17:22,848 So I'm going to use the embarrassing example of me and 320 00:17:22,868 --> 00:17:27,303 the gym here, because I just, you know, it's something that I 321 00:17:27,384 --> 00:17:28,689 battled with most of my life. 322 00:17:28,689 --> 00:17:30,427 I do not like going to a gym. 323 00:17:30,427 --> 00:17:35,556 I have found ways that I like to exercise, well enough, but 324 00:17:35,615 --> 00:17:37,263 it's just, you know, not my favorite thing. 325 00:17:37,263 --> 00:17:44,793 So, that said, every you know January, I get targeted between, 326 00:17:44,793 --> 00:17:48,565 you know, december 25th and January 1st. 327 00:17:48,980 --> 00:17:50,426 The algorithms know me so well. 328 00:17:50,426 --> 00:17:53,654 They're like she's going to be thinking about what she wants to 329 00:17:53,654 --> 00:17:56,346 do next year and what she wants to change and how her life is 330 00:17:56,365 --> 00:17:56,968 going to be better. 331 00:17:56,968 --> 00:18:00,867 We're going to show her lots of ads for gyms, you know, 332 00:18:01,108 --> 00:18:05,507 especially ones in her area, and you know I get sitting there 333 00:18:05,586 --> 00:18:06,209 and seeing them. 334 00:18:06,209 --> 00:18:08,721 Things are going to be different this year, and here's 335 00:18:08,761 --> 00:18:09,986 why they're going to be different this year. 336 00:18:09,986 --> 00:18:13,081 Reason number one, two, three, whatever, I don't know, like I'm 337 00:18:13,081 --> 00:18:14,125 using a different hair dye this year. 338 00:18:14,125 --> 00:18:14,625 I don't know. 339 00:18:14,625 --> 00:18:18,368 You know, for me this year it's like oh well, my business is in 340 00:18:18,368 --> 00:18:21,103 a different place than it was last year, so maybe it'll be a 341 00:18:21,143 --> 00:18:22,527 little bit less hectic. 342 00:18:22,527 --> 00:18:26,946 You know, never mind, it's me that is the one that makes it as 343 00:18:26,946 --> 00:18:27,749 hectic as it is. 344 00:18:27,749 --> 00:18:33,228 But you know, every year I buy that gym membership or not every 345 00:18:33,228 --> 00:18:37,082 year, but plenty of years I have bought that gym membership 346 00:18:37,944 --> 00:18:40,108 and you know it's because I. 347 00:18:40,308 --> 00:18:41,070 You know there are reasons. 348 00:18:41,070 --> 00:18:43,944 I wanted, I want to feel healthier, I want to look better 349 00:18:43,944 --> 00:18:49,168 , I want to just have more energy and you know, I'm not 25 350 00:18:49,208 --> 00:18:49,550 anymore. 351 00:18:49,550 --> 00:18:53,061 I got to take care of my body, like there's lots of reasons for 352 00:18:53,061 --> 00:18:55,423 me to do this and I do want the results of it. 353 00:18:55,423 --> 00:19:00,113 But here's the thing it's cold in January. 354 00:19:00,113 --> 00:19:01,268 It's also dark. 355 00:19:01,268 --> 00:19:05,595 This is not the most motivating thing in the world. 356 00:19:05,595 --> 00:19:08,072 So for me it looks something like this. 357 00:19:08,745 --> 00:19:13,375 So the first week or two I go I'm like, oh, this is so cool. 358 00:19:13,375 --> 00:19:17,265 Look at me, I'm doing the thing , I'm getting up early, I'm 359 00:19:17,285 --> 00:19:24,036 going, and then maybe after two weeks or so, it's like I have 360 00:19:24,076 --> 00:19:27,129 specific days that I go, right, you know, three, four times a 361 00:19:27,150 --> 00:19:32,614 week, and then one day, you know I won't want to get up, for 362 00:19:32,653 --> 00:19:34,137 whatever reason, I'll feel more tired. 363 00:19:34,137 --> 00:19:35,038 I stayed up late. 364 00:19:35,038 --> 00:19:40,171 Oh, I have such a busy day today and I'm not the best at 365 00:19:40,230 --> 00:19:41,013 motivation. 366 00:19:41,013 --> 00:19:46,114 I don't make the best decisions when I'm like half asleep and 367 00:19:46,153 --> 00:19:47,317 trying not to get out of bed. 368 00:19:47,317 --> 00:19:51,233 But I'll be sitting there thinking, you know like well, 369 00:19:51,373 --> 00:19:52,836 you know today's a really big day. 370 00:19:52,836 --> 00:19:55,312 You know, the body really does need rest. 371 00:19:55,312 --> 00:19:57,271 That's when muscles repair themselves. 372 00:19:57,271 --> 00:20:01,515 So it will actually be better for me if I don't go to the gym 373 00:20:01,555 --> 00:20:01,855 today. 374 00:20:01,855 --> 00:20:04,406 I will be getting fitter by not going to the gym today and it 375 00:20:04,426 --> 00:20:06,871 will be good for work because you know, I've got a lot on my 376 00:20:06,911 --> 00:20:09,096 plate today and it'll be fine. 377 00:20:09,096 --> 00:20:11,525 I'll just go tomorrow. 378 00:20:11,525 --> 00:20:12,288 And then tomorrow comes. 379 00:20:12,288 --> 00:20:16,747 And you know, yesterday was a really big day, it was really 380 00:20:16,807 --> 00:20:19,511 busy and also it's sleeting now. 381 00:20:19,511 --> 00:20:24,735 I mean, that's, I don't want to get sick and not be able to go 382 00:20:24,755 --> 00:20:28,250 to the gym, right, so just probably just better to put it 383 00:20:28,351 --> 00:20:28,451 off. 384 00:20:28,451 --> 00:20:32,571 And then the next day my kid is sick and has the sniffles 385 00:20:32,653 --> 00:20:36,667 because he went out in, you know , in the sleet, right, and it 386 00:20:36,707 --> 00:20:37,851 just seems to go that way, right . 387 00:20:39,005 --> 00:20:41,393 And then all of a sudden you're kind of out of the habit. 388 00:20:41,393 --> 00:20:44,473 I mean to be honest, like it kind of hurts. 389 00:20:44,473 --> 00:20:49,536 It takes a while to enjoy exercise and you're not enjoying 390 00:20:49,536 --> 00:20:49,937 yourself. 391 00:20:49,937 --> 00:20:54,192 It isn't making any difference, that you can see, and even 392 00:20:54,213 --> 00:20:57,910 though I know intellectually that, no, I'm not going to have 393 00:20:57,971 --> 00:21:00,808 a sex pack in two weeks and if you are hush, I don't want to 394 00:21:00,849 --> 00:21:05,329 hear from you because I am not and it still just kind of feels 395 00:21:05,349 --> 00:21:08,848 like you know I'm putting a lot of effort in here and it doesn't 396 00:21:08,848 --> 00:21:11,054 really feel like it's doing anything. 397 00:21:11,054 --> 00:21:15,735 So why am I going to continue to torture myself? 398 00:21:15,735 --> 00:21:20,439 You know, and once you're out of the habit like that one 399 00:21:20,479 --> 00:21:24,903 little week of you know things getting in my way it's far, far 400 00:21:25,110 --> 00:21:30,386 too easy to just drop it rather than have to face the mental 401 00:21:30,426 --> 00:21:35,925 hurdles of I don't want to do this, I don't enjoy this, it's 402 00:21:35,945 --> 00:21:39,594 not convenient for me, but I still really want the results. 403 00:21:39,594 --> 00:21:44,213 Right Now that's going on with a lot of your clients. 404 00:21:44,213 --> 00:21:50,433 That said, this is for something that I saw out myself 405 00:21:50,494 --> 00:21:55,169 personally and I wanted the results and I felt really 406 00:21:55,209 --> 00:21:56,052 frickin motivated. 407 00:21:57,165 --> 00:22:00,834 Have you in your life to think if there's a time where you've 408 00:22:00,954 --> 00:22:05,471 ever tried to get someone else to change something, a habit, a 409 00:22:05,511 --> 00:22:09,865 way they behave, something that they do maybe a spouse, maybe a 410 00:22:09,884 --> 00:22:14,667 partner, heck, maybe even a pet How'd that go, because I can 411 00:22:14,707 --> 00:22:17,894 tell you in my experience, trying to change another person, 412 00:22:17,894 --> 00:22:22,350 if it wasn't their idea and they're not super motivated, 413 00:22:23,312 --> 00:22:25,417 it's not very likely going to happen. 414 00:22:25,417 --> 00:22:30,917 People don't tend to change very easily and it really has to 415 00:22:30,917 --> 00:22:34,488 be their idea and it's going to take a lot. 416 00:22:34,488 --> 00:22:39,596 Now we're not even trying to change ourselves. 417 00:22:39,596 --> 00:22:43,815 We're not even trying to change someone that happens to love us 418 00:22:43,815 --> 00:22:43,815 . 419 00:22:43,815 --> 00:22:50,766 We're trying to change people who owe us nothing, these end 420 00:22:50,865 --> 00:22:51,307 users. 421 00:22:51,307 --> 00:22:53,714 They personally haven't paid us anything. 422 00:22:55,005 --> 00:22:58,355 What's in it for them to spend their time learning a new 423 00:22:58,394 --> 00:22:58,836 software? 424 00:22:58,836 --> 00:23:03,215 That's probably not what their KPIs are, what they're going to 425 00:23:03,235 --> 00:23:03,936 be measured on. 426 00:23:03,936 --> 00:23:09,235 It's probably something that helps a part of their job, but 427 00:23:09,475 --> 00:23:11,667 it's unlikely that it is their whole job. 428 00:23:11,667 --> 00:23:16,956 Why are they going to be efforting and spending their 429 00:23:17,016 --> 00:23:20,267 time on this instead of, I guarantee you, the thousand 430 00:23:20,307 --> 00:23:22,272 other things that are on their plate that day? 431 00:23:22,272 --> 00:23:28,132 It's hard when you start to look at it that way and then 432 00:23:28,192 --> 00:23:31,269 having to do this for the end users, for the key stakeholder, 433 00:23:31,369 --> 00:23:34,903 for the executive sponsor, and motivating all these people and 434 00:23:34,923 --> 00:23:38,573 getting them to change, and oh my gosh, how are we going to do 435 00:23:38,633 --> 00:23:43,692 that you start to really get a sense of what you're up against 436 00:23:43,753 --> 00:23:43,933 here. 437 00:23:43,933 --> 00:23:47,474 The other aspect that a lot of people don't think about 438 00:23:47,975 --> 00:23:51,769 consciously is that there's a resistance to this. 439 00:23:51,769 --> 00:23:55,652 I just told you about this and you might not be jumping for joy 440 00:23:55,652 --> 00:23:55,652 . 441 00:23:58,725 --> 00:24:03,558 Let's say that we know that the customer bought our software not 442 00:24:03,558 --> 00:24:07,592 because they just happened to love pressing buttons, but 443 00:24:07,932 --> 00:24:11,123 because they're trying to achieve a business outcome, like 444 00:24:11,123 --> 00:24:16,254 they want to make more money in their campaigns by using our 445 00:24:16,294 --> 00:24:16,715 software. 446 00:24:16,715 --> 00:24:22,172 But wait a minute, I can't guarantee our software will do 447 00:24:22,211 --> 00:24:23,415 that. 448 00:24:23,415 --> 00:24:28,052 It might help, but there's other factors I can't control, 449 00:24:28,173 --> 00:24:28,413 right? 450 00:24:28,413 --> 00:24:32,775 What if I can't see if it's doing what they need them to do? 451 00:24:32,775 --> 00:24:35,066 I don't have insights into their financials, I don't have 452 00:24:35,105 --> 00:24:37,651 insights into the inner workings of their company, and I'm not 453 00:24:37,692 --> 00:24:43,730 going to If I can't see whether that's actually doing what they 454 00:24:43,750 --> 00:24:44,733 need it to or not. 455 00:24:44,733 --> 00:24:50,896 I don't want to admit that, because what if I admit that and 456 00:24:50,896 --> 00:24:53,509 the C-suite says well then, what the hell are you doing here 457 00:24:53,509 --> 00:24:53,509 ? 458 00:24:53,509 --> 00:24:55,976 You're saying we have to achieve these outcomes and then 459 00:24:56,016 --> 00:24:58,369 you're saying we can't know if we're achieving these outcomes. 460 00:24:58,369 --> 00:25:01,992 It all gets pretty scary, right . 461 00:25:01,992 --> 00:25:07,975 So it's a lot easier to just say yes, sir or ma'am, and just 462 00:25:08,015 --> 00:25:13,091 be like okay, onboard QBRs, and you're still not going to get 463 00:25:13,532 --> 00:25:15,375 the results that you're hoping for that way. 464 00:25:15,375 --> 00:25:20,976 Now the C-suite is most likely to be resistant in their own 465 00:25:21,017 --> 00:25:26,048 ways to this idea, because a lot of them actually do think like 466 00:25:26,069 --> 00:25:28,657 computers, especially if you have a founder CEO. 467 00:25:28,657 --> 00:25:29,599 Okay. 468 00:25:29,599 --> 00:25:35,658 So To them, hearing that there's going to be new ons and 469 00:25:35,718 --> 00:25:39,149 it's you know, frankly, it's not going to be as easy as they'd 470 00:25:39,209 --> 00:25:40,372 hoped it was going to be. 471 00:25:40,372 --> 00:25:43,705 It's going to take longer, it's going to take more work, it's 472 00:25:43,725 --> 00:25:45,892 going to be more complicated than they initially thought. 473 00:25:45,892 --> 00:25:48,769 That's going to cause some disappointment. 474 00:25:49,565 --> 00:25:52,692 A lot of people hope that CS is going to be this magic bullet, 475 00:25:53,195 --> 00:25:53,997 especially right now. 476 00:25:53,997 --> 00:25:58,320 They're kind of hoping like oh well, we can't get any new 477 00:25:58,521 --> 00:26:00,590 customers right now, or we're having trouble getting new 478 00:26:00,630 --> 00:26:03,045 customers right now, but we can sell to our existing customer 479 00:26:03,146 --> 00:26:03,668 base, right? 480 00:26:03,668 --> 00:26:05,249 Isn't that what CS does? 481 00:26:05,249 --> 00:26:07,470 Right, you can fix the economy right? 482 00:26:07,470 --> 00:26:12,094 You know you're not part of the same economy that we're part of 483 00:26:12,094 --> 00:26:13,596 with trying to get new logos. 484 00:26:13,596 --> 00:26:17,757 Surely our current customers aren't experiencing any of the 485 00:26:17,888 --> 00:26:20,715 economic tech troubles that anyone else is. 486 00:26:20,715 --> 00:26:22,719 It can be disappointing. 487 00:26:22,719 --> 00:26:25,471 It's actually something you have to be a little bit careful 488 00:26:25,532 --> 00:26:29,329 with when you talk about, because otherwise the C-suite 489 00:26:29,690 --> 00:26:33,625 can then say, well, if you can't fix things right away, then you 490 00:26:33,625 --> 00:26:37,673 know, kind of never mind, because we don't know how much 491 00:26:37,734 --> 00:26:39,016 runway we have left. 492 00:26:39,016 --> 00:26:46,055 And that's not a great strategy either, because CS is a 493 00:26:46,134 --> 00:26:47,518 long-term growth strategy. 494 00:26:47,518 --> 00:26:50,551 It's not that sexy. 495 00:26:52,105 --> 00:26:53,993 It's eating your broccoli, right ? 496 00:26:53,993 --> 00:26:58,550 Yeah, it's fine, you know, but it's just not necessarily going 497 00:26:58,570 --> 00:27:00,194 to be the most exciting part of the meal. 498 00:27:00,194 --> 00:27:04,755 But it is what is going to make you strong. 499 00:27:04,755 --> 00:27:08,894 It is going to have like nutrients and, you know, fiber 500 00:27:09,036 --> 00:27:14,290 and it has sure antioxidants and all these things that we need 501 00:27:14,350 --> 00:27:15,073 to stay healthy. 502 00:27:15,073 --> 00:27:20,555 Now you can't wait until you know it's something that you 503 00:27:20,595 --> 00:27:23,027 can't just do it once and you're done. 504 00:27:23,027 --> 00:27:25,596 It's something that you have to do consistently. 505 00:27:25,596 --> 00:27:28,608 That's kind of annoying, kind of like the exercise that you 506 00:27:28,649 --> 00:27:32,436 just have to do consistently because that is how you stay 507 00:27:32,496 --> 00:27:33,398 healthy long-term. 508 00:27:33,398 --> 00:27:34,929 That's one of the parts of it. 509 00:27:34,929 --> 00:27:40,774 You can't wait until you're really sick or you have cancer 510 00:27:40,794 --> 00:27:45,028 or something, and then start chowing down on broccoli and 511 00:27:45,089 --> 00:27:46,132 thinking it's going to help you. 512 00:27:46,132 --> 00:27:49,986 It's too late for broccoli at that point, you know. 513 00:27:49,986 --> 00:27:51,919 Yes, there are other things that can help you, but you know, 514 00:27:51,919 --> 00:27:54,551 relying on broccoli at the time , for that has probably passed. 515 00:27:54,551 --> 00:28:03,730 Now no one really wants to be broccoli, so we need to explain. 516 00:28:03,730 --> 00:28:07,518 You know, hey, we're the broccoli, but we also have some 517 00:28:07,577 --> 00:28:09,669 chocolate on the side of that. 518 00:28:09,669 --> 00:28:11,634 Or you know, we're broccoli with cheese. 519 00:28:11,805 --> 00:28:14,509 You know there's some benefits, there's some immediate benefits. 520 00:28:14,509 --> 00:28:17,692 It's going to we're going to get some sort of pleasure out of 521 00:28:17,692 --> 00:28:18,355 this right away. 522 00:28:18,355 --> 00:28:23,675 So there are benefits at every stage of customer success, even 523 00:28:23,715 --> 00:28:26,167 when you're starting out, even when you're in that reactive 524 00:28:26,207 --> 00:28:26,528 stage. 525 00:28:26,528 --> 00:28:31,727 Even just putting bodies on the accounts is going to reduce 526 00:28:31,787 --> 00:28:35,661 churn because people are going to get some of their problems 527 00:28:35,701 --> 00:28:39,611 solved that before they wouldn't and will talk to customers who 528 00:28:39,651 --> 00:28:43,458 maybe aren't that happy but they're not gone Right. 529 00:28:43,458 --> 00:28:46,192 So customer success has an immediate benefit. 530 00:28:46,192 --> 00:28:47,971 You can always be very clear on that. 531 00:28:48,725 --> 00:28:54,019 But when it comes down to actual customer success, actually 532 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:59,455 getting that result that people need and I'm making this as hard 533 00:28:59,455 --> 00:29:03,907 as it can possibly be, but it's to show you what you're really 534 00:29:04,008 --> 00:29:06,711 dealing with here you know all you have to do is get people a 535 00:29:06,752 --> 00:29:07,997 result, get them from A to B. 536 00:29:07,997 --> 00:29:12,711 But there is going to be some resistance from them, from you, 537 00:29:13,073 --> 00:29:18,817 from the C suite, and you've got to motivate these people and 538 00:29:19,017 --> 00:29:22,127 have it be at the top of their list to do what you're asking 539 00:29:22,147 --> 00:29:25,355 them to do, even when it's not fun, even when it's boring, even 540 00:29:25,355 --> 00:29:27,252 when they have more important things to do. 541 00:29:27,252 --> 00:29:31,733 So you have to first speak to. 542 00:29:31,733 --> 00:29:33,477 Here's the way we're actually going to fix this. 543 00:29:33,477 --> 00:29:35,611 Here's how you're actually going to address it with 544 00:29:35,651 --> 00:29:36,073 customers. 545 00:29:36,965 --> 00:29:40,054 This is kind of like change management, which sounds really 546 00:29:40,094 --> 00:29:40,495 scary. 547 00:29:40,495 --> 00:29:45,317 Right, it sounds like we need a management consulting firm and 548 00:29:45,498 --> 00:29:50,070 people who wear really expensive suits and have briefcases need 549 00:29:50,090 --> 00:29:51,554 to come in and do things. 550 00:29:51,554 --> 00:29:58,987 And we have to motivate the right people, as I said, the end 551 00:29:58,987 --> 00:30:02,797 users, the key stakeholders and the executive sponsors. 552 00:30:02,797 --> 00:30:07,348 Now, we all have too much to do , every single one of us. 553 00:30:07,348 --> 00:30:09,900 That is kind of the curse of the modern world. 554 00:30:09,900 --> 00:30:13,992 You have to be able to come up with a reason why adopting your 555 00:30:14,052 --> 00:30:16,076 product should be at the top of their list. 556 00:30:16,884 --> 00:30:22,296 So understand what about this product could get them promoted. 557 00:30:22,296 --> 00:30:26,573 What are the key initiatives that their company is trying to 558 00:30:26,613 --> 00:30:27,475 work on right now? 559 00:30:27,475 --> 00:30:32,194 Most likely, save money, make money, improve productivity or 560 00:30:32,234 --> 00:30:33,055 increase security. 561 00:30:33,055 --> 00:30:37,633 Those tend to be the things that people talk about at 562 00:30:37,774 --> 00:30:39,076 quarterly planning meetings. 563 00:30:39,076 --> 00:30:43,989 Those tend to be the OKRs the big rocks If you can tie your 564 00:30:44,069 --> 00:30:48,979 product to that, showing how it ties into that, you are already 565 00:30:48,999 --> 00:30:51,431 out of the game because you are going to have a way to motivate 566 00:30:51,632 --> 00:30:52,113 these people. 567 00:30:52,113 --> 00:30:56,903 Marketing is something that you know. 568 00:30:56,903 --> 00:30:58,628 I feel like we already have too much to do in CS. 569 00:30:58,628 --> 00:31:03,007 But learning, not even marketing, but copywriting 570 00:31:03,548 --> 00:31:06,498 understanding how to motivate people to do what you want them 571 00:31:06,538 --> 00:31:10,493 to do through your words, through talking about benefits 572 00:31:10,553 --> 00:31:14,367 rather than features, through understanding what pain points 573 00:31:14,427 --> 00:31:18,430 to highlight and show people how their lives could be different 574 00:31:18,641 --> 00:31:23,192 through using your product that can have a huge impact on 575 00:31:23,403 --> 00:31:26,489 whether your customers actually take action and learn it. 576 00:31:26,489 --> 00:31:32,825 So the way we're going to break this down is it's really just 577 00:31:32,904 --> 00:31:33,727 habit formation. 578 00:31:33,727 --> 00:31:38,571 And you know, once you know what you want them to do and you 579 00:31:38,571 --> 00:31:42,525 can get them motivated to do it , actually getting them to make 580 00:31:42,586 --> 00:31:45,816 it part of their life and make it part of their everyday 581 00:31:45,855 --> 00:31:50,627 business processes is a matter of habit formation. 582 00:31:51,676 --> 00:31:56,043 Now, if you haven't read James Clear's Atomic Habits, I doubt 583 00:31:56,103 --> 00:31:58,728 I'm the first person to mention it to you. 584 00:31:58,728 --> 00:32:03,623 Go read it, but I'm going to summarize it here, but it's 585 00:32:03,643 --> 00:32:05,407 still definitely worth a read. 586 00:32:05,407 --> 00:32:09,224 I read a lot about habit formation and how that works in 587 00:32:09,244 --> 00:32:09,705 the brain. 588 00:32:09,705 --> 00:32:13,803 Charles Doohigg, the Power of Habit also really a great book 589 00:32:13,844 --> 00:32:18,100 to check out, and I'll have a link to both of those in the 590 00:32:18,140 --> 00:32:22,048 comments, as well as many habits by Stephen Geiss. 591 00:32:22,048 --> 00:32:27,483 That's a really good one too, but the basics of it are to 592 00:32:27,543 --> 00:32:29,105 create any habit, you have to have a cue. 593 00:32:29,615 --> 00:32:32,849 You have to have something that's going to tell people oh, 594 00:32:32,950 --> 00:32:36,461 now's the time for me to do that thing, that thing that is this 595 00:32:36,522 --> 00:32:36,984 new habit. 596 00:32:36,984 --> 00:32:38,340 So you need something. 597 00:32:38,340 --> 00:32:41,175 You have to tie it to something that already is a part of their 598 00:32:41,175 --> 00:32:43,915 life, something that they're already doing every day, you 599 00:32:43,935 --> 00:32:44,517 know like. 600 00:32:44,517 --> 00:32:50,433 You know, if you want to, you know, start meditating, try 601 00:32:50,474 --> 00:32:51,659 meditating while you brush your teeth. 602 00:32:51,659 --> 00:32:52,999 You're going to be doing it anyway. 603 00:32:52,999 --> 00:32:54,660 It's a cue, right. 604 00:32:54,660 --> 00:32:56,317 So it's. 605 00:32:56,317 --> 00:33:00,817 Having the cue is the first thing, and then the next thing 606 00:33:01,238 --> 00:33:08,129 is make it as easy and small as possible and tie it to a reward. 607 00:33:09,295 --> 00:33:13,904 A lot of what we run up against when we're learning something 608 00:33:13,946 --> 00:33:16,137 new or building a new habit is overdoing it. 609 00:33:16,137 --> 00:33:19,586 You know and that's one of my key problems at the gym, you 610 00:33:19,625 --> 00:33:23,364 know, at the end I'm tired, I'm hurting, it sucks, I want to go 611 00:33:23,403 --> 00:33:25,819 home, it's. 612 00:33:25,819 --> 00:33:28,853 You know, it takes a lot to put your shoes on when you know 613 00:33:28,893 --> 00:33:31,963 you're going to go and work your body hard for an hour, hour and 614 00:33:31,963 --> 00:33:32,344 a half. 615 00:33:32,344 --> 00:33:37,931 It's not so hard when you know you're going to go and you know 616 00:33:38,292 --> 00:33:41,075 walk for five minutes on treadmill and go home it. 617 00:33:41,075 --> 00:33:45,156 You know it's kind of a bit of a ways to drive to do that, but 618 00:33:45,176 --> 00:33:46,862 you know that's it's not a big deal. 619 00:33:47,415 --> 00:33:51,263 You have to make it so that the activation of using your product 620 00:33:51,263 --> 00:33:54,639 there, those first things, those first steps they have to 621 00:33:54,679 --> 00:33:59,415 do, are really easy and simple to do, so that they get an 622 00:33:59,555 --> 00:34:03,004 immediate win which will tie it to dopamine. 623 00:34:03,004 --> 00:34:07,202 And dopamine is sort of like a reward chemical that gets 624 00:34:07,263 --> 00:34:08,125 released in your brain. 625 00:34:08,125 --> 00:34:12,586 Our phones are very much designed to release dopamine. 626 00:34:12,586 --> 00:34:15,856 Same with like the notifications to let you know 627 00:34:15,916 --> 00:34:18,423 that like, oh, someone thinks I'm interesting, someone wants 628 00:34:18,503 --> 00:34:18,704 me. 629 00:34:18,704 --> 00:34:20,840 You know there's possibility here. 630 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:22,860 People are approving of what I said. 631 00:34:22,860 --> 00:34:24,922 All of that ties into dopamine. 632 00:34:24,922 --> 00:34:27,581 So dopamine is just like a little win. 633 00:34:27,581 --> 00:34:31,344 You get dopamine with a little win and that can be like a burst 634 00:34:31,344 --> 00:34:34,460 of confetti on the screen being like yes, you've done step one, 635 00:34:34,460 --> 00:34:39,096 you've signed in, you're fantastic Doing something like 636 00:34:39,136 --> 00:34:44,552 that where they get a little reward, they get celebrated for 637 00:34:44,933 --> 00:34:49,846 doing something relatively mundane, makes your product more 638 00:34:49,846 --> 00:34:50,528 addictive. 639 00:34:51,210 --> 00:34:55,583 Because we don't get a whole lot of gold stars for what we do in 640 00:34:55,583 --> 00:34:58,482 life, right, we all have too much to do and we're not getting 641 00:34:58,482 --> 00:35:02,617 the validation and the appreciation that we want most 642 00:35:02,637 --> 00:35:03,059 of the time. 643 00:35:03,059 --> 00:35:06,882 So if your product is something that gives them validation for 644 00:35:07,002 --> 00:35:11,721 doing something doable for them, that's going to be very 645 00:35:11,761 --> 00:35:12,223 appealing. 646 00:35:12,223 --> 00:35:15,580 So you're going to build on those over time. 647 00:35:15,580 --> 00:35:18,956 You know it doesn't have to take forever, but just make sure 648 00:35:18,956 --> 00:35:21,815 that it's small enough bites that it feels easy and there's 649 00:35:21,875 --> 00:35:26,565 some sort of acknowledgement that they've taken the next step 650 00:35:26,565 --> 00:35:26,565 . 651 00:35:26,565 --> 00:35:30,942 You know like a little smiley face that comes on a checkbox on 652 00:35:30,942 --> 00:35:32,666 a to-do list they get to check off. 653 00:35:32,666 --> 00:35:36,281 You know, on one side of the screen, people like checking 654 00:35:36,521 --> 00:35:37,644 things off a to-do list. 655 00:35:37,644 --> 00:35:38,646 It's satisfying. 656 00:35:38,646 --> 00:35:42,682 So give them those wins, acknowledge their progress. 657 00:35:42,682 --> 00:35:48,462 And I've done this at, you know , I don't know how many 658 00:35:48,522 --> 00:35:54,242 companies now five, six and it has increased adoption massively 659 00:35:54,242 --> 00:35:58,501 , like before where we were just going from, you know, 660 00:35:58,781 --> 00:36:00,424 onboarding to QBRs. 661 00:36:00,424 --> 00:36:04,719 I often saw, you know, like 80% retention. 662 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:09,297 You know, maybe 75% retention and when I would implement this 663 00:36:09,759 --> 00:36:12,585 it would go up to 90% retention. 664 00:36:12,585 --> 00:36:15,839 95% retention, right, and upsells would go up too. 665 00:36:15,839 --> 00:36:21,543 So another way to look at it and to see how this sort of tiny 666 00:36:21,543 --> 00:36:26,217 , tiny habit or atomic habit type of thing builds up. 667 00:36:26,659 --> 00:36:31,214 Going back to the fitness model of it, I got in the best shape 668 00:36:31,315 --> 00:36:34,023 of my life by doing one set up a day. 669 00:36:34,023 --> 00:36:39,605 No, I didn't do one set up a day forever, but I made that my 670 00:36:39,666 --> 00:36:39,946 goal. 671 00:36:39,946 --> 00:36:42,502 All right, set up crunch, whatever you want to call it. 672 00:36:42,502 --> 00:36:48,466 I made it my goal that if I did one set up a day, I win at my 673 00:36:48,507 --> 00:36:49,107 fitness goals. 674 00:36:49,107 --> 00:36:52,821 That is all I have to do to mark it off on my list and say I 675 00:36:52,821 --> 00:36:53,163 did it. 676 00:36:53,163 --> 00:36:54,565 Now, why? 677 00:36:54,565 --> 00:36:55,447 Why one set up? 678 00:36:55,447 --> 00:37:01,885 Well, because on my worst day, like if I have the flu, if 679 00:37:02,065 --> 00:37:05,079 someone breaks up with me, you know, am I going to want to do 680 00:37:05,119 --> 00:37:05,159 it? 681 00:37:05,159 --> 00:37:08,862 No, but I still can, and I did. 682 00:37:09,474 --> 00:37:13,043 And the funny thing is, when I had gotten on the floor already 683 00:37:13,444 --> 00:37:16,181 to do my one set up, most of the time when I was there, I was 684 00:37:16,201 --> 00:37:18,538 like, well, I'm here already, I might as well, you know, do a 685 00:37:18,637 --> 00:37:20,382 set or a couple, you know. 686 00:37:20,382 --> 00:37:25,158 So I do 10, 20, whatever, and then, over time, I was like what 687 00:37:25,158 --> 00:37:28,496 if I did a push up, since I'm already on the floor, you know? 688 00:37:28,496 --> 00:37:32,056 And then it became set up some push ups and then, all right, 689 00:37:32,197 --> 00:37:35,446 well, how about when I get up, I do some squats. 690 00:37:35,446 --> 00:37:38,822 And before I knew it I was doing, you know, like a 30, 40 691 00:37:38,862 --> 00:37:42,177 minute routine that built up over the course of a year. 692 00:37:42,177 --> 00:37:46,167 You know, even if you just did, you know, one set up, one 693 00:37:46,214 --> 00:37:51,355 crunch, one push up, and you upped that by one a week by the 694 00:37:51,475 --> 00:37:55,103 end of the year, you still have a really solid, kind of long, 695 00:37:55,864 --> 00:38:00,420 probably, routine that feels like nothing, that felt like no 696 00:38:00,579 --> 00:38:04,228 effort to add each week because you're adding one right. 697 00:38:04,795 --> 00:38:07,567 So, whether it's the activation energy of just getting started 698 00:38:07,606 --> 00:38:11,562 with something or just starting with the tiniest bite and being 699 00:38:11,603 --> 00:38:15,135 able to say that's when I did that, I got it, I don't have to 700 00:38:15,175 --> 00:38:19,857 do anymore to make it a win for the day, that was a hell of a 701 00:38:19,897 --> 00:38:24,545 lot more effective and a lot less expensive than going to the 702 00:38:24,545 --> 00:38:25,487 gym for me. 703 00:38:25,487 --> 00:38:31,001 So, look, there will be resistance to this, because it 704 00:38:31,061 --> 00:38:35,989 is more work than just onboard, plus QBR, plus a renewal 705 00:38:36,028 --> 00:38:39,963 conversation, but it's also a lot more effective. 706 00:38:39,963 --> 00:38:43,324 So do the same thing for yourself. 707 00:38:43,324 --> 00:38:48,906 Take this step by step, bite by bite, and reward yourself. 708 00:38:48,906 --> 00:38:54,464 You don't have to do this entire mapping out of every 709 00:38:54,504 --> 00:38:56,969 single step that everybody needs all at once. 710 00:38:56,969 --> 00:39:01,679 Just pick one stage, pick onboarding what's the very first 711 00:39:01,679 --> 00:39:02,501 thing they need to do. 712 00:39:02,501 --> 00:39:05,221 You know what's the very first thing we need to do. 713 00:39:05,221 --> 00:39:08,123 Just do that in an hour. 714 00:39:08,755 --> 00:39:15,145 You know I'm constantly telling the people that I coach, whether 715 00:39:15,145 --> 00:39:19,820 it's in one-on-one or in CS Leadership Academy just take one 716 00:39:19,820 --> 00:39:25,562 hour a day to work on strategic work like this and that's all 717 00:39:25,603 --> 00:39:25,943 you need. 718 00:39:25,943 --> 00:39:28,281 Need to be working on this eight hours a day? 719 00:39:28,281 --> 00:39:29,043 You can't be. 720 00:39:29,043 --> 00:39:31,860 You probably feel like you don't have any time to work on 721 00:39:31,900 --> 00:39:34,666 this, even if it's a half an hour a day. 722 00:39:34,666 --> 00:39:39,228 Just small bites, and pat yourself on the back when you do 723 00:39:39,228 --> 00:39:41,234 it or check something off on a list. 724 00:39:41,234 --> 00:39:45,926 Just small bites plus rewards is what gets it done. 725 00:39:46,975 --> 00:39:51,702 Now, if you want to actually have time to do this, you are 726 00:39:51,762 --> 00:39:56,148 going to have to stop saying yes to every little bit of work 727 00:39:56,188 --> 00:39:56,889 that comes your way. 728 00:39:56,889 --> 00:40:00,605 You can't keep on taking on unnecessary work. 729 00:40:00,605 --> 00:40:05,005 Now you may be thinking I don't take on unnecessary work. 730 00:40:05,005 --> 00:40:06,840 Every bit of my work is very necessary. 731 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:07,635 Thank you very much. 732 00:40:07,635 --> 00:40:09,623 That's fine. 733 00:40:10,315 --> 00:40:13,860 Tune in next time and you know, see if you still agree with that 734 00:40:13,860 --> 00:40:18,428 on the next episode of Psychology of Customer Success, 735 00:40:18,548 --> 00:40:21,702 called it's Just Easier If I Do it. 736 00:40:21,702 --> 00:40:23,899 Never thought that before. 737 00:40:23,899 --> 00:40:27,182 Right, I'm certainly guilty of it anyway. 738 00:40:27,182 --> 00:40:33,686 So if you liked this, please go to Apple, rate it five stars, 739 00:40:33,846 --> 00:40:34,908 give a little review there. 740 00:40:34,908 --> 00:40:37,574 Even if it's just, you know, one or two words, that would 741 00:40:37,594 --> 00:40:38,094 mean the world to me. 742 00:40:38,980 --> 00:40:41,234 I know all these podcasts ask you to do that. 743 00:40:41,234 --> 00:40:42,002 There's a reason. 744 00:40:42,002 --> 00:40:46,181 It makes a huge difference and I need to know if you want me to 745 00:40:46,181 --> 00:40:48,866 keep doing this, because it's a lot of work. 746 00:40:48,866 --> 00:40:51,143 I'm really excited about it. 747 00:40:51,143 --> 00:40:54,234 I want to do it, but you know I need my little hit of dopamine. 748 00:40:54,234 --> 00:40:57,739 So if you enjoyed this, if you want me to keep doing it, you 749 00:40:57,779 --> 00:40:58,240 want more? 750 00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:04,916 Go click that five stars, say a word or two, you know, and and 751 00:41:04,956 --> 00:41:07,164 let me know what your thoughts were, how you liked it. 752 00:41:07,164 --> 00:41:08,860 I hope this was helpful. 753 00:41:08,860 --> 00:41:10,016 You know. 754 00:41:10,016 --> 00:41:13,906 Tune in next time for Psychology of Customer Success. 755 00:41:13,906 --> 00:41:17,329 Take care of yourself, get some rest and make sure to share 756 00:41:17,350 --> 00:41:17,993 this with your CS. 757 00:41:17,993 --> 00:41:21,561 Bestie, I'll see you next time and here's to your success.