Unlocking the Power of Post Sales Engagement – A Winning Strategy for Customer Success!

Is it too early to talk about the Post Season? This was a message in my notifications that I receive from MLB recently. Yes, as much as I am passionate about the Customer Success I am just as passionate about baseball and my home team Chicago Cubs to the point where I have the MLB notifications turned on.

So, as I start thinking about Post Season it is a good time to ask the following question…

…is it too soon to talk Post Sales and Renewals?

Post-sales activities are crucial for building long-term relationships with customers and maximizing their lifetime value.

In my opinion the customer journey for success does not start once the contract is signed it shifts into a different phase and depending on the stage of growth within your organization to several different teams and owners. When mapping out a customer journey I am an advocate of integrating the post sales teams early in the sales campaign. If you are a follower, you have heard me state, during the buyers journey you learn the customers why and how to drive adoption. This initial engagement during the sale process outlines clear expectations for positive outcomes as well as orchestrates the contract or subscription details and should formulate the renewal process.

From the onset you are laying out the foundation for success and establishing a positive relationship to drive the value of your product or service. Building a partner relationship, delivering value combined with open communication - feedback loops throughout the customer lifecycle influences their decision to renew. Additionally creating a solid playbook with an engagement framework to know how your teams are engaging with customers will assist you to make it easier for customers to confirm their decisions to renew without any friction.

As we talk about the value of the post-renewal process, I look at current decision I made to not to renew a product offering. As the renewal time approached there was the tech touch of an automated generalized email sending me a reminder, that my renewal was up in 30 days. During my journey of using their offering I did not receive any 1:1 touch points or health checks. They did have the ability to gather telemetry on my usage and with that data intelligence , but I did not see any personalized engaged communication. Once I sent my email response stating that I was not moving forward with my renewal I received an email stating that they were sorry to see me go and asking for a 5-minute conversation with a list of new services that they were going to be offering. Also, in small print if this is financial, please let them know.

For me it was too late even though I did leverage and use their product\services. They did not understand my Why or my Goals and have any personal communication with me throughout the subscription. Would a partner relationship influence me to see their value and continue renewal? Yes, it would have. A tech touch is great and in today’s world of AI and having efficiencies to drive the right unit economics let’s not forget the importance of personalization and taking time to meet with your customers. Active listening, communication, business reviews are still important in driving value.  Businesses that focus on that will be noticed and that will become their brand!

Now back to my answer to the question is it too soon to start talking about the Post Sales and Renewal?

My answer is NO!

It is not too soon to start talking about the Post Season, oops Post Sales and Renewal 😉

The pre-renewal engagement is important, and many times overlooked. Proactive engagement with the customer to discuss their experience, understanding their potential concerns or challenges, and then highlighting the benefits of the continued partnership is helpful. We all know and can expect a certain amount of churn in our businesses but the renewal, expansion, or upsell is made by the experience and personalization through onboarding, continuous business review, knowledge transfers, trainings, and many other engagements in the customer lifecycle.

Implementing these best practices, engaging early, you can enhance the post-sales and renewal experience for your customers, leading to higher satisfaction, retention, and advocacy. Remember the goal is to maintain a customer-centric approach fostering long-term partner relationships you’re your customers.

My rallying cry as we progress further toward the Post-Season Champion Journey is…

…Go Cubs Go! Oops again – I meant to say -  Maximize your potential to drive growth through the customer experience!