WHAT IT COSTS YOU
The money on the line.
Customers don't renew task managers, they renew partners who make them better at their jobs. If your team only reports on what happened, executives stop taking the meeting, and an executive who never meets you is easy to say no to at renewal.
FROM THE FIELD
What I've seen.
I was once the number one user in every one of my customers' accounts, because I was building their dashboards on weekends. It felt like great service. What it really meant was that the value lived with me, not with them.
Don't be like me. If you are the value in the partnership, it's wrong.
SIGNS IT'S BROKEN
Business reviews are a recap of tickets and usage, with no point of view.
Your CSMs do the work for customers instead of teaching them to do it.
Executives send a delegate to the QBR, or cancel it.
Your team can describe the product perfectly and the customer's business barely.
WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE
CSMs are business leaders first and functional leaders second: they know the customer's goals, numbers and pressures.
Every business review ties back to the customer's ROI and ends with a recommendation.
Customers can run the product without you, and they call you for advice anyway.
ALWAYS ON
When this motion restarts.
You earn the right to advise, and you have to keep earning it. Turn Lead back up when:
A new executive arrives who has never seen you add value.
A new CSM takes over the account.
Every business review comes around. Each one should end with a recommendation.
The customer's market, strategy or leadership shifts and they need perspective more than updates.
ASK YOUR TEAM THIS WEEK
In our last five business reviews, what did we recommend, and did the customer act on it?
Which accounts would fall apart if their CSM left tomorrow?
How many of our customers' executives attended a meeting with us this quarter?
WHAT TO MEASURE
Executive attendance at business reviews
Recommendations made and adopted
Customer self-sufficiency: product usage spread across users, not concentrated in your team
FAQ
What makes a CSM a trusted advisor? A trusted advisor brings a point of view on the customer's business, not only the product, and gives recommendations the customer acts on.
Why do executives stop attending QBRs? Because the review recaps the past instead of helping them decide something. A review that never ties back to ROI is a status meeting wearing a strategy costume.
ALWAYS ON
Which motion is costing you the most?
Ten questions, about ten minutes and you'll know where to start.