The 7 Deadly Sins of Customer Success

① PRIDE

Our product is amazing and creates phenomenal results for customers.

TRUTH: Technology doesn’t produce results, customer behavior change produces results and technology makes it possible and scalable.

② GREED

The purpose of Customer Success is to get customers to renew their subscriptions.

TRUTH: Customer Success exists to ensure customers get good results with your product. You have to earn their renewal by delivering value.

③ LUST

The key is to satisfy customers by making them feel good about the experience.

TRUTH: Transactional experiences don’t lead to long-term relationships. Customer Bonding is the outcome of real results, not temporary feelings.

④ ENVY

Our competitors are way better than us and we need to imitate what they are doing.

TRUTH: Focus on your customers, not your competitors. Things always look good from the outside but are often not as they appear. Imitation leads to mediocrity.

⑤ GLUTTONY

It’s all about the dollars (NRR), so we don’t need to worry about logo retention.

TRUTH: SaaS growth is entirely about account expansion (small accounts getting bigger). The problem is, you can’t expand accounts you no longer have.

⑥ WRATH

The problem is my customers. It’s their own fault that they’re not getting results.

TRUTH: Customers fail because they don’t change their behavior. But blaming them is pointless because it’s ultimately our responsibility to teach them how to win.

⑦ SLOTH

My job is to be responsive. I don’t need to do anything for “healthy” customers.

TRUTH: By the time you’re aware a customer is in trouble it’s already too late. The winning approach is hard work: proactively drive customer behavior change for results.