Jing Xie’s Post

🚀🚀Here’s the post for Day 2 of your LinkedIn series: 🌟 Why the Customer Success is Pivotal in Tech Sales 🌟 Good afternoon Tech Sales enthusiasts! Today, we dive into a crucial aspect of our field: Customer Success. Have you ever considered how aligning your sales goals with the success of your customers can lead to incredible results? Here’s why focusing on customer success is essential: 1. Repeat Business: Satisfied customers are more likely to come back. It’s not just about closing a sale; it’s about opening a relationship. 2. Referrals: A happy customer is your best advocate. They help expand your network organically. 3. Brand Reputation: High customer satisfaction scores lead to a stronger reputation, which attracts more business. But how can we as Sales Engineers and Account Executives ensure we are contributing to customer success? Here are a few strategies: • Understand your customer’s business goals and align your solutions accordingly. • Regular follow-ups to ensure the product/service is meeting their needs. • Be proactive in resolving issues before they escalate. 💡 Action Item: Reflect on your current sales strategies. How much emphasis do you place on customer success? Could there be room for improvement? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences on how prioritizing customer success has shaped your sales approach! #TechSales #CustomerSuccess #SalesExcellence #RelationshipBuilding #fedsales

"This isn't what we signed up for." I've seen it way too often: a customer signs the dotted line, full of excitement about solving their biggest challenges with a new solution. But once they get started, the cracks appear. What they thought they bought doesn’t quite match what they actually received. Blaming sales feels easy, but it’s not the whole story. These days, buyers are 70% of the way through the sales process before they even talk to a sales rep and confirmation bias is in full swing. B2B buying cycles are long, but sales motions are lean. Sales can’t possibly show every use case or predict every scenario. That’s where Customer Success is indispensable. The CSM’s role is to bridge the gap between expectations and reality, ensuring customers get the value they hoped for—even when the path looks different than they imagined. Here’s how: 👉 Align expectations. The transition from sales to CS is one of the most critical moments in the customer journey. A great CSM resets expectations, aligns goals with reality, and creates quick wins to build trust and momentum. 👉 Act as a consultant. Understand your customer’s goals, but don’t stop there. As the expert on your product, it’s your job to guide them. Share proven best practices and strategies that help them fully realize the value of your solution. Resist the urge to just say "yes" to their wishes, especially when you know that will cause problems downstream. 👉 Challenge their thinking. Customers often try to solve their problems with the same approaches, even after the technology has changed. They’re stuck in the status quo. Be bold. Show them a new way of thinking. Help them break free from old habits to unlock real transformation. A great CSM bridges the gap by doing more than answering questions or managing tasks. They reset expectations, bring fresh perspectives, and empower customers to embrace a better way of working. Sound like something you’re struggling with? DM me—I’d love to chat.

One of the coolest things about Common Room? How it empowers different teams at the same organization. If you look at a go-to-market team’s tech stack, you’ll generally find tools for: - Marketing - Sales - Operations - Customer success - Community - And so on and so on Now, if you work at a company that sells a point solution for one of those teams, that’s where your relationship begins and ends. But when you build a product that unlocks value for all of those teams? You get to dig into different departments, use cases, and outcomes. You need the ability to wear a lot of different hats, but there’s nothing quite like seeing the inspiration spread from one team to another. That’s why this week’s Common Room Customer Love post is once again about our friends at Notion. We first launched with Notion’s sales team—helping reps spot signals, uncover opportunities, and create connections with new customers. But soon after we implemented Common Room for Notion's CS team. An initial implementation is just the start of your customer relationship, after all. CS teams need the ability to stay up to date on their accounts across channels, spot risks, and connect with the right people at the right time to power adoption and growth. That means I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with Monica Perez, Notion’s Head of Customer Success. Seeing how Monica applies Common Room to her team and their unique plays? It inspires me as a fellow CS leader. More importantly, it inspires me to help other organizations maximize the impact of customer intelligence. Here’s Monica in her own words:

Some software companies make it really f***ing hard to buy their product. 😡 I had an experience recently, And thought how that would look if it were an in person interaction. Lil’ awkward don’t ya think? 🤔 Here’s the thing - I’m not some giant #PLG advocate who thinks every product on the face of the planet should be self-serve and that sales people aren’t needed. You do need sales people ✅ You do need to ruthlessly qualify your prospects ✅ And because the above are needed, you’ll naturally have some friction in the buying process. But most software companies today have OVERCORRECTED for this. So what to do then? Here’s what I would do 👇🏻 Find some feature set that can deliver value to your customers immediately, and package that into a self serve version of your product. Look at your sales folks as a “sales success team” (eg more like a customer success team), Who’s job is to share best practices, provide additional use cases for the product, and unlock the extra features needed for your customers to accomplish these things. Easier said then done, I know. I also know that some products are so inherently complex that self-serve seems out of reach. But think of all the things we have now, that used to feel out of reach. 🤔 So just because it doesn’t seem possible, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, egh? Happy Monday y’all ✌️ #revops #revenueoperations #salesops #salesoperations #customerlifecycle #buyingprocess #buyerexperience

If you sell a complex product, you need a simple value prop. I’ve seen it with a bunch of my B2B SaaS startup clients. Sales and commercial were too focused on featuring the complexity of the software. But a complicated software isn’t a flex. It’s friction. People buy what they understand, and shirk what they don’t. Buyers need to be in on the complexity of your software to follow through on a purchase. If they’re intimidated by how complex it is, the sale fizzles out. One of my clients said it best: “Our product does too much for them - and that lack of clear value proposition kills our ability to sell because it becomes overwhelming.” To reign it in, you need clear ICP consensus across teams. So everyone is paddling in unison. When teams aren’t aligned on customer pain points and value drivers, it shows. Sales overemphasizes the product (complexity).  Customer success has little conviction of how or where to prove value. And the more “value” they try to communicate the more complexity they introduce into the buying process. So while your product is designed to reduce friction, your messaging amplifies it. This is why businesses bring me in for customer research: To build what I call an internal ‘Customer Brain’ - a single source of customer truth for teams to reference and align around. When you have cross-functional alignment on your ICP you stop pitching the product and start speaking your customer’s language. That's when your target customers start listening, and will follow you into the depths of your product.

Lots of CSM teams are doing extended Customer Support. - Their work is 80-90% reactive. - They are glued to their inbox. - They are putting out fires, not creating value. Their misery starts right from the beginning. If you don’t know - Why your customers are here - What problems do they need to solve - What they need from you all you can do is respond if things are going south. Proactive CSM starts with a thorough customer discovery and a clear understanding of 1. Customer goals and success metrics. If your customers don't know what they are trying to accomplish and how to evaluate their ROI it's up to you to help them find out. This is where becoming a trusted advisor starts. 2. Customer problems and their root causes You don't solve your customers' problems by throwing random stuff at them. You solve them by eliminating their root causes. If your customers are e.g. targeting the wrong audience improving their outreach does not solve their sales problem. 3. Customer Capabilities Sharing the same goals and problems does not mean your customers need the same treatment. It makes a lot of a difference whether you are selling to a seasoned professional or a startup founder who has never done the job before. Stop relying on the superficial information of the sales handoff. Use it as the starting point for going deeper. PS: Want to become more proactive and deliver actual results? Here are the strategies, tools, and templates you need --> https://lnkd.in/gGRSjD_v

Here is the typical sales process... Sales calls. Onboarding. Done. But before you celebrate, have you asked the most crucial question: "Why did you choose us?" 👉 Why Understanding "Why" Matters: Customer churn is a silent killer for businesses. Understanding why your current customers chose you is the key to: 🟢 Reduced Churn: By identifying what resonates with your customers, you can tailor future interactions to keep them happy. 🟢 Improved Service: Knowing "why" allows you to address specific needs and exceed expectations. 🟢 Stronger Relationships: Moving beyond transactional interactions, a focus on "why" fosters deeper connections and loyalty. 👉 How to Uncover the Customer "Why": 🟢 Post-Onboarding Surveys: Gather feedback directly after onboarding to capture initial impressions and their decision drivers. 🟢 Customer Success Calls: Schedule regular calls to understand their ongoing experience and what keeps them coming back. 🟢 Social Listening: Monitor online reviews and conversations to identify trends and common themes in choosing your company. 👉 "Why" is the Foundation for Growth: By prioritizing the "why," you shift from one-time transactions to building lasting customer loyalty. Happy, loyal customers become brand advocates, attracting new business organically. Ready to unlock the power of "why?" Let's chat about strategies to understand and leverage your customer motivations! #customersuccess #customerexperience

📈 Customer Success: A New Sales Mindset In today's competitive landscape, sales go beyond closing deals—it’s about ensuring long-term success for our customers. Sales teams now play a vital role in customer success, actively supporting clients in achieving their goals with our products and services. This shift means more personalized follow-ups, ongoing support, and a deep understanding of customer needs and aspirations. When customers succeed, loyalty grows, and lasting partnerships are built. 🤝 How does your team ensure customer success post-sale? Let’s discuss in the comments! #CustomerSuccess #Sales #CustomerSupport #GrowthMindset

A mega simple but highly effective multi-threading tip And it confirms that proper pre-call planning is so important. Let's say I’m meeting with Sarah, the VP of Sales. And my product can be used by Sales and Customer Success. When preparing for the call, find the VP of CS on LinkedIn. Then, when discussing the next steps on your discovery call, use this talk track… “I noticed Steve is your VP of CS. Typically, CS gets involved in the evaluation process, as 57% of the time, CS also use the platform across our customer base. We’ve helped them reduce ramp time by 30% and help spot customer churn faster. Could you invite Steve to our demo on Friday morning? I’ll share a one-pager you can send him.” Does this work 100% of the time? No. But it has a much higher success rate than asking someone who might not know other use cases and teams… “Who else would need to see this?” Experienced sellers, what’s your biggest multi-threading tip for new AEs? 

Taking on accounts without knowing the customer’s initial goals? Can’t keep up with the promises the sales team made? You have a problem. Yes, you could do a discovery. BUT discovering initial goals should happen early in the sales cycle. When you skip this step, you risk bad sales. You bring in accounts that don’t achieve what they expected. You bring in customers that don’t achieve their goals. You bring in customers who become unsatisfied. Result = CHURN Sales people, do your company a favor. Do a good job with discovery. Outline what success looks like for the customer and your internal teams. Customer success isn’t about doing everything for everyone. It’s about setting the right expectations and delivering on them. Sales plays a crucial role in setting those expectations. How are you ensuring sales is doing the initial discovery and setting the right expectations? I’d love to hear your thoughts. ------------------ ▶️ Want to see more content like this and also connect with other CS & SaaS enthusiasts? You should join Tidbits. We do short round-ups a few times a week to help you learn what it takes to be a top-notch customer success professional. Join 1579+ community members! 💥 [link in the comments section]