If you want your customers to succeed, you must first understand what they deem as success. If you discuss these items upfront and continuously, the customer will know that their success is what your organization is trying to achieve. Consider the following questions to check in with your customers. 

• What are their goals? 

• How do they measure those goals? 

• What metrics are used? 

• According to that metric (or metrics), are they achieving success? 

• Are they on track to achieve success within an expected timeframe? 

• What is their experience along the way?

Experience along the way is vital because it dictates and then drives the tone of the relationship. If our customers have a painful experience but still manage to achieve their goals, we’ve increased their cost and the likelihood of churning.

These items aren’t revolutionary; they seem to be quite the opposite. An outline of this nature should be the standard operating procedure for every organization, but unfortunately, sometimes, they aren’t considered. If your organization finds itself in the latter category, success for the customer and your organization may be in jeopardy. 

Customers are buying a solution to a problem. Our responsibility as an organization is to understand their goals and objectives and guide them along that path. Once we know how our customers measure success, we must see that they achieve it. If we accomplish this goal, they will have the most valuable asset possible: AN ADVOCATE.