One thing I have learned in Customer Success is that customers do not always tell us the full story right away. How many times do you hear clients say everything is fine, but usage is dropping? Or they say they are happy, but they are not bringing new stakeholders into the conversation? That is why CSMs can’t rely only on surface level feedback.
As both a CSM and CSM leader, I have learned that some of the most important customer insights come from asking that one more open-ended question, listening closely to what is not being said, and taking the time to understand the bigger picture.
Let’s workshop an example together. Let’s say a customer has let you know that the product is not working for their team. But what does that really mean?
- Is the product not solving the problem they expected it to solve?
- Was the team not properly enabled?
- Did their priorities change?
- Is there a new stakeholder involved who does not understand the value yet?
- Was there a gap between what they expected during the sales process and what they experienced after implementation?
That deeper context matters. When we only respond to the first piece of feedback, we may solve the wrong problem. But when we slow down and ask better questions, we can start to understand what is actually happening.
Now, I am off to prep some more open-ended questions for my next client call! What are some approaches that you take when you receive customer feedback to go beyond the surface level?