With the very first Customer Success conference in San Francisco in February of 2013, the value of sharing approaches to common concerns was very apparent, and has continued ever since. The same challenges are cropping up worldwide for executive leaders of Customer Success groups, and have been addressed again and again through the years since at conferences and in webinars. However, not everyone has the travel budget or the time to attend the events. Another factor is that not everyone gets accepted as a speaker, or can afford to pay the fees being charged to speak by some conference promoters, or is willing to advertise the promoter’s premium services in exchange for being permitted to speak.
What you’ll see here are carefully curated materials that truly are appropriate for our audience.
The Case Studies are intended to offer the same content as the events, only in written form. You can print copies and/or email them to yourself or others that you know that would be interested. You can ask questions in The Customer Success Forum, and get input from the community. If the author has additional materials to offer, they may be added to The Customer Success Library.
The focus of the Case Studies needs to be on the design, building, and ongoing management of effective Customer Success groups. CS executives are encouraged to submit their experiences and presentations for review, as are resource providers such as Consultants, Trainers, Recruiters, fractional executive sources and or Outsourcing firms. If you are interested in being a part of the Case Studies, please start the conversation via the Contact Us link here.
Creating Case Studies
The preferred format for a Case Study is flexible and easy. First, think about your audience, executive leaders of Customer Success groups, and tell them the story of what happened, why, and how it all turned out. Begin by describing The Company — without mentioned the name. For example, “A startup in the business accounting software sector.” How many employees? What’s their target market? What, if anything, is unique about them or their market?
Next, talk about The Challenge. What was the problem you encountered? What were the first signs that something was wrong or not going as well as you had hoped? Was Senior Management involved at that point? If so, what were they saying about the situation? How important was it in their view? Which other departments of the company were involved? What were the customers saying?
The Process. What did you set out to do? What specific steps were taken? How long did it take? What had to be done first, and what came later? If there were surprises or setbacks, what did they look like? How did you overcome them?
The Outcome. What results were produced? What did people say about the outcome? Did you accomplish things that you weren’t expecting to achieve? Who got the credit for the outcome and what did it look like?
Finish it off with a quick Summary. Give a few words about The Company, The Challenge, the name of the person that led the effort, and The Outcome. Send the draft to me here, together with a 400px square headshot photo of yourself and any other graphics that you want to suggest. (Make sure you have the right to use any graphics you submit,) Note that by submitting the draft, you are giving me permission to edit it and possibly to publish it here on the CSA site and to point to it in The Customer Success Forum on LinkedIn. The Case Study needs to be new, not previously published elsewhere, and should not be submitted anywhere else within 30 days after it is published here.
