3 Principles Of Customer Success

What is Customer Success? Don't worry, that's not a trick question. This past January I kicked off the Customer Success team for the Corporations and Foundations customers at Blackbaud. If any of you have started a team or program from scratch before you know how challenging it can be, and how exciting. Six months in I can see how far we've come but also how much we have left to do. From reaching out to our customers through email, community, or phone to accessing the different ways we can help our customers succeed, we have hit the ground running to help you be successful.
 

There are 3 principles I use to run the customer success team. First, I want you to want to be our customer. The partnership we have with each of our customers is critical for our success and we want you, our customers, to feel that you are part of that partnership because you want to be. Second, if there is a product or service that we know you would benefit from we will be sure to let you and your Account Executive (Sales Rep) know so they can further present that solution to you and your team. Finally, not only are our CSMs advocates for you within greater Blackbaud, but we want you, our customers, to be advocates for Blackbaud. Like I said at the beginning of this paragraph, we wantyou to want to be our customer.
 

When I began envisioning this team over a year ago I pictured an information hub where we share your goals, pain points, and feedback to other Blackbaud teams such as Customer Support, Product Management, Development, and Executive on a continuous basis. This information hub is always moving and because of that we are also pushing information out to you from these teams. One of the ways I plan to propel information your way is through this blog. Another is through conversations with your CSM.
 

So, what is customer success? Customer success is an opportunity for us to be a better partner by investing in our mutual success.

Ann M. Baker
Director, Customer Operations
Corporate & Foundation Solutions | Blackbaud, Inc.