Customer Success

Chapter 4The Practice of Customer Success

In Part I of this book, we laid the foundation for customer success. We discussed the history of the subscription economy and SaaS and how the concept of customer success was the inevitable result of this new model. We talked about organizing around the philosophy of customer success, and then we got pragmatic about the actual organization called customer success (or something like it) and how it's changing the enterprise by impacting virtually all of the other key organizations, too. And then we debunked the theory that customer success might be relevant only for B2B SaaS companies. The truth is that it's conceptually relevant for every company and can be put into actual practice by not only B2B SaaS companies but also any subscription-based or pay-as-you-go company, including B2C and, more and more, traditional companies that are embracing the promised benefits of becoming customer success–centric and most likely trying to move at least part of their business to subscription.

Now it's time to get very practical. In 2010, Bessemer Venture Partners, a venture capital firm, put together a practical guide for people starting, running, or interested in understanding a SaaS company. It was called The Ten Laws of Cloud Computing also often referred to as the Ten Laws of SaaS. It was extremely well received and has been read by thousands of CEOs and entrepreneurs who wanted to venture into the wonderful world of SaaS. It became the handbook ...