Customer Success

Gainsight Book Foreword

The term Customer Success has become a buzzword in today's business world. Customers all expect it, and vendors all aim to deliver it. But who decides when it's been achieved? If you are truly a customer-centric company, the answer to that—and all other questions—should come easily: The customer ultimately decides.

As this book illustrates, the cloud era has necessitated a shift to a true customer-first model, and it has also proven that customer satisfaction and customer success are not always synonymous. In a subscription model, you never stop working to win your customers. When done well, every single day is spent with a relentless focus on their success, not yours. Each and every customer deserves an amazing experience and an unwavering commitment to success from their vendors. But success cannot be standardized, and the companies who understand this are the ones poised to reap the greatest rewards.

Adopting a customer-first philosophy ultimately means listening to your customers and operating in ways that help them get closer to their customers—particularly through the embrace of cloud, mobile, social, and analytics technologies. And, of course, being truly customer-centric means having a deep understanding of your customers' unmet needs. Once you know this, you will have a great foundation on which to build the strategy, team, and mechanics that drive Customer Success in your organization.

In my role as the president of Sales and Customer Success ...