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CSE: the new key profile in customer loyalty

CSE: the new key profile in customer loyalty

By Stéphane Manfroy

Published: October 27, 2024

Digitization, the health crisis, oversupply and customer volatility are encouraging more and more companies to abandon the traditional, one-off purchasing model in favor of the more sustainable model of recurring sales. This change in business model means a change in customer relations objectives. Ensuring that customers are sufficiently satisfied at the point of purchase is no longer enough. It is now necessary to maintain, and even improve, their satisfaction on an ongoing basis, in order to develop their loyalty.

At the heart of this approach is a new position that is making a major impact on sales teams: the Customer Success Executive (CSE) or Customer Success Manager (CSM). Introduced in France a few years ago by software publishers, the function is becoming more widespread in many business sectors, and is playing a key role in the development of your customer relations. So who is this CSE? What are its missions? And why integrate it into your organization?

Customer Success Executive vs Account Executive

Loyalty and satisfaction go hand in hand! If your customers are satisfied, they won't hesitate to buy additional products or services. Establishing a lasting relationship of trust is a long-term process, and a win-win situation for your teams.

From a transactional model to a more emotional relationship, the human element is once again a major component of the customer experience and its personalization. At Efficy, a European CRM software publisher, we have been placing customer retention at the heart of our strategy for several years now, by integrating CSEs into our sales teams.

What is a CSE?

The Customer Success Executive is the guarantor of a successful customer experience. In charge of maintaining good customer relations, he or she must not only develop sales for the company, but also, and above all, contribute to the loyalty of the customer portfolio.

Be careful not to confuse Customer Success Executive with Account Executive.

An Account Executive's main, if not exclusive, objective is to develop "New Business" (new customers). However, the Customer Success Executive, like the Account Executive, has the objective of developing the sales of his customer base, through the sale of new products or services. They must also develop customer usage to increase loyalty and ensure repeat purchases. Against a backdrop of increasing digitalization, the Customer Success Executive puts customer loyalty back at the heart of corporate strategy.

What missions for what purpose?

Unlike customer service, the mission of the CSE or Customer Success Executive is to anticipate problems before they arise. Proactive in the relationship, he or she centralizes exchanges and mobilizes other teams around problems encountered or to be encountered. More comprehensively, the CSE's mission is to :

  • Define and lead the customer integration process.
  • Develop customer sales by extending use within the company and selling additional products or services.
  • Support customers in their day-to-day use of your product/service.
  • Manage complaints or crisis situations
  • Disseminate customer culture within the company.
  • Follow customers throughout their lifecycle.

When and how to set up a CSE team?

When it comes to implementing a customer loyalty strategy, recruiting a CSE makes perfect sense. Many companies have opted for a sales team with the dual skills of business developer (account executive) and CSE (customer base management) for the same profile. While this type of organization makes it possible to ensure the interim management of customers, it quickly reaches its limits when it comes to developing business potential.

Investing in a different profile, one that is 100% customer-oriented and focused on satisfaction - in other words, a CSE - is a key step in developing lasting customer relationships. From the very start of your loyalty strategy, or after yet another disappointing satisfaction survey, it's never too late to take the plunge.

A privileged contact at the crossroads of the company's various departments

A privileged contact for your customers

As you can see, the CSE is the customer's first point of contact. On the one hand, he establishes a relationship of trust and exchange with your customers. And secondly, he consolidates the company's customer knowledge in the CRM, the customer relationship management tool, and enriches it over time for a 360° vision of the relationship.

As soon as the contract is signed, the CSE takes charge of welcoming and "onboarding " the new customer. This is an important step in familiarizing the customer with your products and services. The aim is to guide the customer towards initial autonomy.

Taking Efficy as an example, the CSEs are tasked with organizing and running monthly webinars to present tips and tricks for using our solutions. In this way, they show their customers how to make the most of the software, while at the same time introducing them to new functions that might be of interest to them. Subscribers are identified in the CRM, enabling the marketing team to send out communications tailored to each customer's interests.

A realistic vision of customer satisfaction

In terms of both usage and performance, the CSE is also the person who responds to customers' daily requests. He identifies, qualifies and responds to customer needs. He plans regular meetings to determine future actions and explain to the customer what you, as a company, are doing for him. Thanks to this ongoing dialogue, the CSE is able to detect difficulties even when they are not clearly expressed.

It is therefore the first barometer of customer satisfaction, giving you greater visibility and responsiveness. This enables you to anticipate customer attrition and act at the right moment.

The ideal CSE accompaniment covers 3 levels of relationship:

  • Use of the product or service: the CSE accompanies the customer in getting to grips with and using the product or service. This facilitates the link between the customer and the company's technical, training or support teams when new needs arise.
  • The result: the CSE analyzes the customer's specific needs and gives him the keys to achieving his objectives using the tool.
  • Improvement: the support provided by CSE and the dialogue established with its customers have a strong impact on the improvement and evolution of your product or service offering.

An invaluable source of information for company performance

As the customer's spokesperson within your organization, the CSE listens to customer suggestions and passes them on to the relevant departments. Once you've moved beyond the tool itself, the exchange becomes richer. The customer then becomes a source of suggestions for improvements or changes to your product roadmap.

Listening to these suggestions, the CSE relays them internally to the various departments: customer service, product marketing, R&D, etc. The CSE acts as the customer's "advocate", ensuring that his feedback is heard. Here again, don't forget to use collaborative tools such as CRM to save your teams time.

At Efficy, for example, each exchange is recorded on the customer file and then shared with the departments concerned. Thanks to alerts in the CRM, the CSE stays informed of the various actions in progress and can communicate with the customer on the progress of his request.

Conclusion

In conclusion, customer satisfaction and loyalty must be the ultimate goal of any company wishing to grow. By integrating a Customer Success Executive, you can optimize customer relations and, consequently, your business. At the crossroads of Marketing, Sales, Support and Technical: this key profile will enable you to optimize the customer experience and add value to your product/service.

Where New Business Sales and Customer Service focus on short-term satisfaction, CSEs add value for years to come. Their commitment doesn't end when a customer signs up for your offer: it's just beginning...

Article translated from French