ISVs and VARs know that retaining customers is more cost-effective than continually acquiring new ones. Customer retention is also critical for SaaS business health, increasing customer lifetime value, fueling a long-tail growth strategy, and providing the foundation for selling deeper into customer accounts. However, customer retention is never a given. It requires a strategy that maximizes customer success and satisfaction with your products and services. VARs and ISVs who take a customer-centric approach will benefit from stronger relationships with their accounts, greater perceived value, less churn, and a healthier bottom line.
Tips for Building a Customer-Centric Ecosystem
ISVs and VARs who want to create more customer-centered processes should evaluate the following areas of their businesses from their clients’ point of view:
- Industry Expertise
Customers seek your services because your knowledge and experience can help them reach their business goals more easily. While it may be tempting to cast a wide net across verticals, it’s better to specialize within a particular sector so that businesses know they can count on you as an authority for the technology and industry insights necessary for their success.
- Solution Matching
Understanding each customer is paramount to building a customer-centric ecosystem. If you have listened to your customer’s pain points and business goals, you’ll be able to recommend the best available solution for the use case and provide the most value. Remember, the best solution may not necessarily be the one that results in the most commission for your sales team. Focus on providing technology that will deliver the best outcomes and play the long game, maximizing customer lifetime value (CLTV) rather than the revenue from a single sale.
- Hardware Standardization
Standardizing on one hardware platform is easier for your team, but also remember, it’s easier and more cost-effective for your customers. It reduces complexity, results in economy of scale, and makes management easier. It’s also easier for your clients to train and cross-train their employees when similar devices are deployed company-wide.
- Added Value
Take a hard look at what might be missing that could streamline your customers’ workflows and show ROI. Consider integrating solutions like mobile device management which allows your business to monitor systems, send alerts, and proactively address issues before they cause downtime. Putting the right management solutions in place with each implementation will reduce the risk of unexpected problems that have the potential to hurt customer relationships and retention rates. Take every opportunity to provide total integrated solutions for your customers to deliver the most value to your clients.
- Feedback Loop
Do you have an accurate view of customer satisfaction and the value they perceive in your services? Take time to collect feedback using the Net Promoter Score (NPS) or other methodology. However, more importantly, listen to what your customers are telling you. Drill down to discover the root causes of dissatisfaction and make changes that will lead to happier customers.
- Service After the Sale
Companies with limited IT resources, especially small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), need reliable tech support. Customer-centric organizations provide local, one-on-one support delivered by knowledgeable technicians.
With so much attention devoted to how artificial intelligence (AI) can streamline operations for ISVs and VARs, it may be tempting to consider deploying intelligent chatbots for customer service. However, solely relying on chatbots will likely result in frustration for your clients. While AI chatbots can make basic information easily accessible, it’s wise to continue to have skilled technicians available for the best issue-resolution experiences.
- Training
Ensure your team is up to date with training. Skill sets are now changing at a rate of every 90 to 180 days, so regular training needs to be a vital part of your strategy. Additionally, take time to train on soft skills like communication and issue resolution. These skills help provide enhanced customer experiences that build strong long-term relationships.
Be Genuine
While these tips will help you create a customer-centric ecosystem, you’ll be most successful if you model customer-centricity from the top down of your organization. Make sure your mission statement communicates your commitment to customer success and providing the best user experiences. Put customers at the center of all your decision-making and ensure all policies and procedures lead to the best outcomes for them.
It’s the best way to ensure their success, and ultimately, the success of your business on the foundation of a satisfied, loyal customer base.
