I’ve been thinking about the past year a lot this week. Reflection is a good thing and it’s helped me see the ways the last year has been positive (instead of the negatives). I can’t help but chuckle as I read my journal entries from this time last year though.
As my kids get older we have some interesting conversations about music. Tonight we were flipping through channels on SiriusXM and ran across Say, Say, Say by McCartney and MJ. It was fun to see their faces as they realized who was singing. 🎵
It’s been a while since I wrote here. What a wild ride the last few months have been. I hope everyone is doing well. Excited that the sun is out ☀️ the weather is beautiful 😊 and spring is here 🌱
One of my favorite “old man” stories to tell my kids is about the computer science department at my university. I’m not really that old, but I am old enough that I remember watching CS majors in the computer lab using the dot matrix printers to print out their coding assignments. (I am old enough that I didn’t have my own computer in college, but then again I was a history major so as long as I had books and pen and paper I was well equipped for my classes.
One of the hardest parts of the work we do in customer success is, big surprise, dealing with customers. At times this is amazing and very rewarding. At other times it can be the worst. Many support agents and customer success managers end up spending a lot of time with unhappy customers. The day after day grind of work can leave you feeling like all of your customers hate you and your product is trash.
Once a quarter it’s good to take a look at your documentation and other customer-facing resources. The new year is a good time to do a larger evaluation of the direction and scope of your documentation. Here are some questions to think about as you evaluate the state of your docs: Does your documentation facilitate self-service?How good is the search function?Can customers and others submit feedback?If your docs include comments, how is the moderation?
I really dislike how the software world talks about “users.” In any other context this word has pretty terrible connotations. (Drug users anyone?) It has become the standard way that nearly all software companies describe their customers. Calling a customer a “user” dehumanizes them. At the far end of our development, sales, and marketing efforts are people with real lives and needs. We hope that they are willing to give us some of their hard-earned money in exchange for the software and services we provide.
The short answer: treating SaaS customers so they want to continue being a customer. SaaS businesses have an interesting advantage over brick and mortar companies. Software doesn’t have physical costs and digital distribution is straightforward. Margins on SaaS software, particularly on subscription-based software, are great. Customer Success is a new domain that emerged from the SaaS world in reaction to the scale and simplicity of the SaaS business model. Yes, you can sell software to a million people, but if that’s as far as your thought process goes you are in for some nasty surprises.
Today I turned my ceiling fan to “winter mode”. I’m amazed at the difference it makes in my office. So cool when little things make a big difference.
As the world outside our control gets grimmer, it’s easy to let our thoughts run wild. The noise in our mind can become deafening. Here’s how I work on quieting it. adamtervort.com/2020/11/q…