Customer Success Teams — Yes or No?

As an MSP, you are focused on providing your customers the attention and resources they need to solve issues, as well as developing closer relationships with them and serving as their true IT partner. For Carousel Industries Inc. , which ranked No. 5 on this year’s MSP 501, and many others, this means adding a dedicated customer success team.

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, jumping to manage the customer’s every need as soon as it crops up. In many cases, there just isn’t enough time left over to build and maintain the customer relationship. You know that there’s more you could be doing to support your clients and give them the attention they deserve, but how to truly help them get the most out of your partnership?

Enter the case for the customer success team. The name says it all. These folks’ purpose is to be that trusted adviser, super tuned-in to customers’ needs, understanding the ins and outs of the managed services agreement and knowing how to be tactical and savvy when suggesting additional products and services that could benefit the customer. Because of that close tie, the customer is more likely to heed recommendations, issues will get resolved faster and growth is driven on both sides.

Carousel Industries’ Mark Damphousse

In Carousel’s case, their customer success team focuses on and handles their clients’ subscriptions. “Through our customer success team, we help make subscription management easier and more efficient for our clients, especially as they update, add, move, renew or have questions about their subscriptions,” says Mark Damphousse, director of managed services for Carousel. “The Carousel team works to maximize the value of their subscription services to ensure they’re achieving the most value per dollar out of their subscriptions.”

Damphousse stresses the importance of this customer-centric attention to detail, emphasizing that customer success teams are a true differentiator and an area of high growth potential for MSPs.

“Through managed services, we give IT leaders the room to move IT from a support function to one that enables true business transformation and growth,” continues Damphousse.

Carousel’s managed services team proactively supports clients’ most critical business functions. In 2017, the company actively organized departments and teams according to industry trends and client needs. From there, it formed two specific teams to focus on MSSP and customer success (for subscription-based services). To support these areas, Carousel added team head count, training and additional internal support functions.

So, to add a customer success team or not to add a customer success team? Studies show that 80 percent of companies believe they’re delivering a superior value proposition, but only 8 percent of customers agree. What key steps can MSPs take to ensure they’re truly delivering a superior customer experience?

It seems as though implementing a dedicated team focused on delivering a superior customer experience should at least be a consideration, don’t you think?

**Editor’s Note: Click here for the list of the companies that comprise the Channel Futures 2018 MSP 501.**