309. IJRM. Understanding Customer Success Management in B2B Industries.
April 4 2024
Listen to full episode :
In the ever-evolving landscape of business-to-business (B2B) industries, maintaining customer relationships and ensuring customers derive maximum value from products or solutions is paramount. Customer Success Management (CSM) goes beyond traditional sales and marketing strategies. To shed light on the nuances of CSM and its significance, we had the privilege of interviewing Bryan Hochstein, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Alabama.
CSM represents a paradigm shift in how businesses engage with their customers in B2B industries. By prioritizing customer success and aligning organizational strategies accordingly, companies can foster long-term relationships, drive customer satisfaction, and achieve sustainable growth.
Key points discussed:
Distinguishing CSM from Traditional Sales Roles: While sales and key account management focus on revenue generation and strategic vision, CSM is centered around product usage and ensuring customers achieve desired outcomes.
Differentiating CSM from Customer Service: Unlike reactive customer service, CSM takes a proactive stance in identifying and addressing customer needs before they escalate into problems. It focuses on building lasting, value-driven relationships.
The Importance of Customer Health: Customer health serves as a predictive indicator of the overall relationship between businesses and their customers. It encompasses various dimensions, including relationship quality, product usage, and value realization.
Measuring Value Realization: Assessing the value customers derive from products involves setting objective, measurable goals and tracking progress over time. This process often involves regular check-ins and business reviews to ensure alignment with customer objectives.
Tech Touch vs. High Touch Approach: CSM can take different forms, ranging from high-touch, personalized interactions to tech-driven, one-to-many communications. Each approach serves specific customer segments and aims to drive customer success efficiently.
Organizational Alignment of CSM: While CSM is inherently tied to sales and marketing, it's recommended to have it as its own distinct function within the organization. This ensures a focus on long-term customer success rather than short-term revenue goals.
Executive Commitment to CSM: The success of CSM initiatives heavily relies on executive buy-in and commitment to customer-centric philosophies. Without top-level support, CSM efforts may falter during challenging times.
Click here for the Research Article
The Up Next podcast’s access to this content is courtesy of the International Journal of Research in Marketing, an international, double-blind peer-reviewed journal for marketing academics and practitioners. IJRM aims to contribute to the marketing discipline by providing high-quality, original research which advances marketing knowledge and techniques. As marketers increasingly draw on diverse and sophisticated methods, IJRM‘s target audience is comprised of marketing scholars, practitioners (e.g., marketing research and consulting professionals) and policymakers.
IJRM aims to be at the forefront of the marketing field with a particular emphasis on bringing timely ideas to market. The journal embraces innovative research with the potential to spur future research and influence practice. Hence, it welcomes contributions in various aspects of marketing. The editors, while accepting a wide array of scholarly contributions from different disciplinary approaches, especially encourage research that is novel, visionary or path breaking.
Bryan W. Hochstein (Ph.D. Florida State University) is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Alabama. Prior to his current role, Dr. Hochstein (Dr. H) was a sales executive with Time Warner Media. Dr. H is considered an academic thought leader on sales and customer success management, as such he regularly facilitates academic/industry discussions via thought leadership forums, industry conferences, and research interviews. Dr. H’s research on sales-related topics appear in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of International Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, Marketing Letters, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and other leading outlets. From a teaching perspective, Dr. H leads the University of Alabama’s Master-level Sales Leadership Program, as well as facilitates doctoral seminars and undergraduate professional development courses. Dr. H is a co-author of the textbook “Marketing Strategy,” 8th Edition (Cengage Publishing) and “Sales Management” (Stukent Publishing), which both focus on bringing together effective strategies to manage and drive firm performance.
Follow & Learn More
Bryan Hochstein