The Startup-Killing Mistake Of Satisfying Your Customers

Take these preventative steps to properly separate Customer Success and Customer Support

From new startups to established large companies, I often see the same growth-crippling mistake made when it comes to customer satisfaction. It starts when the Customer Success role is charged with supporting the customer, and the Customer Support role is made responsible for customer success.

But wait! Customer support leads to customer success, right? They go hand in hand along the path of customer satisfaction, and that drives customer growth!

Well, sure — for a while.

I just spent three months advising a team that developed their Customer Support and Customer Success roles properly from the get-go. Not only did the proper division of duties pay dividends immediately, but it made their product launch and each additional feature rollout quicker, easier and more accepted by a larger portion of their customer base.

On top of that, it also put the company in a better position for customer growth.

When Customer Satisfaction Kills Growth

In any environment where organizational roles are combined and people wear a lot of hats…