Welcome to the Vivantio Vibe podcast.  Each month, we'll bring you the latest updates on Service Management solutions, software, innovations and interviews with smart people who have smart things to say.  All in around 30 minutes or less. 

In this episode of the Vivantio Vibe podcast, host Todd Carruth visits with Vivantio's COO Andy Walsh about the evolution of the B2B customer journey, important KPIs to consider and how to handle Net Negative Churn.   

You can listen below or download wherever you get your favorite podcasts including iTunes or Spotify.   

 

Welcome to the Vivantio Vibe podcast.  Each month, we'll bring you the latest updates on Service Management solutions, software, innovations and interviews with smart people who have smart things to say.  All in around 30 minutes or less. 

This month, we visit with Vivantio's VP of Technology Andrew Stevens about the customer journey and the importance of customer success teams and customer service teams working together. Plus, we introduce our new integrations tool FLEXBridge and what the future of CX will look like. 

You can listen below or download wherever you get your favorite podcasts including iTunes or Spotify.   

Not only is it easier for your team to sell (and cross-sell... and upsell) to satisfied customers, it's a whole lot more profitable—from 25% to 95% more, according the inventor of the Net Promoter Score, Frederick Reichheld of Bain and Company.

It's a phenomenon that makes intuitive sense, but it's even more impactful when you start looking at the numbers. Whether the KPI levers you're trying to pull involve increasing revenue from monthly subscribers or shortening the sales cycle for major programs, focusing on delivering superior Customer Experience (CX) will pay great dividends.

The "shortcut" that benefits every stakeholder

Better Customer Service has a direct effect on accelerating the sales process, by improving customer retention, upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Statistics show that acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing one.

Improving the Customer Journey—some concrete steps

Understanding the concepts and principles behind the Customer Journey can go a long way in helping you re-imagine current practices to find ways to streamline processes, break down silos, and increase transparency across the entire extended value chain. All of this helps bolster your team's ability to deliver a better CX.

Achieving these gains often means improving your human-driven processes, making sure your team is supported by the right technology—and giving your customers robust self-service options for quickly getting the information and services they need most.

For the technology piece, be sure to find a "good fit" partner

Two main considerations should be:

1. Does the Customer Service platform provide you with the kind of robust
   visibility and interfaces with your enterprise systems to make "one-call resolution"
   a reality? Look for solutions that can deliver on the vision of a unified customer
   service management platform.
2. Does the solution match your in-house skills/need and leave you free to configure
   for the future (without a lot of expensive consulting)?

Some of today's popular platforms require extensive implementation assistance. To make the product appealing, the monthly cost may not appear too high—until you begin to add-in consulting fees.

Vivantio offers an approach to Customer Service Optimization through our Unified Customer Service Management Platform that is truly poised to support better CX and customer journeys.

To learn more or request a live demo, click here.

Revenue pressure is at an all-time high—whether you're an established telecom provider or a scrappy SaaS startup. 2020's seismic impact will linger well into the coming months and everyone is struggling to make up for lost time. If you are looking exclusively at your Sales team to drive KPIs like monthly recurring revenue (MRR) you might be missing a major opportunity.

The shortcut to higher MRR runs through Customer Service

One of the major culprits in declining revenues is customer churn. The cost of continually finding, acquiring, and on-boarding new customers is substantial—not to mention how long that process can take.

Stopping the "leaky boat" of customer churn—by attending to issues of Customer Service— should be a first-priority for companies where this is an issue.

To see why, we can look at a typical customer journey that encompasses Sales, Service Management, and Customer Success phases. As the figure below shows, you can accelerate (or bypass altogether) several steps in the process by focusing on better service which can boost KPIs in retention, cross-sell and up-sell areas.

Methods for achieving this kind of acceleration can be gathered under the discipline of Service Optimization, and Vivantio can provide some excellent evidence for starting a Service Optimization effort. (Download our 35-page report here, for a start!)

A 73% revenue boost—from your Service Team

The venture capitalist and business author Tomasz Tunguz published an analysis of how achieving even a 5% negative net churn rate could impact the customer value for a SaaS provider. In his example, the average customer’s monthly recurring revenue (MRR) increased by 73%.

Vivantio can help you quickly and affordably develop an infrastructure—based around a Unified Service Management Platform—to support the kind of Customer Service that delivers on this promise. We're especially adept at helping Customer Service/CX leaders within companies that manage multiple teams or support multiple brands.

To learn more or request a live demo, click here.