This is inspired by a really interesting observation by a customer success manager yesterday during our weekly team check in call.

His said he looks forward to these meetings because it is a welcome departure from his regular routine. He appreciates the opportunity to take a step back once a week “to think and reflect a bit.”

To think about
- how things are going.
- how we engage in customer conversations.
- what we can do differently to reach desired outcomes.

It reminded me of the question coaches often ask business owners and entrepreneurs, “Are you working in your business or on your business?“

In it = The regular routine, the daily grind.
On it = Taking a step back to be curious and reflect.

So I’ll end this post where it started: “Are you working in your job or on it?”

Have a great Friday and to my US friends, hope you enjoy the long holiday weekend.

"As a customer success professional, I work accounts in tandem with #sales. Some of them panic when I ask these (bold, disruptive, open-ended) discovery questions, even if the answers I get are great. Any advice for working with nervous sales folk?"

That is an actual question from my webinar this week with Involve.ai - and I've heard it before. Here's my answer:

Quick background

• True, many sales folks are trained to choreograph and script customer/prospect interactions to get the answers they want - the answers that will advance towards the salesperson's desired outcome.
• Customer discovery is often considered more of a formality that is compartmentalized to the early part of the sales cycle.
• Questions are often leading vs. open-ended. Sales believes that leading questions keep them in "the driver's seat" on the call, while open-ended questions may lead to other topics.

But consider the facts...

• Customers are begging sales to listen more and better (image at left below). The Rain Group, a leading sales consulting and training company, asked buyers what factors most influence their purchase decision. The first is "Leading a thorough discovery of my concerns, wants and needs." The third: "Listening to me."
• Sales folks who listen more sell more. In their analysis of 1 million recorded sales calls (image at right below), Gong.io found that "star reps" talk less than half the time while "average reps" talk more than two-thirds of the time. (BTW, on my discovery calls, customers talk 85% of the time, on average.)

• My experience in conducting nearly 2,600 customer discovery conversations is that customers have a lot to say about their problems, priorities and challenges but aren't given the time and space to communicate those. Open-ended questions are the key to achieving trust and getting customers to feel comfortable expanding on topics important TO THEM. This in turn enables you to understand and best address their real-world needs.
• At the end of my discovery calls, customers often thank ME! "Why?" I ask, "are you thanking me? I want to thank you for your time!" "Because," they reply, "not enough vendors ask these kinds of questions. I feel as though I got to talk about what was important to us."

My suggestions:

1. Nicely remind sales that your role is customer SUCCESS, which means understanding what's important from the customer's point of view so you can retain them, add value and, when the opportunity arises, grow revenue. Therefore you may need to ask questions different from the typical (cliche) discovery questions. 
2. Point out that the answers customers gave were "great," and explain why and how these insights will help towards your common objectives with sales.
   
3. Politely share the research above to educate them on the importance of listening - based on how important it is to customers - and also to their paychecks!
4. Feel free to blame your Radically Authentic Discovery approach on this guy Bob London who has done a ton of discovery calls!

Questions? Email me at bob@chieflisteningofficers.com.

Thanks to all who joined Shashi Bellamkonda and me on yesterday's "What's Left Unsaid" webinar, hosted by Involve.ai. I talk about 16 disruptive customer discovery questions and how they get prospects and customers to really open up.

The attendees raised some very interesting questions, including how to deal with sales folks who push back on customer success professionals who are asking bold, disruptive customer questions.

Each of the customer discovery questions I teach has a "hook" and a "twist," designed to disarm customers and get them to open up. Typically they will talk at least 80% of the time, so you'll have lots of opportunity to listen and learn.

Here are 3 examples:

1. If a COMPETITOR (hook) CONTACTED YOU TOMORROW (twist), would you ignore them, or want to learn more?

Hook the customer by mentioning "competitor," which most other vendors wouldn't dare ask about. They fear it's a Pandora's Box, when in reality, our customers are exposed to our competitors every week if not every day! The twist is posing the hypothetical scenario in which that the customer hears from a competitor tomorrow (which also gives the hypothetical a sense of urgency).

2. What's the one thing that absolutely has to be OFF (TWIST) your WHITEBOARD (hook) in the next 90 days?

The whiteboard is a hook. Everyone either has one or knows what it refers to. The twist is to ask what needs to be *off* their whiteboard. Two other ingredients make this question disruptive: Asking about *one thing* helps the customer prioritize, as there is often one challenge or priority that rises above the others in importance. And *next 90 days* gives the question a relatively near-term focus. You can also use "next 12 months."

3. What’s one thing that SURPRISED YOU (twist) since you signed the CONTRACT (hook)?

Signing the contract is the hook. It's a great reference point, not only because it reminds the customer of what they signed up to receive, but also because it represents a specific point in time. The twist is asking what *surprised* them. This helps you uncover the delta between their original expectations and the reality they are experiencing. Interesting fact: In the course of my nearly 2,600 customer discovery conversations, customers mention positive surprises a bit more than half the time.

On the eve of my webinar with ClientSuccess (nearing 800 registrations at last count), I feel the need to thank a few customer success leaders for their support, wisdom and generosity.

Jay Nathan
Jeff Breunsbach
Gain Grow Retain
Kristi Faltorusso
Shari Srebnick
Ty Raia (he/him)
Jeremy Donaldson
Diana De Jesus
Jeff Heckler
JMI Equity
Vincent Prajka
You Mon Tsang
Cori Pearce
Erika Villarreal

Appreciate you all - and others I missed.

Seriously, being introduced to the world of customer success has been one of the best things that’s happened to me in the last several years of my professional life.

See post and video here.