As a revenue leader, your job is to build for customer needs.
Plain and simple.
You build for the needs your customer says out loud. And you build for the needs your customer doesn’t even know they have. You build for the short-term needs of your customer. And you build for their long-term success.
Ignore your customer, and the business starts to crumble:
- Your products miss the mark
- Your decisions start to stray
- Your customers feel like just a number
It’s a disaster.
Today, I want to share 3 ways to keep your focus relentlessly on the customer. Do this right and you’ll build a legendary career in revenue.
#1 - Be in the Trenches Every Day
There’s no substitute.
You have to be on the ground-level of your business daily, or lose customer focus.
The trenches are where you’ll:
- Hear customer feedback
- Identify trending needs
- Spot process flaws
At Clari, my trenches are the daily workflows of revenue teams. If I’m not an active part of these conversations, I’ll miss critical business-building information.
That’s not all, though.
As an added bonus, being in the trenches enables me to learn more about the Clari team and set an example. The goal is to send a strong message: “Here, we put our customers first.”
Leadership actions:
- Field customer calls. What are your customers struggling with? The best way to answer this question is to talk with them directly. So pick up the phone and field calls.
- Act as the product manager. How is your team building new solutions? Grab your PM hat and lead customer interviews, product strategy sessions, and market monitoring.
#2 - Embed a Customer-Focused Culture
Culture drives actions.
And if you aren’t actively working on your company culture, it’ll take shape without your influence. You’ll wake up to find a culture that doesn’t mirror your customer needs.
At Clari, our values are defined by:
- Being “one with the customer”
- Building innovative solutions
- Providing next-level service
In the earliest days of Clari, these values helped us attract rockstar talent. Folks who were willing to take a career risk because they wanted to make something new for customers.
We hold these values close as we grow, instilling them from Day 1.
Leadership actions:
- Interview for fit. Will potential team members prioritize the customer? Don’t leave this to chance. Ask questions about their mindset and process.
- Immerse new team members. Want to embed a customer-focused culture in your company? Onboard each new hire as a “student of the customer.”
#3 - Think Short-Term and Long-Term
Customer needs grow and evolve.
To be truly customer-focused, you have to think through the full journey. You have to provide short-term support along with long-term adaptability and growth potential.
This focus cuts across:
- Onboarding and enablement
- Early wins
- Scaling
One tactic we deploy (and help our customers deploy) is recorded conversations. By revisiting and analyzing customer calls, we spot needs and feed them into product planning.
This ensures we stay relentlessly focused.
Leadership actions:
- Look for trends. Where are customers consistently struggling? Cross-reference data from your conversations with the actions your customers are taking. Look for gaps.
- Anticipate. Where will your customer be three steps down the road? Invest time working with your customer support and product teams to plan this journey.
Revenue leaders - don’t lose sight of your customers.
- Be in the trenches every day
- Embed a customer-focused culture
- Think short-term and long-term
These steps will help you maintain a relentless focus and build a company that will delight your customers for years to come.
Till next time,
Andy Byrne
CEO, Clari
