Fearless customer teams

I’ve been reflecting on how much respect I have for the customer interfacing organizations as I watch them interact with prospects and customers. In addition to loving their focus on identifying customer needs and helping them get to value, as I’ve worked more closely with these teams in the past few years, I’m most impressed by their fearlessness. Sales, account management, and customer success have so much courage and resilience in their daily jobs. It’s a pleasure to watch and has taught me so much.

When you take a step back and think about the behavior of customer facing teams you realize they are often jumping on an adventure in every single interaction. While there is painstaking research and hard work to prepare, the first moments of a new call can be intimidating. You’re getting on with someone with the intention to serve them well and come to a beneficial outcome, but the reality is that you have to work hard to establish rapport and dig into needs all while knowing the person on the other end is examining you. Failure can mean a lost deal, the loss of an existing customer, complaints up the management chain, and even lost commissions. It’s high stakes and yet sellers, account managers, and CSMs persevere.

I greatly admire the courage of my sellers. Jumping in on a first call to build a relationship and trying to get someone to evaluate your product means you’re putting yourself out there. You have to be on your game no matter if you’re having a bad day, it’s early in the morning, or you're time shifting your schedule to work a crazy hour that’s best for the prospect. Even if the adrenaline can be exhilarating or you’re an extrovert, it can take alot to put yourself out there for the first time. The best sellers are the most courageous. They’re willing to take chances that can be daunting. This takes many forms including not working an easy lead that’s going to distract you from bigger opportunities or being willing to hold firm on price at the risk of losing a deal. Fear of loss is generally a bigger motivator than potential gain so that makes this courage even more impressive given how many ways you can lose a deal.

In account management and customer success the courage factor is different, but equally impressive. Current customers can be brutal with their feedback of both the team and the product. Our customer facing teams have to soothe them and find ways to continually add more value as competitors try to lure customers away. These teams always impress me with their ability to stay cool under pressure and by the way they show no fear in gently guiding customers to the appropriate offers or even telling customers when they’re wrong. I love that our teams at PandaDoc will always do what’s right for the customers - it’s hard to tell a customer they’re better served by something different or upselling them to a different plan even if you know it’s right. I love how these teams have the courage of their conviction.

To all you sellers, SDRs, CSMs, and account managers out there you have earned my respect for how you put yourselves out there. Take pride in your ability to stand firm and get your customers to value while putting yourself out on a limb.