How Customer Support Drives and Grows Recurring Revenues | #customersupport #supporticket

“Customers buy products to enable and streamline their business operations. Services drive recurring revenue by helping customers to successfully adopt and apply products.”

That’s how the new whitepaper by ServiceXRG introduces the concept of how well-defined service programs and effective adoption of your product can be the keys to maximizing recurring revenue performance.

This blog series highlights excerpts from four key concepts for using services to retain and grow recurring revenue.

1.  Establish Service Programs Aligned to Customer Needs

Many products have the features a customer needs, yet features are irrelevant if customers cannot use the product to achieve their desired business outcomes. When customers succeed with the products they purchase, it increases the likelihood of sustained recurring revenue and creates opportunities to expand the long term

value of relationships. Do this by:

• Understand outcomes and use cases customers want to achieve by using your products and align your service programs to customer needs.
• Develop a portfolio of services programs to provide access to technical expertise, account management, skills development, and subject matter expertise.
• Conduct ongoing reviews of service program use and effectiveness. [Based on that,] establish a defined road map of future program enhancements driven by product road map and market needs.

2.  Create Awareness and Demand for Services

Product sales practices must fully embrace the role of services in helping customers to adopt and apply products. It is no longer sufficient to sell only product features and assume customers can be successful [after the sale]. Well-defined services programs provide the essential complement to products, accelerating customer success and helping to mitigate churn.

Begin during the sales process to emphasize selling [positive] outcomes, and:

• Define a compelling value for post-sale services and support.
• Establish product sales motions that include the discussion of how product features and services are combined to accelerate time to benefit.
• Provide tools and resources to help customers quantify the value of investing in the right product features and service programs; express benefits in terms related to the customer’s KPIs.

Remember, the goal is to develop service programs that lead the customer on a journey to successfully achieving their desired outcomes. [The quicker all users in your B2B customers’ support organization adopt your product and use it to its full benefit, the more likely they will become your champions rather than just contacts.