How Customer Advocacy Drives Revenue with Christian Jakenfelds

Introduction

In this insightful podcast episode, Mausmi Ambastha interviews Christian Jakenfelds, a seasoned expert in customer success. The conversation explores the strategies for leveraging customer advocacy to drive growth. With a candid and thought-provoking discussion, Christian sheds light on the complexities of modern customer success and provides actionable advice for companies aiming to enhance their customer advocacy efforts.

About The Guest

Christian’s journey spans from early-stage startups to leading B2B SaaS companies like Tessian and Planhat. As a Customer Success and GTM leader, he’s mastered the art of growth and team scaling. Now, as a Go-To Network Evangelist at Commsor and founder of Customer Success for Founders, he’s redefining how we view customer value beyond traditional NRR metrics.

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Key Takeaways

Understanding the true impact of customer advocacy helps you prioritize strategies that build genuine relationships. Focusing on real customer experiences can build trust and credibility that drives long-term growth. Let’s see how

1. The Power Of Customer Advocacy

Genuine customer advocacy is far more valuable than any paid promotion. When customers are enthusiastic and willing to share their positive experiences, it has a more profound impact on potential buyers than any review or award.
Developing a structured process to encourage and capture customer advocacy can be more effective than trying to compete in the paid review space.

2. Integrating Customer Success With Sales And Marketing

Successful advocacy begins with understanding and measuring customer success. Companies need to clearly define what success looks like for their customers and ensure that this success is communicated and acknowledged.
Sales, marketing, and customer success teams should work together to align on goals and metrics, including how much new revenue is generated from customer advocacy.

3. Metrics For Advocacy

In addition to traditional metrics like net revenue retention (NRR), companies should consider measuring the percentage of new revenue directly attributable to customer advocacy. This could be tracked through referrals, positive testimonials, and other forms of customer-generated revenue.
This approach can help enhance the importance of customer success and advocacy in company performance discussions.

4. Long-Term Vision For Customer Success

Christian envisions a future where customer success is not just about maintaining existing revenue but actively contributing to new business growth. By demonstrating how customer success drives new revenue through advocacy, the role of customer success can be elevated within organizations.
This shift in perspective can lead to greater investment in customer success initiatives and a more strategic approach to nurturing customer relationships.

5. Challenges For Early -Stage Companies

For startups and smaller companies, competing with established players who have the budget to invest heavily in review platforms and marketing can be daunting. Early-stage companies often lack the resources to pay for prominent placements or extensive review campaigns.
The focus should be on creating outstanding customer experiences that naturally lead to positive reviews and organic advocacy.

6. The Role Of Review Platforms

A high rating on these platforms often indicates a good product, but Christian suggests treating these ratings as a general gauge rather than an absolute measure. The real value lies in whether a product solves specific problems for users.

Conclusion

The podcast wraps up with Mausmi and Christian reflecting on the evolving role of customer success and advocacy in the modern business landscape. Christian's candid observations and practical advice offer a roadmap for companies striving to make the most of their customer relationships.

For startups and established businesses alike, focusing on genuine customer success and advocacy, rather than just paying for visibility, can create lasting value and drive sustainable growth.

As Christian aptly puts it, building strong customer relationships that lead to organic advocacy is the key to thriving in today's competitive SaaS business environment.