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a practical guide
for the customer success leader
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“A really practical handbook for anyone looking to be a leader in the space. Customer Success is something that is evolving really quickly, and this book is the right combination of simplicity and insight to understand it.”
MARK ROBERGE, SR. LECTURER AT HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, CRO Hubsot
"I have been saying for some time that Sales itself needs to move way down the funnel and focus on what happens after the customer signs on the dotted line.  But the question is how do you do that.  Well, what Farm Don't Hunt captures is how you do Customer Success.  A great resource for any Customer Success leader who is wondering what to”
Jacco Van Der Kooij, Winning By Design
"Farm Don’t Hunt is a working guidebook for every Sr Mgmt team and Customer Success executive.  What to do.  Why it matters,  How to measure it.  Action plans.  Baselines.  Success plays.  It’s an indispensable consultant-in-a-book that will be tapped many times through the first couple of years of your customer success journey."
Mikael Blaisdell, Executive director of the customer success association

The Story Behind the Book

The big ideas and the inspiration behind Farm Don't Hunt

who is Guy Nirpaz?

Guy Nirpaz is a Silicon Valley-based Israeli entrepreneur and CEO of Totango, a Customer Success software platform. A pioneer in the Customer Success field, Guy established the Customer Success Summit and is a well-regarded industry speaker and community Contributor. Guy loves people and technology and has dedicated his career to improving the way in which business is done through innovation.

Fun Facts: Guy moonlights as the lead guitarist in a rock band based out of his garage in Palo Alto and used to command a tank battalion...as well as having grown oranges.

Follow Guy on LinkedIn

full list of essays included in the book

Introduction

The Hunt for Customers
A Change in the Customer Relationship

Customer Success – The Farming Paradigm
 
Your Customers Are Like Trees
Your Grove is Your Business
Your Harvest is Your Revenue
The Goal

The Customer Success Cycle (or, how your trees grow)
 
The Customer Success Cycle
The Customer Journey
Where the Farming Metaphor Breaks Down


managing your grove

Customer Success is a Portfolio Management Exercise
Customer Success vs. Pipeline Management
Customer Success vs. Project Management
Customer Success vs. Customer Support
Focus on Drivers to influence Outcomes
The Customer Success Scorecard    (or, your grove report card)

Doing the Work
 
Setting the Strategy
The Tactics: Activities of a Customer Success Manager
The Engagement Model:  Combining Activities Into Success
Programs and Success Plays
Putting It All Together
The Importance of Incremental and Iterative Improvement
When to Do What—Prioritizing the Stages
Prioritizing Success Plays Within Stages
About Planning and Predictability

Onboarding
The Customer Onboarding Program
Customer Onboarding Success Plays
Trigger:  The customer is unable to use the product
Trigger:  The customer is unhappy
with the onboarding process
Special Topic:  Customer Health Indicators

Nurturing & Growing
   
Nurturing Success Program
Feature Adoption Program
Usage Reporting Program
Periodic Business Review Program
Customer Feedback Program
Best Practice Sharing Program
Nurturing Success Plays
Trigger:  Account Suffers from a Drop in Utilization
Trigger:  Users Affected by a Service Outage or SLA Breach
Trigger:  A Key User Leaves the Company
Trigger:  A Support Storm – Many Similar Cases Occur
Case Study:  Do as I Say, Not as I Do!

Harvesting
    
Harvesting Success Program
Harvesting Success Plays
Success Play:  Outbound Upsell/Cross-Sell Communication

Saving

Saving Success Plays
Trigger:  Too Many Escalations

Building the Team
    
Customer Success Manager (CSM).
Support Manager
Education Manager – Training Manager
Operations Manager
Upsell/Renewals Manager
Professional Services

Customer Success Relative to Other Business Functions
Sales
Customer Support
Product
Marketing
Special Topic:  The Need for Customer Marketing

Farming Tools

The Limitations of CRM
The Rise of Customer Success Tools
Aggregation
Signalization
Workflow