Bonus Mistake: Under-Investing In Customer Success CEOs and executives, mostly in the early years of a company, are too focused on getting new customers, and frequently ignore current and past ones. You get one head to hire… should it be a salesperson, or an account management person? Almost always the answer is sales. Ignore account management and ongoing customer support at your own peril. We now have a world of “Frictionless Karma.” Bad and good customer experiences get around instantly rather than taking a lifetime. One bad apple can spoil a bunch faster than ever. Hold the hands of your first 50 customers; give them lots of love. In 2008, I had a client that was in their second pitch meeting with a bank for a potentially enormous deal. They had a coach on the inside, and felt the meeting went great! A few days after this meeting, their coach contacted them and said, “As a friend, I wanted to let you know that we emailed a bunch of companies we know who use applications such as yours. You are my own personal favorite company, but all the responses we received from your clients said your service is terrible. It’s put you behind the 8-ball in this deal.” That’s not a pleasant message for a VP Sales to receive. Solution: Hold the hands of your first 50 customers; give them lots of love. There's no process or magic to this: call them, visit them, talk to them! Ask them what they need, if they have any improvements or ideas to suggest. Ask their advice. Then do something about it.