In the age of chatbots, voice response systems, and AI-assisted customer support, customers have become hungry for human interaction — buyers around the world would pay up to 16% more for a better customer experience.
Behind every great customer experience are great services executives. We’re proud to share that Highspot has earned a Stevie® Award for Customer Service Department of the Year. More than 2,700 nominations from companies across 45 nations were evaluated in this year’s competition.
What exactly separates good customer service that gets the job done from great customer service that leads to lasting partnerships? We asked the experts themselves — Stuart Thompson, Kate Wilson, Cam Williams, and Alex Dumke of our Services and Account Management team — to share their insights on four things that make for an unforgettable customer experience.
Build Relationships Based On Empathy
“A world-class customer experience begins with empathy and leads to exceeding expectations. It’s amazing how much you learn about people when you as a services executive are transparent, real, and genuine. Treating your customers as partners first — not just purchasers of your products — opens doors that enable you to develop the relationship. People like to work with people that they like. Empathy, active listening, and honest dialogue lay the groundwork for transitioning from being seen as a vendor to a trusted advisor. Only when we’ve walked a mile in a customer’s shoes can we propose the best solutions.”
–Alex Dumke, Services Executive
Deeply Understand Your Product
“There are multiple ways to achieve results in every product — but certain approaches may not work for certain customers. 90% of my job is figuring out how to creatively solve challenges with the tools we have at our disposal. Knowing very deeply what Highspot does, and digging deeper into our extended capabilities, such as integrations, provides the foundation for critical aspects of customer service like problem-solving and responsiveness. Because every customer is unique, extensive product knowledge empowers us to best provide solutions that address the root cause of their pain points — not just alleviate the symptoms.”
–Kate Wilson, Services Executive
Optimize With Metrics
“Learnings derived from analytics are critical to helping us improve as a Services team. When data shows that a customer is doing extremely well, we can pinpoint what is driving their success and share that among our team members. This equips everyone with anecdotes and experiences that are key to delivering better service and helping customers realize more value. For example, we know through Highspot’s analytics that the implementation of our new feature Pitch Experiences triggered a 15% increase in pitching for an account. When we see a different account’s pitching rate plateau, we can make a recommendation to implement Pitch Experiences.”
–Stuart Thompson, Solution Architect
Help Your Customers Be Their Best
“Great customer service is not only about exceeding expectations, but enabling our customers to exceed the expectations that their peers and managers have of them. I would love to have Highspot be the reason why a solutions owner gets promoted — we want them to build legitimacy and respect within their user base and leadership team. To achieve this, it’s critical that we stay apprised of the changes happening as our customers’ teams restructure and priorities shift. Are they putting the gas on hiring? Are their sellers becoming more social-selling savvy? Understanding their context and goals enables us to course correct, redefine what success looks like for them, and proactively pivot to ensure we’re meeting their needs every step of the way.”
–Cam Willilams, Senior Manager, Account Management
At the end of the day, experience is everything. When modern buyers worldwide are hungry for human interaction, a little human touch that provides empathy, product expertise, data-informed solutions, and support goes a long way.
