Help Clients Become Self-Sufficient

For best results and customer success, encourage clients after a few months of usage to internalize upload concepts on their own, and become more self-sufficient

This article can be considered a companion (and a counterbalance) to our more generous article about saving clients from brain damage.

If you've helped a client through two or three rounds of uploads, and they still hit the same bumps each time, don't seem to be learning from the careful explanations that you've provided, and are not succeeding in becoming self-sufficient with their work ... then it's time to change your language a little bit. Gently though. Here are some tips:

• Point out that for the client to get the most value out of CFO Scoreboard, it is in their interest to learn it well, because then they can get insights and optics on their numbers whenever they want rather than having to rely on you to hand-hold them through every operation and upload. This is a key point and it can't be emphasized enough: it is a win-win for users to learn how to use the software on their own.
• Challenge them along the lines of "Let's see if next time you can sort this out on your own. Maybe you can save this email for next month, and see if you can resolve this error if and when it comes up again?"
• Make sure they understand that even while they're embarking on a brave new journey of self-sufficiency, you will always be an email or a phone call away, waiting to bail them out if they find themselves beating their heads against a wall.

Basically, treat this like swim practice. It's in everyone's best interest if they learn how to swim on their own. They need to be challenged in order to learn. But they also need to know that if they start to falter, you'll be there to save them.

Coach your clients to success!