According to soccerhelp.com, the term “win the ball’ means:
“…to gain possession of the ball, often when it is a loose ball or a ball which the other team also has a chance to win. Winning the ball is very important. The team that “wins the ball” most usually wins the game.”
Winning the ball in soccer is like winning a moment of truth in Customer Success.
CSMs are challenged to win moments with our customers. How we perform in the moment will dictate success with our clients.
This blog will review why winning the moment is important, how to win the moment and ways CSMs can maintain strength to win.
Let’s review:
Why Winning the Moment Is Important
Our relationships with our customers are made of moments.
We want to contribute to our customer’s emotional bank account and show in each interaction we are committed to the partnership.
The idea is explained in the book Insanely Simple by Ken Segall about Apple’s business philosophy
“He (Steve Jobs) believes that a company’s brand works like a bank account. When the company does good things, such as launch a hit product or a great campaign, it makes deposits in the brand bank. When a company experiences setbacks like an embarrassing mouse or an overpriced computer, it’s making a withdrawal. When there’s a healthy balance in the brand bank, customers are more willing to ride out the tough times. With a low balance, they might be more tempted to cut and run.”
Moment after moment we want to show our customers we are a reliable partner.
How We Can Win the Moment
According to soccerhelp.com “positioning relative to opponents can increase the chance of being able to win the ball.”
How can CSMs position ourselves to win the moment?
First, we want to recognize moments to truth. These are the occasions our customer may call on us urgently such as meeting a deadline, hitting a milestone or answering a critical question.
Second, we want to process the moment. We can ask:
- What are the consequences to the relationship of missing this moment?
- Do we have an opportunity to increase trust winning this moment?
After we’ve processed the moment we want to handle it.
We may need to apply urgency to meet a deadline, increase effort to drive a project to goal or leverage influence with colleagues to help meet our client’s need.
Winning to Moment requires us to take action and help our customers.
Maintaining Strength to Win
Soccerhelp.com says the following techniques are required to win the ball:
Hustle, speed, a quick start and not being afraid of contact are also important, especially on “fifty-fifty balls” (i.e., loose balls which either team has an equal chance of winning)
As CSMs we have to stay strong in our goal of Winning the Moment.
We may encounter:
- Pressure as we face uncertainty in resolving a situation
- Setbacks as we evaluate solutions and determine the best path
- Weariness as we pursue our goals with urgency
We want to show our customer we are here to accept the challenge and put our best effort forward.
We can show we are committed even if we lose the moment. We can keep trying and “get the ball back” next time if we do reach failure.
We want to keep going to demonstrate commitment to our customer’s partnership.
Our efforts in Winning the Moment will put us in a better position to having a winning relationship with our clients.