How to strategically collaborate with your customer on objective writing and success planning

Being an Enterprise or High Touch Customer Success manager requires you to have a level of involvement in your customer's strategic direction when it comes to your area of business. If your high value customer is making business decisions that affect the relationship you have with them, it's in your best interest to get involved. I've come across many linkedin meme posts (and a few serious posts) where they depict a CS team who purely relies only on the usage metrics that a platform like Gainsight or the many other CSPs provide and then are surprised when a 'healthy' customer churns... "But their health score was above 90%, I don't know why they churned?!". 

I look at this as a scale, aim to go from 0 involvement to being one of the leading forces behind a customers business direction in the area you support them in.

How can you communicate your value effectively? In this article we're going to explore ways that you can strategically position yourself as an important aspect of your customers business direction.

1. Collaborative Objective Setting

Partner with your customer to co-create objectives that align with both their business goals and your platform’s strengths (more on this in a future article). By facilitating discussions that uncover key areas of growth or optimisation, you can become a trusted advisor in shaping their strategy. For example, work together to identify short- and long-term goals that show clear value through your product.

2. Business Reviews with Strategic Insights

In quarterly or annual business reviews, go beyond reporting usage metrics. Provide insights on how the customer can leverage your product to meet emerging industry trends, internal changes, or competitive challenges. Offering forward-thinking recommendations strengthens your role as an advisor, rather than just a support function.

3. Proactive Problem Solving

Anticipate potential challenges or areas where the customer may struggle to meet their objectives. By proactively identifying roadblocks, such as missed key results or under-utilised product features, and offering solutions, you demonstrate your vested interest in their success and position yourself as critical to their decision-making process.

4. Linking Product Usage to Business Outcomes

Show how platform usage metrics tie directly to the client’s business outcomes. Instead of focusing on activity alone (e.g., login counts), articulate how increased engagement translates into tangible results like cost savings, revenue growth, or process efficiency. Providing this direct correlation shows that your involvement contributes to their strategic goals.

5. Sharing Industry Best Practices

Offer industry-specific insights and best practices to help the customer stay competitive. For instance, if you support a healthcare company, share how other healthcare organisations are using your platform to address new regulatory requirements. This positions you as an expert in both your field and the customer's industry.

6. Tailored Success Planning Workshops

Organise workshops where you and your customer’s stakeholders jointly design or revisit their success plans. In these sessions, lead discussions on refining objectives and key results (OKRs), ensuring their alignment with the customer’s evolving business strategy. This deepens your engagement and ensures their goals are achievable with your platform.

By applying these strategies, you transition from being a reactive support function to a proactive strategic partner, fully integrated into the customer’s business objectives. This deeper involvement allows you to influence key decisions, align success plans with both immediate and long-term customer goals, and consistently deliver value. 

By positioning yourself as a strategic advisor, not only does it ensure that your product becomes indispensable to the customer's growth but also foster stronger relationships, improving retention, satisfaction, and opportunities for expansion.