In this Event Temple series, we highlight members of our team who are the drivers to our success. Find out about the people behind the desk, what they do inside and outside of work, and their take on Event Temple’s journey, from their unique perspective.
The first person to be featured in this series is none other than David Perry, the pioneer of Customer Success at Event Temple. He’s a dog lover, has a Simpson’s reference for any situation in life, and you can find him at the local brewery in his free time. Meet David:
Q: Hi David! Can you tell us who “David Perry” is and a little bit yourself and what you do at Event Temple?
David Perry is a lover of dogs, food and beer. Pretty much everything I do in my career is centered around the goal of giving my dogs and any future dogs I might have the best life possible.
At Event Temple I am the head of customer success. That means I head up the entire post-sale customer journey. From the time you buy Event Temple onward, our team is responsible for making sure that you are getting the best experience you possibly can.
Q: What does customer success mean to you? Your philosophy?
I subscribe very closely to a philosophy known as “The Effortless Experience.” Based on a book of the same title, by Matthew Dixon. The basic premise of that ideology is: delighting customers won't create loyalty, but creating an effortless experience for them will. Every interaction with a company (in support, with sales, in-app, or anything else) needs to be an effortless experience that has minimal friction. Everything needs to be easy. If it's easy to use and people get the results they want, they'll stay by you for years.
Q: What does Event Temple’s Customer Success look like?
We have a great opportunity at this company to build a Customer Success Vision from the ground up. We are working in a space that is absolutely right for change and for disruption. There are many people that have been using similar tools for a very long time. Our goal is to understand who those people are, what they need to obtain with those tools, and how we can give them the same result in a fraction of the time and effort.
This will come in the form of customer interviews, customer service, quarterly check-ins, support inquiries. There is an endless supply of potential information that we can collect. The big upside to all of this, the clientele seems very keen to help us in this growth journey. They are more than happy to sit down with us, answer questions, and do what they need to do to make sure that we can make the best product possible. As a customer success professional, that's exactly where I want to be.
Q: What can clients expect from Event Temple’s Customer Success?
As we continue to grow as an organization, the biggest thing you're going to learn to expect from us is that we have a thirst for knowledge. We want to be seen as a business partner that is looking to understand your practices, and looking to challenge the way you do things for both of our betterments. We believe in growth for ourselves and for our customers, and we are not afraid to ask whatever questions we might need to in order to do that. We want to be your trusted hospitality business advisors, not just a software company that you call when things are broken.
Q: What should potential customers look for regarding CS when assessing software? What questions should they ask?
When picking a software in 2020 it really matters what questions they're asking of you, not necessarily what you're asking from them. The customer success team should be proactive, they should be inquisitive, they should be genuinely interested in your company's well-being and growth. As an example, when we onboard an account at Event Temple, one of our main questions is: “What would be a measure of success for your business that would represent a successful implementation of a tool like Event Temple?” This gives our team a very clear benchmark to shoot for when it comes to ensuring that you're getting every possible return you might want on your purchase of the software. It also tells us what your business goals are, and helps us understand how we can get you there.
If the people you're buying from aren’t asking you about what you want, what you need and where you want to go… that should be a flag.
Q: Any final thoughts to add?
It's very important to mention that our customer success team has an encyclopedic knowledge of The Simpsons. If you come into an interaction with us and can make an obscure Simpsons reference, there's a good chance that we will become friends very quickly :) (But keep it to Seasons 1-10, the only ones really worth anyone’s time!)
