290: How Amazing Customer Support Leads to Great Growth - with Greg Rich

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this week's episode of Scale Your SaaS, Greg Rich, the CEO and Co-founder of Vivantio, shared valuable insights into the world of customer service, the evolution of his company, and the pivotal role of customer experience in driving business success. 

Join host and B2B SaaS Sales Coach Matt Wolach, learn how almost 20 years of experience led Greg's journey into a tapestry woven with inspiration, ambition, and a deep love for customer service. 

PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCE

Podcast: Scale Your SaaS with Matt Wolach

Episode: Episode No. 290, "How Amazing Customer Support Leads to Great Growth - with Greg Rich"

Host: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS Sales Coach, Entrepreneur, and Investor

Guest: Greg Rich, CEO & Co-Founder at Vivantio

TOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Resilience Amidst Change: Navigating Challenges
• Building Customer-Centric Organizations: Key to Success
• Common Mistakes in Customer Support for Software Companies

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• The Continuous Evolution of Vivantio
• The Origin Story: A Journey Rooted in Experience and Technology
• Nuggets of Wisdom for Emerging Software Leaders

TOP QUOTES

Greg Rich

[5:11] "I do think in the service and support arena, there is an opportunity for generative AI to really help an agent and even the customer through self-service technologies."

[14:43] "Think about how you can manage that relationship so that you both get something from it."

Matt Wolach

[18:59] "That's a really important part in terms of how you think about retaining your customers and how you can, I wouldn't say leverage the relationship, because we call it a co-creation of value."

LEARN MORE

To learn more about Vivantio, visit: https://www.vivantio.com/guide-b2b-customer-service-transformation/ 

You can also find Greg Rich on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryrich/ 

For more about how host Matt Wolach helps software companies achieve maximum growth, visit https://mattwolach.com.

Get even more tips by following Matt elsewhere:

• Sales Tips
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram

Transcript

Matt Wolach: 0:10

You know, when building a software company, one of the last things we think about is customer support. We think about building the product, we think about marketing and generating leads, we think about how we're going to close those leads. And that's something I help with a lot, as you know, but we often don't think about how can we make sure that we take care of those people that we generate leads for and closed and all that stuff. So I think it's a really important thing. And that's why we had Greg rich on the show. He's from Vivantio. And they do a great job of making sure that people understand how to provide incredible customer support. So that all that work, you go to go through on your product, you go through the work on your marketing, and your sales, it all pays off because you're keeping customers and more than that, they're helping you grow because they're sharing the word. They're telling others how amazing you are. So if you want to make sure that your customers have an incredible experience, definitely check this episode out. Greg shares a lot of great information on

Intro/ Outro: 1:04

Welcome to Scale Your SaaS, the podcast that gives you proven techniques and formulas for boosting your revenue and achieving your dream exit brought to you by a guy who's done just that multiple times. Here's your host, Matt Wolach.

Matt Wolach: 1:20

And welcome to Scale Your SaaS Thank you very much for being here. Glad that you showed up. Now, if you are new to the program, we are here to make sure that you can grow your business and achieve amazing valuation. If those are things that you want. Hit the subscribe button right now make sure you do not miss out on any of the amazing guests that we bring to put in front of you so you can learn from their experience. So you can scale your SaaS and today's guest is exactly that an expert in the space. Greg Rich is with me, Greg, how you doing?

Greg Rich: 1:49

I'm doing well. Matt, thanks so much for having me.

Matt Wolach: 1:52

Absolutely, really glad to have you here. Let me make sure everybody knows who you are. So Greg is the CEO and co founder at Vivantio. They've been developing new and innovative products to help organize, automate and measure your customer service service desk, or ITSM operations. Greg's immersion in his family business birth and early love affair for customer service, and of Antioch Odyssey under Greg's leadership is a tapestry of inspiration, ambition, and heart, he definitely knows his stuff, especially when it comes to customer service, and how that can help the entire organization. And I can't wait to hear from his experience. So Greg, thanks for coming on the show.

Greg Rich: 2:29

Yeah, looking forward to it.

Matt Wolach: 2:31

Awesome. So tell me what's been going on with you lately, and what's coming up.

Greg Rich: 2:34

So I suppose thinking about the company, the product, we've been doing a lot of work. Most recently, in terms of UI X, you know, there's a, we're conscious that we have people that are in Rancho you know, eight hours a day, five days a week, you know, providing service and support. So that experience is really important to them, making sure that, you know, the the software's easy to navigate, easy on the eye, you know, as few clicks as possible, and things like that. And, you know, everyone's talking about AI. And I guess I'll have to do my pitch too, I suppose, as well. But I do think in the service and support arena, there is an opportunity for generative AI to really help an agent and even the customer, you know, through self service technologies, in, you know, consolidating information and trying to provide responses to customers in a shorter period of time. So, you know, that's, that's what we're focusing a lot of our attention at the moment. But really, it's all about the effect is to try and help the agent and the customer experience and making sure that we get, you know, information to people in a timely fashion. Moving forward as more of the same, I suppose, after we get through this sort of the next next couple of months of engineering development, a lot of focus is going to go back on the back end of the product, one of our unique selling points is in relation to the configurability of event, Yo, you know, it's an enterprise platform, but you know, we've always designed it from day one to be something that can be managed and maintained by the user, by the by the customer without having to rely on engineers or, you know, it to maintain these systems and, but it's evolved over time and has become more and more complex. So we're kind of moving away a little bit from from one of our, you know, key key identity differentiators. So, you know, a rehaul of our of our admin area now is that is the next big task for us. You know, simplify workflow management, business, business rules, things like that, and make it even easier for for customers to go in and make these changes. I love it and love it that you're always focused on how can we make sure that customers have great experience? You mentioned that a few times just now. But I want to go back because I think that it's really interesting story to tell me how did you come up with the idea to start this company? Where did this come from? It was a long time ago. Remember? 20 years now that we're coming up? I think next month, end of next month will be 20 years? Yes, yes. Thank you. So it's almost I suppose there were a number of things that kind of happened and maybe not all at the same time. And of course, it was so long ago. Maybe the timeline slightly warped in my own mind, but I think it was a combination of a number of things. As you mentioned, in the intro, you know, I came from my parents owned their own business. So that was one of the first things. So I was exposed to what it was like running a company, as opposed to working for one, all our did work, you know, in the public private sector for good 15 years, they owned a residential home, which was, you know, a home home for the elderly, in a small town in western Super Mare in the southwest of England. So that was the thing that kind of exposed me to, you know, customer care, generally, you know, coming from that environment. And then just the just access to technology. You know, when I first started in the tech industry, there was no Windows for Workgroups who were, you know, DOS based Unix based systems and, you know, the technology just just flooded over a period of five to 10 years. And I absolutely loved it, I just couldn't get enough of it. Myself and the other co founder, Russ, you know, we met very early in our careers, we would be in the office all weekend evenings, you know, just tampering and playing, and just working with the technology that we had access to, to just learn as much as we could. And then you know, what 2000 2005 was really, when kind of the SaaS or On Demand, as we call it started to take off, you know, online banking salesforce.com, you know, all these kind of web based products emerged, and we just saw an opportunity in a market, you know, we've been working in helpdesk environments in service and support for about 10 years, you know, in 10, different levels of the company, but there just wasn't access to any, you know, simple, easy to use software for service teams, it was, you know, as all BMC and, and, you know, these large HP, CA, you know, all these big enterprise systems. So we were, we were obviously building access databases and things like that to kind of help us with service and support and just an opportunity to build something using really modern technologies that we could deploy easily their economies of scale, because we're going to have everybody accessing the same source code, which again, was really unique at the time. So there was no, you know, sending out CDs to customers to do upgrades, we could just update one system, and everybody had access to the latest version, we're just so saw so many opportunities. So I think it's just a accumulation of all of those things that kind of came together, you know, in a very short period of time that that gave us a competence to make that leap.

Matt Wolach: 7:18

Wow, what a cool story. And I love I love hearing about companies that came out of that early SAS era. That's where my first SaaS company was back in the mid 2000s. And it was such a such a wild west of sass back then everybody's trying to figure out everything on their own trying to understand exactly how they can do this thing is, it's so cool to hear that you guys have made it this far, almost 20 years. That's that's really fantastic. But I know that there's there's been some things that have happened along the way. One thing I want to ask you about, can you share a little bit with our audience, the incredible resilience and adaptability required to steer a business when a trusted partner steps back? Tell us a little bit?

Greg Rich: 7:54

Yeah, sure. So yeah, you obviously referring to Russ, so Ross had to leave the business due to ill health back in 2017. We'd both made the move to the US by that point. So we're based outside Boston, Massachusetts. Now we weren't rustlers as well. And, you know, that was, is a difficult one, I suppose. Like most things, may, you know, you people react to situations in different ways. Russ, and I've been working together since we were like, 19 years old. So I mean, we've been together for a long time. You know, he's got parents by kids. And it's, you know, he's, you know, he's been a very close friend to me in the family for for such a long period of time. So it wasn't just about moose, losing your business partner, it was kind of losing a best friend at the same time, and we didn't go away, you know, he's still, fortunately really well and healthy, which is great. But obviously, stepping away from the business was a big challenge. I suppose first, it was challenging, because I had to take on his workload, you know, the things that he was doing for the business. And that was hard. I was fortunate that I had another trusted partner, my wife stepped in and actually helped alleviate some of that and take some of that responsibility on which we'll choose gray. And then the other, you know, was kind of, I realized, after a short period of time, I needed someone like Russ around me to help challenge me because Russ and I always came at the problem in completely different ways. And we often had different, you know, different ideas or different opinions about how we should solve it. And I think as a result of that people who used to observe us working together said that actually, they could see as being really beneficial in generating an outcome that was that was, you know, clearly better than if we did come at it on our own. So you know, that that was something I realized that I kind of needed I mean, I did have a few people in the business, our CFO, Andy is like that, you know, but we do see eye to eye more often than not, so I need people that are gonna challenge me. So, one of the things I did having spoken to a trusted advisor here in the Boston ecosystem was join Vistage, which is a CEO peer to peer networking group. So I get to meet with other CEOs once a month that's about 12. If the universe that meet for a day session, we have a CEO coach that kind of help mentor essence, you know, whose serial entrepreneur and has, you know, got a lot of advice. And that's a great place for me to go and talk about either problems or, you know, opportunities that may be in front of me and to be challenged. You know. And that was a real eye opener for me, I have to say, because, and I've talked about this before, I think, coming from the UK, to the US, one of the things I really love about the US business culture is just the sheer optimism and the drive and the energy that a lot of people put into their organizations. And people say the British are very reserved, and we are and you know, I certainly in the southwest of England, where I was living, I didn't really have that around me. People don't think like that they didn't talk like that. And actually working in a room with CEOs that you know, that all have that same passion and drive to be successful, actually, really championed me. And it really made me think about the opportunity that laid in front of me, and you know, what this company could be. So that was, it was a very difficult and don't get me wrong, this didn't happen here. And I probably spent maybe a year or two years going through this transition after Ross left, because it was very difficult mentally difficult to go through. But I was just fortunate, I have a lot of really good people around me that kind of, you know, I could lean on to help me through that process.

Matt Wolach: 11:18

That's so cool. Having those people there is absolutely critical. I've felt that in my career as well. And you guys are doing great stuff, helping people provide much better customer service to their clients and their customers. But can you tell us, what are some of the benefits that the great customer service can bring?

Greg Rich: 11:37

So really, we talk about customers, we've talked about customer experiences, kind of the overall or overarching thing that really drives, you know, business benefits and services support is one part of that, obviously, the other part of that is customer success. You know, we talk about customer service being the reactive side of the business, you know, people have problems, things happen. You know, there are there are problems that occur, or people have requests and, you know, you've service and support team are there to react to those incoming inquiries. And then the customer success team, more proactive, you know, they are managing the relationship with the customer, making sure the customers are getting the best value of your products and services and so on. And it's a combination of those two things to create the customer experience. So when we think about customer experience is really, you know, it's a, up until a few years ago, it was kind of considered maybe a cost center for a lot of organizations, but there's been a definite trend more lately, to see that to understand that customer service and customer experience actually has an impact on the bottom line, you know, it has the story is I suppose happy customers or loyal customers. And of course, that's an important from a retention perspective, when you're actually providing a service or product to a group of customers. You know, it has a big impact on the renewals. So there and we will, you know, everybody knows what the statistic is, you know, it's much easier to keep a customer than it is to get a new customer. So obviously, retention is a big thing for a lot of organizations. But of course, if it's done right, it builds efficacy as well with the customer base. And that actually drives revenue. You know, now you're talking about customers that, you know, they're going to, obviously, they're going to do case studies, testimonials, but they're also going to start filling your reviews on websites and be more publicly, you know, announcing what it is that your company does for them. And that has a big impact on how you can leverage that relationship with those customers to drive new business. So, you know, the actual experience that the customer has in dealing with you as an organization has now you know, like I said is a growth driver and organizations are starting to realize that

Intro/ Outro: 13:38

we'll be right back. Scale Your SaaS is supported by Torowave.

Matt Wolach: 13:46

Lots of software leaders I talked to are looking to scale their SaaS and I keep hearing over and over about one major struggle getting ghosted by buyers after the demo. How frustrating is it when you have a great demo? You're feeling good they like it, it seems like a done deal and then crickets nothing reach out they're not responding to you at all. And when these software companies they asked me to dive in, I noticed that the sellers are following up the wrong way or actually I should say with the wrong medium. What they're doing is they're hammering emails over and over again. I got a newsflash for you email effectiveness is dwindling down and down every year so why beat your head against the wall losing all kinds of business start texting mixing texts along with emails and calls and watch your conversion rates go up in fact conversion rates go up by about 50% When you use texting as part of the follow up people are used to it and did you know though response rate on text is 98% 98% So why throw emails into a black hole knowing that they're never gonna get returned text buyers and get results but don't use your own phone all kinds of security and compliance issues if you do also none of that data is with your company. That's not good. Instead use this system Torowave Torowave is designed lane for sales, it makes texting with buyers super simple and fast and it helps drive more deals, deals that you've been losing until now for being a listener, you get 50% off your first month of using Toro away 50% off, just go to Toro wave.com/scale It's t o r o wav.com/scale get signed up and start winning more deals like Tracy who closed $170,000 In three days after starting again, go to Torowave.com/scale Catch up and win by texting with poor wit. And we're back. Totally a growth driver, I love what you're saying about how the best customer service generates great raving fans of customers, they go out and tell others, they post reviews, they send referrals. It's amazing what it can do when you're actually taking great care of your of your customers. Flipping Out What are some of the mistakes that a lot of software companies are making regarding customer support?

Greg Rich: 16:03

I think where we see, when customers come to us, you know, we're kind of a mid market solution. So a lot of organizations have already got a solution in place, you know, an entry level solution, or maybe you know, homegrown solution. And the biggest challenge they're facing is like the data, you know, understanding the data, we're we're in it for practitioner. So you know, whilst we don't push ITIL on to all customers, we do believe that there are things within that framework and ITIL for people who don't know is like a service management or customer services management framework that talks about best practice when actually leads, you know, developing and deploying service and support solutions, not just in it or customer services, but any service solution HR facilities, financial, anybody who's providing a service can make use of some of the the things within the ITIL framework. And what that talks about is continued service improvement, you know, you can't just set a service desk up or helpdesk and say, right, we're done, like, let's just stop providing service and support to people. And as organizations scale. You know, if you think of small organization where it's two or three on a helpdesk, you know, they're, they're constantly receiving calls, and they're kind of listening and learning as they go. And they're starting to realize, well, we keep getting asked the same question password resets or whatever it might be, let's, let's think about a way that we can make that easier. And so we stopped getting those calls in, but as as the organization scale, and you've got 20 3040, people, you know, managing, you know, a large support team that stops you don't get that kind of, you know, access to that information. So it's really important to build a service management platform that allows you to categorize, capture record information in the right way. Be able to understand the activity that takes place and the interactions with those customers. Look at the solutions that come out at the end, and then go back and analyze that periodically to say, Well, where can we look for service improvements? How can we be more efficient, the way that we provide service? Can we take that time to resolution and reduce it down because there are too many touchpoints along the way thinking about customer journeys, for example, are we finding we are actually getting the same types of requesting for the team Hello information. And actually, we build a knowledge base article. Or if we actually go and fix something over here, that will go away. And you know, we also talked about customer service being very reactive, there is an opportunity to think about being proactive and thinking about, you know, how you can put solutions in place that, that allow you to solve those problems before they come become problems. And, and again, that has a big impact on customer experience. Because if they don't experience the problem, then they they remain happy. So it's, you know, so those are the challenges that I see most organizations is they don't have a system that allows them to capture the information in an appropriate way that they can probably properly analyze it, and then make service improvements based on the information they have.

Matt Wolach: 18:47

Yeah, I think that's fantastic. And when you can do that, and like you said, be proactive with your customer support. It's just amazing. What can happen. I've seen that happen in companies I've been in as well. Tell me, I want to understand, I mean, you guys have been doing this for quite a while now a lot of our audience are just getting started. So help me understand what your company's own start and growth. What were some of the best things you did along the way in the early days that helped your company get to where it is now.

Greg Rich: 19:15

So I think one of the things for Ross, when Russ and I started, I think one of the things that I would probably fall on the most is just understanding where our capabilities were, you know, where our strengths and weaknesses were. And understanding those weaknesses were very early on in the process. We were not salespeople, you know, we had some, you know, I'm quite a creative person. Russ is very analytical, like I said, we kind of things in very different ways, which which is a good thing. So, you know, things like, you know, on the marketing side, I was able to do things like build a website, you know, and do design work like that Russ was able to just like Delve into Google Analytics, you know, because he was so analytical. And you know, in the early days, that worked really well. So we were able to play to those sort of strengths even though it wasn't something we've done before. Sales on the other hand, didn't have a clue. You know, the thought of phoning a prospect or even somebody that filled a form on the website and actually making a phone call was just like daunting to us, even though we've worked in an environment where we're speaking to customers all the time, think the concept of selling was was just frightening. So, you know, we realized that very early on, and we obviously, we wanted to be engineers, and we wanted to develop software and solutions, and we couldn't do it all. So, you know, relying on channel partners in the very early days was was a way in which we, you know, addressed that issue, but I suppose for, for any organization, you know, depending on where you're where your skills lie, it's really just understanding where you know, where your weaknesses are, and then trying to work out how you can actually fill that void. I think the other big thing is like listening to customers as well. It's, it's so easy to think you know, what people want without really asking the question or asking the question, why, you know, sometimes we have customers coming to us even these days saying, well, we want to we want a feature to do this, or, you know, there's a gap over here, can we get a feature to do that? And is we have to challenge them and say, Well, what, what is the problem you're trying to solve? You know, let's forget about what it is that you want, you think it needs to do? What what are you trying to solve, and maybe we can come up with something that's actually better, you know, solution that not just is great for you, but great for everybody. And I think we did that really well. In the early days, as we started to grow the company, you know, we we had forms we had, you know, access to our customers, and we just continued to get information back in terms of product enhancements, improvements, and things that they were hoping to see in the product. So, and again, it all comes back to the cause of customer experience, we've always been a customer focused customer first organization and our customers, you know, have a seat at the table when it comes to product development and enhancements. And it's not because we're trying to just serve them, it's because they're solving the same problems that our prospects are having. So you know, as we work and build out our products to serve our customers better is helping us win more business as well. So I see it as a win win. But certainly getting feedback from customers in terms of what they see as the you know, the benefits of the products and and how we should be developing certain things is key.

Matt Wolach: 22:05

It's so funny, I ask this question a lot. And so many leaders who have been successful in growing their software company say you've got to be able to have conversation with your, with your customers, you've got to know what they care about what they think about what keeps them up at night. And I'm glad to hear you say that as well. It's just reiterating for everybody out there. You've got to have those conversations. It's, it's critical. And and Greg, as we wrap up, what tips would you give to software leaders out there who are kind of in their early days, and maybe they need to know how to grow? And they need to know how to provide great customer support? What would you share with them?

Greg Rich: 22:39

Yeah, I think for any, any, any leader that's building a SaaS company at the moment, I do think, you know, trusting, getting a trusted advisory board to sit around you to help challenge you, I think is key. And again, you may have people in your organization that can do that already. But if you don't, I think that's important. We've already talked about the importance of, you know, working with your customers to help build your product and your brand. I think that's really important too. But as, as, as it relates to service and support, as we've talked about, and obviously you've agreed with, I think, you know, that's a really important part in terms of how you think about retaining your customers and how you can, you know, I wouldn't say leverage the relationship, you know, because we call a co creation of value, you know, we, we hope to be somewhere in the middle where they're getting something and work from us, and we're getting something from them. And if there's, if that's advocacy, and you know, then talking to other customers and helping us, you know, write case studies and win business, then, you know, that's a really important factor in terms of scaling, a SAS organization. So, you know, think, think of your customer as a growth engine, think of how they can help your business and how you can help them. It shouldn't be a fire and forget mentality where you sell them something or they buy something, and then you move on to the next customer. Think about how you can manage that relationship, so that you both get something from it.

Matt Wolach: 23:56

Brilliant, love it very well said. And I think it's some really important stuff that I hope people took to heart. It's great. This has been awesome. How can our audience learn more about you and vantaggio. So you can check us out of adventure.com. That's vi VI, an to deliver an odd name, but just so that's clear, obviously, obviously, LinkedIn as well, we can find this on LinkedIn. If you send an email to info@prevention.com that will land in my inbox. So again, happy to reach out to anybody that that wants to talk to me directly. Okay, perfect. We'll put all that into the show notes. If you're listening, you'll be able to grab it all there. But, Greg, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing all this. Thank you.

Greg Rich: 24:33

Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Thanks, Matt.As well appreciate it.

Matt Wolach: 24:37

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks to everybody out there. Thanks for listening. Thanks for coming. Make sure you're subscribed to the show so you don't miss any other amazing leaders like Greg coming up in the next few weeks. And then we will see you next time. Take care. Bye bye.

Intro/ Outro: 24:53

Thanks for listening to Scale Your SaaS for more help on finding great leads and closing more deals. Go to Mattwolach.com