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At the beginning of a startup’s journey, clients are usually onboarded based on an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)—a valuable framework that often remains ideal only on paper.
In every business, there are right-fit and wrong-fit customers. The temptation to sell to anyone willing to buy is huge, especially in the early stages, regardless of how realistic their expectations are versus what you can actually deliver. But long-term success comes from choosing clients who truly fit your product and your team.
Beyond the usual demographics and use cases, a right-fit client is someone who:
A wrong-fit client, on the other hand, means effort without outcome — wasted time, frustration, team burnout, and often, no meaningful feedback.
Customer Success brings structure and clarity to client relationships.
A solid CS function maps the stakeholders within a client’s organization — decision-makers, champions, users, power users, and end-users. Through regular, intentional conversations, your CS team can build a customer profile correlated with customer sentiment — what we often call a persona.
This persona guides how you communicate, set expectations, and build strategy. Even spontaneity in CS is strategic — it’s customized, not forced.
A mature CS approach also tracks key metrics, such as Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), which are often overlooked but critical for identifying which clients truly drive sustainable growth.
These must be identified early. It’s difficult — though not impossible — to turn a detractor into a champion; it usually requires a significant “win” or a strong personal connection with someone on your team.
Through consistent client interaction, your CS team can surface real needs, unspoken pain points, and root causes before they escalate. They can also detect behavioral patterns — such as needy, demanding, or aggressive clients — and communicate insights internally so other teams can adjust strategy.
This insight-driven process helps your company decide which clients to continue investing in, and which partnerships may no longer make sense.
Some clients require disproportionate effort that will never lead to meaningful outcomes or alignment. Every duplicated effort in the wrong direction means neglecting the right clients—and increasing the risk of unwanted churn.
Not all churn is bad. There’s such a thing as “non-regretted churn” — clients with whom you no longer resonate, who are determined to misunderstand your value, and who ultimately hurt your business more than they help it.
Letting go of these clients frees up space for partnerships that scale and sustain mutual success.
Without a dedicated CS function, identifying these client types takes far longer, and the adverse effects can linger.
That’s why it’s worth investing early — even if it starts with just one dedicated Customer Success professional — to build procedures for client identification, segmentation, and long-term relationship health.
Customer Success is not just about keeping clients happy — it’s about understanding who your real clients are, nurturing the right ones, and gracefully letting go of the rest.
The right clients will grow with you. The wrong ones will hold you back. Like our grandmas used to say: ”choose wisely” :)
Cu 18 ani de experiență în roluri customer-facing, atât în corporații, cât și în start-up-uri, sunt pasionată de strategie de business, comunicare, psihologie, scris și citit, și de a împărtăși cu ceilalți ceea ce a trezit emoție în mine, în speranța că voi putea fi și eu, la rândul meu, un deschizător de drumuri sau o sursă de inspirație, așa cum și alții au fost pentru mine.
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