• Weaponized Incompetence: How Customers Get You to Do Their Work for Them (And How to Stop it)

  • May 8 2024
  • Length: 31 mins
  • Podcast
Weaponized Incompetence: How Customers Get You to Do Their Work for Them (And How to Stop it) cover art

Weaponized Incompetence: How Customers Get You to Do Their Work for Them (And How to Stop it)

  • Summary

  • Check out our upcoming Customer Success courses at Impact Academy here:
    https://www.impactdemy.com/collections

    ON TODAY'S EPISODE:
    In this week’s episode of Impact Weekly, Johan and Lincoln tackle a common yet under-discussed challenge in customer success: customers who, despite training, claim they "can't" perform tasks, thereby transferring their workload back to their CSMs. Discover insightful strategies for empowering customers and breaking this cycle of "weaponized incompetence".

    THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:
    "I have this customer, even though they've gone through training and I've shown them what to do, they just 'can't' do it and I end up doing it for them. How do I fix this?"

    TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:

    • Recognizing and addressing 'weaponized incompetence' in customer behavior.
    • The importance of assertive communication and setting clear boundaries.
    • Strategic options to transition workload back to the customer, fostering independence.

    QUOTES:
    Johan Nilsson (00:07:12): "Sometimes when this happens, it could be that they're actually fearing to fail. So if they keep asking you, if they can't do it themselves, can't with quotations on there, you basically move it to the CSM to do the things."

    Lincoln Murphy (00:19:28): "If you're doing the work for them, you're taking on that responsibility, what's their responsibility anymore? There's nothing. And now they can just fully blame us, which goes back to what you were saying earlier about fear of failure."

    Johan Nilsson (00:21:44): "It's about giving them options to say, basically, I cannot do the work, but I can show you how to do it. So share your screen, I can walk you through it and then you're on your own."

    Lincoln Murphy (00:26:18): "We have let them behave badly and get in their own way. And so now we have to fix that. How do we do that? This is where we have to have open communication."

    Johan Nilsson (00:29:44): "It is a lot about positioning. You need to get the position right. So you're not just seen as a problem solver or the assistant here. We need to be seen as a strategic partner, and we need to get joint accountability working."

    Do you want more of this? Check out Impact Academy for interactive Customer Success training programs. https://www.impactdemy.com/

    Do you have a question you want us to answer? Submit it
    here.

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