When have you seen force or friction impact a company’s ability to grow?

[mbarba]

Revenue Operations, or RevOps, is integral to taking an inbound approach to business and speeding up your company’s flywheel.

Why are those important? Let’s define terms first:

• Inbound is a method of attracting, engaging, and delighting people to grow a business that provides value and builds trust.
• The flywheel is a model adapted by HubSpot to explain the momentum you gain when you align your entire organization around delivering a remarkable customer experience. Rather than thinking of your business as a funnel, with leads coming in at the top and customers coming out at the bottom, think about your business as a circle — as a flywheel.

When thinking about how to spin your company’s flywheel faster with RevOps, there are two important concepts to keep in mind:

1. Force is what allows your business to scale by spinning your flywheel faster and faster. This looks like when your customer has a great customer experience and tells their friends and colleagues about it.
2. Friction is what grinds your business to a halt, if not addressed. This is when your company provides your customers with a bad customer experience, and they also tell their friends and colleagues about it. In turn, this slows down your flywheel.

Here’s what I’d love to hear:

1. Share a time when you had an amazing customer experience and you saw a company grow faster and faster because of their wonderful customer care.
2. Share a time when you had a poor customer experience (please don’t name names or organizations) and how you saw that type of poor care affect their business.

[Atush_Sharma]

In my role as a Visa Filing Manager, I’ve seen firsthand how a positive customer experience creates momentum. For example, when we managed a client’s application with clear communication, accurate documentation, and timely updates, the client felt supported and stress-free. They later referred several of their friends and colleagues to us. That’s a direct example of force—a delighted customer becomes a promoter, which accelerates the business flywheel.

On the other hand, I’ve also seen how friction can slow everything down. There was a case where a client came to us after dealing with another provider who gave inconsistent information and delayed responses. Their frustration didn’t just stop them from continuing with that provider—it also spread to others in their circle, leading to negative word-of-mouth. That shows how friction in customer experience can grind the flywheel to a halt.

For me, these examples reinforce why RevOps is so important—it’s about aligning processes, data, and teams so every client gets a smooth and consistent experience that builds trust and fuels growth.

[MaciekG]

1. Returning product is a pain. This company often just tells you to keep the product. 

2. When calling customer service and they put you on hold without the option to have a call-back. 

[AStieglitz]

For me, one of the best customer experiences I’ve had was with a small outdoor gear company. I had an issue with sizing, and not only did they handle the exchange quickly, but they also followed up to make sure everything worked out. That kind of care made me recommend them to friends, and now I see their brand popping up everywhere. It felt like my positive experience turned me into part of their marketing engine.

On the flip side, I once dealt with a subscription service where billing issues kept happening and support was hard to reach. Each interaction left me more frustrated, and eventually, I canceled. I wasn’t the only one — I saw people sharing the same complaints online, which clearly slowed down their growth. It was a good reminder of how friction in the customer experience can spiral outward.

[SCorcoran5]

An example of force would be having channel teams focus on improving the conversion rates for pre-pipeline to pipeline activity and the mean time from sale to implementation/activation- this leads to topline revenue growth and post sale support cost reduction. Not focusing on these metrics/behaviors in a partner-led model results in poor customer experience/shelfware. 

[MP49]

I’ve seen how force and friction play out in real life. A great example of force was a SaaS company I worked with that followed up every support ticket with a personalized resource. Customers felt cared for and referrals spiked, which kept their flywheel spinning faster. On the flip side, I once dealt with a product where billing issues dragged on for weeks. That poor experience spread through user forums and slowed their growth — a clear case of friction grinding momentum down.

[PG0701]

Share a time when you had an amazing customer experience and you saw a company grow faster and faster because of their wonderful customer care.
One of the most striking examples I’ve experienced was with a direct-to-consumer fitness brand. I had an issue with an order, and instead of routing me through endless forms and wait times, the company’s support team solved the problem within minutes, refunded the shipping cost without me asking, and followed up later to make sure I was satisfied. That effortless resolution turned what could have been a frustrating touchpoint into a moment of trust. I noticed how quickly their customer base expanded over the next year—not just through paid campaigns, but because loyal customers like me became advocates. That is the flywheel in action: exceptional customer care creating force, generating organic referrals, and reducing the acquisition cost of new customers.

Share a time when you had a poor customer experience and how you saw that type of poor care affect their business.

I once worked with a retail brand where the post-purchase experience was completely misaligned with the promise made during sales. Delays in delivery, unresponsive support, and lack of transparency left customers frustrated. Instead of amplifying growth, the customer base started voicing dissatisfaction publicly—negative reviews and word of mouth created friction that slowed their growth noticeably. What struck me was how avoidable it was: the product itself had demand, but the absence of a seamless operations and customer experience loop directly eroded revenue momentum. It was a textbook example of how friction doesn’t just stall a flywheel—it actively reverses it.

[SFrancoh]

1. My experience was through a call to purchase emergency flights. The agent understood the urgency and was actively looking for quick solutions via email, text messages, anything that could help. The guidance was reassuring at a time when I didn’t even have the presence of mind to remember my own ID.
2. With my previous internet provider, I had a contract dating back to 2012, but at some point the connection began failing constantly. Requesting support over the phone was impossible, the call would always drop right when I was about to schedule an appointment. The automated bot never offered any real support options, and at the offices, despite having a considerable number of agents, they simply couldn’t keep up. I scheduled a support visit, waited a full month, and no one ever showed up. I canceled the service, and a month after the cancellation, they called me to say I still had a support appointment scheduled.

[CNMLusitana]

1. When I first started using a scheduling link years ago, I thought that the experience was very smooth. Several people who booked time with me commented on how they really liked the process of booking a meeting with me. I ended up assisting them with setting up their own accounts!
Not sure what impact it's having, but I often make referrals to platforms that provide excellent customer service. 
2. I recall being in a long, slow-moving line for customer support at a mobile carrier store. Yet, every person who walked into the store to buy services or a phone was immediately attended by one of the many sales reps just standing around. I changed carriers and never looked back.

[OB5]

I live in a country which often had bad ideas of customer service. The introduction of Amazon and its ideas had a massive effect on the base benchmark of what was a reasonable level of service.

[chighsmith]

Hi @OB5,

That’s a great example! Amazon definitely raised the bar for customer service expectations worldwide, showing how removing friction and focusing on the customer can drive growth and push entire industries to improve.

Cassie, Community Manager

[DMay2]

The ones that stood out to me were when i was the customer. 

One of the best: My car dealer took the time to understand an issue I was having and why it was important to get it addressed. When it was time to check out, the rep went over my issue and how they fixed it and took the time to check out other things that could go wrong during my trip and address those as well. Explaining why they did the extra services (which i gladly paid for)

One of the worst was my internet (former) provider: I called with an need for more speed (who doesnt have that) 30 minutes on hold (with "sales" messages laying every 60 seconds), a live person who needed to connect me elsewhere (without questions to determine the issue) and a disconnected line, I switched. 

[JJaramilloP]

.-

[AAR10]

A memorable amazing customer experience I had was with a company that prioritized personalized support and quick resolutions. Their attentive care made me feel valued as a customer, and I noticed their business growing rapidly through positive word of mouth and strong customer loyalty. It was clear that their excellent customer service was driving faster growth and deeper trust.

On the other hand, I once experienced poor customer care where inquiries were ignored and problems took weeks to resolve. I saw that this led to frustrated customers, negative reviews, and ultimately a decline in repeat business. This lack of care visibly slowed their growth and damaged their reputation over time.

[SBooker4]

The best example to use for having an amazing experience is always, Chick fil a. They've gotten customer service down to the verbiage and what works for them is not only "my pleasure" it uniformity, they pay their team well, food quality is great and service is fast and accurate. 

Now, where I've seen friction impact a company is when a former company refuse to invet in much needed technology due to security fears. Therefore, ths made services much harder to keep for out of town customers, customer's that satyed out of walking distance and disabled customers. 

[MMehrotra]

Friction:Insuretech company signed up customers on revised product using invoice that had old T&C printed on it. When claims were logged for damaged mobile phones they rejected the claim saying that this condition was not covered under the insurance terms.  

Force: I bought laptop from e-coomerce and platform had tied up with insurance company to provide extended warranty on the laptop. I logged the complain during pandemic and technician visited the home, identified the fault and within a week came with mother board to replace it for free.

[NAlphonsus]

Sometime ago, we began working with a new technical vendor supplying flow control systems. From the initial engagement, their team was deeply proactive — they not only responded quickly but often anticipated our needs. For example, before we placed our second order, they had already prepared the critical spares ahead for shipping based on our operating conditions and previous specs.

Beyond speed, they offered transparency — live tracking, dedicated technical support, and post-installation check-ins. Their attitude made our project teams’ work easier and reduced downtime on critical assets.

What I observed: Our end client was pleased at the smooth and timely delivery. The end user did not only decide to sign a 2-year running contract with our company in partnership with this vendor., but they also registered this partnership as the approved vendor for this supply.  That kind of relationship-focused service becomes a real growth engine in industries where trust and reliability matter.

On the flip side, we once engaged a logistics partner to handle the shipment of our field materials. Unfortunately, there were repeated delays, limited communication, and a clear lack of accountability. — costing us both time and credibility with our own client.

I later heard from peers in the industry that several companies had reduced or completely stopped using them for similar reasons. What should have been a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship ended prematurely — not because they lacked capacity, but because their service quality and responsiveness were poor.

The outcome: They lost major accounts to smaller but more reliable competitors. In service industries, especially in engineering and logistics, one bad experience can echo loudly and hurt brand reputation — even more than pricing or technical specs.

[DSmith939]

It has happened when telephone and IT systems have not been able to cope with demand and enquiry.. customers have been lost. improving the system helped to connect with them better and then been able to evaluate what we had missed. Offering waiting lists for courses to run as soon as there were adequate numbers helped us re-engge those customers and data helped us to decide  how many new trainers we needed helped us 

[SunayanaTandon]

Hello! 

Thank you for this forum!

1. I used to shop a lot, especially skincare/makeup online. SC has given me an amazing customer experience by offering gifts (unasked 😊 ) on every purchase through online shopping, timely response from the customer service agent, discounts etc. Today, it is great to see they have multiple stores in my hometown/around- a perfect example how reducing friction and working on force helps you scale and grow faster.

2. Tour Operators have been a big disappointment for me. Poor customer service often results in grumpy fellow travellers. Seems like everyone is unhappy with the kind of service they are offering. Marketing excessively might be an impact as well. 

Have a good day,

Sunayana Tandon 

[vijayKumar114]

I’ve seen firsthand how friction inside a company can really slow growth. When teams work in silos and don’t share information consistently, important opportunities slip through the cracks. For example, if sales isn’t aligned with marketing or customer success isn’t updated on client needs, customers get mixed messages or slow responses. This disconnect causes potential leads to drop out and existing customers to feel neglected, limiting growth. It’s not just communication—outdated systems and complex processes make approvals slow, decisions delayed, and adapting to market changes difficult. Bottlenecks like too many sign-offs or unclear workflows waste energy, frustrate teams, and kill momentum. When quick action is needed during market shifts or demand surges, any friction in communication or process becomes a major roadblock. If teams are tangled in red tape or unsure who to turn to, the company misses key growth opportunities. The smoother the collaboration and the more streamlined the processes, the easier it is for an organization to scale and succeed.

[Georrick]

"I've seen friction—especially between departments—stall growth in otherwise promising companies. One clear example is when sales, marketing, and operations each use separate tools and metrics. Instead of collaborating toward a shared revenue goal, they default to blame-shifting, duplicated work, and data silos.

The result? Slower deal cycles, inconsistent customer experiences, and missed growth opportunities.

What makes this more dangerous is that leadership often misdiagnoses it as a talent issue—when it's really a systems issue. Growth doesn’t collapse overnight, but it erodes quietly due to internal drag.

That’s why I believe in building revenue engines that are unified, measurable, and frictionless—so the business scales cleanly and intentionally."

[SamanthaES]

Amazing Customer Experience: 
I purchased from one small company in the floral industry who made an effort to engage with the local community, took the time to learn about their customers, leveraged their social media consistently to keep customers informed of new availability and held pop ups each weekend and on major holidays making going to their shop easy, reduced any barriers to access the product, and increase demand during days and times other vendors would normally be shut down. This drove so many individuals over time to purchase from this vendor that they eventually began collaborating with other vendors and scaling weekly or holiday pop ups, and eventually go to a point where everyone was so interested in their products and services that they had to completely change how they operated to keep up with the demand and have become incredibly profitable and succesful since! 

Poor Customer Experience

On the other side of things, I worked with one small company in the fitness industry who started out being very consistent with their product, service level and support, and they were highly customer centric. They then shifed their services completely virtual, but did not invest in the proper tools to scale it or support it in this new format. This resulted in customers unable to access the products or services, having consistent log in issues or complete inability to access their online material, and the seller becoming unreliable and detached to their customers. The business dwindled and eventually shut down because of lack of investment (force) and negative friction that impacted customer experience.