Shows
The Daily ProductTheySaid, Mimrr, Vibeo, & More...In this episode of 'The Daily Product', Michael introduces five outstanding products making strides in the tech world. AI-driven survey tool TheySaid, which reshapes the traditional survey experience through conversational interactions to acquire more in-depth feedback, is discussed. Mimrr, a product aimed at alleviating technical debt via automated code documentation, semantic code chat features, and proactive bug fix suggestions, is reviewed. The potential of Vibeo for automating video testimonial collection and editing process for businesses is discussed. Kypso for Code Reviews promises to simplify the code review process using AI, suggesting instant bug fixes and quality solutions. Finally, CommandDash, an...2024-08-2612 min
SaaS StoriesThe Power of Customer-Led Growth in SaaS | The Journey of TheySaidWelcome to another episode of "SaaS Stories" where we delve into the transformative power of customer-led growth within the SaaS industry. Lihong Hicken, co-founder and CEO of TheySaid, has championed this innovative approach all the way from Salt Lake City. Tune in as Lihong shares her journey from the early days of pioneering SaaS startups to mastering the art of leveraging customer insights to drive substantial revenue growth. Key Takeaways:Pioneering Customer Insight: Lihong discusses the evolution of TheySaid as a tool designed to harness customer insights to foster revenue growth, emphasizing...2024-05-0636 min
The Search For Growth#22 Lihong Hicken, CEO of TheySaid | 4x successful exits - acquisitions and an IPO | Her impressive work ethic | Building the Wild Dog sales teamToday, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to Lihong Hicken, the CEO of TheySaid, and a seasoned startup veteran.
Lihong was raised in a remote village in China, and learned five languages before immigrating to the US where she then rocketed into a successful career in tech.
Starting out as an individual contributor selling high school parents' education packages, Lihong quickly moved up the ladder and became one of User Testings' first female employees and later became CRO at GitPrime where she grew revenues 300-400% YoY.
GitPrime’s co-founder, Ben Thompson, re...2023-04-0157 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessUse VOC Feedback to Figure Out Workarounds That DON’T Include New FeaturesBefore Meta acquired Kustomer in 2022, Chad Horenfeldt, Kustomer’s then Director of Customer Success, saw the need for a revamp of the company’s Voice of Customer program and practices. He went on to design a comprehensive VOC program focusing on three objectives: Capture, Analyze, and Act. In this episode, Chad covers the highly effective VOC survey he helped implement, how to get executive team buy-in for a VOC program, and why it’s important to use VOC data to craft workarounds that don’t always include building new features.2022-08-0230 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessYou're Doing VOC, but Is It Working?Today on the Nuffsaid podcast we spoke with Sandy Yu, the Global Lead of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Advisory Boards, about how a Voice of Customer program can provide real value to an organization and prove its effectiveness to the executive team. If you’re unsure of whether or not your VOC program is working, this is a must-listen episode.2022-07-2128 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow to Flex Your Voice of Customer Muscle With Slack VOC ExpertHaving worked for the last four years in Voice of Customer at large companies (first Lyft and now Slack), it’s safe to say Kevin Vielbaum is a master of his craft. In this Nuffsaid podcast episode, Kevin digs into several interesting topics including how he measures the success of a VOC program.2022-07-1229 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessBuild the Product Your Customers Want Using VOC DataWith a background in Marketing & Growth at companies like Hubs, Recruitee, and Growth Tribe Academy, Ferdinand Goetzen, now CEO & Co-founder at Reveall, has a natural orientation to use Voice of Customer data to make product decisions. That’s why in this episode of the Nuffsaid podcast, he explains his philosophy on how to build the best product possible.2022-06-2828 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessThe Meeting That Every VOC Program Is MissingBeyond being the most entertaining guest we’ve had on the show, Jeanne Hopkins, CRO at OneScreen.ai & former CMO at Lola.com, convinced us that the Voice of Customer sync she designed is the most impactful meeting a leader can schedule.2022-06-1439 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessBox’s Jeff Justice Williams on Building a VOC Program at ScaleJeff Justice Williams is the Sr. Executive Director of Enterprise Customer Success at Box and has led CS teams at companies like Stack Overflow, WeWork, and Dropbox. In this conversation, Jeff highlights how a Voice of Customer program should operate at scale.2022-06-0633 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessActually Closing the Loop With Customers in a VOC ProgramHaving played critical roles on Voice of Customer teams at companies like VMware, Red Hat, and Citrix, Nick Woerner, current Director of CX at Mineral, joins the Nuffsaid podcast to share wisdom on what it actually takes to close the loop with customers within a VOC program.2022-05-1629 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessThe Advanced Voice of Customer Program BlueprintHere’s VP of Customer Success at ESG, Peter Armaly, to kick off our new podcast series on Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs. Coming from a background with extensive Customer Success experience including having spent more than 5 years as a CS executive at Oracle, Peter shares how an advanced VOC program is run.2022-05-0636 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessDigital CS at Mega-Scale: VMware’s ApproachVMware’s Meenu Agarwal runs one of the largest books of business in the world. As SVP of Customer Success at a company with a revenue of over $12B, more than 2,000 Customer Success team members around the globe, and 500,000 customers, Meenu understands what digital Customer Success should look like at mega-scale. In this episode, Meenu breaks down their 2022 goal of scaling Customer Success through innovative digital programs like VMware Customer Connect, Success 360™, and training channel partners.2022-03-1025 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessA Quick-Start Guide to Data-Driven Digital CSDan Ennis, the Manager of the US Scale Customer Success team at Monday.com, came on the Nuffsaid podcast this week to share how his team uses data in a highly sophisticated way to drive an effective Digitally-Led CS program. In this episode, Dan touches on everything from how to look beyond product usage data and into more useful trending data, what to avoid when building out a scaled model, how his team uses customer patterns to detect churn risk and expansion opportunities, and the avenues Monday.com’s Scaled function uses to collect and act upon Voice of Customer da...2022-02-2430 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessThe 5 Stages of Digital Customer Success MaturityIn this episode, Marley Wagner, VP of Marketing & Digital Customer Success at ESG, shares her company’s sophisticated Digital Customer Success maturity framework. Marley walks us through each stage of Digital CS maturity and covers everything from what it takes to lay the right foundations to implementing advanced digital communication channels.2022-02-1626 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessTips for Launching a Digital CS Strategy, with Elisabeth CourlandFor Elisabeth Courland, Digital CSM at Agorapulse, launching a Digitally-Led Customer Success program is about starting with a solid foundation of understanding the customer, then deploying automation. In this episode, Elisabeth shares a trove of tips that anyone tasked with crafting a digital CS strategy will be able to quickly implement.2022-02-1025 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessThe Future of Digital CS? Just Take a Look at Brian LaFaille’s ProgramEight years ago, Brian LaFaille stepped on as Looker’s first Customer Success hire. Since then he’s seen Looker through a $2.6B acquisition by Google and was a crucial member of a team that was tasked with servicing customers at a massive scale. In this episode, Brian walks us through the journey Looker took to learn how to effectively run a digitally-led CS motion that would benefit all segments and customers — from Enterprise to SMB.2022-02-0328 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessFor Gainsight’s Lane Holt, Digital CS Is a Strategy, Not a SegmentAt the beginning of 2021, Lane Holt, Director of Client Outcomes at Gainsight, was a team of 1 and tasked with building out the company’s digitally-led CS model. Fast forward 12 months and you’ll see that she’s developed a mighty team of 8 to architect a hugely successful digital program. In this episode, Lane breaks down the roles and responsibilities of her team, how to detect risk and expansion opportunities in a digital model, and most importantly, why she believes that digital CS is not a segment—but a strategy that can benefit all customers.2021-12-2023 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessUse High-Touch Strategies to Inform Your Digitally-Led ModelAccording to Dickey Singh (CEO & Cofounder of Cast.app), most Digital CS approaches including low- and tech-touch models today aren’t effective. That's why this week he shares how Customer Success teams can take a working high-touch model to inform their digitally-led CS practices.2021-12-1016 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessGitLab’s Jeff Beaumont on How CS Ops Drives Net RetentionGitLab’s Director of Customer Success Operations, Jeff Beaumont, breaks down how CS Ops can be key to increasing Net Retention.2021-12-0230 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessWhy Customer Onboarding Should Never Really EndHead of Customer Experience at Arrows, Shareil Nariman, knows more about customer onboarding than just about anyone we’ve ever spoken with. In this episode, Shareil explains how to implement continuous onboarding at your company, use your high-touch experience to inform your low-touch onboarding, and measure your onboarding program’s success.2021-11-1120 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessSigns Your CS Team Is Operating Like a Cost Center, Not a Profit CenterOn today’s show, Beth Yehaskel, a Customer Success Architect at Winning by Design, preps us for end-of-year CFO budgeting and headcount conversations by sharing the difference between a CS org that’s run as a profit center versus a cost center.2021-11-0418 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow to Break Into CS Ops With Gainsight’s Seth WylieIn this episode, Seth Wylie, Director of CS Ops & Admin Community at Gainsight (who has one of the most thoughtful perspectives on CS Ops in the space) offers up some paths for breaking into CS Ops and the skillsets that are most useful in the role.2021-10-2730 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow CS Ops Works at LinkedInDuring this episode, Zeina Marcotte describes how LinkedIn's CS Ops team is set up, why her team reports to the centralized global Ops function, and how this structure can actually be a benefit to the Customer Success team.2021-10-1424 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessWhy CS Has the Best Opportunity to Hire, Retain, and Promote More Black LeadersThis week we break down the opportunity Customer Success has to take action to hire, retain, and promote more Black leaders.2021-10-0709 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessThe Core Themes of Customer-Led GrowthToday on the ‘nuffsaid podcast we spoke with Dave Jackson, CEO of TheCustomer.Co about his new book, "Customer-Led Growth: A CEO’s Guide to Building a B2B SaaS Company".2021-09-3023 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessScaling? Here’s How to Get Ahead of a Declining Customer ExperienceThe customer experience tends to decline as a company grows—but what can Customer Success teams do about it? In this episode, Natalie Fedie, VP of Customer Value at HighRadius, answers this question: she says too many teams look at customer health data too late. Natalie suggests analyzing customer health predictively with three specific steps.2021-09-2316 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessTwo Tactics to Level-Up Your VOC Program“I’m not talking about fluffy quotes. You need to capture the literal voice of your customers.” Dana Alvarenga, VP of Customer Experience at SlapFive, offers two tactics to level-up your Voice of Customer Program.2021-09-1619 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessEngineering Customer-Value-Led GrowthMarkus Rentsch, CEO of Remark-able, joined us to define his philosophy on Customer-Value-Led Growth (CVLG).2021-09-0923 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer Success3 Great Things That Happen When CS Owns Sales EngineeringCustomer Success leader, Daniel Rose, thinks Sales Engineering should live within CS; “Sales Engineering won’t allow deals to slip through because of a short-sighted approach.” In this episode, Daniel shares the main benefits of Customer Success owning Sales Engineering: more control over time to value, better use cases, and Net Retention Rate.2021-09-0317 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow to Get Budget For a CX InitiativeChief Experience Officer, Craig Antonucci, came on the show to share how to justify a CX program with your CFO. He said “it’s simple”—the conversation should be led with data and focus on three areas: how the CX initiative will sell more, save money, and fit the company’s mission.2021-08-2621 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessAsana’s Kalina Bryant on Why a Culture of Connection and Empathy is Key to Successful Customer Advocacy in a Hybrid WorldKalina Bryant has a rich background in customer advocacy, engagement, and voice of customer programs. Now Asana’s Head of Global Customer Advocacy, Customer Experience, and Executive Programs (and Founder & Host of the UnapologeTECH podcast), Kalina spoke with us about how CS and Customer Advocacy should work together.2021-08-1917 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer Success3 Tactics for Accelerating Your Career From Gainsight’s CCOWhen you grow from CSM to CCO in 4 years, people will want to know how you did it. On the 'nuffsaid podcast, Kellie Capote recalls 3 distinct tactics that helped her scale at hyper-speed at Gainsight.2021-08-1220 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow to Use Health Scores and Usage Data to Increase Customer RetentionIn the last quarter of the year 2020, CSM Practice conducted a study to assess the validity of common industry assumptions about customer health scores. In this episode, Irit Eizips shares some surprising trends that came out of that research, along with advice on how to properly implement insights pulled from usage data. For low touch engagement models, she makes the case for having two health scores, using two separate teams:
1) Proactive / CSM Team - to measure and increase the value your customers get from your products and services.
2) Reactive / Retention Team - to evaluate various risk triggers that might cause...2021-08-0523 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow to Measure VOC at the Speed of RelevanceSalesforce’s VP of Customer & Market Insights, Karen Mangia, reveals the secrets every CS leader needs to know to encourage engagement, invite innovation, and remain relevant. Karen shares details about the metrics that matter, how to move from intention to action, and what success means to your customers right now. If you're willing to listen.2021-07-2925 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessA Hiring Philosophy From Klue’s VP of CSAdam Houghton, VP of Customer Success at Klue, dives into the sophisticated hiring process he's implemented across four different companies. It’s a four step model: 1) Hire proven anchors to serve on your leadership team, 2) build around those anchors with unproven high potential people that challenge the status quo, 3) provide a transparent career path for your teams, and 4) build an environment where people “earn the right” to be promoted.2021-07-2220 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCCOs Need These Skills to Become COORumor has it “the CCO is the new COO.” Matt Zelen, UserTesting’s COO (formerly CCO), came on the show to explain what it takes to make that career transition.2021-07-1524 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow CS Teams Can Help Support Orgs Be More ProactiveNick Chang, Global Head of Customer Success at HPE GreenLake, joined us on the ‘nuffsaid podcast to discuss the separation of responsibilities between Customer Success and Support within enterprise organizations. In this episode, Nick argues against the long-standing belief that Support teams should only be reactive and shares his take on why the future may include CS and Support merging into one function.2021-07-0819 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow Salesforce Monetizes Customer SuccessSalesforce’s Brett Matthews breaks down how they monetize CS (hint: it’s not “monetizing CSMs”). They have tiers of offerings that include higher levels of support, services, and, interestingly, access to subject matter experts under their “expert coaching” program. Everything’s tailored around helping customers be more successful. It’s an excellent example of what monetizing CS can look like at scale.2021-07-0112 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessThe New School System of Customer SegmentationDavid Kocher, VP of Customer Success at Medidata Solutions, shares the segmentation and coverage models he developed so his team can focus on the right customers in the right way. His formula helps prioritize customers using two matrices: ARR mapped against health score and adoption vs. maturity.2021-06-2417 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessDefining the Ideal Customer Profile: The CS Leader’s GuideRupal Nishar, AVP of Customer Success at Netomi, shares how Customer Success should work cross-functionally to influence the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and how doing so ensures long-term customer engagement and company growth.2021-06-1720 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow Outreach Reduces TTV With Customer EducationDave Derington, Customer Education leader at Outreach, gives us an inside look at how Outreach’s Customer Education program works.2021-06-1119 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow We Drive Advocacy Through Customer MarketingNiclas Ramon Staberg, CCO at Hive Streaming, joined the ‘nuffsaid podcast to make the case for having Customer Marketing live within the broader Customer team. He also offers an idea: try sharing customer stories internally to foster a customer-centric culture.2021-06-0317 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessStep 1 of Growing Your Executive InfluenceJeff Heckler, Global Head of Customer Success at Pipedrive, breaks down the actions CS leaders can take to increase their prominence on the executive team.2021-05-2708 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessWhy CCOs of the Future May Have a Background in ProductIn episode 2 of 2 with Stacie Ward, VP of Customer Success, Stacie shares a prediction: the best CCOs of the future will have backgrounds in Product and CS.2021-05-1306 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessMoving From a Career in Sales to CS? Listen to This VP’s AdviceSeven years ago, Stacie Ward made the switch from being a Sales manager to a VP of Customer Success. Today she joined ‘wellsaid to explain why she made this move and the specific skills she knows a Sales manager needs to successfully transition into a CS role.2021-05-1304 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessIf Your Risk Assessment Doesn’t Look at Personas Within Accounts, It’s Not AccurateIn our final episode with Asaff Zamir, Asaff explains his approach to risk assessment by treating customer accounts as a subjective ecosystem. To do an accurate assessment of account health, he advocates for looking at each persona within an account and analyzing each person's perspective, experience, relationship strength, and personality.2021-05-0606 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer Success6 Ingredients CSMs Need to Mix Into Every Customer RelationshipIn episode 2 of 3 with Asaff Zamir, VP of Customer Success at Siemplify, Asaff shares how to coach CSMs on how to nurture positive emotional experiences with their customers using six key elements: personalization, integrity, (setting) expectations, empathy, time to value, and responsibility.2021-05-0603 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessWhy CSMs Must Act Like PsychologistsAsaff Zamir, VP of Customer Success at Siemplify, argues that being in Customer Success is much like being a customer psychologist—you have to describe, explain, predict, and change the behavior of others. He explains why it’s crucial for CSMs to “identify the needs of their customers and drive confidence and trust through transparency.”2021-05-0606 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessBreaking Down the Risk Escalation ProcessTanya Strauss, Director of Customer Success Strategy and Operations at ServiceNow, breaks down best practices in preventing risks via a streamlined escalation process. She advocates for defining categories of risk, documenting tribal knowledge about historical escalations, and building a team whose sole focus is on helping CSMs with fire prevention, not firefighting.2021-04-2908 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer Success“Treat Onboarding Like a Product” and Other Advice for Working with High Volume/SMB CustomersLauren Humphrey, former VP of Customer Success and Payments GTM and current advisor at brightwheel dives into lessons learned from working with a high volume of SMB customers. Her tips include making every touchpoint count, thinking of onboarding as a product, delivering high quality experiences through specialization, and investing in systems early on.2021-04-2709 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer Success“Treat Onboarding Like a Product” and Other Advice for Working with High Volume/SMB CustomersLauren Humphrey, former VP of Customer Success and Payments GTM and current advisor at brightwheel dives into lessons learned from working with a high volume of SMB customers. Her tips include making every touchpoint count, thinking of onboarding as a product, delivering high quality experiences through specialization, and investing in systems early on.2021-04-2209 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessDebate Part 2: Does Assigning Ownership Create Division?Here’s part 2 of our debate with Dave Jackson, CCO at DeepCrawl and CEO of TheCustomer.Co, on the pros and cons of assigning “ownership” within companies. Chris and Dave cover: how CEOs can be thoughtful about breaking down silos, the viability of company-wide commission plans, and more.2021-04-1409 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessDebate Part 1: Is “Ownership” a Last-Century Concept?This is part 1 of our discussion with Dave Jackson, CCO at DeepCrawl and CEO of TheCustomer.Co, on the topic of “ownership.” Dave explains why he thinks ownership is “built on the bankrupt idea of hierarchy” and Chris makes the case that every decision must have one owner.2021-04-1407 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow VMware Sets Up Listening Posts for Customer SentimentIn episode 2 of 2 with Keri Keeling, the Global Head of Customer Success Innovation & Intelligence at VMware, Keri digs into her latest project—creating “listening posts” to collect and measure customer sentiment across the user journey.2021-04-0706 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessDoes Your Success Team Have an “Innovation and Intelligence” Role?Keri Keeling, the Global Head of Customer Success Innovation & Intelligence at VMware, explains her role and why VMware’s Customer Success org is focusing on merging data operations with a VOC program.2021-04-0707 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow Customer Success Becomes Equal to Product, Sales, and MarketingIn episode 2 of 2 with Teresa Anania, VP of Global Customer Success and Renewals at Zendesk, Teresa explains how the only way Customer Success leaders can gain equal footing at the executive level is to align measurable outcomes with the larger business goals.2021-04-0108 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow Digital Customer Engagement Works at ZendeskTeresa Anania, VP of Global Customer Success and Renewals at Zendesk, gives us an inside look at how Zendesk’s digital engagement programs work. She offers her opinions on when it’s time to build a scale program, how they’re thinking about dynamic segmentation, and why there needs to be a CS Ops resource embedded within Customer Success.2021-04-0106 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessInterview CSMs like IntercomMax Klimmek (Global Head of Customer Success at Intercom) breaks down his process for interviewing CSMs and offers one of his favorite tactics: asking candidates to complete a video recording test. His reasoning? To measure their energy, passion for Intercom, and confidence on camera—all essential pieces of being a top-performing CSM.2021-03-2506 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessDon’t Just Throw Together a Digitally-Led Engagement Model (Panel Discussion)Some say digital experiences are the future of Customer Success. But today, they’re a relatively new problem and everyone seems to have a different approach.
We recently held a discussion with three Customer Success leaders who have especially mature thinking around this problem; this episode is the full discussion. You’ll hear advice on team structure, tech stack, processes, and collaborating with peers in a low-touch engagement model.2021-03-1956 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessBuild vs. Buy? You Need to Lay a Foundation for CS FirstIn this final episode with Swati Chopra (Head of Customer Success-US & Canada at McAfee), Swati provides a framework for assessing when to build versus buy software. She explains how laying a stable foundation for customers is always more of a priority than building software.2021-03-1708 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCoach CSMs on How to Communicate “Fires” InternallyIn episode 2 of 3 with Swati Chopra (Head of Customer Success-US & Canada at McAfee), Swati shares an experience proving why it’s crucial to coach CSMs on how to appropriately communicate an emergency internally.2021-03-1706 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessA 360° Growth and Maintenance Plan For Your Low-Tier CustomersSwati Chopra (Head of Customer Success-US & Canada at McAfee) dives into why and how Customer Success teams can give their low-tier customers a thorough growth and maintenance plan. She suggests the plan includes training vouchers, architecture reviews, and priority support.2021-03-1706 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessWhy Your NPS Might Be Higher in the U.S.Elodie O’Rourke (Head of Customer Success EMEA at Financial Times) explains that culture can affect people’s perception of Customer Success—why having the word “success” in a job title is inherently American and how receiving an NPS score of ‘6’ from a European customer is the same as a ‘10’ from an American client.2021-03-1705 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessDe-Risking Account TransitionsCustomer account transitions are inevitable. In episode 2 of 2 with Megan Bowen (CCO at Refine Labs), Megan shares how Customer Success leaders can coach their CSMs to have seamless handoffs with other CSMs.2021-03-1104 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCareer Lessons From 15 Years in TechMegan Bowen (CCO at Refine Labs) offers a list of lessons learned and the stories behind them from her career in Customer Success. She says, “Sometimes careers are not linear, and if you take a step back, for what you believe is a good opportunity, it could [actually] catapult you forward” — and reminds us that we must take control of our own careers.2021-03-1112 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessWhy It’s Not “If” CSMs Should Own Renewals, It’s “When”In episode 2 of 2 with Rebecca Nerad (VP of Customer Success at E2Open), Rebecca explains why it’s not a question of if CSMs should own renewals, upsells, and cross-sells, but defining when they should. She argues that there are cases for both CS and Sales to own renewals, but regardless of who owns the revenue, it’s important to tie CS to the metric of net dollar retention.2021-03-0307 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessA Customer Advisory Board Plan That WorksIn this interview with Rebecca Nerad (VP of Customer Success at E2Open), Rebecca shares how to set up a Customer Advisory Board that executive stakeholders actually want to be a part of. Rebecca runs Customer Advisory Boards in a programmatic way, which leads to better engagement and more value added than most CABs.2021-03-0305 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessThe Low-Touch Model Maturity ScaleThis week we break down a framework for creating a low-touch customer engagement model. This episode highlights the phases of maturity companies tend to go through as they invest in their digitally-led program, and the skills required in a successful low-touch team.2021-03-0106 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessBring Customers Into The Heart of Your Business, LiterallyIn episode 4 of 4 with Pat Phelan (CCO of GoCardless and former CCO at Brandwatch), Pat shares one of his favorite tactics for fostering a customer-centric culture: bringing customers into company-wide meetings on a regular cadence.2021-02-2508 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer Success3 Essential Questions to Ask Before Buying SoftwareIn this quick episode, Pat Phelan (CCO of GoCardless and former CCO at Brandwatch) shares 3 crucial questions to ask before buying software and why CSMs have to be brought into the decision making process.2021-02-2501 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCS Ops: The Force Multiplier RoleIn episode 2 of 4 with Pat Phelan (CCO of GoCardless and former CCO at Brandwatch), Pat explains why his first question when joining a new company is “Who is your CS Ops person?” because as he states, “If you don’t have an Ops person, I’m either bringing one with me, or I’m really not that interested.” Pat makes the case that CS Ops is a position that has 10x the impact of a normal role at any organization.2021-02-2505 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessRisk Forecasting Should Be in Your DNAIn episode 1 of 4 with Pat Phelan (CCO of GoCardless and former CCO at Brandwatch), Pat advocates for individual CSM risk forecasting as a key discipline in parallel to risk assessment.2021-02-2506 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessThese 5 Coaching Methods Will Build a Consultative Mindset With CSMsThis week on our show Chitra Madhwacharyula, the Director of Customer Success at Couchbase, shares how leaders can train CSMs to become the trusted advisors every customer hopes for.2021-02-0607 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer Success3 Ways to Strengthen Your Relationship with ProductIn episode 2 of 2 with Jo Massie (VP of CS at Slido), Jo shares how Success and Product can better their relationship for the benefit of the business and customer.2021-01-2905 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCoach Your CSMs to Facilitate Engaging MeetingsWhy is it that a QBR with one CSM can be wildly more engaging than the next? In the words of Jo Massie, VP of CS at Slido, it comes down to the fundamentals. Here's her advice on how to spark engagement and curiosity in CS meetings.2021-01-2906 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessFinance Feedback for CCOs (From Blend, Lever, UserTesting, and Higher Logic)Customer Success leaders often cite "finance" as one of their biggest areas of weakness. That's why, for this week's episode, we're breaking our usual 5-minute format and sharing a full discussion with four finance leaders on how they think their peers in Customer Success should approach budgeting and planning conversations.2021-01-1849 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessHow to Build a Customer Advocacy ProgramIn episode 3 of 3 with Alex Farmer, Alex breaks down his approach to building out a customer advocacy program into five steps.2021-01-1208 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessTactics for a Stronger CCO & CMO RelationshipIn episode 2 of 3 with Alex Farmer, shares his advice on why the CMO CCO relationship is so critical, and the steps Customer Success leaders can take to foster a stronger relationship.2021-01-1209 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessThe Customer Data Your Cross-Functional Peers NeedAlex Farmer, VP of CS at Cognite AS, offers a list of examples of customer insights that other departments need but don’t have without the help of the CS leader.2021-01-1216 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCSM Comp Plans: How to Think About the Base Salary/Variable SplitIn episode 3 of 3 with Boaz Maor (CCO at Talech), Boaz offers his thinking around how Customer Success leaders should approach designing CSM compensation plans.2021-01-0706 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessBe the CCO That Builds a Relationship With MarketingIn episode 2 of 3 with Boaz Maor (CCO at Talech), Boaz explains his framework for thinking about where customer marketing should live, and how CCOs can build a better relationship with their peer in Marketing.2021-01-0505 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessWhy You Should Implement a Customer Maturity IndexIn episode 1 of 3 with Boaz Maor (CCO at Talech), Boaz sheds light on the gaps presented by most customer health scores used by Customer Success teams today, and explains how using a Customer Maturity Index instead can provide for more actionable customer insights.2021-01-0508 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer Success2020 Year in ReviewThis week we're celebrating some of the wins experienced this past year in the Customer Success community. This episode is a highlight reel of 18 Customer Success leaders from companies like Cision, GitLab, Fastly, Zoom, and Oracle on their proudest moments from 2020.2020-12-2924 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessAn Incentive Structure that Drives a Customer-Centric MindsetIn episode 3 with Rav Dhaliwal (venture capital investor at Crane - Rav was formerly the first UK employee at Slack where he founded the global Customer Success team), Rav offers a framework for founders trying to get Sales to start thinking longer-term and incentivize Success to be more involved in the sales cycle.2020-12-1606 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessSigns You Have an “Everything Department"In this second episode with Rav Dhaliwal, Rav breaks down the common “growing pains” Customer Success leaders face as they scale their team.2020-12-1608 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessYour First CS Hire ExplainedRav Dhaliwal, venture capital investor at Crane (formerly the first UK employee at Slack where he founded the global Customer Success team), shares his advice on when founders should introduce Customer Success and what they should look for in that first leadership hire.2020-12-1606 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCareer Pathing for CSMsEmily Garza, AVP of Customer Success at Fastly, offers her process for building out career paths for CSMs.2020-12-0805 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessWhat to Look For in Your First Customer Success HiresEmily Garza, AVP of Customer Success at Fastly, shares the mindsets, skillsets, and experience to look for when building a new Customer Success function.2020-12-0807 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessYour First 90 Days in Founding a CS TeamEmily Garza, AVP of Customer Success at Fastly, built the company's Customer Success function from the ground up. Here, she breaks down her 30/60/90-day plan for other Success leaders looking to start a new CS team in an established company.2020-12-0809 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessWhen and How to Introduce Success in the Sales CycleVinli’s VP of Customer Success, Jason Noble, shares advice for when CSMs should be introduced in the sales cycle and how they can position themselves when talking to Sales and to customers pre-sale.2020-12-0104 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessAdvocate for These Sales and CS Incentive ChangesJason Noble, VP of Customer Success at Vinli, offers specific changes companies can make to their Sales and Customer Success team incentives that ultimately drive better customer outcomes.2020-12-0104 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCreate Playbooks to Mitigate RiskBrian Lafaille, the Global Head of Customer Success - Strategic Programs at Google, offers a step-by-step process for creating playbooks that'll help your team systematically mitigate risk.2020-11-1903 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer Success5 Prerequisites to Scaling Customer SuccessJennifer Dearman offers five tips for creating a scalable Customer Success organization.2020-11-1706 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessGet the CFO to See CS as a Revenue DriverIt's time for CS leaders to shift budgeting conversations from being about how they can "be more efficient" to how the company can invest more heavily in their department. Here are 7 tips on how to do that.2020-10-2704 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCS Needs to Play a Bigger Role in the Feature Request ProcessNuffsaid's CPO, Nick Paranomos, explains why and how Customer Success can work with Product to create a feature request process that's better for both teams: CS ensures customer requests are handled in the right order, and Product makes more informed prioritization decisions.2020-10-2204 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCreating a Relationship Coverage StrategyA good relationship coverage strategy has three parts: define the roles CSMs need to build in account, measure relationship "strength" with each role, and set relationship coverage expectations with the team. Here's Chris Hicken on how to do all three.2020-10-0906 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessFour Points of Friction Between Sales and SuccessEmilia D'Anzica, Founder of GrowthMolecules and former CCO at Copper, identifies the most common causes of friction between Sales and Customer Success and how to navigate them.2020-10-0606 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessThe Challenger Concept for Customer SuccessAlex Bakula Davis, VP of Customer Success at Extracker, explains how Customer Success teams can apply the "Challenger" concept to help customers achieve their desired outcomes. "Sometimes a customer’s habits are the biggest hurdle to their success. This is why 'challenging' your customers can have a positive impact on retention and growth."2020-10-0606 min
TheySaid: Real Strategies for Customer SuccessCreating Feedback Loops Between Success, Product, and MarketingMegan Bowen, CCO at Refine Labs, explains three ways Customer Success leaders can make sure Product and Marketing teams are getting the customer insights they need.2020-10-0205 min