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CSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersLeadership Masterclass - CEO with PrithwiThis is the last episode of the leadership masterclass podcast and the office is the one with highest responsibility: CEO.
I speak with Prithwi Dasgupta, CEO of SmartKarrot, who has risen from the normal ranks of leadership to becoming a co-founder and CEO of SmartKarrot:
Five key takeaways from this episode are:
1) What a lot of candidates that apsire to become a CEO miss - is the grind, the sacrifices and the risk/uncertainty. Glamorous from the outside, absolutely demanding on the ground.
2) A CEO needs to shed the ego and...2023-10-2344 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersMala Ramakrishnan Teaches OperationsIn this episode on Operations, Mala Ramakrishan decodes the office of Operations:
1) A COO stands hand in hand with a CEO holding equal responsibilities for the overall achievement of the company's goals
2) Operations is all about execution of the stated strategic vision
3) A COO is responsible for Operations of all kinds, business, IT, program and revenue.
4) A COO needs to have a good understanding of almost all aspects of the business to be able to drive the results for each
5) Usually a COO holds dual responsibilities - Su...2023-08-2927 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersDr. Michelle Teaches StrategyIn this episode on Strategy, Dr.Michelle talks about one of the newest and evolving topics at the C-suite, which is Strategy.
Traditionally, strategy has been defined to be something:
a) That helps an organization retain its market share
b) Prevent competition from capturing its market share.
However, strategy is much more. It is culture, it is product, it is product evaluation, competitive analysis and much more. It is an entire framework for growth and goes beyond just revenue.
Listen to this and a lot more in this very...2023-08-0539 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersLeadership Masterclass - Diversity with Eugina JordanHello All,
In this episode of leadership masterclass, I speak with Eugina Jordan, a champion for diversity and the voice of women in leadership.
- In her early days, when she attended the MWC conference, what shocked her was a lack of waiting line in the women's restroom which made her realize there are so few women in tech/leadership roles and also made her write the book "UNLIMITED"
- Depending on the size of the organization, it is good to setup an exclusive Diversity office under Chief People officer ; For smaller organizations...2023-06-1936 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersJay Nathan teaches Customer SuccessIn this episode of Leadership Master class, Jay talks about:
How a simple zoom call (GTM plans based and customer outcomes, automation) started to serve the CS community grew up from 30 people on call to 75 and 150 and now a thriving and one of the largest CS communities
How the community takes a wholistic approach to not where CS is going but where SaaS is going and to be able to ride the wave
There is no one size CS fits all - depending on whether you are a product led growth, SMB/inside...2023-06-041h 02CSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersAaron Teaches RevenueNow, this is one of my very favorite topics.
In today's discussion on Conversations with the C-suite, we have Aaron Thompson who is passionate about customer success and turning customer success into a revenue office. Aaron introduced the concept of "Revenue acquisition cost", which is the cost you incur in acquiring newer revenues through upsells and cross-sells once a customer is onboard. This directly translates into something a Customer Success office should own.
Key takeaways from this episode are:
1) The primary responsibilities of the revenue office is to focus on bringing in new r...2023-04-2055 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersLeadership Masterclass - Geoff Teaches MarketingIn this episode of "Leadership Master class - Conversations with the C-suite", we feature Geoff Hollingworth, CMO Rakuten Symphony.
Geoff Hollingworth is a new age CMO. The way he has adapted marketing techniques for the B2B segments using B2C techniques, leveraging social media, humor and people centric approach to marketing are a breath of fresh air in the B2B space. Check out the amazing content that Rakuten Symphony puts out under his stellar leadership.
In this episode spanning topics from marketers being psychologists, to using levity in even se...2023-03-2841 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersLeadership Masterclass - Madhav teaches ProductsThe key takeaways from this episode on Product:
Product office is not a standalone function that sits to define WHAT to build; rather the primary role of the product office is to collaborate with customers, and define what is the most critical problem to solve in that market space.
It is important to always combine the product and technology office into one unit and have an agile development model that combines the WHAT(Product) and the HOW (Tech)
Product managers are not innovators, but they are the "process owners" that are responsible for the overall process o...2023-02-2155 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersRajeev Madhav speaks on Startups and Venture FundingIn this exciting, absolutely informative session on Startups & VC Funding, Rajeev spoke to us exclusively on various topics related to Startups.
I categorized them into 3 major buckets: Idea, Team and Funds.
1) There are no blueprints to get funding. If you have a good idea, approaching a VC through a trusted source or a referral is the first and most important step to get VC's attention
2) It is important to find the best fit VC for your ideas as not all VC funds are made the same.
3) When listening to your ideas, VCs...2023-01-2257 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersScaling CS with AnikaCatch me on this podcast with Anika Zubair, VP of Customer Success @ Karbon for some amazing insights on how to scale CS through genuine human relationships and her own insights on the power of networking.
2022-09-2525 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersCreating personalized experiences, with Peter Crysdale!Hello Success Family,
After a while, I was able to resume some great conversations with the customer success family!
I have been obsessing over the topic of scale, especially in times of downturn like the ones we are in. How does CS continue to scale, without increasing costs and yet at the same time not lose business?
One answer that came out was the use of AI and automation in the creation of white club experiences (thanks Dickey Singh 🙌 for that beautiful expression), and the creation of person...2022-07-2425 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersCustomer Success Vs Product Marketing, How do we do?In this episode, Preethy Padmanaban raises some great points with Jason Noble on the need and contours of working between Product Marketing and Customer success!
2022-06-0821 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersFernando Vs Jyo Shukla, Product or CS?In this episode, Jyo Shukla, a popular Customer Success leader, takes on questions from Fernando Cerioni, who is known for his tough Product management skills!
Enjoy this episode, where both conclude that Product & CS must work closely together for the organization to succeed!
2022-05-2425 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersCSM debate - Paul Vs NamIn this debate - Nam asks some compelling questions on CS for Paul.
but in the end, customer success wins!
2022-05-1624 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersRedefining customer experience, with AdrianIn this episode, we have Adrian Brady-Cesana, Founder and Chief experience officer at CX Chronicles.
In CXChronicles, they are set out to find what customers are doing to enhance the overall customer experience and allow organizations to scale effortlessly. CXChronicles focusses on 4 main pillars to help organizations optimize: Team,Tools, Processes and Feedback
Key takeaways from this episode are:
Customer experience is what an organization defines it and a great customer experience is how well you deliver it.
Four pillars to an organization's success: a) Keep a cus...2022-04-1930 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersCrushing Churn with Anita TothToday's episode of CSM secrets is with Anita Toth, Chief Churn Crusher at Anita Toth! It is a venture that makes data & insights more contextual and actionable.
Key insights from this episode are:
1) Anyone can collect data. It is as simple as asking a few questions. But where organizations need professional help is in asking the right questions to ensure collecting high quality data, cutting out everything else that could be noise.
2) The Customer 360 Insight System was built ground up to enable organizations to collect and analyze data that is able to contextualize...2022-04-1427 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersOnboarding for success, with WillIn this episode, we have Will Stevenson, COO and Founder of Onboard.io, a platform focussed exclusively on Customer onboarding.
Onboard.io is a culmination of several years of research on where companies go wrong with onboarding and how to make onboarding more efficient than what it is today.
Hence, instead of going with a template based approach, onboard.io operates with variables. Connecting different variables for scaling, automating and driving seamless automation that can be seen by various stakeholders and measured continuously.
Key insights from this episode are:
1) On boarding...2022-03-3029 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersCan do with Candu, JonathanHave you felt this pinch as a CSM? You want to customize your website for delivering personalization but you are blocked because you do not have the tools to do that.
Well, Candu is a tool to enhance an existing web app to deliver incremental changes to a webpage, like, adding sweeteners to enhance the experience and deliver good customer experience.
I sat down to discuss about this quite interesting tool that sits at the intersection of customer success and marketing, with the Co-founder and CEO Jonathan. Some key insights from this episode are:
2022-03-2421 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersJetting high in Customer ExperienceLiliana comes from one of the toughest industries where it is quite a nightmare to keep customers happy, even if a small element goes wrong. Aviation and that too for a very popular brand, Jetblue!!
Coming from a background where she was directly responsible for delivering an extra ordinary user experience to customers of JetBlue, the knowledge she gained helped her start her own venture in customer experience design - "The Petrova experience".
Key takeaways from this episode are:
1) The power of information/data. Empowering and arming the customer with near accurate data a...2022-03-1725 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersCustomer Marketing is an opportunity for your customers!In this episode of CSM secrets, we have Dana Alvarenga, VP of customer success at Slap Five.
Dana has been voted 2021 Top 100 Customer Success Strategist and also TOP25 CMA Influencer. Dana is very passionate about customer marketing and customer advocacy.
With an extensive background spanning across Sales, Business development and Customer success, this episode has some great takeaways for aspiring CS professionals:
1) A field facing role, any role handling customers - even if that involves managing a restaurant, really helps in shining in a customer success career. It is critical to have that...2022-03-1021 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersFinding and filling gaps, with Dana SozaIn this episode of CSM secrets with Dana Soza, we discover many things that make entrepreneurs, so different from the rest.
When she spotted the opportunity to be on her own, she just took the plunge and started Dana Soza Customer solutions a boutique consulting and career building firm for customer success professionals.
Key takeaways from this episode are:
1) She spots & sees a trend, (almost 2 years back) a big up tick in job applications for Customer success roles and it made her to offer her expertise and background in filling that gap.
2022-02-1725 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersFrom Customer services to Customer Success, with JarvisJarvis has a very unique experience. His initial background was in IT services, from where he slowly grew up a leadership role in customer success. Referring to that, he says he was on the ground and rose from there.
Key insights from this episode are:
1) Transitioning from IT services to customer success gave him grass root opportunities and learnings that he could carry across - Some unique learnings across leadership, strategy, technology etc. And be cognizant of issues at every level of growth towards succes.
2) According to him, strategy is not so...2022-02-0926 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersScaling CS with Automation, Dickey SinghThis episode has a Silicon valley entrepreneur as Guest, Dickey Singh!
Dickey comes from a strong technical background and is 100% a builder at heart. The product portfolio includes software to measure customer satisfaction and feedback measurement systems, that enabled the Who is Who of the industry such as Apple, Google, Salesforce, Gartner improve CSAT by significant percentages. And this was acknowledged by none other than the LEGEND, Steve Jobs!!
The key takeaways from this episode are:
1) Every product/service gets digitized over time and now is the time for Customer success operations & Marketing t...2022-02-0127 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersEmpathetic leadership with Rebecca NeradRebecca Nerad is an expert on Customer Advocacy, and she has led that charter from the front in her career spanning 2 decades. This episode should actually be titled Customer Advocacy 101, for all the insights she shared on how to actually foster a culture that puts customer advocacy as a key CS metric.
The top 5 takeaways from this episode are:
1) The transfer of power to a very informed buyer and the apparent end to an era of selling massive software with huge AMC costs. Enter cloud, SaaS and all the information publicly available that warrants a rel...2022-01-2524 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersCustomer Value Led Growth with Markus!In this episode of CSM Secrets, we speak to Markus Rentsch, CEO of Re-Markable.
Mark is a strong advocate of customer value led growth, where he fundamentally challenges the traditional approach of direct selling and instead, substituting with selling by value, as seen in his numerous Linkedin posts.
The framework, which is called as CVLG (Customer Value Led Growth), brings fundamental paradigm shifts to the way a company realizes growth.
Most important of all of it, is the premise that Customer Success is not a churn fighting organization rather help them deliver extra-ordinary...2022-01-1919 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersMetaverse and the shift in Customer Experience, with Guy GalonIn this episode, we chat with Guy Galon, VP customer success at Hysolate and Influencer and thought leader in Cutomer Success.
The key takeaways & insights from this episode are:
1) Three major shifts - Customer success becoming revenue center, the Technology shift brought in up cloud adoption changing the rule of the SaaS game, and customer success as a critical player in delivering first time value and hence retention and growth.
2) Customer Success owning Growth as a charter is a combination decision made based on the size of the company, experience of the executives, a...2022-01-1222 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersEmployee Success is Customer Success, with Kristi FaltorussoIn this episode of CSM secrets, we speak with Krisi Faltorusso who is the Vice president of customer success at ClienSuccess and is also the in the Top 25 customer success influencer, two years straight in a row for 2021 & 2022!
Brand Kristi stands for Unconditional Giving, which does not surprise me given her stellar track record in a career spanning a decade in scaling & growing Customer Success.
The five key takeaways from this episode were:
1) The big shift in Customer success from performing internal activities to the external focus and delivering business values that have...2022-01-0518 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersLets cut churn, with Irit EizipsIn this episode of CSM secrets, we have Irit Eizips, Chief Customer Officer and Chief Executive Officer at CSM Practice, a boutique consulting firm specializing in Customer Success strategy design and implementation services.
Irit's relationship with Customer Success is as old as the onset of the movement itself. Back in 2013, when the Customer Success discipline was beginning to take shape, Irit worked at Gainsiight, and was part of the early crew who defined the customer success strategy and propelled the business world to embrace what we all call today as the new normal.
With decades...2021-12-0831 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersEmpathy and Genuine connections for success in CS, with Hakan OzturkHakan is senior customer success manager at Adobe!
Hakan has a gene that screams "creativity". How else do you explain the successful coming together of Photography, Writing Books and also creating digital content for CS?
For that his response to me was his favorite quote - "Creativity is contagious & Pass it on".
Key insights from this episode that really made an impact on me, were:
Sharing and helping others along the way is fundamental for any great CSM.
A north star question that guides him to pursue multiple passions...2021-12-0230 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersDo not put people in boxes and limit them, with ShariShari is such a giver.
If there is a coaching or community building platform, it is hard not to see Shari in it. She plays a pivotal role in building the next generation of customer success leaders and in providing guidance for navigating careers in CS to many that seek mentorship.
Shari is a life time fellow of On-deck customer success and customer success coach at catalyst software where as a mentor she gets matched with an aspiring CS professional.
She is a strong, visionary leader and her perspectives on various matters customer...2021-11-2629 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersTo have an agency in life and to Impact people at large, with JoshJosh is a force to reckon with in customer success practice. He does not just talk, he builds. Update.AI, the venture he cofounded aims to put AI at work to reduce the noise and enhance the overall customer success function efficiency.
Josh loves to build - Products & Teams, and his background in industrial engineering, science and Maths led him into entrepreneurship from very early on. He has held some stellar responsibilities in the past - from building products, to being a GM and holding advisory roles, he is a true champion.
In t...2021-11-1924 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersThe journey is what matters, do not be in a mad rush!Karen Eisen, Senior Vice President of Alida, has a skillset combination that the rest of the world would die for - A career that started out in marketing and then pivoted to customer success.
According to Karen, marketing and customer success both require an understanding of human psychology to derive different results. And, she is a strong advocate of customer success being a value center and not taking their eyes of "Growth".
In this amazing, tell all podcast, Karen shared some key insights that are worth summarizing below and listening in full!
1) Marketing...2021-11-1328 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersTake the customer from Hypothetical Value to the real value, Alex FarmerThe guest for this episode of CSM secrets is Alex Farmer, Vice President of customer success at Cognite. Alex is also the founder of Customer Success Excellence awards which separates out the doers that are propelling the customer success function forward with action. No theories please.
Check it out and nominate yourself at (EMEA and USA) https://www.customersuccessexcellence.com/.
Key secrets & insights from this episode are:
1) Customer success function is where the hypothetical value stops and the delivery of actual value begins. The role of CS is to deliver what was promised.2021-11-0330 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersStep back & Reflect at tough times, with Ashna PatelAshna Patel is no new face to the customer success community. She is a top linkedin content creator when it comes to sharing customer success best practices, and insights.
This podcast with Ms.Ashna will take you one step closer to her, where she not only answers my questions, but she also gives a tiny peek into the amazing person she is in her response to my rapid fire questions.
Key takeaways from this podcast:
1) Pay attention to day to day challenges and creative ways in which you can solve them - These...2021-10-2725 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersHelping will Sell, with Manuel A HarnischIn this episode of CSM secrets, we speak with Manuel A Harnisch, Vice president of Customer Success at People Data labs. In this very insightful conversation, Manuel shares many insights for CSM practitioners to adopt and deliver value to both customers and internal to their organization.
The main takeaways for CSM practitioners in this episode are:
1) Establish structure & operations when the organization is small
2) Do not have more than 2-3 accounts per CSMs to deliver exceptional results on CS metrics
3) When done right, CS can become a major force multiplier, which o...2021-10-2130 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersAlign with the customer story, than the selling story - with Justin StrackanyJustin has a great and interesting background. Coming from a sales background, he beautifully articulates how bringing in a growth mindset and a sales framework into Customer success function has helped scale business and also build a CS that is actually a profit center.
Justin says being prescriptive, coming to the team with a passion to learn and to nurture those dragon eggs till they grow are all key skills he is looking for in aspiring CSM candidates.
And the best part, his focus on diversity and the fact that he celebrates the hard work a...2021-10-1427 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersTurn the spotlight on Elephant in the room, with Ramya of Fusion RMIn this episode with Ramya Ragavan, she emphasizes one point - Navigate the unknown, deal with uncertainties. And no matter what the agenda of the meeting, proactively bring out the elephant in the room and address it. That seems to be her winning strategy and the reason for her success.
She also says - handle the curveballs, address the elephant in the room first, and just be curious in general.
In this very insightful session, there are multiple takeaways for aspiring candidates on how to groom themselves for a future career in CS.
2021-10-0626 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersFind connection points & navigate - Jeff HecklerJeff had so many insights to share with us that we actually extended the podcast by 5 minutes to hear it all.
The 5 key takeaways that we learnt from this podcast are:
1) Build an empathy muscle
2) Be honest about your mistakes
3) Find connection points
4) Bring a growth mindset
5) Customer success is about delivering value - both personally and professionally.
Jeff can be found in linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffheckler/
2021-09-2933 minCSM secrets Of Influential Customer Success leadersHANDLING CONFLICTS WITH CURIOISTY, WITH MARANDA DZIEKONSKIIn this first ever episode of CSM secrets, our first guest, Maranda Dziekonski, Chief customer office of Swiftly.Inc shares some key insights on what it takes to be successful in a customer success career, her tips and the trends she is watching in this space.
One of the critical insights she shares is that people in customer success profession need to be people oriented and need to be willing to develop a curiosity to resolve conflicts better.
Do listen in and do not forget to share!
2021-09-2126 min