Hey NYC-area CS Professionals, it’s not too late to sign up for ChurnZero’s RYG Meetup in NYC next week. The Success League's own Michael Su will be one of the speakers, along with Rachel Provan and You Mon Tsang.

Enjoy the free networking happy hour and stay to be a part of the panel discussion on:

• How CS orgs and CSMs can prepare and recover from economic challenges of 2023

• Recruiting and retaining talented CS Professionals

• How to infuse "Customer Success Thinking" to all aspects of your organization

When: Thursday, December 14 from 6-8pm
Where: OASIS by Workville Conference Center, NYC

Looking forward to seeing you there!

By Mike Su

Over the last five years I have had numerous CEOs and Customer Success leaders ask me for help with calculating or refining their customer health scores. I always turn it around and ask them why they feel they need to calculate or refine their customer health score. The response I typically get is along the lines of predicting churn or retention of customers, understanding their customers needs, or simply to know how their customers are doing. While these are valid points, they are really fluffy and do not fully satisfy my criteria for building out a customer health score. To me a health score is more than just an indication of a customer’s current state. A health score should also be more than just the sentiment of the last customer contact we spoke with; while that is important to note, it is only one factor of many to calculate a robust health score. An overall health score needs to be able to tell a story about how the customer is seeing value in the product or service. It should also tell me if they have any concerns or issues. Do they like us? Do they wish we do things differently? Will they be renewing their contract at the end of the year?

Not long ago a CSM I met on LinkedIn was telling me about one of their customers who churned even though they had a “green” health score. After digging in with a ton of follow up questions, I quickly discovered that their “green” health score did not carry much meaning and did not tell me a fulfilling story. Many important things were left unknown, such as how sticky or adopted they were with the product. It was unclear how their usage had changed over time. The “green” score also did not indicate what I believe was the culprit of their churn. The customer company had recent leadership turnover and the executive sponsor of the product and sole decision maker was no longer with the company. In my opinion, this customer should not have been “green.” In fact, with recent leadership turnover they should have been marked as a churn risk. In my opinion, this churn should not have been a surprise as it was to this CSM. In this example, the criteria for this customer to be “green” was for not having any open critical support tickets and their point of contact seemed happy. This is a good time to remind everyone that the job of Customer Success is not to make customers happy but to make customers realize value in their product or service.

A solid customer health score should be made up of a laundry list of metrics. In fact, I’ll even say that the Overall Health Score is composed of multiple health scores, each calculated using their own sets of metrics. In the above example, a Relationship score would have been helpful where it included metrics like having an executive sponsor or recent turnover. This would have dinged their Relationship score enough to trigger a call to action to address their leadership change. There would have still been a high chance of the customer churning, but at least the risk would have been known ahead of time. There could have been action taken to attempt to course correct the customer’s decision. The churn risk would have also been predicted and forecasted. Accurate revenue forecasting is important and affects many areas including calculating company valuation, company spend, overall budget, etc. 

Bottom line, surprise churn is the worst kind of churn.

Here are some key considerations when building your Customer Health Score.

Does it tell a story? At a glance my health score should tell me:

• Who the customer is and how strong our relationship is with the customer including their executive sponsor and decision maker.

• How the customer is using my product and if there’s room for growth.

• Whether they have any technical roadblocks

• Whether we have any limitations as to how they would expect to see value

Does it predict churn with a clear indication of why?

• Was there any turnover on their leadership team that could affect our executive sponsorship?

• Have their priorities changed where they no longer see value in our product?

• Has a customer declined joining your customer advocacy program? When a customer refuses to say nice things about you, that’s never a good sign.
  

Does it lead to actionable next steps?

• If the CSM does not have a tight relationship with the executive sponsor, that’s task number 1 on the to do list. 

• If a customer’s adoption score takes a dip, it’s possible that they have shifted their priorities. It’s up to the CSM to get clarity from the customer and pivot the deployment to maximize value outcome.

The list can go on forever, but tell me what’s important to you in a customer health score. 

The Success League is a global customer success consulting firm that also offers CSM and CS Leadership certification programs, as well as coaching. Please visit TheSuccessLeague.io for more information or to contact us.

Mike Su - Michael is a Customer Success innovator with over 15 years of working experience. While leading the team, he has designed, built, and successfully implemented Customer Success departments at various companies spanning from early stage tech start ups to publicly traded enterprises. He is passionate about improving processes and streamlining workflows. As a leader he loves working with people to help nurture and grow their professional careers. When Michael is not helping companies fight churn, he enjoys spending time with his wife, 3 kids, 2 turtles, and 1 dog.

Are you in the NYC area? ChurnZero will be hosting a RYG Meetup in NYC next month. The Success League's own Michael Su will be one of the speakers, along with Rachel Provan and You Mon Tsang.

Join in on the free networking happy hour and be a part of the panel discussion on:

• How CS orgs and CSMs can prepare and recover from economic challenges of 2023

• Recruiting and retaining talented CS Professionals

• How to infuse "Customer Success Thinking" to all aspects of your organization

When: Thursday, December 14 from 6-8pm
Where: OASIS by Workville Conference Center, NYC

Can’t wait to see you there!

When I first wrote this article back in 2017 having remote CSMs was an emerging trend. Six years and one pandemic later and most CS groups we work with have at least one remote team member if not an entirely remote team. Even though this model is the norm now, I still see many CS leaders struggling to effectively manage remote employees. I think that is driving some of the hard-line executive insistence that everyone get back into the office.  I thought I'd reshare this article to provide some tips on how to manage remote teams effectively. If I could change anything about my original piece, I'd double down on the Performance section. If you're a CS leader who finds performance management challenging, check out this article as well. Enjoy!

By Kristen Hayer

Hiring customer success team members who are not located at headquarters is a growing trend in our field. There can be real advantages to hiring CSMs who are remote, including having them located in key markets or being able to hire more reps in a lower cost location. Whether it is an entire satellite office of CSMs or a single rep working from a home office, managing people who are remote brings a unique set of challenges. Here are some tactics for making sure remote employees perform just as well as your local team.

HIRING

First, make sure you hire CSMs who are going to be successful working remotely. Ask if they have experience working out of a satellite or home office. Design interview questions that uncover whether or not they have personality traits (self-starter, independent worker, proactive) that will make their location an asset instead of a liability. While you’re working on interview questions, make sure you plan to ask a lot of them. You can make up for not being able to read body language by asking questions about the specific experiences that a candidate has had in prior roles. You can also use tools like Skype or Google Hangouts to get a feel for how the person would interact with your customers. Finally, when you’ve narrowed down your pool to the top candidate, it is worth flying them in for a final interview to make sure you’ve identified the right CSM.

COMMUNICATION

Your goal in communicating with a remote CSM is two-fold: You want them to feel like a part of the team, and you want to make sure they are extra clear on your goals and initiatives. One of the best ways to make them feel connected is to use video conferencing tools for all of your meetings, including one-on-ones. If you have the budget, set up all of your conference rooms with cameras and technology to enable video meetings. Flying in your remote team member on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly) or flying out to visit remote offices can help everyone stay up-to-date and feel like a part of the team. Connecting a remote CSM with a mentor who is located at headquarters provides a contact to help them stay engaged with the company. You can also fly them in for company events, or at least help them to feel like a part of those events by creating local versions at satellite offices.

PERFORMANCE 

The first step toward making a remote CSM into a top performer is providing thorough training as a part of their onboarding. They aren’t going to have the advantage of sitting next to people who are doing the job, so their training needs to be comprehensive. They also won’t be exposed to company culture and initiatives all of the time, so it is important to regularly train them on things like product updates, new initiatives, and process changes. Hold remote team members accountable for their time by reviewing their activities, goals and progress in weekly one-on-one meetings. When difficult coaching situations arise, make sure you tackle them quickly, directly, and if they are serious, in person.

Take the time to hire the best remote CSM, get them off on the right foot with effective onboarding, and manage their performance, and you'll see significant advantages for your team and customers. If you do choose to have remote team members make the most of it by leveraging their location to serve customers in person and keep other teams in your organization informed of local issues. Your remote CSMs can be a tremendous asset to your company.

Looking to build a top-tier CS team? The Success League is a global customer success consulting firm that also offers a CS Leadership certification program. Classes in that program include Hiring Top Performers and Onboarding New CS Professionals. Visit TheSuccessLeague.io for more on these and our other offerings.

Kristen Hayer - Kristen founded The Success League in 2015 and currently serves as the company's CEO. Over the past 25 years Kristen has been a success, sales, and marketing executive, primarily working with growth-stage tech companies, and leading several award-winning customer success teams. She has written over 100 articles on customer success, and is the host of 3 podcasts about the field: Innovations in Leadership, CS Essentials with Gainsight, and Reading for Success. Kristen serves on the boards of the Customer Success Leadership Network, the Customer Success program at the University of San Francisco, and the Women in Leadership Program at UC Santa Barbara. She received her MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle, and now lives in San Francisco.

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By Ejieme Eromosele

After a tumultuous period of tech layoffs, there's finally some light at the end of the tunnel as tech companies begin to hire again. While this may bring relief to job seekers, there's a new challenge on the horizon. With almost 400,000 layoffs in 2022 and 2023, the job market now presents an overwhelming surplus of candidates competing for a limited number of tech and CS roles.

The popularity of Customer Success, coupled with its appeal to tech transitioners, has driven competition to an all-time high in the CSM job market. To thrive in this competitive landscape, job seekers must strategically position themselves to attract potential employers and successfully navigate the hiring process.

Assuming you’ve already got the basics of CS job search 101 down, here are three strategies to help you stand out in the Customer Success job search process:

Step 1: Get Targeted

To secure interviews for your next CSM role, it's crucial to focus on quality over quantity. While casting a wide net by applying to numerous positions may seem tempting, only relying on a “spray and pray” approach may lead to disappointing results. Instead, invest time in self-evaluation to identify the types of companies and roles that align with your strengths and interests. 

To get targeted, it starts with you. Have you done the self-evaluation of which types of companies and roles you’d do best in? If not, invest time in that and start here. I’ll write more about how to do this in my next article. 

For now, the goal is to create a shortlist of 20-30 priority target companies and roles that you genuinely want to pursue. These are the organizations worth dedicating more time to, even if they are not currently hiring. Focus your efforts on these priority targets to maximize your chances of success.

Step 2: Do Your Homework

Now that you have found a “priority target” company with an open CS role, now it’s time to do your homework.

Ok, I know everyone says this. And in any job search, it should be a given. It typically looks something like this: You go on the company's website, read a few case studies, and check out the Linkedin profile of the interviewing team. If you think this is enough to stand out, it’s not. These are table stakes for any candidate who’s actually interested in the company they’re applying to and the team they could be potentially working with. Here’s how to do it better.

Thorough research is essential for standing out in the hiring process. Go beyond the basics of visiting the company's website and checking LinkedIn profiles. Leverage your network and reach out to connections who work at your priority target companies. Engage in informational conversations to gain insights and potentially secure advocacy for an interview. Whenever possible, interact with the company's product or services, even if it's through open sandboxes or free trial periods. While this level of detail might be challenging, it sets you apart as a dedicated candidate.

Step 3: Act Like You've Already Got the Job

During the interview process, adopt the mindset that you already hold the position. Demonstrate your commitment by proactively seeking ways to add value. 

Here are some real-life examples of candidates I interviewed who demonstrated this:

• Multiple CSMs candidates, when given the case study prompt, would ask me if there was a company template for making presentations they could leverage for theirs.

• A Director of CS hire sent me a draft 30/60/90 day plan of how he’d get started, with the interview guides he’d use to meet the rest of the team. 

• A CSM candidate asked me what goals we’d set for CSMs that quarter and progress to achieving them. 

• Another CSM candidate shared a suggestion in our Customer Support help page, that could make the article earlier to understand. 

By behaving as if you're already part of the team, you show potential employers your dedication and enthusiasm.

Bonus Step 4: Embrace the Right Attitude and Seek Support

The reality of the job market today means that even if you do all of these things and do them well, you may still spend more time than you’d like looking for your next role. I know that that can feel defeating and demoralizing. 

It's essential to maintain a positive attitude. Outside of yourself, seek support from CS communities and peers. You’re not the only one in the CS job search and you shouldn’t feel alone in that process. Speaking with peers and others in your network will help you push through. 

In an increasingly competitive job market for Customer Success roles, standing out is more critical than ever. By following these three strategies and maintaining a positive attitude, you'll enhance your chances of securing a great CSM role. Whether you're a tech transitioner, someone who's recently decided that Customer Success is the path for you, or a seasoned professional, these approaches can help you make a lasting impression.

And remember, you got this!

The Success League is a global customer success consulting firm. Looking to navigate your way through a career in CS? Then coaching might be right for you. Wanting to beef up your skills as a CSM or CS Leader? We have a robust and comprehensive certification training program. For more info, please visit our website at www.thesuccessleague.io

Ejieme Eromosele - Ejieme is a career customer advocate and advises companies on customer-led growth. As VP of Customer Success & Account Management at Quiq, she helps the world’s best brands grow awareness, increase sales and lower customer support costs through conversational AI and messaging. Prior to Quiq, she was Managing Director of Customer Experience at The New York Times and spent over 8 years in management consulting at PwC and Accenture. She has a BA in Economics and an MBA from NYU.

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Be Prepared: Private training with The Success League is not just about keeping up with the industry; it's about staying one step ahead. Equip your team with the knowledge and strategies needed to anticipate customer needs and exceed their expectations. Being prepared means being proactive and ready to adapt to changing market dynamics.

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By Lauren Costella-Reber

The launch of ChatGPT and other advancements in AI have created quite the stir in various business communities. The possibilities of being able to do more with less and create value for customers is quite the exciting prospect. With the launch of ChatGPT in November of 2022, the buzz around AI has only grown and now a conflagration of ideas and conversation has ignited. At this point, if AI isn’t part of your business strategy, you’re behind. 

One of the most exciting prospects for AI use is within Customer Success. There truly are endless possibilities of how we can think about the deployment of AI to enhance and create incredible customer experiences across the customer journey. 

Some critics claim AI is out for our jobs. I don’t believe this in the slightest. AI will, however, force us to be more creative, think more critically, and move beyond the basics. If AI can do the basics, it’s up to humans to be the human side: creative, challenge, think differently, and this is an exciting prospect. No longer will we need to do the mundane; rather, we can focus our energy on the connection with our customers and driving that incredible experience.

Where do we see the opportunities in CS? There are opportunities everywhere, but I thought I would share my perspective on some exciting possibilities for AI use specifically in Customer Success (note: I’m purposely leaving out customer support. While it’s common for Support to fall in the department of Customer Success, I’m focusing today’s blog on the Customer Success-specific activities, in other words, those that proactively drive value for clients. There are a plethora of ways AI can drive support activities too, and perhaps worth another post).

1. Onboarding: this is one of the most common areas of application for AI. One of the most exciting applications comes with providing every customer with an onboarding tutor or assistant. This prospect is exciting because it’s not something we can offer, in most cases, in business today, especially if we want to scale and achieve good gross margins. Imagine, though, being able to provide to every customer and every user an onboarding assistant to which they can ask questions and learn the product in a tailored way. Many CS leaders today are already employing methods to create user-level learning, but there are limitations. It’s not easy or simple to develop onboarding plans that cater to the needs of each individual user, but AI presents us with possibilities to do that as AI can scan all information about a customer and resources we have about the product, and use that information to train the customer in a more personalized way.

2. Customer Education: similarly to onboarding, customer education presents huge opportunities for AI to create great customer experiences. Customer education generally provides customers resources (like videos, articles, walkthroughs, etc.) so they can continuously learn and grow their usage and adoption of the product. As any CS leader will tell you, though, these resources aren’t always used by customers to get to more advanced usage. Many times, customers reach out to support to get the answers to basic questions and don’t always explore and use these resources to get to advanced usage or “sticky” usage. Imagine, though, a world where these educational resources can be turned into a tutor or assistant or a virtual CSM. I listened to a podcast with Khan Academy CEO Sal Khan. He discussed incorporating AI into a virtual tutor called Khanmigo. Khanmigo can help students learn context or talk through deeper scenarios and questions. He shares an example of a student being able to talk to characters of books, like Jay Gatsby of the Great Gatsby. By engaging with the character, the student can learn difficult concepts that otherwise could have been missed. Imagine that! Teachers, like CSMs, want to create personalized customer experiences for students, but cannot because of the economies of scale…generally 30:1. With advancements in AI, teachers can provide personalized, contextual learning at scale. And I see this translating directly to what we are trying to drive as CS Leaders and CSMs. 

3. Customer Engagement: The above examples lead to another exciting area of AI possibilities: customer engagement. If the above two scenarios are adopted, let’s consider how customer engagement can be further enhanced. The point of engaging customers early and proactively is to help them understand the product and enhancements and how that can support their business. Often, this is tough to drive, especially in one-to-many programs. Yes, product releases and webinars are common, and even user-level walkthroughs, but imagine if an individual user can engage with an AI resource to get personalized application of new features and functionality instead of something more generic. The customer can receive 1:1 help with how the new enhancements directly apply based on what the person does in the business. When users can make connections to “how does this apply to me” or “why should I care,” we can drive better stickiness and usage of the product and help drive better outcomes for customers.

4. Proactive Support: If AI can use all kinds of data to provide better answers to questions, think about the implications of proactive support! The whole premise of CS is to work ahead and prevent issues from occurring. AI could support our human resources in providing JUST this type of customer engagement. Many platforms already exist to try to give CSMs a single place to go for all information about a customer, but still, this is limited. Imagine AI supporting CSMs in capturing further context about a customer, summarizing call information, taking notes and helping the CSM to keep on top of it. More importantly, imagine AI informing the CSM or reaching out to the customer as a “CSM assistant” of sorts to schedule time with the client, so the CSM and client can prevent problems before they start! How exciting!

5. Understanding Customer Goals: Finally, a thrilling application of AI comes with understanding specific goals and objectives of each customer, so we can tailor products and services to meet our customer needs. We can capture some of this in onboarding but to scale this for thousands of customers and keep it going as customers evolve is another challenge entirely. Customers grow; they have turnover; and their objectives change. Understanding what changes are happening at scale presents a big challenge within CS. AI can help us with this. AI can help us capture more user-based and unique information about the customer, and with this information we can use this data to help ensure we take appropriate actions to help drive outcomes and results. Imagine, if AI can capture user turnover and the new hire’s new role, and work with them to use the product based on their unique role in the business? To do this at scale is impossible, but with the advent of AI, no customer or user would be left behind to try to “figure it out” on their own.

AI is coming and it’s here to stay. It has to be part of our strategy, planning and long term thinking. There are some very exciting implications that will help drive ongoing and maximum value for our customers. This post hardly captures all the ways we can and should be thinking about AI, which leads me to ask, where do you see AI in Customer Success?

The Success League is a global Customer Success consulting firm that also offers coaching as well as a robust learning program with Certification for both CSMs and CS Leaders. Visit our website at TheSuccessLeague.io to view our full offerings or reach out to us with any specific inquiries.

Lauren Costella-Reber - Lauren is a change agent, communicator, leader and passionate champion for Customer Success. When she’s not working as the Chief Customer Officer at Dental Intelligence, you can find her serving as an advisor for The Success League, a board member for the Customer Success Network, and blogging on the CS Playlist. Lauren has her MA and BA from Stanford University. She was a former USA National swim team member and enjoys staying active in the Bay Area.

By Karla Kannan

The shift from being a traditional vendor to a trusted partner is more crucial than ever. It's a transformation that transcends mere transactions and cultivates long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. 

The Turning Point: A Case in Point

During a recent Executive Business Review, one of our Enterprise clients walked us through their journey of organizational changes and how our products and services are connected intricately with their growth strategy. What truly stood out was the "educational piece" their Executive Sponsor conveyed to every vendor partnering with them. It was an essential narrative that aimed to ensure all vendors understood their business intricacies and how each contributed to their overarching goals.

But it didn't stop there. The customer took a remarkable step by bringing a field representative, an end user, to the discussion. This representative shared a firsthand account of how a recent product addition was working from their perspective. Moreover, he astutely highlighted process and system improvements that we could make on our end. The dedication and investment put into this collaborative endeavor signaled something profound: we were no longer mere vendors. We had evolved into trusted partners.

Building the Pillars of Partnership

The story I just shared is a testament to the possible transformation when trust, accountability, and value creation become the foundation of your client relationships.

1. Mutual Trust: Trust is the cornerstone of any partnership. It's a two-way street where both parties believe in each other's capabilities and integrity. For our client, the Executive Sponsor's transparency and commitment to educate vendors about their business instilled trust. This trust paved the way for open dialogue and collaboration.

2. Candid Feedback: The client's willingness to bring in an end user to provide feedback showcased the importance of candid communication. In a true partnership, both sides should feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, concerns, and suggestions. This feedback loop ensures that both parties continue to grow and adapt together.

3. Accountability: Holding teams accountable for the outcomes of each project is vital. It demonstrates a commitment to delivering results, which is at the core of a successful partnership. Our client's focus on accountability sets a high standard, encouraging vendors to perform at their best.

4. Collaboration at All Levels: Building a partnership means engaging with every stakeholder, from top-level executives to end users. This inclusive approach ensures you address everyone's needs and goals, fostering a sense of collective ownership.

Advocacy: The Ultimate Reward

When a vendor-customer relationship evolves into a partnership grounded in trust, accountability, and collaboration, it's not just about a successful business association. It's about creating advocates for your business. Partners are not just satisfied customers but enthusiastic supporters who will go the extra mile to promote your products and services. They are invaluable assets in your growth strategy, as living testimonials of your commitment and value.

The journey from being a vendor to becoming a partner is an evolution. The highlighted principles can transform a business relationship into a thriving partnership, and they are a testament to the idea that, in today's business world, success is measured not only by financial results but also by the advocacy of those you serve.

Are you ready to make the transformation from vendor to partner, building long-lasting relationships that benefit both your organization and your clients?

The Success League is a global customer success consulting firm. Along with certification training for both CSM and CS Leaders, we offer coaching for CS Leaders who are looking for tailored advice for a variety of challenges. Find out more here or by visiting out website at TheSuccessLeague.io

Karla Kannan - Karla serves as the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience at BirchStreet Systems, a P2P platform designed for the hospitality industry. She leads the Customer Success, User Education, and Knowledge Management teams. Her passion for service excellence has a foundation from her time at Four Seasons Hotels, where she worked in Procurement. In previous roles, she managed the PMO and served as General Manager of the Mexico office. She holds an M.A. in Training and Development specializing in Adult Education from Roosevelt University and a Sigma Green Belt from Purdue University.

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We're committed to driving accountability for those major milestones.

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By Russell Bourne

Surely you’ve noticed the explosion of interest in 2023 about AI. Interest in it is everywhere: not only in the Customer Success industry, not only in tech, and not only in business.  

Accompanying the massive interest is a mad scramble to figure out how to leverage it best. Some users are experimenting and failing fast - good, but sometimes at a price. Others may be hanging back to see how things unfold - safe, but slow.  

Since this is a Customer Success blog, I’d like to share a few observations to help you decide if and how you should jump into the AI pool. As a disclaimer, I’m far from being an expert in AI but am fascinated at how we can use it for good across our Customer Journeys and Playbooks.  

AI is Not Just ChatGPT

First, let’s clarify that ChatGPT is only one small example of AI. I bring this up because I often see the terms used interchangeably. ChatGPT lies under a technology category known as the Large Language Model (LLM), which itself is only one example of several applicable AI types. The basic idea is LLMs can generate language-based content - a fancy term for text - intelligently.  

A word to the wise here: if you’ve ever participated in your company’s leadership planning meetings around a new stack component or an upcoming new hire, you’ve probably heard some variation on “The problem we’re discussing will be solved when we get _______”. Honestly, that’s a bail-out on confronting a complicated problem. I’ve personally witnessed this said about Salesforce, billing systems, heads of Marketing, and so on. As you may have guessed, the arrival of these things didn’t, in fact, fix the problem. I bring this up because I’m hearing it about ChatGPT (or AI, interchangeably) now, and I caution everyone from falling into the trap. AI is not going to solve your problems just by existing. You have to use it in a specific, targeted way, and you must figure out what that is for your company’s use case.

We’ve Been Under-Using AI for Years Already

Generative AI is one example of a shiny new object in the AI world, but its use can be amplified if layered on top of already-existing, less-utilized methods.

For years, we’ve had simple speech-to-text technology - we’ve probably all had to remove notetakers from virtual meetings we didn’t want recorded. Many speech-to-text platforms come with out-of-the-box add-on functions that help users do things like identify key buying indicators, call out when important information is being shared, ensuring the right balance between talking and listening, and (related) sending users a warning that the other person on the call has developed a negative attitude or otherwise tuned out of the conversation.  

These functions only scratch the surface of the insights GPT can give you. Imagine if your data pool consisted of transcripts of every sales call, every CSM call, and every Support ticket your company has ever had.  

Internally, you could limit the GPT data source to that pool, and ask it for insights about key win/loss reasons, FAQ, and so on.  

Externally, you can leverage Generative AI either reactively or proactively. For example, you could let customers self-serve without even knowing it by using it on the back end of a ticketing system or chatbot. Or you could use Generative AI to surface opportunity or risk, then use Natural Language Processing to prompt customers in a targeted, prescriptive way. A CSM would simply need to approve the note before it’s sent out.

These customer-facing outputs could be text, audio, video, wherever your customers want to be met. Combining text from an LLM with generative video is our near future. If you were at the 2023 ChurnZero BIG RYG conference, you probably saw a demonstration by Synthesia in the opening keynote. Synthesia generates AI video, performed by avatars of either fictional or real people. The video is shockingly realistic and will only get better in the years to come, but the catch is today you need to give the video avatar a script to read. How amazing to think of AI-generated text read by an AI-generated avatar.

Scaled CS isn’t just AI; and it isn’t just Digital, Either

As a Customer Success community, we’ve been deliberate at finding the right terminology for many parts of our work. Whenever we talk about scaling CS - which almost always means how to handle small revenue customers at volume - we tend to lump the small customers into what used to be called a “tech touch” segment on a CSM-less customer journey. That name seems to have fallen out of favor because it implies small customers aren’t worthy of human contact.  

Now I see the term “digital CS” but I don’t love that either - as a Segmentation and Customer Journey nerd, there isn’t necessarily such a thing as a segment that gets all-human or all-digital touch. The truth is all customer segments will be on journeys that are a mix of human and digital touchpoints. Even your biggest strategic customers will get something digital; and often - though not always - your smallest ones might get human help. Lately I’ve seen “Scaled CS” and that seems to be a good name, as long as we’re all together on the definition.

All of the above being said, I’d like to remind everyone that AI will not take over all the digital touchpoints in a journey. If nothing else, AI-generated content probably needs to flow through some digital delivery platform. For example, a proactive GPT email can be generated by ChatGPT, but it still sends through an email marketing platform, or a customer prompt will still flow through a chatbot.

Remember too that Scaled CS doesn’t have to be digital. It can be 1:many. It can mean in-person events, office hours, the list goes on. The touchpoints are human-delivered, but they’re efficient because they’re 1:many. For those who are horrified we’re losing human touch, these ideas are a scalable way of keeping it.

I’ll leave you with a final thought: I’m aware nothing in this article is particularly groundbreaking. I’m not an AI expert and I haven’t introduced a shiny new journey touchpoint. If anyone is reading this thinking it’s a firm grasp of the obvious, fair enough; my goal in writing this is to challenge you to think about how much of the obvious stuff you’re fully gone-live with today. CS is just like anything else; the fundamentals have to be strong. I’m positive the companies who are already following best practices on Customer Journeys are in the best position to adopt AI in an impactful way.

The Success League is a global Customer Success consulting firm that also offers a CS Leadership Certification training. Within that program are individual classes on Building a Playbook and The Digital Customer Journey. Visit our website for more on these and our other offerings.

Russell Bourne - Russell is a Customer Success Leader, Coach, Writer, and Consultant. In a Customer Success career spanning well over a decade, his human-first approaches to leadership and program management have consistently delivered overachievement on expansion sales and revenue goals, alongside much friendship and laughter. Russell serves on the Board of Gain Grow Retain as co-lead for Content Creation. He is passionate about equipping individual contributors and business leaders alike to lean on their Success practices to grow their careers and help their companies thrive. He holds a BA from UCLA, and in his free time plays guitar semi-professionally.

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By Kristen Hayer

I’ve had a whirlwind of a week. I spent last Monday and Tuesday in Alexandria, VA with my team, planning for (our amazing!) 2024. Then Wednesday and Thursday hanging out with hundreds of CS professionals at the ChurnZero BigRYG event in Washington, DC. There were dinners, and parties, and networking events, and speaking gigs. After years of hanging out primarily alone in my office, it was amazing, but it was also a lot.

I think that being excited to hang out with other humans and being overwhelmed and needing frequent breaks from said humans can coexist. Before my talk on the last day of the conference, I hung out with some of the folks who had crept into our conference room early. Why? Because they were done “people-ing”. They needed a safe space to breathe, check their phone, and remove themselves from the fray. There were four of us who kind of bonded over a shared fear of networking, and a desire for more one-on-one conversations.

As we all get back “into the fray” after years of working at home, what can we do to make sure we’re community-ready? Here are a few suggestions:

Buy Yourself a “Pump You Up” Beverage

Even if you’re not a PSL person, you can get a morning beverage you love. It isn’t so much the caffeine, as the gesture to yourself that you care about your own well-being. You are worth buying a fancy beverage for. Take a few minutes to quietly sip this on your own, before entering the social arena.

Spend Time Asking and Listening instead of Talking

Some of the anxiety that comes from social situations stems from feeling like you’re going to have to share what is going with you. If you practice asking strong questions and listening to the answers, and then asking follow up questions, you don’t need to be the subject of the conversation, and you’ll have fun learning about the other person.

Leave the Situation When You Can

There are natural breaks in events, like meals and special evening events. Nobody will fault you for stepping away during these breaks. If anyone asks, you can gracefully say you have to take a call or attend a meeting. These breaks allow you to throttle your social interactions to the level you are comfortable with.

Make an Appearance

Sometimes you definitely need to attend an event, and you need to be seen at the event. However, that doesn’t mean you need to be actively involved in the event for the whole time! As long as the right people have observed you attending the event, you don’t need to be the life of the party. You can, say, go up to the top level of the boat and enjoy the stars.

If you are someone who struggles with social situations, I hope this gives you a few ideas. And if you’re someone who has never had any of these concerns, party on.

The Success League is a global customer success consulting firm that offers consulting, leadership coaching, as well as comprehensive CSM and CS Leadership Certification training programs. Please visit our website to find out more on these and our other offerings.

Kristen Hayer - Kristen founded The Success League in 2015 and currently serves as the company's CEO. Over the past 25 years Kristen has been a success, sales, and marketing executive, primarily working with growth-stage tech companies, and leading several award-winning customer success teams. She has written over 100 articles on customer success, and is the host of 3 podcasts about the field: Innovations in Leadership, CS Essentials with Gainsight, and Reading for Success. Kristen serves on the boards of the Customer Success Leadership Network, the Customer Success program at the University of San Francisco, and the Women in Leadership Program at UC Santa Barbara. She received her MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle, and now lives in San Francisco.

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By Shelly Shearlds

In Customer Success, becoming a trusted advisor is the ultimate goal. It transcends the role of merely assisting customers in using a product or service. A trusted advisor builds relationships grounded in trust, expertise, and a shared commitment to achieving customer goals. Sometimes, achieving those goals means challenging customers constructively and having the courage to say "no" when necessary. In this article, we'll explore the art of saying "no" strategically and how it can lead to better outcomes for you and your customers.

Understanding the Trusted Advisor Role

Before delving into the "how," it's crucial to understand what it means to be a trusted advisor. According to "The Trusted Advisor," a book by David Maister, Charles Green, and Robert Galford, a trusted advisor has extensive knowledge and experience and provides advice and guidance tailored to a firm's needs and objectives. Trusted advisors are more than just problem solvers or technical experts. They build strong, long-term customer relationships based on trust, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to success. Trusted advisors deeply understand their customers' businesses and can provide insights, recommendations, and guidance that go beyond the scope of their product or service.

The Benefits of Challenging Your Customers

If you manage your accounts with a mindset that the customer is always right, you are doing yourself, your organization, and your customer a disservice. Challenging your customers might sound counterintuitive when you want to maintain positive relationships. However, it can be a powerful tool for achieving success throughout the customer journey. Here are some benefits:

• Driving Growth: Challenging your customers can help them identify growth opportunities they might have missed.

• Building Trust: When done correctly, challenging your customers demonstrates your commitment to their success, building trust.

• Strengthening the Relationship: Healthy challenges can lead to deeper, more meaningful interactions, enhancing the bond between you and your customers.

Challenging Your Customers in a Healthy Way

Here are some strategies:

• Start with Empathy: Understand your customer's perspective and challenges. Approach the conversation with empathy and a genuine desire to help.

• Ask Thoughtful Questions: Use open-ended questions to uncover their goals, pain points, and aspirations. For example, 

  • "What key objectives do you hope to achieve next quarter?" 

  • “What does a successful year for your team look like?”

  • “What are the most time-consuming processes your team owns today?”

  • “What is the biggest complaint you hear from your customers?”

  • “How do you help your customers achieve success?”

• Share Insights and Best Practices: Offer insights, share best practices, and provide relevant data or success stories to support your recommendations—partner with cross-functional teams like Product Marketing to help you with this. 

• Frame Challenges Positively: Instead of saying, "You're doing this wrong," try framing it as "Here's an opportunity to improve." or “We recently worked with another customer on a similar challenge, and we achieved (insert outcome). Would you like to hear more about how we solved that using a different approach?” 

• Collaborate: Involve your customers in the solution. Encourage them to share their ideas and insights, making it collaborative.

• Set Clear Objectives: Establish specific, measurable objectives for the challenge. Define what success looks like and the steps needed to get there.

• Provide Resources: Offer resources, training, or support to help them address the challenge effectively.

• Monitor Progress: Continuously track progress and provide feedback. Celebrate milestones and achievements together.

IRL

While it may be easy to understand the importance of being a trusted advisor, let's bring this concept to life through a practical example. 

I lead an Account Management team at Medrio, an eClinical technology provider. Medrio’s vision is to improve 100 million lives by enabling secure, reliable, and efficient clinical trials. My team’s key focus is retention and helping our customers grow through our products and services. We achieve this by ensuring customers are getting a return on their investment in our technologies and helping them achieve their objectives effectively.

We often engage with leaders responsible for data management outcomes in clinical trial systems. These leaders may initially have a particular trial design in mind, which only sometimes prioritizes the patient experience. While the ultimate goal of any clinical trial is FDA approval, it's essential to ensure that patients remain in the trial, that clinical sites don't get frustrated with the technology, and that critical data points are captured efficiently.

As trusted advisors, we may need to challenge our customers by gently informing them that their desired design may not serve the best interests of the site, patients, or workflow. These conversations can be challenging, as our customers are also experienced professionals with their own design perspectives. However, they come to appreciate our viewpoint and our team's industry expertise, which is crucial to their success. In a remarkable instance, we helped one of our customers achieve a 93% patient compliance rate and ultimately secure FDA approval by prioritizing efficiency, data quality, and overall patient experience. 

While you might not be in the life sciences industry, the principles remain the same. The success and ROI a customer achieves with your company depend on your ability to be an expert in your field, understand their goals intimately, and not shy away from challenging their decisions when necessary. After all, you partner with hundreds of customers striving to achieve similar goals, holding a larger span of expertise.

Conclusion

Becoming a trusted advisor as a Customer Success Manager involves more than just ensuring your customers use your product effectively. It means challenging them in a way that encourages growth, drives success, and strengthens the relationship. By approaching challenges with empathy, insights, collaboration, and a commitment to mutual success, you can become the trusted advisor your customers rely on for guidance and support. Remember, it's not about pushing them out of their comfort zone but helping them reach new heights.

The Success League is a customer success consulting firm that offers consulting engagements, as well as coaching and certification training programs for both CSMs and CS Leaders. Please visit www.thesuccessleague.io for more.

Shelly Shearlds - With more than 20 years of experience in post-sales success, Shelly is passionate about optimizing the customer lifecycle to drive revenue growth. She is currently the Senior Director of Account Management and Customer Enablement at Medrio, a Clinical software company supporting the Pharmaceutical, Biotech, and Clinical Research sectors. Never one to shy away from a challenge, she recently joined the founding team at Success in Black, an organization committed to fostering more diverse, inclusive, and equitable growth within the Saas community.

By Chad Horenfeldt

We’ve been hearing a lot about how QBRs need an overhaul but it’s time to relook at another crucial meeting in the customer journey - the customer kickoff. Similar to a QBR, this can be a boring and mundane meeting filled with endless slides. Instead of energizing your clients, you can suck the life out of them by pummeling them with tedious details they probably won’t remember. It’s time to shake this up if you want to lay the right foundation with your customers and set yourself up for long-term success.

When prepping for a kickoff meeting, how many of you copy your existing onboarding slides, add your customer’s logo, change out a few items, and then jump on a Zoom? There’s nothing wrong with this approach as long as your objective is aligned with your customer’s business outcomes. Too often, the focus is on getting through all of the slides when the focus should be on understanding the customer’s needs and building trust. This post is all about enhancing your kickoff meeting by establishing a positive rapport with your clients, spurring their involvement, and creating a strong foundation for a sustained relationship.

Have a discussion rather than a one-sided conversation

Similar to the excitement of a first date, the initial moments of a kickoff meeting are filled with eager anticipation. You have butterflies fluttering in your stomach as you await to see what type of client they’re going to turn out to be. Are they going to be engaged? Are they going to be serious? Light-hearted? Are these going to be one of the “good ones” or a “problem child”? 

Your clients are probably a little nervous as well. They have a number of priorities on their plate and may be worried that they’re getting even more work shoved on them. They may also be unsure they purchased the right solution and suffer from buyer remorse. While they may be excited as they see your product as a savior for all of their current problems, they most likely have a lot riding on this implementation. They may be counting on your solution to achieve a key goal and they may have specific launch timelines they’ll need to hit. Regardless of your emotional state, it’s vital to shift your focus and put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Think about what they need and how best to keep them engaged while ensuring that you’re setting up the relationship for future success. That’s why it’s important to build rapport right away.

To connect and start to bond with your customers, you should focus on learning more about their company, their goals, and their current situation. Rather than conducting a one-sided conversation where you march through your slides and focus on minute details, you can elevate the meeting by engaging your customers in a strategic discussion. Do away with the dull and generic “kickoff call” and consider changing the meeting name. For example, renowned CS leader and CCO at Client Success, Kristi Faltorusso, calls her kickoff meetings "Partnership kick-offs". I recommend calling it “Strategic planning kickoff”. This sets the tone that you’re upleveling the discussion.

Rebranding the meeting to a strategic discussion also signals to the decision maker that their presence is needed. I’ve seen too many situations in which the decision maker hands off the implementation to a member of their team that has little clue what is expected of them or the reasons behind why they bought the product. The presence of the client stakeholder who initiated the purchase at the meeting is vital so they can effectively communicate their vision and rationale for choosing to work with you.

Engaging and involving your customers in a strategic discussion is the best way to entice them to join. Inform the decision maker of the nature of the discussion so they understand why their presence is mandatory. In addition, let them know that you just need them for the first 20-30 minutes and then they can drop off. Now that we've repositioned the purpose and the structure of the kickoff meeting, let's get into how you’ll execute it.

Establish the CSM as the Strategic Advisor

Once you’ve established the kickoff meeting as a strategic conversation, you can also leverage the CSM to take the lead on confirming the client’s desired business outcomes and cementing their role as the strategic advisor. Irrespective of whether onboarding has been separated from the CSM role, the CSM should actively participate in this meeting to demonstrate their competence in defining and delivering customer value.

Instead of starting the meeting off by taking the client through your onboarding processes and other mind-numbing details, jump right into the meat of the conversation: why they bought your solution and what they expect to achieve from it. CSMs should lead this discovery conversation to narrow down the business outcomes, success criteria, and specific goals the client wants to achieve. By tackling this first, you’ll engage the senior stakeholders and ensure that everyone is aligned around specific goals. Even if their business outcomes aren’t too well defined at this point, it’s a starting point you can work off and rally around. They can always be fine tuned later on. In addition, the CSM will be positioned as a valuable partner in their success and not seen as an extension of the support team. 

It’s recommended to first focus on their business. Ensure you understand what their business does, who their customers are, and what their main challenges are. Are there any pressing events or activities that increase the urgency of this implementation? Knowing their time constraints can help you better understand their priorities. Next, lead a business outcome discovery session. For more information on how to lead these discussions, check out this previous post: The Secret to Uncovering Your Customer’s Business Outcomes. Remember that your job isn't to just get them launched successfully. It's to improve their business. You’ll know your conversation is on the right track if you don’t see anyone turn off their cameras and you hear them asking you questions. 

Define the roles and responsibilities and set expectations

The first part of this meeting should have your customer’s engines revving and wanting more. You’ve engaged them, taken the time to better understand their business, and defined what is most important to them. Now you can set the right expectations so everyone understands their roles and responsibilities at a high level. This includes their weekly time requirements, the homework they're expected to complete and any other key details that will determine the success of the onboarding project. 

It’s important to cover this section with the senior stakeholders present to prevent any ambiguity when it comes to overall role expectations and the expected launch timeline. This avoids the issue of the senior stakeholder downloading the responsibility to someone on their team who then drags their feet and puts the whole project in jeopardy. As you’ve frontloaded this agenda item, the key stakeholders are all present so you can eliminate the possibility of “broken telephone”.

Not only are you ensuring that your clients know what is expected of them, you’re also outlining what your team will be responsible for. This can include reviewing what is included in their statement of work or even a high level review of what they can expect from your team as part of the onboarding process. You’ll also want to outline how CSMs or others from your team will engage with your client on an ongoing basis. For instance, it's important to detail how a CSM will interact with the senior stakeholder at this point to establish clear expectations regarding their involvement and future meeting commitments.

You don't have to delve into the intricate details of every element in the project plan right now - just provide sufficient information for them to grasp the collaborative process, your responsibilities versus theirs, and the upcoming phases, with a special emphasis on engaging with decision makers. You can do that later on once the decision maker leaves. I would also recommend implementing something similar to what Kristi Faltorusso uses called “the customer promise” which outlines what the customer can expect from their CS team. This builds trust and draws a firm line in the sand on how your team operates.

Lastly, call out any potential thorny issues while you have the decision maker on the call. For example, Sales may have promised a tight deadline or the client may be missing something or have a risky element of their onboarding that needs to be discussed. Now is the time to wrestle with these topics so you can determine the best way to address them. If you kick them down the road, they’ll only become a larger challenge. Once you’ve completed this portion of the meeting, the client senior stakeholders can drop off.

Save the boring but important stuff for later in the meeting or for a follow-up

With the most important items out of the way, you can move on to the important but humdrum stuff. This includes going through the onboarding project plan, the projected timeline for each phase, what the client is required to do at each stage, and any other relevant items in the user journey. This gets into the nitty gritty so the client can better understand what each week may look like, and the exact resources required and when they’ll be needed. You should also use this opportunity to discuss how you’ll work together, how best to communicate with each other, and set upcoming meetings. All of this can also be done in a subsequent meeting if that’s easier.

Reinvigorating your kickoff meetings 

It's clear that the traditional customer kickoff meeting, much like the QBR, often lacks the engagement and strategic focus required to build strong, lasting customer relationships. To address this issue, throughout this article I’ve recommended ways to transform these meetings into dynamic and productive discussions. Specifically, the recommendations show how you can reshape these meetings into strategic exchanges that actively involve senior stakeholders and position the CSM as the catalyst for exploring business results. This involves focusing more on their business and setting the right expectations and then covering the basic elements so everyone is on the same page. This will improve your understanding of your client’s needs, elevate the perception your clients have of you, and set the relationship on the right path for a long term partnership.

The Success League is a global customer success consulting firm that also offers leadership coaching, as well as accredited CS Leader and CS Professional Certification training programs. Please visit www.thesuccessleague.io for our complete offerings.

Chad Horenfeldt - Chad is a customer success executive with 15+ years of experience building and developing high performing teams. Currently, he is the Head of Customer Success at Kustomer. Prior to Kustomer, Chad held CS leadership positions at Updater, Bluecore, Influitive, and Oracle (Eloqua). In addition to writing for The Success League, he also writes regularly on the topic of customer success on his blog The Enlightened Customer.

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Dive into this insightful interview from Customer Success Middle East with Kristen Hayer, the visionary founder and CEO of The Success League, a global customer success consulting and training firm.

Discover Kristen’s career journey from project management to VP of Sales and finally, her pivotal shift to pioneering Customer Success.

Kristen shares invaluable wisdom on what makes an ideal Customer Success Manager, emphasizing the power of curiosity and creativity.

Her advice for newcomers in the field? Embrace the first three months as a learning tour, soaking up knowledge like a sponge.

Get a glimpse into Kristen's dynamic workday as a CEO, where every day brings fresh challenges and diverse tasks, from writing articles on Customer Success to engaging with clients and much more.

Find out what inspires and motivates her, and fun facts about her upbringing. Kristen's ultimate role models? The dedicated CSMs who show up day in and day out, ready to tackle any challenge.

And for those aspiring to grow their careers in customer success, Kristen's golden advice is to be a great questioner, as asking the right questions often leads to the most impactful solutions.

Discover Kristen's favorite book, "12 Elements of Great Managing," a must-read for anyone aspiring to be a leader in any field.

And don't miss hearing about her "I've made it" moment, a heartwarming experience at the Customer Success Excellence Awards.

This is a piece that Kristen wrote previously, but the advice within is evergreen. Even though the summer months have passed, there’s still time to start your planning for the upcoming year!

By Kristen Hayer

It’s a little too early to start planning for 2022, right? Wrong. If you’re a customer success leader, now is the best time to get started. You have a lot of ground to cover before the end of the year. For most industries summer is slow, so you can get a bunch of the analysis and process redesign done in July and August. Here’s a 6-month plan that will have you and your team ready for the new year:

JULY: REVIEW CUSTOMER DATA

Find time this summer to review the data you’ve collected on your customers, and decide if you need to make any adjustments to your program going forward. Look for areas where customer behavior is changing. Are they purchasing more, on average? Are they taking longer to onboard? Are they giving you different reasons for churning? Use this information to determine whether you need to make any changes to your customer journey map, segmentation, or processes. You’ll need to watch for additional changes throughout the rest of 2021, but you’ll have done the heavy lifting in July.

AUGUST: EVALUATE TOOLS AND PROCESSES

The work you did in July leads right into an assessment of your processes and tools in August. Can you track all of the data you need? Are you maximizing your existing tools? Do you need to add processes to create a better customer experience? Which COVID-era practices are no longer needed, and which ones bred innovation worth keeping? If you noticed a lot of customer behavior changes in your July analysis, you may need to completely revisit your customer journey map and team processes. If you suspect that you aren’t using your tools to the fullest, schedule demos with your vendors and have them review best practices. This is also the month to evaluate new tools.

SEPTEMBER: ALIGN METRICS AND GOALS

Once you have your program outlined you can think about what makes sense from a metrics standpoint. Consider metrics in 3 key areas of customer success: retention, expansion, and satisfaction. Think about the tools and measures you already have in place, and create a plan that leverages that data. If you need to add new measurement points, add those now so you have a 3-month baseline going into next year. Once your metrics are established, use those to draft department and team goals. Again, these may need to be adjusted over the next 3 months, but doing this work now gives you a solid starting point.

OCTOBER: BUILD HIRING AND COMP PLANS

Use data from sales, combined with your own churn expectations, to determine how many customers you’ll be serving in each segment every month. This will indicate when you need to hire. Don’t forget about managers and operations staff. Think about compensation as well: most customer success roles now include variable comp. Create a compensation plan that is tied to the goals for each role on your team. Clear role descriptions will help you align the existing team members to their roles, and help you hire new CSMs who are top performers.

NOVEMBER: DEVELOP A BUDGET

Some organizations are great about getting their annual budgets finalized early. Unfortunately, most end up pushing final approval well past the end of the year. This makes it tough for you to get the resources you need to hire, equip, and train your team in the early part of each year. You can get around this common issue by developing a working budget ahead of time. Talk with your finance team about the format they use, and develop a draft budget that includes headcount, variable comp, tools, training, and team events. Ask for approval to use this working budget until the official company budget is finalized.

DECEMBER: COMMUNICATE AND TRAIN

At this point you will have done a ton of work on your program, but you probably haven’t included your team in every part of it. You need to clearly communicate any changes that you’ve made to the program, roles, goals, and compensation plans. You’ll also need to train the team on any new processes or tools that you’ve decided to add. December is also a good time of year to develop skills that the team will need for next year, so consider adding skill-building workshops to your training plans. Keep in mind that different people learn in different ways, so be sure to communicate both in meetings and in writing to cover your bases.

By following this plan you’ll be less overwhelmed with planning in the fall, and your team will be ready to hit the ground running in January. Of course, if your business doesn’t run on a calendar fiscal year, adjust this plan as needed to match your company’s operating schedule. Good luck as you begin planning for 2022 (now!)

Need some planning help? The Success League is a customer success consulting firm that helps leaders build and develop top performing customer success teams. We offer short-term consulting engagements that can kick-start your planning efforts, as well as coaching for leaders who need some weekly advice. Check out TheSuccessLeague.io for details.

Kristen Hayer - Kristen Hayer founded The Success League in 2015 and currently serves as the company's CEO. Over the past 25 years Kristen has been a success, sales, and marketing executive, primarily working with growth-stage tech companies, and leading several award-winning customer success teams. She has written over 100 articles on customer success, and is the host of 3 podcasts about the field: Innovations in Leadership, CS Essentials with Gainsight, and Reading for Success. Kristen serves on the boards of the Customer Success Leadership Network, the Customer Success program at the University of San Francisco, and the Women in Leadership Program at UC Santa Barbara. She received her MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle, and now lives in San Francisco.