Is Yours An At-Risk Customer Success Group?

The rumor mill is working overtime, there is talk about a hiring freeze after the last board meeting — which itself didn’t go well, by all accounts. The CEO seems to wear a constant worried face. What’s going on? The colleagues that you met at the...

Time To Competency for a new CSM?

When your company hires a new Customer Success Manager, there first is the process of onboarding the new employee.  This includes getting them set up with their access to the computer, all of the HR stuff (setting up the payroll, access to benefits) and so on.  Over...

Customer Success Took a Wrong Turn

Somewhere along the line, companies made a wrong turn as they set up their Customer Success groups. While people across the board talked of the importance of “trusted advisors,” that’s not what companies hired or developed.  Assigning a CSM to look...

Is Customer Success At Risk?

For over a year now, we have all had friends, colleagues, and connections in the worldwide Customer Success community suddenly appear in the job market. Open position announcements are fewer, and there are many applicants for each new posting. Both veteran Customer...

Customer Success and Authentic Customer Centricity

Many companies will assure you that they are customer-centric.  However, the definition of “customer centricity” has as many answers as does the definition of customer success.  “We love our customers!” is the cry.  “They are at the...

Product As A Community

Writing for Inc. Magazine, Gainsight’s Nick Meta emphasizes the value of the community that should form around a product and a company if it is to be successful over the long term.  But what does that community look like in practice? What are the pieces of that...

The 2021 Customer Success Executive Priorities Survey

Over the past 22 years, while Customer Success as a function has become increasingly common in business, turnover in Customer Success executives has been a key concern that is often not openly acknowledged or discussed.  Something is broken in the executive hiring...

How to Lead Lasting Transformational Change in SaaS

Company change is often the elephant in the room. Whether you have an existing and evolving Customer Success (CS) team, or are building an organization for the first time, it’s likely that you have experienced the realities of change management: It is uncomfortable,...

Success is Going Beyond the Customers’ Desired Outcome

There have been many, too many, conversations over the years about the role of Customer Success.  It’s frustrating, and it has prompted several very senior members of the worldwide community to complain to me; “Why are we still talking about this!?” ...