Moments of Truth
Karla Kannan: The Importance of Stakeholder Mapping & Governance in Customer Success
MoT #83: Karla Kannan from Birchstreet Systems discusses why it is important to understand your stakeholders, their roles and motivations, in order to drive change.
Jeff Justice Williams: Being Honest About Your Background for CS Jobs
MoT #82: Jeff Justice Williams from Box discusses various challenges that can affect both employees and hiring managers, and shares some best practices and tools job seekers can use to help assess potential new employers.
Guy Galon: Being Predictive in Customer Success
MoT #81: Guy Galon from Hysolate discusses why it is important to be predictive in the ever-evolving Customer Success industry.
Sam Loveland: The Evolution of Customer Success and How Data-Driven Decision Making is Shaping the Future of CS
MoT #80: Sam Loveland from ServiceNow discusses the evolution of Customer Success and how data-driven decision making is shaping the future of the industry.
Andrew Shoaff: Transitioning from One CS Business Model to Another
MoT #79: Andrew Shoaff from Zywave discusses the challenges and benefits of transitioning from one CS business model to another.
Cairo Amani: Personal Branding and How to Shine as a New CSM
MoT #78: Cairo Amani from Sunnyside discusses personal branding and how to shine as a new CSM.
Patrick James: The Importance and Value of Management Training for Customer Success
MoT #77: Patrick James from Enroad discusses how management training can have a positive impact on employees, customers and overall organizational culture.
Josh Zamora: Imposter Syndrome, Establishing Trust With Your Team, and Managing Up
MoT #76: Josh Zamora from ServiceNow discusses what to do when experiencing imposter syndrome, how to establish trust with your team, and the art of "managing up".
Lindsay Anderson: The Importance of Change Management in the World of Customer Success
MoT #75: Lindsay Anderson from Slack discusses the importance of utilizing change management strategies in the world of Customer Success.
Gala Samokieszyn: On the Effects of Empathetic Service
MoT #74: Gala Samokieszyn from ESG discusses the importance of empathetic service and how to leverage the countless moments of truth one can encounter, or create, on a daily basis, in order to create or secure a connection with others.
Nils Vinje: Overcoming the Crisis of Context
MoT #73: Nils Vinje from Glide Consulting discusses the importance of being able to clearly define and communicate the value you provide in your role to others within or outside of your organization.
Melissa Kwan: Leveraging Technology To Help Customer Success Scale
MoT #72: Melissa Kwan from eWebinar
Rav Dhaliwal: How to Avoid Customer Success Becoming the “Everything” Department
MoT #71: Rav Dhaliwal from Crane Venture Partners discusses the subscription economy, how organizations need to evolve, the signs of becoming the “everything” department, and some thoughts on how to address the situation.
Rebecca Nerad: Actioning Empathy, Self Awareness and Thoughts on Working Remotely
MoT #70: Rebecca Nerad from E2Open discusses the importance of utilizing empathy and having self-awareness when working in Customer Success. She also touches on the shift to working remotely and its impacts.
Michael Harnum: Investing in Your People
MoT #69: Michael Harnum from ESG discusses the value of investing in and building relationships within your team.
Anita Toth: Dealing With and Structuring Difficult Conversations
MoT #68: Anita Toth from Anita Toth, Inc. discusses how to effectively deal with and structure difficult customer conversations.
Ed Powers: Customer Success and Data-Driven Decision Making
MoT #67: Ed Powers from Service Excellence Partners discusses why using data and statistics is such an important element of making decisions as a Customer Success leader.
Toby Lucich: The Importance of Project Management to Customer Success
MoT #66: Toby Lucich from Return Leverage discusses the importance and value of utilizing project management methodologies as a Customer Success professional.
Raman Bindra: How Effective Customer Engagement Leads to Customer Delight
MoT #65: Raman Bindra from LeadSquared discusses how a proper customer engagement strategy leads to greater customer satisfaction.
Shari Srebnick: The Venn of Discovery: Taking a Consultative Approach With Open-Ended Questions, Active Listening and Empathy
MoT #64: Shari from Searchmetrics talks about the key components of taking a consultative approach, or the “Venn Diagram” of Discovery, allows you to better understand and communicate with your customers.
Yanira Sesniak: The Importance of Follow-Through in the World of Customer Success
MoT #63: Yanira from IngeniousIO discusses why it’s so important to follow-through (not just follow-up) with our customers, peers, and managers. It’s a core competency for CSMs that should be a standard part of your daily business activities.
Disha Gosalia: The Past, Present and Future of Customer Success
MoT #62: Disha from New Relic discusses the evolution of customer success, from its origins to where it's going as the subscription economy continues to mature. She also discusses what makes for the most effective customer success teams.
Manisha Marberry: The Importance of Value Realization in the Role of a Customer Success Manager
MoT #61: Manisha from Sprinklr talks about why value realization is such a critical aspect of the role, and shares some of her thoughts and best practices to help drive and communicate the value that customers are achieving using the platform.
Maranda Dziekonski: The Future of the Workplace and the Motions of Customer Sucess in a Post-Pandemic World
MoT #60: Maranda from Swiftly discusses changes to the workplace and the motions of customer success since the pandemic hit the globe. She also raises concerns and discuss some ideas and best practices about how to manage a remote workforce.
Chad Jasmin: Technology and Its Impact on Delivering Success
MoT #59: Chad from Wi-Tronix discusses the types of technology that the Wi-Tronix Customer Success team uses to deliver success and the impact that it’s had on their ability to deliver success.
Kristi Faltorusso: Implementing a Customer Success Lead Framework for Customer Communications
MoT #58: Kristi Faltorusso from Intellishift discusses a framework that she’s developed to coordinate customer communications and ensure that the right messages are being delivered at the right time.
Steve Bernstein: The Importance of and Best Practices for Understanding Customer Sentiment
MoT #57: Steve Bernstein from Waypoint Group discusses why customer sentiment analysis is an important element of the success of every company.
Kelly Hook: Building Customer Success in an Early Stage Company
MoT #56: Kelly Hook from Orderful talks about her career path to Customer Success, her experience and some of her learnings building Customer Success in an early stage company, and thoughts on how AI and ML could shape the role of CS in the future.
David Ellin: The Value of the Customer Advisory Board to Your Product Organization
MoT #55: David Ellin from Centric Leadership Strategies discusses the importance of the Customer Advisory Board to Product, talks about some of his experiences running and leveraging the CAB concept for Product, and shares some best practices.
Chris Hicken: Managing and Leveraging your Key Customer Stakeholders
MoT #54: Chris Hicken from nuffsaid discusses how most companies have weak champion relationship strategies, and offers a better relationship coverage framework to reduce churn risk.
Patrick Sanders: How My Career in Teaching Helped Me Be Good At Customer Success
MoT #53: Patrick Sanders from Docebo discusses the transferable experience and skills he developed as a teacher, which has played a positive impact on his abilities as a Customer Success Manager.
Michael Buccellato: The Role of Empathy in Building Trust for Customer Success
MoT #52: Michael Buccellato from LawGeex discusses the importance of empathy in building that trusted advisor relationship with your customers. He also covers some skills and techniques for employing empathy.
Raman Bindra: Benefits of a Consultative Approach for Onboarding
MoT #51: Raman Bindra from LeadSquared discusses the benefits gained during the onboarding process when taking a consultative approach, leveraging active listening and utilizing open-ended questioning skills.
Sara Masson: Best Practices for Virtual Communications
MoT #50: Sara Masson from Loopio discusses a variety of best practices for virtual communications, including tips for email, video conference and phone-based conversations.
Keri Keeling: Thoughts and Ideas on Voice of the Customer Programs
MoT #49: Keri Keeling from VMWare talks through a Voice of the Customer Framework and discusses ideas on how to make it effective.
Jay Nathan: Community for CS Strategy and Customer Journey Mapping
MoT #48: Jay Nathan from Higher Logic talks about how leveraging the community can help flesh out Customer Success Strategy and discusses some best practices around Customer Journey development.
Annie Woo: Thoughts on Growing Leaders
MoT #47: Annie Woo from Procore shares her perspective and some approaches she takes to growing leaders on her team.
David Sakamoto: Strategies for Capitalizing on Remote Customer Success
MoT #46: David Sakamoto from GitLab discusses how to effectively capitalize on and employ strategies for remote Customer Success execution.
Dave Blake: The Value of Customer Success and Its Contribution to Business Fundamentals
MoT #45: Dave Blake from ClientSuccess talks about the value that the Customer Success team brings to a company and how the actions of the CS team play an important role and contribution to company fundamentals.
Nils Vinje: Leadership Skills and Customer Success
MoT #44: In this MOT, Andrew speaks with Nils Vinje from Glide Consulting on various topics about Customer Success and leadership.
Melinda Gonzalez: Product and Customer Success Alignment
MoT #43: Melinda Gonzalez from WeWork discusses the importance of product and customer success being aligned. She talks about the pitfalls of misalignment & the benefits of having the right structure & mindset of a customer-focused product team.
Chad Jasmin: The Massive Impact of Success Plans
MoT #42: Chad from Wi-Tronix talks about the game-changing impact that implementing SuccessPlans had for the Wi-Tronix customer success team and their customer base.
Bill Cushard: What is The Next Big Thing in Customer Education
MoT #41: Bill Cushard from ServiceRocket discusses the next big thing in customer education along with a number of other education and training related topics.
Mike Salazar: The Complexities of Business Reviews for Platform Technologies
MoT #40: Mike Salazar from Sisense discusses some of the challenges platform technologies face and some best practices to follow to mitigate risk.
Annie Woo: The Importance of Understanding Business Metrics for the CS Leader
MoT #39: Annie Woo from Procore discusses the importance and different types of business metrics that Customer Success Leaders should understand.
Marc Ray: Stay Out of the Weeds and Be Strategic
MoT #38: Marc Ray from Chainanalysis discusses how he keeps his CSMs from getting mired in the day-to-day minutiae & retain the right focus on the short & long term strategy of driving value for customers.
Michael Redbord: Managing Renewals, Retention and Operations Strategies Through ACrisis
MoT #37: Mike Redbord from Hubspot talks about how subscription companies that are going through a crisis should approach critical operations that will play a significant role in making it through the crisis.
Mike Salazar: The Experience Transitioning from Sales to Customer Success
MoT #36: Mike Salazar from Sisense discusses his experience transitioning from a sales role to a customer success role along with the benefits and challenges he experienced.
Maranda Dziekonski: Supporting Your Customers and Business In Crisis
MoT #35: With the Coronavirus affecting the way we interact with family, friends, and customers, we are now forced to adapt. Maranda Dzienkonski from Swiftly discusses tips, techniques and best practices for navigating these uncharted waters.
Bill Cushard: Who Should Own The Renewal
MoT #34: Bill Cushard from ServiceRocket debates with Andrew over who should own the renewal, sales or customer success, and discuss a variety of angles on the renewal process.
Chad Jasmin: The Importance of Investing in Training for Customer Success
MoT #33: Chad from Wi-Tronix lays out the reasons for and importance of spending the time and money on training for his customer success team and the results of those investments.
Annie Woo: Data Driven Customer Success
MoT #32: Annie Woo from Procore discusses how the proliferation of Data has become a boon to Customer Success teams seeking to understand their customers better, and the actions they’re taking to deliver success.
Brian LaFaille: Leveraging Analytics & Data to Empower CS
MoT #31: Brian LaFaille from Looker discusses discuss how Customer Success teams can effectively empower their CSM’s by leveraging analytics and data effectively.
Melinda Gonzalez: Career Paths In and Out of Customer Success
MoT #30: Melinda Gonzalez from WeWork discusses the various career paths available from and to customer success. Melinda recounts her days at Salesforce along with other experiences that lead her to become a well-rounded customer success exec.
Marc Ray: Fusing New CSMs Into Your Customer Base
MoT #29: Marc Ray from Chainanalysis discusses the effort and approach he took to build a new team from scratch at 150 customers in a new role as head of customer success.
David Verhaag: Dealing with Difficult Customers & Situations
MoT #28: David Verhaag from Olifano discusses the difference between difficult customers and difficult situations and provides some really good advice and best practices on how to best deal with them.
Michael Fulvio: What To Look For in Early CS Hires
MoT #27: Michael Fulvio from Procore talks about his experience scaling a success team in a very early stage company, specifically what he looked for in CS team members, and some opinions on EQ.
Shari Srebnick: Sales to Post-Sales Handoff
MoT #26: Shari Srebnick from Searchmetrics talks about developing and evolving the sales to customer success handoff along with some of the most important elements of the process.
David Verhaag: Taking a Consultative Approach
MoT #25: David Verhaag from Olifano discusses why taking a consultative approach is so important for developing account relationships through understanding what makes a customers business tick.
Nimesh Mathur: The Importance of Domain Expertise in Customer Success
MoT #24: Nimesh Mathur from Pluralsight discusses his perspective on the value for a customer that has a domain expert involved in delivering a positive outcome.
Lauren Hayes Brown: Making a Great First Impression in Onboarding
MoT #23: Lauren Hayes Brown from BloomAPI discusses the importance of making that great first impression during the initial onboarding process and what can happen if that process goes awry.
Toby Lucich: The Importance of Change Management to Customer Success
MoT #22: Toby Lucich from Return Leverage discusses the importance and value of leveraging Change Management tools and communication methods to drive adoption and ensure customers are reaching their desired outcomes.
Gavin Cummings: Simplicity In The Face of Complexity
MoT #21: Gavin Cummings from OverOps discusses how important it is to keep things simple even if you’re dealing with complex technologies, topics or situations.
David Verhaag: What It Takes to Be Successful in CS
MoT #20: In this MOT, David Verhaag from Olifano talks about how he got his start in customer success and provides some insight into the skills and capabilities required for someone to truly be successful in a customer success role.
Michael Fulvio: Building Empathy in CSMs
MoT #19: In this MOT, Michael Fulvio from Procore talks about the importance of empathy, and some techniques his team uses to better understand the customer perspective.
Susan Tran: CS Rapid Fire Round
MoT #18: Susan Tran of Spoke rapid fires best practices for steps in the customer journey, both internal and external, including: the sales handoff, kickoff calls, account management, and even finding a job in customer success.
Nimesh Mathur: The Evolving Success Plan
MoT #17: Nimesh Mathur from Pluralsight talks about how the Success Plan is not a static device. It should be constantly evolving as the customer journey continues and the customer objectives evolve over time.
Gavin Cummings: Active Listening Skills for Customer Success
MoT #16: Gavin Cummings from OverOps talks about one of the most important aspects of customer success, active listening skills.
Sherrod Patching: SMART Objectives and the Customer Journey
MoT #15: Sherrod Patching, CCO of Leadspace, discusses the importance and value of using the SMART framework for driving and navigating the customer journey.
Chris Nelson: Team Collaboration & Communication
MoT #14: Chris Nelson from O’Reilly Media talks about how important collaboration within the customer success team and with internal stakeholders help provide for a positive customer experience.
Alix Harris: Dealing With Angry Customers
MoT #13: Alix Harris from PandaDoc discusses some of her experiences and recommendations on dealing with angry customers.
Bonnye Hart: The Guided Journey of Internal Onboarding
MoT #12: Bonnye Hart from thinQ applies the concepts of mapping and operationalizing a customer journey to the internal onboarding of new employees.
Michael Fulvio: Leveraging Benchmarking to Drive Adoption
MoT #11: In this MOT, Michael Fulvio from Procore talks about using benchmarking to drive the discussion and actions around adoption.
Shari Srebnick: Change Management and Customer Success
MoT #10: Shari Srebnick from Searchmetrics talks about how driving adoption and customer value realization is an exercise in change management and approaching it any other way is the folly of fools.
Will Toms: Adding Customer Success to an Existing $250M ARR Business
MoT #9: In this MOT, Will Toms from Rimini Street discusses how he and the team are working through the challenges of adding a customer success function, process and systems to an existing $250m revenue run rate business.
Lauren Hayes Brown: CS Focus Areas for Early Stage Startups
MoT #8: Lauren Hayes Brown from BloomAPI discusses the key operational aspects leaders should focus on when building out a Customer Success organization with an early stage company.
Nimesh Mathur: Accountability is a 2-Way Street
MoT #7: Nimesh Mathur from Pluralsight talks about how holding your customers accountable for their part in the partnership plays an important part in driving customer outcomes and a positive customer experience.
Susan Tran: Structuring Your CS Team for Efficiency & Scale
MoT #6: Susan Tran from Spoke discusses how to approach establishing and preparing yourself for effective and fiscally responsible scaling at an early stage while addressing multiple customer segments from SMB to the Enterprise.
Cole Sanders: Juggling Your Most Valuable vs. Most Vocal Customers
MoT #5: Cole Sanders from ClientSuccess discusses how to successfully balance your most valuable and most vocal customers.
Gavin Cummings: Military Teachings on Customer Success
MoT #4: Gavin Cummings from OverOps discusses a concept learned when training with the Seals during his time in the military which translates quite well to customer success.
Michael Buccellato: Focus On Time To Value in Onboarding
MoT #3: Michael Buccellato from Leanplum discusses the importance of time to value in onboarding and some strategies on how to be most prepared to drive fast time to value and deal with some of the challenges that might pop up during the process.
Chris Nelson: Building Relationships
MoT #2: Chris Nelson from O’Reilly Media discusses the importance of relationship building with both your customers and internal stakeholders.
Shari Srebnick: Asking Good Questions
MoT #1: Shari Srebnick from Searchmetrics discusses the importance of asking the right questions at the right times throughout the customer journey.