These might be more generic than what you are looking for, but in your first 3 months, there is so much to learn, and every organization is different. Some of the best advice given to me by previous leaders when I tried to do all the things right when I started – “you can’t boil the ocean. Breathe. Listen.” Remember, quick wins might be for you, your team, your organization, or your clients! My thoughts: * Build relationships with your stakeholders – inside your team and cross-functionally * Set a # of internal meetings per week – summarize your learnings * See how you can get involved in the organization – be a team player * Listen in on as many client meetings as you can – really listen and take notes! * Share your thoughts a client issue or concern by working through current leaders – there will be plenty of time in the future to be the “hero” * Help others win – built trust and partnerships * Listen, repeat back, ask, listen, repeat back, ask * Set regular 1:1s with your manager, others on your team, and cross-functional partners to listen and ask questions * ·Reflect each month on what you know now that you didn’t when you started

Here are a few mistakes I see most often: 1. Not doing their research on the company/role they are interviewing for. It is surprising how many interviews I have participated in where the candidate had clearly not reviewed our company's product offering or job description. One of the keys to interviewing is to showcase why you are the best fit for the role. The best way to do this is to fully understand what the company does and what they are looking for, and to articulate how you meet those needs. 2. Not asking enough and/or not asking the right questions. I tell candidates all the time it is just as important that we interview them, as it is they interview me (the hiring manager) and our company. Accepting a role at a huge company is a huge commitment, and as a candidate, you want to make sure you know exactly what the role is, the expectations and what you are walking into. 3. Talking for too long and over-explaining. While I want to make sure a candidate has sufficient time to answer questions, it becomes concerning if they tend to ramble on for a long period and have trouble directly answering the question. When I am interviewing a candidate I am always picturing myself as one of our customers and what the zoom experience would be like for our customer, if we hired this candidate. Our customers are looking for CSMs who can provide clear and concise answers to their questions and candidates must showcase that skill during the interview process.

Unlike a lot of Customer Success departments, we’ve chosen to align our team to customer KPIs rather than commercial/upsell targets. As such, we have less overlap in goals between CS and Sales. Of course, we’re both targeting Gross Renewal Rate and ensuring we maintain the customer base, but we don’t extend that to upsell targets in the same way as commission-based CS teams. Currently, we’re focused on exploring how we can share “time spent” efficiency and reach KPIs to help keep us accountable for spending as much face time with our customers, tech, and agency partners as we can over the course of many key city hubs whilst being mindful of the cost of trips.

When it comes to maintaining positive relationships with customers – especially if your champion has changed and you need to restate your value proposition – I always think about three things as related to customer touchpoints: 1. You have to be intentional about building out a level of service that ensures every customer feels heard. It’s important to be as accessible as possible to your customers, especially as we navigate an uncertain market. At Salesloft, for example, we host live office hours every weekday, giving customers a guaranteed opportunity to speak live with someone on the CS team if they need to troubleshoot or discuss best practices, and receive answers in real-time. Additionally, something as small as ensuring your webcam is on when meeting with customers is another way to elevate their CS experience. 2. Create high-value, high-impact touchpoints. All your customers will have different needs, and if your champion changes, you likely need to adjust. Talk to your customers directly about their potential problems and specific needs and create touchpoints that provide them with the value they care about. There is nothing better than building out a success plan with your customer and then showing them how you’re going to get to the value that they care about. 3. Expand your definition of memorable experiences. People emerged from a pandemic era ready to connect and network once more. Whether in-person, or virtually, there are plenty of opportunities to create networking opportunities between you and your customers. As remote work continues to become the standard for many, the teams and partners we work with are more distributed than ever – sometimes even across continents – but there is plenty of opportunity to nourish these relationships from afar.

The first step to knowing if a client is at risk of churning is to identify the potential warning signs: * Lack of Engagement * Client Turnover * Service/Support Issues * Economic Climate * Poor Performance * Low CSAT/NPS Scores Once you understand what to look for you can better assess risk within any given account and create an action plan to get things back on track. I've found the most impactful element to avoiding churn from the onset is to create strong executive relationships with clients. This allows for a feedback loop to prevent frustrations and address issues quickly.

* Show that you're a team player! It's a huge red flag when a candidate demonstrates a lack of willingness to work as a team. The ability to work cross-functionally to drive customer results is critical. If a candidate conveys the message "that's not my job," they aren't a good fit for our team. * Not understanding support vs success. There are a lot of definitions of Customer Success, but I need CSMs who work proactively to drive results. Using "support" and "success" interchangeably in a resume or interview discussion raises a concern. * Lack of metrics. Customer Success is often more difficult to measure than, say, a sales role because our metrics are not all quantitative, but that doesn't mean we aren't focused on showing results. Demonstrating a combination of qualitative and quantitative results in your experience set is important.

For recent graduates who are interested in entering the field of customer success, there are a few critical pieces of advice to keep in mind: • Gaining relevant experience: Look for opportunities to gain experience in customer-facing roles, such as internships or entry-level positions in customer service or support. This will help you develop the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in a customer role. Or you could also apply to more junior roles, such as success associate, and learn on the job. • Develop your soft skills: Strong communication, problem-solving, and customer service skills - some of this can be obtained by shadowing senior Success folks, Support folks. • Build your industry knowledge - Understand the industry’s products, services, and customers. Talk to Product Management, Product Marketing. • Gaining technical skills: Acquire technical skills (if required) such as product knowledge, data analysis, and project management. • Be open to learning and be persistent. This is the hard part. Don’t give up! Overall, it's essential to be proactive in seeking opportunities to gain experience, develop relevant skills, and network with professionals in the field. You can do it!

We've used several methods, depending on the size and type of the company. 1. Roadshows. One of the more effective yet costly in terms of time and useful for larger changes. We share a slide deck, explain the process, and run an AMA 2. Join team calls and/or join leadership calls to walk them through the changes, collect feedback, and share learnings 3. A monthly (or quarterly) "team update" doc that is shared in company standard mediums (e.g., Slack, email, message board...). This is usually a collection of everything that has happened and/or will happen 4. A dedicated slack channel that is read-only for asynchronous updates (generally smaller, non-critical updates)

Here are some strategies that I use to inspire and motivate my Customer Success team: Set Clear and Achievable Goals: It is important to set clear, specific, and achievable goals for your team. At Sitecore we use the Objectives - Key Results (OKRs) approach. These OKRs align with the company's mission and are mostly customer-centric objectives. When goals are SMART - specific, strategic, measurable, motivating, achievable (yet ambitious), agreed to, realistic, relevant, resourced, results based, trackable, timely and tested then it's easier to motivate the team to achieve them. We pay a bi-annual bonus based on performance achieved against the set objectives. The OKRs are reviewed quarterly. Ideally I would prefer to pay a bonus quarterly. We also have a SPIFF program where CSMs are rewarded for CSQL that become Closed Booked. The contribution the CSMs are making to Expansion revenue is now widely recognized within the company. Celebrate and Recognize Individual and Team Achievements: Regularly acknowledge and reward team members who excel in their roles and / or make key accomplishments. Public, company and / or department recognition awards can mean a lot. Even small incentives can be effective in boosting morale. We have quarterly individual performance awards where time off is provided as well as other incentives. The winners are shared at the Cxx level in the CCO QBRs. Celebrate their customers' success stories and help to get published internally and even externally. Remind the team of the positive impact they have on customers' business outcomesand the value they bring to the organization. Ongoing feedback, praise and coaching: Offer constructive criticism when necessary and highlight areas where team members are excelling. Provide timely praise for a job well done. Ensure you provide regular and timely feedback to help team members understand their strengths and areas for development. Identify coaching opportunities for performance improvement and development as well as reinforcing positive behaviors. Individual Development Plans (IDP): Invest in the career development and growth of your team members. Provide opportunities for continuous learning and development for team members. This can be Customer Success specific training, soft skills and / or complementary skills training. Ensure CSMs are updated regularly on your company’s product and solution. Have clear career paths for your team members to grow and advance into not just as CSMs but other roles within the company. Team Building and Collaboration: Foster a collaborative environment where team members support and learn from each other, “Iron sharpens iron”, where they build up and encourage each other. Team members should proactively seek hope from one another - a problem shared is a problem halved. Effective Leadership: Try to be an effective and inspiring leader yourself. Adjust your leadership style to what is most appropriate - situational leadership. Be a conduit to remove any barriers to your teams success. Be transparent and cascade down information from the executive leadership on company direction, mission, objectives and performance. Be a great listener then a great communicator. Maintain open and transparent communication. Keep the team informed about company updates, changes in strategy, and customer feedback. When team members understand the bigger picture, they're more likely to stay motivated.

Committing to certain KPIs in customer success without considering their broader impact or relevance to overall business objectives can lead to misguided efforts and low outcomes. The metrics needs to be aligned in every phase of customer lifecycle, reviewed and alter accordingly to the goals of the organisation. Example: 1. Attain 0 Churns - GRR is important but it doesn't mean that you can over emphasize on 100% GRR, instead take it slow and have a projection considering all aspects, be it macro or any as such. 2. The same with exemplary NPS scores, expansions too. Have it fair in the business. Do not be in a rush to achieve the impossible. Always have a structured process and a significant increase quarter by quarter instead. It's essential to prioritize metrics that truly reflect customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty, while also driving sustainable business growth and profitability.