Helping Sells Radio

Andy Paul is the author of his new book, "Sell without Selling Out: A Guide to Success On Your Own Terms." Guess what we talked about. Andy hooked me very early on in the book when he said that the purpose of his book is to "turn your back on salesy behaviors," which is how he defines "selling out." More about Andy:His book: https://www.amazon.com/Sell-without-Selling-Out-Success-ebook/dp/B09G8464LL/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=selling+without+selling+out&qid=1646704184&sprefix=selling+without+se%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-1His website: https://www.andypaul.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realandypaul/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. In this episode we talk to Mikael Blaisdell, executive director of the Customer Success Association about his Rocketlane Propel22 talk. Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. In this episode we talk to Jeff Kushmerek, CEO & founder of Infinite Renewals about his Rocketlane Propel22 talk.Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. Star Hofer is vice president of customer success at PartnerStack, multi-time top customer success influencer, and a customer success mentor coach at Catalyst Software. Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. Peter Armaly is VP of Customer Success at ESG, advisor and board member and former customer exec at Oracle, BMC Software, and Eloqua.Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. Rod Cherkas is the CEO of HelloCCO, a strategy consultancy and advisory firm to CCOs. His Propel22 talk is about packing services offerings to support fast growth.Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. Irit Eizips is the chief customer officer and CEO of CSM Practice, the leading customer success strategy firm for executives.Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. Donna Weber runs Springboard Solutions and is author of "Onboarding Matters: How Successful Companies Transform New Customers into Loyal Champions."Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. Mary Poppen is the Chief Strategy & Customer Officer at involve.ai, which helps companies prevent churn, grow revenue, and deliver customer outcomes with customer intelligence. Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. My guest today is Kristi Faltorusso, VP of customer success at ClientSuccess, multi-time top 25 customer success influencer, advisor to numerous organizations, and founder of Keep It Simple, a content experience portal for customer success professionals. Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propel More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. In this episode we talk to Ed Powers, customer success consultant, multi-time top 25 customer success influencer, and organizer of the Colorado Customer Success Meetup.Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. This episode is with Kristen Hayer is the founder and CEO of The Success League, multi-time Top 25 customer success influencer, and fellow board member of the Customer Success Leadership Network. Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. This episode is with Maranda Dziekonski, Chief Customer Officer at Swiftly, multi-time top 25 customer success influencer, and fellow board member of the Customer Success Leadership Network. Register for Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propel More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category. We all know that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. This episode is with Emilia D'Anzica, Managing Director at Growth Molecules, the growth revenue advisors who delivers data-driven customer success strategies. Register for Rocketlane Propel22: https://rocketlane.com/propel More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Sri Ganesan is the co-founder and CEO of Rocketlane, the customer onboarding platform. We are doing a special series of episodes leading up to Rocketlane's Propel22, the world's first customer onboarding conference, in which we will talk to many of the Propel22 conference speakers to preview their talks and see what we can do to further the customer onboarding category and help you develop your own official onboarding methodology. Because we all know, that the best thing we can do the help customers be successful is set them up for success right from the start. Rocketlane Propel22 is being held March 15 - 16, 2022 at a virtual location near you. Visit the rocketlane.com/propel to see the speaker line up and agenda. Please save your spot and register here: https://rocketlane.com/propelMore about Sri:His company, Rocketlane: https://www.rocketlane.com/Rocketlane Propel22 Conference: https://www.rocketlane.com/propelMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

In this episode of Helping Sells Radio, I am sharing a recording of a webinar I facilitated about how software company CxOs should think about using customer education as a way to grow. I call it the Customer Education Growth Framework. The framework makes the process of developing customer training predictable. You just follow the steps. And when you do, you will know what goals to pursue, and what metrics to monitor on your way to growth. More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Jared Orr is senior customer success manager at Electric and founder and host of the Founders & Mentors podcast. We know each other from being connected on Twitter and Linkedin. We finally met IRL on Helping Sells Radio to discuss customer success, his podcast, and going all in on his career. Side bar: I say we met IRL. It was on video. But I still say that is IRL. Only an analog native would think meeting on a video is not "in real life." It is real life to me. More about Jared: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaredorr10On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredsorr/Founders & Mentors Podcast: https://foundersmentors.com/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

In this episode of Helping Sells Radio, we share a recording of a webinar we did about how software company customer education teams should build annual plans and learn to forecast instead of asking for a budget. Forecasting is a critical capability to learn, especially as your company prepares for possible IPO. Forecasting is a way to create your plan and then go after your plan. A budget is a license to spend. You don't want to be a spender. You want to be a forecaster. You gotta get good at this. And just to add, I did an episode with Debbie Smith who runs Smartsheet University, which is an excellent companion episode. So if you haven't listened to Debbie's episode go get it. Episode 327. She runs customer education as a P&L. She has to plan and forecast.Be like Debbie. More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Paula Courtney is the CEO of The Verde Group, a leading customer experience consultancy. She recently ran a study of 9,400 consumers with Thomas Robertson from Wharton, to find out what customers consider "wow experiences." Harvard Business Review published an article to summarize the findings called, "Why Customer Loyalty Programs Can Backfire." The key takeaway for me was the idea that our goal should not be to "surprise and delight" customers. In fact, if our goal is to surprise and delight customers, we end up creating an illusion of progress. After all, what surprises and delights customers changes. Regularly. What works today, may not work tomorrow. We end up chasing an elusive prize. Instead what Courtney suggests we do is understand that whatever our value proposition is, the number one thing to do is consistently deliver on that value proposition. That seems more reasonable to me. And it's what customers actually want. More about Paula:Her company, The Verde Group: https://verdegroup.com/Her HBR article, Why Customer Loyalty Programs Can Backfire: https://hbr.org/2021/05/why-customer-loyalty-programs-can-backfireHer Interview on Knowledge @ Wharton: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/want-to-make-retail-customers-happy-give-them-a-wow-experience/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Diana De Jesus is the Customer Success Manager Strategist at Catalyst.io, which is a brand new role for her and for Catalyst. We talked about  two of her Linkedin posts that caught my eye. One about her first year at Catalyst and another about what life is like using a customer success software tool, instead of a CRM, to do her customer success job.More about Diana: On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadejesus/Catalyst: https://catalyst.io/Diana's first Linkedin post we talked about: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dianadejesus_customersuccess-workanniversary-activity-6862400251127455745-zRprDiana's second Linkedin post we talked about: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dianadejesus_customersuccess-saas-activity-6872573198999846913-b0oJMore about ServiceRocket: Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

This is part two in a two part series in which Mel and Bill talk about owning renewals, negotiating the renewals, and lessons learned building a customer success team that does own the renewal. More about Mel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melihabilge/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

This is part one in a two part series in which Mel and Bill talk about owning renewals, negotiating the renewals, and lessons learned building a customer success team that does own the renewal. More about Mel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melihabilge/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Mel and Bill talk about customer advisory boards (CABs). More about Mel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melihabilge/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Mel Bilge and Bill Cushard discuss defining and documenting the customer success process.More about Mel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melihabilge/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Aaron Thompson, CRO at SuccessHacker, wrote a Linkedin article called "QBRs are stupid. Naturally, we had to talk about it. The problem is QBRs is that we say they are focused on the customer, but we deliver them as all about us. Aaron is begging us to re-examine the nature of our QBRs to make them actually about the customer and for the customer. Here is a link to his article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/qbrs-stupid-aaron-thompson/?trackingId=PKMxzPJcSgCfxwMcYfhFcQ%3D%3DMore about Aaron:On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/athomps/At SuccessHacker: https://www.successhacker.co/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Mel Bilge and Bill Cushard discuss implementing quarterly business reviews.More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Mel Bilge and Bill Cushard discuss why net revenue retention is a north star metric and a growth metric. More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Debbie Smith is the senior manager of Smartsheet University and vice president of the Customer Education Management Association (CEdMA) and joins us on Helping Sells Radio to talk about helping customers beyond the product. This all started on a Linkedin post, which talked about how software companies should consider building the school that teaches the skill in its domain. Software companies can help people (customers and potential customers and just anyone) learn the skills necessary to perform the job its software is designed to help. And even credential people in that job. It's a big idea. Debbie is doing something incredible. Instead of creating the school from scratch, she partnered with the biggest "school" in project management; the Project Management Institute to teach project management skills and help PMI certified professional maintain their PMI certification. Not only is Debbie building trust between PMI members and Smartsheet, she is helping PMI members further their skills and careers. What a conversation. More about Debbie:Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiecareysmith/Smartsheet University - https://smartu.smartsheet.com/Customer Education Slack Channel - https://customered.slack.comCEdMA - https://www.cedma.org/leadershipThat Linkedin post that got this all started - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6871136448339423232/?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(activity%3A6871136448339423232%2C6871807844467953664)&replyUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(activity%3A6871136448339423232%2C6871815549513420800)More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Mel Bilge and Bill Cushard discuss the importance of account ownership in SaaS customer success. More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Mel Bilge and Bill Cushard discuss high touch customer success and why being scalable and low touch isn't all it's cracked up to be. More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Steve Harper is the author of The Ripple Effect: Maximizing the Power of Relationships for Life & Business and creator of Ripple Central, a services consultancy that helps harness the power of human connection to transform your team, your career, and your life. Steve had me on his podcast, The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper, and now he's on Helping Sells Radio. We talked about his Ripple Effect, listening for opportunities for starting ripples with customers, and how he came up with this useful concept for building meaningful relationships. More about Steve: About Steve and Ripple Central: https://ripplecentral.com/biopress/His book: https://www.amazon.com/Ripple-Effect-Maximizing-Relationships-Business/dp/097686651X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1642559779&sr=8-1His podcast episode with me:More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

This article originally appeared on the Customer Success Leadership Network blog. We are thinking about customer success all wrong. We think it’s a function. A department. A post-sales team. The enlightened among us think customer success is a philosophy or even an organizational design principle. That’s better, but still not quite right. I mean, what am I supposed to do with “customer success is a philosophy?” I have no idea. After spending two and a half years running a SaaS business as a general manager with P&L ownership, I have come to this realization in my thinking: customer success is a business model innovation.To understand what I mean by business model innovation, we must first define business model. According to Alex Osterwalder, “a business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value.”Notice the three parts of this definition: create, deliver, and capture value. All three are required in order for a business model to work. A mistake I see customer success teams make is focusing solely on “delivers,” ignoring “creates,” and “captures.” When a customer success team over-indexes on delivering value, the primary purpose becomes retaining customers, which seems like a noble pursuit until you examine the behaviors of a retention mindset.The downside of a retention mindsetRetaining customers is defensive. The mindset is, “If we are going to retain this customer, we have to get them to log in more or get them to use the software more or build a better relationship with the champion or get them to understand the value they are currently realizing. We must compel or persuade customers to act in ways we want them to act.” When a customer renews, we are relieved that we got the renewal at the same price as the last contract. We celebrate it. I know what you are thinking, “Bill, that is a good thing. We saved/retained/turned around that customer by delivering value. What’s the problem?”I see two [business model] problems.You didn’t create new value.You didn’t capture a portion of that new value.Here’s another way to look at it. A CEO came to me for advice on how to get her team to focus on net revenue retention (NRR) and said to me, “You know, I see my teams celebrate all these renewals, but I don’t see the value of the contracts going up. All of our costs are going up, including the raises everyone wants, but the prices we charge customers are not. This is not gonna work.” This is what happens when a software subscription business focuses primarily on delivering value and retaining customers. There is no “what’s next.” No forward-thinking about how to continuously help customers grow.The upside of business model thinkingSoftware companies that understand their business model get all of their teams rowing in the same direction by getting everyone involved in all three parts of the business model:Create valueDeliver valueCapture valueThe “what’s next” mindset is built into the system (your business model). There is no need to upsell or for account managers to sweep in to “close the deal” or argue about who should own the renewal or waste energy on debates about whether people can sell AND be a trusted advisor. You will understand how this is possible as you read further.A well-designed business model answers the question, “What’s next?” It creates a flywheel effect of the following: Step 1: Create “something” that solves a problemStep 2: Deliver that “something” to a customerStep 3: Capture 10% to 15% of the value of that “something” with reasonable pricingStep 4: Repeat this process with existing customers. FOREVER.Steps one through three are simple in the sense that most software companies already do this. The founder noticed a problem in the world, built a product to solve it, and found customers willing to pay for that solution. Step four is where the magic happens, where the flywheel can start turning, and where many software companies mis-understand their business model. A well-designed business model answers the question, “What’s next?” When you get to step four, I assume you have already delivered on the one main value proposition that new customers bought your product to address in the first place; and that the product has been designed to address. Step four is about “What’s next?” More precisely: “What is the next value proposition you intend to help a customer achieve; and if we do help a customer achieve that next value proposition, how much of that next, new value will we capture?” Pause and think about that for a moment, and while you do, let me ask those two questions differently.What value proposition can we deliver next?What offering (that we must create) can a customer buy in order to achieve that next value proposition? To over simplify what is happening here. If we operated our customer success in accordance with the business model innovation, at each renewal cycle (ideally before) we would identify the next value proposition that we are positioned to help the customer achieve. Better yet, the customer would identify the next value they want to achieve. We create an offering (or select an existing one) that will help the customer achieve this next value, and we charge a price such that a customer is willing to pay because of the value they will realize. “If we do this, we will save $100, I’d love to pay you $10 to do that. Where do I sign?”So the flywheel of the business model innovation (step four from above) is:Create valueDeliver valueCapture valueCreate next valueDeliver next valueCapture next valueCreate next next valueDeliver next next valueCapture next next valueRepeat. Forever.It is similar to what Rav Dhaliwal calls the continuous sale. What Dave Jackson calls the next best value. If you look through the lens of business model innovation, you transcend debates about who owns the renewal, the customer relationship, and a quota. The business model is designed more like an algorithm and less like a customer journey with owners and silos and hand-offs and confused customers, “Who are you again? My account manager? Then what’s my customer success manager for? Wait, I should call my technical account manager for that? When do I call support? Oh, I should have put in a ticket instead of calling you? Sorry. I’ll try to get it right next time.”All of this noise and friction becomes unnecessary. Business model innovation is a customer success algorithmThe business model innovation of customer success is an algorithm with the following rules: IF a customer wants to realize this value proposition, THEN they need to buy that offering. IF a customer wants to realize the next value proposition, THEN they need to buy the next offering. Your job is to work with multiple teams in your company and write as many IF/THEN statements as you can, such that you can help your customers. FOREVER. We called it “first” value for a reasonWe, customer success teams, just need to take one more step in our evolution. We are concerned with helping customers achieve value. One of our most important charters is to help customers achieve “first value” and help customers accelerate “time to first value.” All I am suggesting is that we don’t forget that we inserted the word “first” for a reason; because we know there is more value that we can create, deliver, and capture. My call to action to you is this. Write down a list of value propositions that you could help your customers achieve over time. Then, prioritize that list using the model above, answering the question, “What’s the next value proposition I can help customers realize? And what is the next one after that?” Then write down the list of offerings you have (or need to create) in order to help your customers achieve those value propositions; and capture some of it. Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Asa Hochhauser is the VP of Sales at McGaw.io, which helps companies harness the power of Marketing Technology and Data. He is also a member of the Revenue Collective and founding member of Sales Hacker. He knows a thing or two about sales, sales enablement, and designing sales tech stacks.Rolling out the right sales tech stack is the key to productivity. However, the stack is almost meaningless if you don't take the time to do two things first; 1) understand "the why" behind the need to assemble the sales technology; and 2) enable your sales team. If there was a sales magic triangle, the three corners would be goals, enablement, and technology. More about Asa:On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asahoc/McGaw.io: https://mcgaw.io/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Kay Formanek is the founder and CEO of Diversity and Performance, a company that develops conscious diversity leaders. She was managing director for 25 years at Accenture (though I did not meet Kay then, we shared time at Accenture) where she contributed to the agenda of diversity and inclusion and talent development. Kay’s expertise is in the neuroscience of unconscious bias and how to mitigate unconscious bias within an organization and within its leadership ranks. She collaborates with leading institutions and business schools like INSEAD and has spoken at forums regularly including TEDx.Kay is also the author of Beyond D&I: Leading Diversity with Purpose and Inclusiveness. You might be thinking, "Bill, what does diversity and inclusion have to do with helping customers?" That's what I thought. Until I read the book. The word "customer" appears on 58 pages of Beyond D&I, and there are many examples in the book of companies that implemented diversity and inclusion initiatives with the purpose of improving customer congruence. Customer congruence? I'm sold. I talked about that at length with Kay. More abot Kay: Her book: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-D-and-ILeading-Diversity-with-Purpose-and-Inclusiveness/dp/3030753352/ref=sr_1_1?crid=385UCMRRV845&keywords=beyond+d%26i+formanek&qid=1639164809&sprefix=beyond+D%26I%2Caps%2C572&sr=8-1Her company: https://diversityandperformance.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kay-formanek-6389588/Her TEDx talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/dirk_luyten_kay_formanek_united_diversityMore about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Darci Darnell is the head of Bain’s global sales & marketing practice and an active leader in Financial Services and Strategy practices with nearly two decades of management consulting experience. She also has particular expertise in customer retention strategy, NPS®, and employee engagement. Darnell is out with a new book, Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers, with co-authors Fred Reichheld and Maureen Burns. We talked about the original intent of net promoter system. As Darci described in the book, "NPS implemented correctly reveals how consistently a company lives up to its purpose of loving customers." Loving customers? Not all execs will accept this easily, even though the empirical evidence is overwhelming that loyalty leading companies out-perform the market by numerous multiples. Darci's advice to me, "Be brave."There's a life lesson. More about Darci:The book: https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Purpose-Unbeatable-Strategy-Customers/dp/1647821789/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=winning+on+purpose&qid=1638816110&sr=8-3The Harvard Business Review article: Net Promoter 3.0 - https://hbr.org/2021/11/net-promoter-3-0About Darci: https://www.bain.com/our-team/darci-darnell/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Maureen Burns is a senior partner in Bain & Company's Boston office and a leader in Bain's Customer Strategy and Marketing Practice. Maureen is out with a new book, Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers, with co-authors Fred Reichheld and Darci Darnell. I asked how Maureen, who has a background in investment banking and serves financial services company clients, could sign up to co-author a book about loving customers. She told me that at first she was skeptical saying, "Fred, I can't go to my financial services c-suite clients and talk about love." What is most motivating about this exchange is the realization that the evidence is overwhelming that companies that prioritize enriching the lives of customers (loyalty leaders in their categories) outperformance the market by 3X or more. And, it turns out, Burns' financial services clients have been quite receptive to the purpose of enriching customer lives. It's not just good for financial results, it's just plain the right way to treat people. More about Maureen:The book: https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Purpose-Unbeatable-Strategy-Customers/dp/1647821789/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=winning+on+purpose&qid=1638816110&sr=8-3The Harvard Business Review article: Net Promoter 3.0 - https://hbr.org/2021/11/net-promoter-3-0About Maureen: https://www.bain.com/our-team/maureen-burns/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Fred Reichheld is the creator of the  Net Promoter® , founder of Bain & Company's Loyalty practice, and the author of five books including the New York Times bestseller The Ultimate Question 2.0. Reichheld is out with a new book, Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers, with co-authors Darci Darnell and Maureen Burns. The ultimate purpose of any business is to enrich the lives of customers. This statement appears antithetical to the broadly accepted purpose of a business enterprise, which is to maximize profits or otherwise maximize shareholder value. But as the authors point out, when we enrich the lives of customers, we create a multiplier effect of financial results. Why? Customers who we enrich buy more from us. They don’t buy from elsewhere. When they bring their friends with them, they also don’t buy from elsewhere. There is a great story in the book in which Steve Grinshaw, CEO of Caliber Collision (they repair  damaged cars), talks about purpose. “People work hard for a paycheck, they work harder for a good boss, and they work hardest for a meaningful purpose. Our purpose is to help get each customer’s life back in order— to restore the rhythm of their lives.”What could be a higher purpose for a collision repair company than to help their customers, who just got in a crash, get their lives back in order?More about Fred:The book: https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Purpose-Unbeatable-Strategy-Customers/dp/1647821789/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=winning+on+purpose&qid=1638816110&sr=8-3The Harvard Business Review article: Net Promoter 3.0: https://hbr.org/2021/11/net-promoter-3-0About Fred: https://www.bain.com/our-team/fred-reichheld/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Too many of us think that go to market is a sales and marketing exercise (some think it's only marketing), but as Sangram Vajre, author of Move: The four question go to market framework and 3X Helping Sells Radio (Ep. 68 and Ep. 154) guest says, go to market requires marketing and sales and customer success to work as one. Where most companies falter is on one of these:They can:Make but can't sellSell but can't deliverDeliver but can't renewRenew but can't expandAll four of these "motions" must work for a company to be successful, and that is where Vajre's four question go to market framework comes in.More about Vajre:The book: http://themovebook.comThe Valley of Death we talked about: https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/30/getting-to-50-million-how-to-avoid-the-saas-valley-of-death/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Jeff Coyle is the co-founder and chief strategy officer at MarketMuse, which helps marketing teams improve the effectiveness of their content. As Jeff says, "We do the the why for content." This is the right question to answer before entering into any content publishing initiative, and the answer cannot be, "Because my boss told me to write these 10 blog posts." The 'why' matters. In fact, the earlier in the process you are informed by data, the more efficient your content is going to be. After all, as Jeff says, "The plague is spending time writing content that doesn't perform."I am beginning the believe that artificial intelligence and machine learning is getting to the point at which it can help us mere mortals make better decisions. More about Jeff:His company, MarketMuse: http://www.marketmuse.comOn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffcoyle/The blog post we talked about: https://blog.marketmuse.com/seo-content-strategy-how-to-bring-humans-and-search-bots-together/More about ServiceRocket:Visit ServiceRocket.com: https://www.servicerocket.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/servicerocket/On Twitter: https://twitter.com/servicerocketOn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceRocket/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicerocket/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Simon Severino is the founder and CEO of Strategy Sprints, which helps B2B founders double revenue and save time, money, and energy by systematizing "everything." We talked about the value of systems, and as he said in the podcast, once you have experienced scaling, you then understand systems. And until you do, you cannot really understand the importance of defining processes, documenting processes, following processes, and continuously improving processes. You put process development in quadrant 2, which means you never do it. "I'll get to that later." Then later never comes.Simon helps his clients see how systems will help them grow and have time to take a vacation one or twice or three times a year. More about Simon:His company, Strategy Sprints: https://www.strategysprints.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonseverino/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

This is one of those podcast episodes to which show notes don't do justice. I will say this, Barry Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Thought Industries and Rob Castaneda, founder and CEO of ServiceRocket, come on the pod to talk about the future of customer education, the constantly changing software learning landscape, and why their two companies came together to take this market trend head on. More about the Thought Industries / ServiceRocket Partnership:The announcement: https://www.thoughtindustries.com/blog/thought-industries-and-servicerocket-partner-to-grow-market-for-customer-learning-software-and-services/About the relationship: https://www.thoughtindustries.com/blog/qa-with-thought-industries-and-servicerocket-sharing-expertise-for-customer-success/Advancing customer education: https://www.servicerocket.com/post/servicerocket-partners-with-thought-industries-to-advance-customer-education Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

I heard about this book, The Expansion Sale: Four Must Win Conversations to Keep and Grow Your Customers, from Nick Mehta the CEO of Gainsight. Nick had tweeted about it when it came out in early 2020. It piqued my interested and when I read the description, I knew I had to read it. And there it sat. On my wish list for 18 months before I read it. When I finished, I knew that Helping Sells Radio nation needed to learn more about this book. On this episode, I talked to Tim Riesterer, chief strategy officer at Corporate Visions and co-author of The Expansion Sale. We all live in a world in which 70-80% of our revenue comes from existing customers. We should learn to spend more time and energy retaining and growing this revenue and The Expansion Sale is the way to learn that skill.More about Tim:His company, Corporate Visions: https://corporatevisions.comThe book: https://www.amazon.com/Expansion-Sale-Must-Win-Conversations-Customers-ebook/dp/B083FBFQ6M/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+expansion+sale&qid=1637363620&sr=8-1On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-riesterer/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Sasi Yajamanyam is the director of customer success strategy and operations at ServiceNow and author of Reimagining customer success: Designing organizations around customer value. Sasi has an extensive career in customer facing roles from senior consulting and strategy roles at IBM and Freddie Mac to product management and customer success roles at the CEB (Corporate Executive Board). And now at ServiceNow.Sasi saw a problem with how customer success is being implemented, as a siloed department. Not as organization design. In his book he offers a framework for how companies can design their entire organization around customer success and customer value. More about Sasi:His book: https://www.amazon.com/Reimagine-Customer-Success-Designing-Organizations-ebook/dp/B09DX99TWD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=EQ5PQEIV0194&keywords=reimagine+customer+success&qid=1636682836&sprefix=reimagine+customer+success%2Caps%2C399&sr=8-1On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasiyajamanyam/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Wayne Mullins is the founder and CEO of Ugly Mug Marketing and author of Full circle marketing: transform your marketing and turn customers into evangelists. He is also a two time guest on the show (Ep. 198). In his new book, Wayne argues something incredible...that if you apply his full circle marketing approach, you only ever need three campaigns. And these are it: Convert strangers into friendsConvert friends into customersConvert customers into evangelistsAfter I get over the shock of only ever really needing three campaigns, I looked at the list again. One third of the list is about communicating with customers, turning customers into evangelists. Most marketing teams spend no time trying to covert existing customers to anything else. Once a prospect becomes a customer, marketing is moving on.But a good marketing team knows, as Wayne says, that few things are more scalable than getting existing customers to evangelist your services. Imagine that...a marketing team spending at least a third of their time, resources, and budget trying to convert existing customers to evangelists. Now that is marketing that I can sign up for. More about Wayne:His book: https://www.amazon.com/Full-Circle-Marketing-Wayne-Mullins/dp/057897651X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=365LU89OXG03R&keywords=full+circle+marketing&qid=1636681375&sprefix=full+circle+marketing%2Caps%2C230&sr=8-1His company, Ugly Mug Marketing: https://www.uglymugmarketing.com/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fireyourself/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

What can I say? Dave Derington, co-host of the number one customer education podcast, CELab, has just joined ServiceRocket as director of customer education. We recorded this podcast on his first day. It's part of his onboarding. More about Dave:His podcast (with co-host, Adam Avramescu), CELab: https://customer.educationOn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derington/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Dave Jackson picked a fight. He said NRR was not a measure of customers' success. In fact, he capitalized NOT. I say NRR is the ULTIMATE measure of customers' success. He posted this message on Linkedin (see link below) and mentioned me (among other experts including Dave Duke, Ross Fulton, Nick Mehta, and Kristi Faltorusso).I responded the only way I know how...to have a debate on the podcast. So here it is. The question is: "What is the ultimate measure of customers' success?" More about Dave: His book, Customer-led growth: CEO's guide to building a SaaS company: https://www.amazon.com/Customer-Led-Growth-guide-building-company-ebook/dp/B09DBMXJK7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=26XFV5F8V8PT2&keywords=customer+led+growth&qid=1636389307&sprefix=customer+l%2Caps%2C1220&sr=8-1His company: https://thecustomer.co Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Tyler Kemp is the chairman of the board and CEO of IntentFlow, which helps companies find new customers who are looking to buy using AI and intent data. He is also CEO of Leadroll.co, which helps companies get more sales meetings for high ticket sales. We talked about what it takes to reach and attract your ideal customers in a world in which privacy is taking center-stage and personal data and cookies and tracking is being limited more and more. This is causing a lot of anxiety for marketing teams. Tyler suggests we need to urgently learn about buyer intent and leverage that knowledge to meet people where they are to offer relevant, useful, helpful content and other offers in the moment of need. More about Tyler: His company, IntentFlow: https://www.intentflow.com/thesisOn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjkemp/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Listen now | Jon Picoult is the author of From Impressed to Obsessed: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans. He is also the founder of Watermark Consulting and a noted authority on customer and employee experience. Jon helps companies impress their customers and inspire their employees, creating raving fans that drive business growth. Jon has personally advised the CEOs and executive teams at some of the world’s foremost brands, with his clients collectively representing over a million employees and more than $600 billion in annual revenue. Get on the email list at helpingsells.substack.com

Mary Ann Pruitt, the CEO and President of Mosaic Media, a collection of media buying experts and creative strategists who negotiate, purchase, and monitor advertising space and airtime. She’s on the podcast to share how the right media strategy can help you reach your customers in an ever evolving climate of media. You know what they say, "Traditional media is dead. Long live traditional media." More about Mary Ann:Her agency, Mosaic Media: https://mosaic.agency Get on the email list at helpingsells.substack.com

When Ben Worthen, CEO of MessageLab, said it, I did a double take. He posed a simple question, "If you had an idea store, what would be in that store?" A simple question. Then he asked a follow-up, "...and how can you get repeat customers of your ideas?" Whoa. This is a different and better way (in my opinion) to look at marketing. If you want to become relevant to a certain audience, how are you going to do that? If you sell project management software, how are you going to become relevant to project managers? If you sell digital transformation services, how will you become relevant to the C-Suite on the biggest 1,000 companies in the world? We tackled these questions and Ben helped me reexamine how I think about marketing. More about Ben:His company, Message Lab: https://messagelab.comOn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benworthen/ Get on the email list at helpingsells.substack.com

Henry Trevelyan Thomas is the VP of Customer Success at Tessian, a human layer security platform. After beginning his career in corporate law, Henry joined Tessian as its first customer success hire in 2017. Since then, Tessian has raised over $120m from legendary security investors (Sequoia, Accel, March, etc) and grown from 10 to ~200 employees.  We talked about a blog post he wrote recently "Building a customer success team: 5 pillars of customer success." And, yes. We may have even talked about NRR.Special thank you to Rav Dhaliwal (Ep. 208 and Ep. 268) for introducing us to Henry.More about Henry:His blog post: https://www.tessian.com/blog/building-a-customer-success-team/On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-trevelyan-thomas-991a0861/ Get on the email list at helpingsells.substack.com