'wellsaid

Before Meta acquired Kustomer in 2022, Chad Horenfeldt, Kustomer's then Director of Customer Success, saw the need for a revamp of the company's Voice of Customer program and practices. He went on to design a comprehensive VOC program focusing on three objectives: Capture, Analyze, and Act. In this episode, Chad covers the highly effective VOC survey he helped implement, how to get executive team buy-in for a VOC program, and why it's important to use VOC data to craft workarounds that don't always include building new features. Resources: Connect with Chad on LinkedInRead his article on how to launch a VOC surveyFollow Chad on Medium & Twitter------------Measure Value Delivered to CustomersGet a Demo of Nuffsaid

Today on the Nuffsaid podcast we spoke with Sandy Yu, the Global Lead of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Advisory Boards, about how a Voice of Customer program can provide real value to an organization and prove its effectiveness to the executive team. If you're unsure of whether or not your VOC program is working, this is a must-listen episode. She suggests that a VOC team be a standalone function that 1) delivers a prioritized list of customer objectives to the executive team, 2) deploys action items to support each of those objectives, and 3) at the end of every quarter, they should review that list and show the impact they've had by explaining how each recommendation has been actioned on. Resources: Connect with Sandy on LinkedInFollow her on Twitter------------Start listening to your customersTry Nuffsaid for free

Having worked for the last four years in Voice of Customer at large companies (first Lyft and now Slack), it's safe to say Kevin Vielbaum is a master of his craft. In this Nuffsaid podcast episode, Kevin digs into several interesting topics including how he measures the success of a VOC program. Here's what we learned: VOC works best when it's not a real-time escalation program, but instead focuses on trends over time.VOC teams should be “really curious about why the overall experience is the way it is for customers. They should be able to dig around and look at the interconnectedness of what's going on in the organization that's trickling down to the customer.” It's essential to evaluate and ask questions about how teams use VOC data like whether PMs use it to make roadmap justifications, reach out to ask questions during the research process, or if VOC data is collected during BETA releases to ultimately inform the finished feature. And much more!Resources: Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn-----Spot expansion and risks based on customer responsesTry Nuffsaid for free today

With a background in Marketing & Growth at companies like Hubs, Recruitee, and Growth Tribe Academy, Ferdinand Goetzen, now CEO & Co-founder at Reveall, has a natural orientation to use Voice of Customer data to make product decisions. That's why in this episode of the Nuffsaid podcast, he explains his philosophy on how to build the best product possible by “centralizing all your insights from customer feedback, spotting opportunities for improvement in your product experience, and prioritizing your decisions and actions” based on user opinions. Resources: Connect with Ferdinand on LinkedInRead his recent article about Ford's "Faster Horses" and Customer-CentricityLearn about and download Reveall's VOC template-----Spot expansion and risks based on customer responsesTry Nuffsaid for free today

Beyond being the most entertaining guest we've had on the show, Jeanne Hopkins, CRO at OneScreen.ai & former CMO at Lola.com, convinced us that the Voice of Customer sync she designed is the most impactful meeting a leader can schedule. In this episode, Jeanne breaks down how the VOC meeting should be structured, which stakeholders to invite, and why an initiative like this can ensure that the voice of the customer is truly embedded into how a business runs. If you want better alignment around the customer at your company, this episode is a must-listen. Like Paul English, former CTO & co-founder of Kayak and Lola.com, said about Jeanne's meeting, “I've realized that our VOC meeting is not only my favorite meeting but has changed our product's direction and made our platform more customer-friendly than almost any single other thing we've done.”Resources: Connect with Jeanne on LinkedInRead why her VOC meeting was Paul English's favorite (former CTO & co-founder of Kayak and Lola.com) -------Adopt Customer-Led Growth todayTry Nuffsaid for free

Jeff Justice Williams is the Sr. Executive Director of Enterprise Customer Success at Box and has led CS teams at companies like Stack Overflow, WeWork, and Dropbox. In this conversation, Jeff highlights how a Voice of Customer program should operate at scale. He shares several insights that differed from other CS leaders we've interviewed including why VOC data should not dictate the product roadmap, how most VOC programs fall short by ignoring customer postmortem churn data, & what the very first step in launching a VOC program should be. Resources: Follow Jeff on LinkedInCheck out his article on The Changing Face of CSRead his post about being a Revised Workaholic------------Adopt Customer-Led Growth todaySchedule a demo & try Nuffsaid for free

Having played critical roles on Voice of Customer teams at companies like VMware, Red Hat, and Citrix, Nick Woerner, current Director of CX at Mineral, joins the Nuffsaid podcast to share wisdom on what it actually takes to close the loop with customers within a VOC program. In this episode, he introduces concepts like inner and outer feedback loops, touches on the best way to maximize the chance VOC becomes an org-wide priority, digs into the top channels to collect feedback, and more. Resources:Follow Nick on LinkedInCheck out his post on the biggest challenge VOC programs face------------Adopt Customer-Led Growth todaySchedule a demo & try Nuffsaid for free

Here's VP of Customer Success at ESG, Peter Armaly, to kick off our new podcast series on Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs. Coming from a background with extensive Customer Success experience including having spent more than 5 years as a CS executive at Oracle, Peter shares how an advanced VOC program is run. He also dives deep into explaining how executive team buy-in determines whether or not VOC actually matters at a company.Resources:Follow Peter on LinkedIn and TwitterRead about his recent transition into CSaaSCheck out ESG's article on the do's and don'ts of customer surveys------------Adopt Customer-Led Growth todaySchedule a demo & try Nuffsaid for free

VMware's Meenu Agarwal runs one of the largest books of business in the world. As SVP of Customer Success at a company with a revenue of over $12B, more than 2,000 Customer Success team members around the globe, and 500,000 customers, Meenu understands what digital Customer Success should look like at mega-scale. In this episode, Meenu breaks down their 2022 goal of scaling Customer Success through innovative digital programs like VMware Customer Connect, Success 360™, and training channel partners. Resources: Follow Meenu on LinkedInCheck out all of her articles on the VMware blogRead more about Success 360™ in this Wall Street Journal piece

Dan Ennis, the Manager of the US Scale Customer Success team at Monday.com, came on the Nuffsaid podcast this week to share how his team uses data in a highly sophisticated way to drive an effective Digitally-Led CS program. In this episode, Dan touches on everything from how to look beyond product usage data and into more useful trending data, what to avoid when building out a scaled model, how his team uses customer patterns to detect churn risk and expansion opportunities, and the avenues Monday.com's Scaled function uses to collect and act upon Voice of Customer data. Resources: Follow Dan on LinkedInWatch his talk about ‘Re-engaging Disengaged Customers'Check out Dan's post about designing CS experiments with data

In this episode, Marley Wagner, VP of Marketing & Digital Customer Success at ESG, shares her company's sophisticated Digital Customer Success maturity framework. Marley walks us through each stage of Digital CS maturity and covers everything from what it takes to lay the right foundations to implementing advanced digital communication channels.Resources: Follow Marley on LinkedInLearn more about ESG's Digital Customer Success servicesRead Marley's article about the Phases of Digital CS

For Elisabeth Courland, Digital CSM at Agorapulse, launching a Digitally-Led Customer Success program is about starting with a solid foundation of understanding the customer, then deploying automation. In this episode, Elisabeth shares a trove of tips that anyone tasked with crafting a digital CS strategy will be able to quickly implement.Resources: Follow Elisabeth on LinkedInCheck out her website The digital CSMUse the awesome resources she compiled — Open Book of Customer Success

Eight years ago, Brian LaFaille stepped on as Looker's first Customer Success hire. Since then he's seen Looker through a $2.6B acquisition by Google and was a crucial member of a team that was tasked with servicing customers at a massive scale. In this episode, Brian walks us through the journey Looker took to learn how to effectively run a digitally-led CS motion that would benefit all segments and customers — from Enterprise to SMB. Resources: Follow Brian on LinkedInVisit his publication Customer Success Field GuideWatch Brian on the panel discussion “The Skills, Tools, and Processes for a Digitally Led Engagement Model”

At the beginning of 2021, Lane Holt, Director of Client Outcomes at Gainsight, was a team of 1 and tasked with building out the company's digitally-led CS model. Fast forward 12 months and you'll see that she's developed a mighty team of 8 to architect a hugely successful digital program. In this episode, Lane breaks down the roles and responsibilities of her team, how to detect risk and expansion opportunities in a digital model, and most importantly, why she believes that digital CS is not a segment—but a strategy that can benefit all customers. Resources: Follow Lane Holt on LinkedInRead Nick Mehta's post on her Digitally-Led CS thought leadershipWatch her discuss “The Role of CS Ops in Tech-Touch”

According to Dickey Singh (CEO & Cofounder of Cast.app), most Digital CS approaches including low- and tech-touch models today aren't effective. Customers in this segment are usually overwhelmed with automated emails, pdfs of reports, and dashboards - instead of being sent meaningful, tailored content at the right time. Dickey came on the Nuffsaid podcast this week to share how Customer Success teams can take a working high-touch model to inform their digitally-led CS practices. Resources: Follow Dickey on LinkedInCheck out Cast.appRead Dickey's article on how Digital Business Reviews differ from traditional QBRs

GitLab's Director of Customer Success Operations, Jeff Beaumont, breaks down how CS Ops can be key to increasing Net Retention. He brings up 3 areas his team focuses on to drive NRR: 1) KPIs (or understanding the effectiveness of current measurements), 2) special projects (or proactively spotting areas of inefficiency within CS and developing tools to automate those activities), and 3) visibility (because as Jeff says, “sunlight is the best disinfectant.”) Resources: Follow Jeff on LinkedInCheck out his post on GitLab going publicRead Jeff's Gainsight interview about implementing CS Ops at scale

“Good onboarding, as we define it, is keeping customers around longer and getting them to grow their business with you. Why limit onboarding to just those first few weeks?” Head of Customer Experience at Arrows, Shareil Nariman, knows more about customer onboarding than just about anyone we've ever spoken with. In this episode, Shareil explains how to:implement continuous onboarding at your company, use your high-touch experience to inform your low-touch onboarding, and measure your onboarding program's success. Resources: Follow Shareil on LinkedInDownload The Startup CEO's Guide to Customer Success & OnboardingCheck out his post on “How to” versus “Why to” content

On today's show, Beth Yehaskel, a Customer Success Architect at Winning by Design, preps us for end-of-year CFO budgeting and headcount conversations by sharing the difference between a CS org that's run as a profit center versus a cost center. She covers how CS leaders need to connect improvements in retention to LTV, the common cost center pitfalls to avoid, and the difference between providing customer impact and customer value. Resources: Follow Beth on LinkedInRead her post on restructuring the typical org designCheck out her lessons from running CS Ops

In this episode, Seth Wylie, Director of CS Ops & Admin Community at Gainsight (who has one of the most thoughtful perspectives on CS Ops in the space) offers up some paths for breaking into CS Ops and the skillsets that are most useful in the role. For those already in CS Ops, Seth also shares his take on the options available for career advancement. Resources: Register to attend Gainsight's CS Ops Unplugged on December 2, 2021Follow Seth on LinkedInSee Gainsight's compilation of info about CS Ops, including the CS Ops Mentor ProgramCheck out his list of CS Ops Slack Communities

Zeina Marcotte, Director of SaaS Customer Success Strategy and Operations at LinkedIn, has a highly sophisticated CS Ops team (CS Ops alone has almost 25 people). During this episode, Zeina describes how her team is set up, why LinkedIn's CS Ops team reports to the centralized global Ops function, and how this structure can actually be a benefit to the Customer Success team.Resources: Follow Zeina on LinkedInRead how CS Ops matures

This week we break down the opportunity Customer Success has to take action to hire, retain, and promote more Black leaders. We interviewed over a dozen CS community members on this topic who shed light on three main areas to focus on: 1) create an inclusive environment with existing employees, 2) recruit and hire more Black employees, and 3) develop and promote those team members into leadership positions. Resources:Read the full article Check out the LinkedIn conversation

Today on the ‘nuffsaid podcast we spoke with Dave Jackson, CEO of TheCustomer.Co about his new book, Customer-Led Growth: A CEO's Guide to Building a B2B SaaS Company. In our conversation, Dave shares 4 core themes from his book: 1) value is the red thread at the core of B2B SaaS companies, 2) successful CLG companies are rewarded with higher valuations, 3) we serve people, not faceless customers, and 4) real customer focus is an organization design challenge that CEOs must lead.Resources: Buy Customer-Led Growth on AmazonFollow Dave on LinkedInVisit TheCustomer.Co

The customer experience tends to decline as a company grows—but what can Customer Success teams do about it? In this episode, Natalie Fedie, VP of Customer Value at HighRadius, answers this question: she says too many teams look at customer health data too late. Natalie suggests analyzing customer health predictively by 1) setting up a VOC program, 2) tracking the right data to see if customers are getting value, and 3) proactively reviewing the customer journey as it's happening.Resources: Follow Natalie on LinkedIn and TwitterRead her post on the changing landscape of the C-suiteWatch her talk about Creating Customer Value

“I'm not talking about fluffy quotes. You need to capture the literal voice of your customers.” Dana Alvarenga, VP of Customer Experience at SlapFive, offers two tactics to level-up your Voice of Customer Program: 1) capture audio and video of actual customer stories, and 2) make that feedback easily accessible for the entire company to use when making decisions. Resources: Follow Dana on LinkedInVisit the SlapFive websiteListen to Dana host the CustomerX Therapy podcast

Markus Rentsch, CEO of Remark-able, joined us to define his philosophy on Customer-Value-Led Growth (CVLG). Markus says it's a mindset where customer value “cannot happen by accident”—it's engineered—and he explains how CVLG ultimately leads to acquiring “perfect fit” customers. Resources: Follow Markus on LinkedIn Check out the Remark-able websiteRead his article on why user-based pricing sucks for SaaS

“When it's crunch time and there's pressure to hit Sales numbers, people make compromises that later negatively affect the company.” This is precisely the reason why CS leader, Daniel Rose, thinks Sales Engineering should live within CS; “Sales Engineering won't allow deals to slip through because of a short-sighted approach.” In this episode, Daniel shares the main benefits of Customer Success owning Sales Engineering: more control over time to value, better use cases, and Net Retention Rate. Resources: Follow Daniel on LinkedIn and TwitterRead his piece on why Sales Engineering should live in CSCheck out his post on CS Ops

Chief Experience Officer, Craig Antonucci, came on the show to share how to justify a CX program with your CFO. He said “it's simple”—the conversation should be led with data and focus on three areas: how the CX initiative will sell more, save money, and fit the company's mission. Resources: Follow Craig on LinkedInRead his article about being a good customer Check out Craig's comment on our post “NPS Is Dead”

Kalina Bryant has a rich background in customer advocacy, engagement, and voice of customer programs. Now Asana's Head of Global Customer Advocacy, Customer Experience, and Executive Programs (and Founder & Host of the UnapologeTECH podcast), Kalina spoke with us about how CS and Customer Advocacy should work together. Resources:Follow Kalina on LinkedInSubscribe to UnapologeTECH: a space for women of color and allies in tech to learn, create, and connect.Read Asana's Anatomy of Work study

When you grow from CSM to CCO in 4 years, people will want to know how you did it. Kellie Capote, CCO at Gainsight, recalls 3 distinct tactics that helped her scale at hyper-speed: Don't underestimate the power of cross-functional relationships starting from day 1 of your career.Have a bias for action or a "bulldog" mentality.Be adaptable because CS is constantly changing, so you must be able to maintain an even-keeled mindset.Resources: Follow Kellie on LinkedInListen to her explain how to simplify CS by making it less 'squishy'Read her post on why Customer Success drives Sales

In the last quarter of the year 2020, CSM Practice conducted a study to assess the validity of common industry assumptions about customer health scores. In this episode, Irit Eizips shares some surprising trends that came out of that research, along with advice on how to properly implement insights pulled from usage data. For low touch engagement models, she makes the case for having two health scores, using two separate teams: 1) Proactive / CSM Team - to measure and increase the value your customers get from your products and services.2) Reactive / Retention Team - to evaluate various risk triggers that might cause a customer to churn and follow up with a clear playbook. Resources: Follow CSM Practice on LinkedIn and TwitterRead the full research results on Customer Health Score Industry TrendsCheck out the CSM Practice services and Youtube channel

Salesforce's VP of Customer & Market Insights, Karen Mangia, reveals the secrets every CS leader needs to know to encourage engagement, invite innovation, and remain relevant. Karen shares details about the metrics that matter, how to move from intention to action, and what success means to your customers right now. If you're willing to listen.Resources:Follow Karen on LinkedIn and TwitterCheck out her websiteWatch Karen's TED TalkBuy her most recent book Listen Up! How To Tune Into Customers and Turn Down the Noise

Adam Houghton, VP of Customer Success at Klue, dives into the sophisticated hiring process he's implemented across four different companies. It's a four step model: 1) Hire proven anchors to serve on your leadership team, 2) build around those anchors with unproven high potential people that challenge the status quo, 3) provide a transparent career path for your teams, and 4) build an environment where people “earn the right” to be promoted.Resources: Follow Adam on LinkedIn and TwitterRead about why he joined KlueCheck out Klue's article on why CS should be a competitive priority

Rumor has it “the CCO is the new COO.” Matt Zelen, UserTesting's COO (formerly CCO), came on the show to explain what it takes to make that career transition. He points out three skillsets CS leaders moving to COO will need to grow: 1) they need to develop the ability to identify priority problems for the company, 2) state their interest in taking ownership of important problems, and 3) grow the EQ necessary to understand other executives' needs, and work cross-functionally to fix major business problems.Resources: Follow Matt on LinkedIn and TwitterCheck out UserTesting

Nick Chang, Global Head of Customer Success at HPE GreenLake, joined us on the ‘nuffsaid podcast to discuss the separation of responsibilities between Customer Success and Support within enterprise organizations. In this episode, Nick argues against the long-standing belief that Support teams should only be reactive. To become a more proactive motion, Support teams need to have a technical Support lead who regularly reports back to the CS team with assessments about usage and the technical issues that prevent usage. Nick also shared his prediction for the future in which Success and Support teams will be merged into one CX department with the same metrics, goals, and coverage. Resources: Follow Nick Chang on LinkedIn and Twitter Check out HPE GreenLake

Salesforce's Brett Matthews breaks down how they monetize CS (hint: it's not “monetizing CSMs”). They have tiers of offerings that include higher levels of support, services, and, interestingly, access to subject matter experts under their “expert coaching” program. Everything's tailored around helping customers be more successful. It's an excellent example of what monetizing CS can look like at scale. Resources: Follow Brett on LinkedInRead his article on 10 lessons from 10 years in Customer SuccessCheck out Brett's post on how Salesforce has changed since he started there

David Kocher, VP of Customer Success at Medidata Solutions, shares the segmentation and coverage models he developed so his team can focus on the right customers in the right way. His formula helps prioritize customers using two matrices: ARR mapped against health score and adoption vs. maturity. Resources: Follow David on LinkedInListen to his prediction of the next big wave in Customer SuccessRead David's post on 5 lessons learned from CS change management

Rupal Nishar, AVP of Customer Success at Netomi, shares how Customer Success should work cross-functionally to influence the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and how doing so ensures long-term customer engagement and company growth. Resources: Follow Rupal on LinkedIn Listen to her talk about the role of AI in Customer SuccessRead Rupal's post on the most important stakeholder

Dave Derington, Customer Education leader at Outreach, gives us an inside look at how Outreach's Customer Education program works. He outlines how Customer Education is different from the CS Enablement and CS Ops teams and offers some first steps in building an effective Customer Education program. ResourcesFollow Dave on LinkedIn and TwitterTune into Dave's podcast The Customer Education LaboratoriesListen to Dave explain why Customer Ed is a scale engine for Customer Success

Niclas Ramon Staberg, CCO at Hive Streaming, joined the ‘nuffsaid podcast to make the case for having Customer Marketing live within the broader Customer team. He also offers an idea: try sharing customer stories internally to foster a customer-centric culture. Resources: Follow Niclas on LinkedIn and TwitterCheck out Hive StreamingRead his post on customer centricity

Jeff Heckler, Global Head of Customer Success at Pipedrive, breaks down the actions CS leaders can take to increase their prominence on the executive team. He covers how to: Use the CS metrics CFOs care aboutShare the value of CS by comparing metrics of CS-managed accounts vs unmanaged accountsTeach other execs the value CS can provide to their function (more ARR, lower CAC, higher LTV, better margins, sticker product experience, more referenceable customers, etc.)Resources: Follow Jeff on LinkedIn and TwitterRead how he’s built out CS Ops at PipedriveCheck out Jeff’s answer to “What's one thing every Customer Success leader should know?”

In episode 2 of 2 with Stacie Ward, VP of Customer Success, Stacie shares a prediction: the best CCOs of the future will have backgrounds in Product and CS. Resources: Follow Stacie on LinkedIn Listen to her integrated customer success approach

Seven years ago, Stacie Ward made the switch from being a Sales manager to a VP of Customer Success. Today she joined ‘wellsaid to explain why she made this move and the specific skills she knows a Sales manager needs to successfully transition into a CS role. Resources: Follow Stacie on LinkedInListen to her integrated customer success approach

In our final episode with Asaff Zamir, VP of Customer Success at Siemplify, he explains his approach to risk assessment by treating customer accounts as a subjective ecosystem. To do an accurate assessment of account health, he advocates for looking at each persona within an account and analyzing each person's perspective, experience, relationship strength, and personality. Resources: Follow Asaff on LinkedInCheck out his article on why relationship management is the next phase of CSRead more about building a relationship coverage strategy

In episode 2 of 3 with Asaff Zamir, VP of Customer Success at Siemplify, Asaff shares how to coach CSMs on how to nurture positive emotional experiences with their customers using six key elements: personalization, integrity, (setting) expectations, empathy, time to value, and responsibility. Resources: Follow Asaff on LinkedInRead his post on why the psychology of customer experience is a building block of CS

Asaff Zamir, VP of Customer Success at Siemplify, argues that being in Customer Success is much like being a customer psychologist—you have to describe, explain, predict, and change the behavior of others. He explains why it’s crucial for CSMs to “identify the needs of their customers and drive confidence and trust through transparency.” Resources: Follow Asaff on LinkedInRead his post on why the psychology of customer experience is a building block of CSCheck out his post on why relationship management is the next phase of CS

Tanya Strauss, Director of Customer Success Strategy and Operations at ServiceNow, breaks down best practices in preventing risks via a streamlined escalation process. She advocates for defining categories of risk, documenting tribal knowledge about historical escalations, and building a team whose sole focus is on helping CSMs with fire prevention, not firefighting. Resources:Follow Tanya on LinkedIn Read her post about getting a handle on risk escalationListen to Tanya share how to return to work after a career break

Lauren Humphrey, former VP of Customer Success and Payments GTM and current advisor at brightwheel dives into lessons learned from working with a high volume of SMB customers. Her tips include making every touchpoint count, thinking of onboarding as a product, delivering high-quality experiences through specialization, and investing in systems early on. Resources:Follow Lauren on LinkedInListen to her speak at the SMBTech SummitWatch brightwheel CEO and Founder on Shark Tank

Lauren Humphrey, former VP of Customer Success and Payments GTM and current advisor at brightwheel dives into lessons learned from working with a high volume of SMB customers. Her tips include making every touchpoint count, thinking of onboarding as a product, delivering high quality experiences through specialization, and investing in systems early on.

Here’s part 2 of our debate with Dave Jackson, CCO at DeepCrawl and CEO of TheCustomer.Co, on the pros and cons of assigning “ownership” within companies. Chris and Dave cover: how CEOs can be thoughtful about breaking down silos, the viability of company-wide commission plans, and more.

This is part 1 of our discussion with Dave Jackson, CCO at DeepCrawl and CEO of TheCustomer.Co, on the topic of “ownership.” Dave explains why he thinks ownership is “built on the bankrupt idea of hierarchy” and Chris makes the case that every decision must have one owner.

In episode 2 of 2 with Keri Keeling, the Global Head of Customer Success Innovation & Intelligence at VMware, Keri digs into her latest project—creating “listening posts” to collect and measure customer sentiment across the user journey.