Sagar Shukla’s Post

📽️ Learn how to speak the language of revenue as a Customer Success professional 💡.. If you work in Customer Success, you'll no doubt feel the increasing pressure the industry has been facing to really showcase VALUE.. The reality is.. The value is already there! The issue however is that the perception created is often one of CS teams only being outwardly focused. This therefore leaves internal stakeholders questioning the role of Customer Success 🤔.. The board don't care about how many QBR's or EBR's you conducted this month.. In many cases it's simply a matter of perception, which CS teams absolutely have the power to change. How!? 👇🏼 Learn the language of revenue.. I had the absolutely pleasure of speaking with Rav Dhaliwal, the 'recovering software executive'.. 👀🤣 His words.. A little more on Rav: 👉🏼 Investor, Board Member, Venture & Limited Partner 👉🏼 Ex-CS Leader for the likes of Slack & Zendesk 👉🏼 Respected voice within the CS community & beyond 👉🏼 A fantastic speaker who steps outside of the CS echo-chamber.. Rav posted an exceptional article recently, and he kindly offered up an hour of his time to give this a voice. In this video we discuss that very article, highlighting the practical steps you can take to ensure you're maximising perceived value. FULL VIDEO LINK IN THE COMMENTS as LinkedIn will punish this post if I add it now! Please like ✅ and share with your CS network. Also comment with your thoughts! 💬 - Listen out for the competition! #customersuccess #revenue #podcast #saas #hiring #tips #sales #scaleup

Drive revenue and customer satisfaction with great account planning! If you want to deliver more value with and for your strategic or key accounts, effective account planning is foundational. And...account planning is distinct from an account *plan*. Account planning is an ongoing process, involving multiple players -- the KAD or SAM or lead sales person, the CSM, other pillar reps, relevant SEs *and* key customer stakeholders. An account *plan*, on the other hand, is usually just an inventory or wish list of opportunities that the team wants to close. It's developed and stuck in a drawer, never to be seen again. I explored the topic of account planning with Ulrik Monberg, CEO of ARPEDIO, last fall, for the Thoughts on Selling Podcast. We have similar views on the topic of account planning, including the value of relationship maps and action plans. I also recorded a "Short Bytes" session on account planning best practices. Both are available via Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Full disclosure...when I first launched the Acelera Group, focusing on account planning and pipeline development, I didn't have an account planning *platform* strategy. In my prior experience, facilitating over 300 account planning sessions, and more than 30 key account planning sessions, at Oracle and Google, PowerPoint (and Google Slides) was my platform of choice. (Ulrik got a chuckle from that!) It took only a few customers to ask "how do we scale this" for me to search for...and find...ARPEDIO as the answer to that question. Now customers can scale a highly effective account planning process across their entire organization, providing similar value and functionality for each sales team chartered with account planning. If you're attending the upcoming Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) conference in Miami next week, be sure to connect with the ARPEDIO team. They will be there, presenting their expertise, and representing the ARPEDIO platform as the SAMA platform of choice. By the way, late Q2 or early Q3 is a great time to conduct account planning sessions...with customers...to ensure alignment with their strategic objectives and a strong close to 2024. Let me know if you'd like assistance in developing a formal account planning framework or need facilitation for important customers. Thanks! Lee #valueselling #accountplanning

The Impact of Inaccurate Forecasting on Company Success can be disastrous. An inaccurate forecast can lead to financial losses, missed targets, and even reputational damage. Having an effective strategy for accurate forecasting is critical for any business. Unfortunately, many organizations don’t invest enough time or resources into their forecast processes, resulting in unreliable data. I recently interviewed industry legends Chad Horenfeldt and Kristi Faltorusso to delve into the disastrous consequences of inaccurate forecasting and how to rectify it. Here are the key takeaways: 🎯 The Crucial Role of Accurate Forecasting: Effective renewal management hinges on accurate forecasting. By setting clear and attainable short-term milestones, teams can stay aligned, accountable, and drive continuous growth and success. 📈 Distinguishing Customer Health Forecast from Renewal Forecast: Relying solely on customer color status can be misleading. Just because a customer is labeled "green" doesn't guarantee renewal, and vice versa. Understanding these distinct metrics is essential for maximizing revenue growth. 🤝 The Power of Sales and CSM Synergy: Sales and customer success managers (CSMs) must work in harmony, supporting and collaborating with each other to meet company targets. Through open communication and collaboration, a strong foundation for success is built, resulting in exceptional customer value. 🏢 Account Planning for Enterprise Accounts: For larger enterprise accounts, engaging in early account planning is crucial. Deeply understanding client objectives and dynamics nurtures stronger connections and drives meaningful results. 🤝 The Importance of Effective Internal Team Meetings: Regular and effective team meetings promote coordination, idea sharing, and brainstorming. Fostering a cohesive team environment is key to improving customer retention and driving successful renewals. Our podcast has been receiving fantastic feedback! Listen to the full episode here: https://buff.ly/3z7jmOj #CSM #CustomerSuccessManagement #RevenueGrowth #Forecasting #Renewals #Sales #AccountPlanning #TeamCollaboration #CustomerRetention

The Impact of Inaccurate Forecasting on Company Success can be disastrous. An inaccurate forecast can lead to financial losses, missed targets, and even reputational damage. Having an effective strategy for accurate forecasting is critical for any business. Unfortunately, many organizations don’t invest enough time or resources into their forecast processes, resulting in unreliable data. I recently interviewed industry legends Chad Horenfeldt and Kristi Faltorusso to delve into the disastrous consequences of inaccurate forecasting and how to rectify it. Here are the key takeaways: 🎯 The Crucial Role of Accurate Forecasting: Effective renewal management hinges on accurate forecasting. By setting clear and attainable short-term milestones, teams can stay aligned, accountable, and drive continuous growth and success. 📈 Distinguishing Customer Health Forecast from Renewal Forecast: Relying solely on customer color status can be misleading. Just because a customer is labeled "green" doesn't guarantee renewal, and vice versa. Understanding these distinct metrics is essential for maximizing revenue growth. 🤝 The Power of Sales and CSM Synergy: Sales and customer success managers (CSMs) must work in harmony, supporting and collaborating with each other to meet company targets. Through open communication and collaboration, a strong foundation for success is built, resulting in exceptional customer value. 🏢 Account Planning for Enterprise Accounts: For larger enterprise accounts, engaging in early account planning is crucial. Deeply understanding client objectives and dynamics nurtures stronger connections and drives meaningful results. 🤝 The Importance of Effective Internal Team Meetings: Regular and effective team meetings promote coordination, idea sharing, and brainstorming. Fostering a cohesive team environment is key to improving customer retention and driving successful renewals. Our podcast has been receiving fantastic feedback! Listen to the full episode here: https://buff.ly/3Ue60r9 #CSM #CustomerSuccessManagement #RevenueGrowth #Forecasting #Renewals #Sales #AccountPlanning #TeamCollaboration #CustomerRetention

Great Podcast Jeff Kushmerek. I can only recommend others in Customer Success to listen to this episode.   One of my favorite topics when talking with other CS leaders is whether Usage is a good indicator for Renewal prediction. I think Kristi Faltorusso nailed it with the example of a Customer who was offloading content 😀   This made me think of one of the first automated indicators that I built: "Last 90 days topics from Support/Community per Customer”.   Add the Customers into different “buckets”: ➡ They are doing more/expanding (since they ask/search for new integrations, new possibilities, etc.) ➡ They are Churning (asking for how to download, how to save in other formats, etc.)   Every Business can decide how many buckets they want and how to calculate the score – but it requires good Data Quality and tagging. #CustomerSuccess #Renewal #SaaS

Expansion Revenue in existing customers is making up more and more revenue for companies, but do you have a strategy? I've had a handful of questions about revenue expansion come up recently. Over my last 5 years in Account Management/Customer Success, I learned something many teams aren't focusing on that well: Stakeholder Mapping It is crucial to break down your: - Executive Sponsors/Buyers - Champions - Power Users Each of these plays a key role in successful adoption of your software Executive Sponsors: - Don't just be friends with them around renewal time, constantly build relationships - Executive Alignment: "Is my CEO talking with theirs?" Champions: - Internal Evangelists who will spread usage if using properly - Can Provide Marketing Website Testimonials - AM/CS Qualified Leads Power Users: - Help you to understand how your customer is using the product (also helps you learn their business and their goals) - Churn Champions: They will fight for you if executives may not be renewing - Working Upstream: If an employee sees value, they will tell their bosses if done properly In this video, I broke down 2 ways of how I've done Account Mapping previously There are 1,000 ways to do Account Mapping, the most important thing is that you find a way to do it that works for you How are you account mapping today? ________________________ Over the past few weeks, I have rolled out “The Sales Series” and “The Marketing Series.” This week, we are rolling out “The Customer Success Series” featuring: Brooke Simmons: “Prioritization Quadrants” (Ep. 130) Luke Ferrel: “The Customer Needs Triangle”  (Ep. 131) Me: “Account Mapping Playbook”  (Ep. 147) Rob Zambito: “Conscious Investments in CS”  (Ep. 149) Jay Nathan: “Customer-Centric Mindset” (Ep. 154) Check it out in the comments! 

#20percentpodcast

The blueprint for building an elite customer success team Customer Success Teams are becoming increasing visible in today’s SaaS environments. Being responsible for Day 2 lifecycle management; adoption, expansion, retention and advocacy, it is important that we are building the proper teams to ensure stability, growth and showing the value of our company’s products and services. Acquiring a new customer can cost up to 25 times more than retaining an existing one, so it is important we have the proper team in place to nurture these relationships. The article and podcast by Amy O. show us the keys to building elite customer success teams highlighting the importance of finding the right people, creating the vision and strategy, promoting advocacy by becoming a trusted adviser externally and providing collaborative feedback internally, and, importantly, providing the metrics to back-up your success. By focusing on these elements, you will be able to create an Elite CS Team that will become a very important cog to your company’s growth and customer loyalty. #CustomerSuccess #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #CustomerExperience #TeamBuilding https://lnkd.in/ePFCqNSh

🎙️ New Episode Alert: Mastering CS - Candid Leader Insights 🎙️ In this episode, Irina C., Head of Marketing at Custify, sits down with Christopher Warren-Gash, VP of Customer Success at Sympa, to discuss industry-tailored strategies and building a zero-churn CS approach. 🌟🎧 What You’ll Learn: - How past experiences influence a CS leader’s journey - Creating customer success strategies tailored to specific industries - Key steps for building and advancing your CS career - Scaling an existing CS team effectively - Strategies to minimize churn and boost retention Christopher shares his transition from B2C to B2B, the importance of aligning CS efforts with industry demands, and how to keep customers at the core of all decisions. Packed with actionable advice, this episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about Customer Success! 🎧

If you have joined me on the #ITHS podcast, collaborated on projects together, talked with me at meet-ups or online communities, you know how I feel about driving customer growth and the need to change our approach. That is why I was psyched to read GTM Partners latest research "Unlocking Customer Growth." It focuses on how to center customer success as a company-wide goal and not just a department. (Full report: https://bit.ly/4dAXv15) I love this statement from the report...."Reframing the retention conversation towards customer growth" ❤️ 💯 I wrote about this on a post almost a year ago but think it is worth repeating. When revising your customer growth strategy, you 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. Too often when we map our customer journey we focus only on the external deliverables that we provide along the way and process.  😔 Unfortunately what we don’t do enough is look at our internal process to ensure it aligns with the customer’s expectations. Part of the issue is that we move customers through the internal journey with "handoffs." That word alone is a problem. ❌ Handoff implies the customer is no longer your responsibility. 🛑 We are ALL responsible for ensuring the customer has a positive experience with our organization. Every interaction your customer has with your organization, regardless of department, leaves an impression and can change the outcome of the relationship. A positive experience results in: ✅ A satisfied customer ✅ A longer relationship ✅ An expanded relationship ✅ An advocate How do you ensure your internal process aligns with customer expectations: ✅ 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐲-𝐢𝐧 and make sure you are tracking the right OKRs and KPIs correctly (team vs. department). ✅ Eliminate 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡. Create a Customer Journey Team with key members from each department (sales, marketing, success, support). You may not have the bandwidth to do this for every customer but you can start with your strategic customers, build your processes and replicate at different customer levels over time. ✅ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐲. Don’t “handoff” to different departments… “introduce” team members. ✅ 𝐁𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭. Keep everyone on the team informed of customer communications and any goals, objectives, issues, or roadblocks that are uncovered. ✅ 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 of the Customer Journey Team in the QBR meeting. ✅ 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 the QBR outcomes and track deliverables.

🔥☘️ Byrning Platform #17 | The Engagement Triangle ☘️🔥 Let’s be real... - Is your Sales team frustrated by features they can’t explain or don’t deliver as promised? - Does Customer Success feel stranded with bugs and gaps no one prioritized? - Are your Product Teams stuck chasing tomorrow while ignoring the pain points of today? You’re not alone. Misalignment between Product, Sales, and Customer Success is a common challenge—but it doesn’t have to be. In our latest article, we explore how The Engagement Triangle—Sales, Customer Success, and Product Teams—can transform mismatched priorities into collaboration for revenue success.  💼 Sales: The Storytellers of Success, translating features into compelling narratives that win customers today and build for tomorrow. 🤝 Customer Success: The Voice of the Customer, turning user trust into actionable feedback, reduced churn, and Reference Customer advocates. 🎯 Product Teams: The Triad of Value, delivering solutions that are desirable, feasible, and viable for long-term growth. Discover how these teams can harness positive tension to amplify their strengths, align priorities, and turn friction into accountable momentum for market success. Read the full article now to align your teams and elevate your outcomes. 🔗 Link: https://lnkd.in/g7PCeY56 #ProductManagement #CustomerSuccess #SalesAlignment #Leadership #ByrningPlatform