Tom Latta’s Post

Dear SaaS CEOs, COOs, and CROs, stop blaming your CSMs for churn that happens for reasons not under their control. They can't stop customers from leaving if ⛔️ your product has major flaws ⛔️ you are acquiring the wrong customers ⛔️ you are setting unrealistic expectations ⛔️ your Customer Support is underperforming Yes, they can and should provide the insights to understand where and why customers are leaving. But it’s your responsibility to ensure the proper measures are taken and to hold the respective leaders accountable. Your churn rate will remain high until you change your tune or go out of business (whatever comes before). Churn is a company-wide issue that needs an orchestrated approach to deal with it. Act accordingly. PS: Join 7.7k+ CS professionals and sign up for my weekly newsletter if you like this post --> https://lnkd.in/dtC7MEjP

CSMs provide crucial feedback on why customers leave but cannot fix systemic issues alone. 🌍 Churn is a company-wide issue: It requires cross-functional collaboration (Product, Sales, Support, etc.). 📈 Proactive insights: Use data (health scores, usage patterns) to predict churn and act early. Customer feedback is a goldmine—CSMs can help identify pain points to drive product improvements. 🎯 Aligned goals: Retention efforts should be unified across all departments to create a seamless customer experience. 🔍 Root cause analysis: Address product flaws, misaligned expectations, and poor support to reduce churn. Changing the mindset and taking a holistic approach is the key to long-term retention

🤣 CSM is one important role to retain customers but not one reason for customers to leave. Therefore, churn analysis is important for everyone to solve problem together🤝

Dear SaaS CEOs, COOs, and CROs, stop blaming your CSMs for churn that happens for reasons not under their control. They can't stop customers from leaving if ⛔️ your product has major flaws ⛔️ you are acquiring the wrong customers ⛔️ you are setting unrealistic expectations ⛔️ your Customer Support is underperforming Yes, they can and should provide the insights to understand where and why customers are leaving. But it’s your responsibility to ensure the proper measures are taken and to hold the respective leaders accountable. Your churn rate will remain high until change your tune or go out of business (whatever comes before). Churn is a company-wide issue that needs an orchestrated approach to deal with it. Act accordingly. PS: Join 5k+ CS professionals and sign up for my weekly newsletter if you like this post --> https://lnkd.in/dtC7MEjP

𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫-𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐒: 𝐀 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 As a seasoned growth professional in B2B, I couldn’t agree more with Markus Rentsch’s recent post. Let’s dive into the key takeaways and how they resonate with my experience: 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬: 🛑 It’s time to move beyond vanity metrics like the number of calls made or emails sent. Instead, focus on outcomes - real value delivered to customers. Quality over quantity! 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞-𝐋𝐞𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡: 🌟 The heart of sustainable growth lies in understanding customer needs deeply. Gap selling, as Markus suggests, bridges the gap between what customers want and what your solution provides. 🤝 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐒 & 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐎𝐩𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: 💡 As someone well-versed in SaaS & Salesforce DevOps solutions, I appreciate the emphasis on process efficiency. Aligning sales and development teams ensures smoother customer journeys. 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞: 🌎 Having worked across APAC, EMEA, and the Americas, I’ve seen firsthand how diverse markets demand tailored approaches. Let’s celebrate this global perspective! 👉 What are your thoughts? Let’s continue the conversation! 🗣️ #CustomerCentricGrowth #SalesLeadership #LinkedInCommunity

Dear SaaS CEOs, COOs, and CROs, stop blaming your CSMs for churn that happens for reasons not under their control. They can't stop customers from leaving if ⛔️ your product has major flaws ⛔️ you are acquiring the wrong customers ⛔️ you are setting unrealistic expectations ⛔️ your Customer Support is underperforming Yes, they can and should provide the insights to understand where and why customers are leaving. But it’s your responsibility to ensure the proper measures are taken and to hold the respective leaders accountable. Your churn rate will remain high until change your tune or go out of business (whatever comes before). Churn is a company-wide issue that needs an orchestrated approach to deal with it. Act accordingly. PS: Create more value for your customers and your company --> https://lnkd.in/d5cGMT4R #saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth

Dear SaaS CEOs, COOs, and CROs, stop blaming your CSMs for churn that happens for reasons not under their control. They can't stop customers from leaving if ⛔️ your product has major flaws ⛔️ you are acquiring the wrong customers ⛔️ you are setting unrealistic expectations ⛔️ your Customer Support is underperforming Yes, they can and should provide the insights to understand where and why customers are leaving. But it’s your responsibility to ensure the proper measures are taken and to hold the respective leaders accountable. Your churn rate will remain high until change your tune or go out of business (whatever comes before). Churn is a company-wide issue that needs an orchestrated approach to deal with it. Act accordingly. PS: Create more value for your customers and your company --> https://lnkd.in/d5cGMT4R #saas #customersuccess #customervalueledgrowth

Why we think customers churn: - Price was too high - Didn't use it enough - Customer went out of business Why they actually churn: - It was raining - They didn't like the color scheme of the SaaS - Fortune cookie said "Cancel a random contract today"

The "Silent Retention Killers": the subtle signs that a seemingly healthy account is at risk of churn.   Every SaaS leader knows the obvious signs: lack of use, buyer/champion turnover, lots of support tickets. And it's reasonably easy to instrument your postsales machine to watch for and respond to those. What about more subtle signs: a power shift a CSM notices in a meeting, a rumor that the customer is looking at other vendors, seemingly innocuous requests for contract language?   How do you watch for these and others?   Comment with others you can think of and DM me if you want to talk about how I help SaaS businesses with this challenge. #retention #SaaS #customersuccess

SaaS churn rates have reached new heights over the past year. MRR churn has increased by 7% from December 2023, and a staggering 25% since December 2021. This requires revenue leaders to think outside the box. 📦 It’s time to go beyond traditional playbooks or health scores and adopt new approaches that touch on what truly matters:  aligning with customer business objectives.