If you’ve ever had – or ever will have – turnover in your Customer Success Management organization, this article will help you improve the transition from one Customer Success Manager to another, ensuring your customers have a seamless, painless experience. In the Customer Success industry, we frequently talk about nailing the handoffs from group to
Customer Retention and Renewal Aren’t the Same Thing
When I talk about reducing churn through Customer Success Management, to really drive the point home I’ll mention both Customer Retention and Renewal. This always raises a few eyebrows (which is why I do it) and prompts the “wait, aren’t those the same?” question. They’re not… and here’s the logic I used to get to
5 Characteristics of a GREAT Customer
I’m fortunate to have the great privilege to get to speak to lots of groups of Customer Success professionals. I’m brought in as the expert but, as often as not, I learn just as much as they do. It’s truly one of the most enjoyable things I get to do in my job. I have
CIO Perspective: Customer Success Starts Sooner than you Think
The CIO. Steve Jobs was adamant about not wanting to take Apple into the enterprise business because it would mean, “we would have to deal with 500 orifices called CIO’s.” I’d like to think things have moved on – Apple has now made a huge move into the corporate sector and partnered with – of all
10 Things I Learned from the OpenView Ventures 2015 Customer Success Event
As a die-hard Pittsburgh sports fan, I’ve learned to avoid the 617 area code Boston region in the months following their regular inevitable sports championship of one kind or another. Furthermore, with near-all-time-record February snowfall, this month wasn’t the ideal month to convince a California transplant to come visit the “City of Champions.” But when
Customer Success Learnings from SaaStr Annual 2015
Last Thursday was the first (of many, I hope) SaaStr Annual conference in San Francisco and it was awesome! From the venue, to the “between two ferns” interview setup, to the fact that CEOs from some of the hottest companies – including current Gainsight customers Box, OpenDNS, MobileIron, and Influitive – were there to share
We’re Growing Up – and To the Right – With Our Customers
One of our core values at Gainsight is Success For All – we believe that success for our stakeholders—whether our customers, teammates, or shareholders—comes with a sincere focus on continuous learning, selfless teaching and making a difference in each other’s lives. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing Success For All in action and ultimately, in
Is Your Startup The New England Patriots? And Are You Tom Brady?*
Let me get something out of the way upfront. I am not a Patriots fan. Not. At. All. As a lifelong, diehard, many-screws-loose Pittsburgh Steelers football fan, I couldn’t be further from the Brady Bunch fan club. In fact, as my team has constantly been toyed with and tortured by Giselle’s man (anyone remember the
The 5 Key Metrics that Link Training to Customer Success
Even though SaaS company leaders commonly believe that well-trained customers would have high adoption rates, achieve better outcomes, and renew at higher rates, many of these same companies do not offer customer training during the on-boarding process. How can this be? If it is so obvious that training will help customers use software better, why
The Customer Success and Marketing Intersection
Customer Success Marketing is a 2015 Priority As we kick off 2015, one of the areas that the Gainsight customer and extended community will be working on the most is effective communications and customer touches, at scale. Regardless of whether your company has a low- or no-touch model and you can’t individually call or email