How amazing would it be if your customers were so happy with your product, they just went out and told everyone how great it is, how much they like it, and how everyone needs to try it? What if they actively recommended it to their peers and colleagues? New Sales leads would flow in like
The ideal CEO for the Customer Success Age
This blog is the fifth of five based on anonymized discussions from CCO Summit 2016. Read the fourth here. If there’s only one takeaway from CCO Summit 2016, it’s that the Age of Customer Success has begun. When future business archaeologists look back on these last few years, they’ll probably refer to it as the
When do you fire a CSM?
This blog is the fourth of five based on anonymized discussions from CCO Summit 2016. Read the third here. This might be a bit of a morbid post, considering most of you reading are probably CSMs or work closely with them. But have you ever wondered: when should you lose your job? That was one
Manager Training: How to Be a Great Manager of CSMs
Allison Pickens is VP of Customer Success & Business Operations at Gainsight Note to Gainsight Customers: This post contains links to Vault Assets you can import directly into Gainsight. So you just got promoted to lead a team of other CSMs. Congratulations! And don’t worry too much – we’re here for you. Here’s a framework
How We Reorganized Our Entire Post-Sales Organization to Drive Customer Success
Allison Pickens leads Customer Success at Gainsight. I’m excited to announce a new organizational structure for Customer Success at Gainsight. Our previous “post-sales” organizational structure consisted of separate Customer Success, Services, and Support teams, each with a VP reporting separately into our CEO. We’ve decided to merge those three teams into one organization, with Customer
Customer Success Team Planning & Cost Benchmarks
In my previous post we dug into how technology companies – large and small, young and old – account for the costs of Customer Success. The feedback we received was very positive, and I appreciated reading every comment note. Thanks! With that said, we kept hearing a similar question among the feedback we received: “It’s
Six Reasons You Should Attend Pulse 2016
1. An incredible agenda featuring Functional Micro-conferences If you haven’t seen the agenda yet, you need to. We’re kicking it off on Monday, May 9 with Customer Success University (CSU) Live! Certification Day and a big Welcome Party in the evening. Then we kick into full gear on Tuesday by diving into our main theme:
How to Hire a CSM because 1960s Batman isn’t Real
This blog is the third of five based on anonymized discussions from CCO Summit 2016. Read the second here. Hiring a new CSM can feel a lot like hiring Batman. And not the dark, brooding anti-hero with the scary Batman-voice, but the 1960s Batman. The one with Robin and Commissioner Gordon and the Batphone and
How Customer Segmentation Can Save Your Sanity AND Drive Consistent Growth
This blog is the second of five based on anonymized discussions from CCO Summit 2016. Read the first here. One of the biggest factors that has led to the explosion of the Customer Success movement is the growing recognition that there’s no one-size-fits all strategy for meeting your customers’ needs. As you get to know
3 Alternate Benefits of Client Success Often Overlooked
Tom is a highly-motivated and innovative success leader, managing the Adobe eSign Services’ International Client Success team in EMEA and APAC. Tom’s passion is seeking and deploying the next innovative technologies that will improve the way people live, communicate and execute business. In his downtime he enjoys running, barbecuing, and wine tasting. When Adobe first