Confessions of a CSMHow a wrong turn made me responsible for your success

Thanks.

Los Angeles Customer Success

Professionals

Who is this guy? And why should we

listen to him?

Joseph PalumboCustomer Success Leader

I’m supposed to build a customer

success program?

How do I do that?

MARKETING FINANCE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

TECHNICAL SUPPORT OPERATIONS ENTREPRENEUR

UX/UI DESIGN PRODUCT MANAGER SALES

CUSTOMER SUCCESS

2 things…how to figure out problems

…how to teach others

Customer Success Laboratory

Specialist Creative Mac Genius

Consultation Onboarding Check-ins

People hate to feel dumb*

*Especially accomplished people

Vs

Vs

“We don’t repair computers. We repair relationships.”

Smart people don’t like to feel dumb.

Words matter.

Transformational. Not transactional.

Race to the cloud

Sh*t was breaking left and right!

When you’re first to market with a new technology, you’re responsible for teaching people how to use it.

Web Server Application Server

Database Email Server

Specialist Creative Mac Genius

Specialist Creative Mac Genius

Cloud Launch Team + Onboarding + Implementation + Training

Onboarding has the biggest ROI

If you can only invest in one thing, invest in onboarding

hurtlocker@rackspace.com

Don’t waste time solving the problems you want to solve, solve for the problems you have!

BUILD CUSTOMER PERSONAS

First Lesson Learned

Cloud-savvy Developer

60 DaysOnboarding Implementation Support

Revenue 26%

Churn 60%

Support 38%

Marketing/ Sales

Corporate Strategy

Product Manager

UX/UI Design

3 Years

We didn’t know what to call it, we just knew it worked

SaaS vs. IaaS

Jay Lafarr

“Can you write a quick playbook?”

22 page tome

Tl;dr - Top 10 Rules for Customer Success1. Engagement comes down to 2 things: right message + right time. Know

when to call, know what to say

2. Before you call/email a customer, ask yourself: “What’s in it for the customer?” If you can’t answer that, you’re wasting everybody’s time.

3. People love to learn, but hate to be taught. Good CSMs know the difference

4. Customers are like water, they follow the path of least resistance. Our job is to find where they want to go and provide them a clear path.

Tl;dr - Top 10 Rules for Customer Success5. “Too much work” is a symptom of “Not enough clear priorities”

6. Wherever your customers are, be there

7. Tech is a commodity, people want it for cheap. Expertise is a luxury for which people will always pay a premium

8. Think like a journalist when you research your customer. Don’t think in terms of numbers, think in terms of story, then help them write the end

9. Don’t ever let the customer feel dumb

Turn complexity into simplicity whenever possible

Technology is complex.

Business is complex.

Life is complex.

Simplify whenever possible.

We provide Simplicity-as-a-Service.

Simplicity-as-a-Service provides simple solutions, straightforward communication, and a clear vision of success for each customer.

Customer Success is Maturing!!!

Customer success has gone from a luxury to an essential piece of a profitable organization model for SaaS and other recurring-revenue

based businesses.

MFW when I see people making the same mistakes that I made

Questions + Contributions