Best Of
Re: Strategies for GTM Teams
I believe fundamental analysis is essential for understanding market and financial fluctuations. We use Nurturev, a revenue intelligence platform that leverages LinkedIn data, to address this issue. However, its reliance on frequent LinkedIn updates can be a limitation. For SMBs or private companies, ChatGPT prompts can be less effective, and extensive market research may be necessary. Overall, combining various methods, including fundamental analysis and market research, seems to be the most reliable approach. However even I am trying to find ways to make this process scalable and I have no solution to it currently.
Re: August 23, 2024 - Week in Review
It's a great summary of all the exciting upcoming events! 🤩 I look forward 🙌
AI: More Than Just a Reactive Support Tool
AI has the potential to revolutionize customer success, going far beyond reactive support. By focusing on proactive engagement, we can drive down customer retention costs and significantly improve customer satisfaction.
When customers are happy with the product, they use it more and get greater value. This not only leads to increased customer satisfaction but also reduces the need for reactive support.
Traditional AI approaches often focus on driving down support costs, but this is a reactive model. By the time a customer reaches out for support, they're likely frustrated. Instead, let's leverage AI to anticipate their needs and offer guidance before problems arise.
Imagine a world where AI proactively alerts customers to better ways to use the product, recommends relevant features, and even predicts potential issues. This not only enhances the customer experience but also reduces the overall cost of customer retention.
As explored in a recent blog post by Dickey Singh 🙌 of Cast.app (The Evolution of AI Agents - ), AI is evolving beyond simple assistants. These advancements pave the way for even more proactive customer success strategies, like:
- Personalized Onboarding & Training: Tailoring experiences to individual needs and usage patterns.
- Predictive Issue Resolution: Identifying potential problems and offering solutions before they escalate.
- Feature Recommendation Engines: Helping users discover functionalities that enhance their experience and drive expansion.
Are you ready to harness the power of AI for proactive customer success?
I'm available for consulting or work to help your organization leverage these advancements. Let's discuss how we can transform your customer interactions and drive long-term value.
https://lnkd.in/g7NU4jF3
Looking for additional CS Certification?
Look no further! LinkedIn has recently released a Professional CS Foundations course, and already 200 professionals have completed it!
Endorsed by ChurnZero (one of GGR's terrific sponsors!), it takes you through 6 hours of courses such as:
- Building Rapport with Customers
- Sales: Customer Success
- Onboard New Customers for Loyalty, Engagement, and Expansion
- Customer Experience Leadership
August 23, 2024 - Week in Review
August 23, 2024
School is back in session for many of your families, and that brings the Fall Fun.I always find Fall to be a time of making sure I am cleaning up loose ends, meeting my annual goals for all the projects I started (both personally and professionally!), and gearing up for the start of my favorite two seasons: Fall and Winter.
It is also fiscal year ending for one year and forecasting for the next. Endings and beginnings…often rolled into these coming months which can bring an extra tiring aspect to life.Be sure to take time to recharge so you can hit these last few months with enthusiasm and vigor!
Events
🗨️ GGR CS Leadership Office Hours
The GGR Leadership Office Hours are a great way to connect with your peers through conversations about leading CS topics.
Wondering if it is worth it? Here is some feedback from our latest event:
I appreciated the opportunity to connect with a bunch of people interested in CS and how we can improve things for our customers!
Our 2024 schedule is now available here, and our next meetup is Thursday, September 5 and will be led by @Jan Young.
Be sure to register
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GGR Demopalooza
I am excited to announce that our 2024 Demopalooza is happening October 28 – 31, 2024! If you missed it last year, we brought together a whole group of vendors who shared demos with our members in a 4-day event.
If you are looking at adding software to your tech stack, this is an easy way to see products in action without the hassle of setting up meetings or joining a marketing funnel. Instead, join to see the products you are considering, and if you are interested in learning more, let us know and we will help connect you!
Registration opening this coming week!
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GGR Live! Austin
It’s official! We are coming to Austin on September 17. This is a great opportunity to network with your leadership peers, hear from a panel of experts, and then break into smaller groups to talk about issues that leaders are facing. In Dallas or Houston? Would love to have you join us!
ChurnZero ZERO-IN ChurnZero's annual customer success leadership conference (formerly BYG RYG) is happening in Washington DC this year on October 16 & 17, and GGR is hosting a Happy Hour! If you have been considering coming, be sure to take advantage of both the Early Bird pricing (through September 3rd) AND a special GGR member discount for an additional 20% off! Hope to see you there!
Discount Code for additional 20% off: ZI-PARTFRND
Best Practices (Conversations)
Check out some of the great conversations happening on GGR. Click the title to see the full conversation and share your insights!
Thought Leadership Corner
Help! Strategies for Value and Sales Alignment
It can be tough to help leadership really understand what CS teams bring to the table, and that task is made increasingly difficult with leadership changes. @Kevin has asked for some insights on how you are continually demonstrating the value of a CS team, any strategies for aligning CS with sales, and selecting the right coverage model for success. Take a moment and hop into the conversation and share your learnings!
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Strategies for GTM Teams
CS teams need to be able to identify market risks to renewals (or upsells) but the idea of trying to become a financial expert on top of everything else is pretty daunting. In this post, @Elizabeth Italiano is looking for how you and your teams are using GPTs to combine marketing info and the impact on your customers for health scoring. Have you figured out some prompts that make sense? Be sure to share them!
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Seeking Input on the Usefulness of AI Boths for Customer Success Learning and Coaching @rahul_choudhary is looking for a unique usage of AI bots for CS – one that is training using CS data such as strategies, processes, and methodologies to help with coaching. Do you think this would be a valuable addition to upskilling? What areas would this be particularly beneficial? And what should be watched out for? Would love to hear if anyone is 1) already in the midst of exploring this concept or 2) what your thoughts on the possibilities are!
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3rd Quarter Introductions
Halfway through the 3rd quarter so plenty of time to take a moment and introduce yourself! Help your peers get to know you by sharing who you are in our current space!
Content
Blog
Using AI to Identify Market Impact
AI is becoming an increasingly valuable tool for customer success, and @Elizabeth Italiano has taken some time to share how she has used ChatGPT to help identify potential risks to customer renewal/expansion from market changes. In this blog post, she shares some prompts with guidelines that could help you take a deep dive into increasing your financial expertise without having to spend a lot of time learning market trends. This was originally a LinkedIn post by Elizabeth, and it had so much value we asked to share it! Check out the blog and you can use the link to visit her LinkedIn post too!
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GGR SuccessScape
Looking for options for a tech need? GGR has a SuccessScape that pulls together over a hundred different resources (suggested in large part by your peers) and categorized to make it easy to see options. We are relaunching our list and asking for your input – is there a category or segment missing? What tech are you using that isn’t already on the list? Check out the QR code in the document to make your suggestions!
Psst – if you are a vendor and are on our SuccessScape or would like to be added, we also have a very exciting opportunity to have your logo linked to your website it make it even easier for potential customers to check you out. If you are interested, be sure to reach out to heather@gaingrowretain.com for more information!
Community
GGR Job Board
Did you know that GGR has a job board and that there is activity on it? If not, take a moment to check it out here! This is a job board created for CS roles only and gives potential employers an opportunity to review potential candidates based on skill matching. If you haven’t created a profile yet, be sure to jump in and get started! OH! We are also in the process of adding some very cool new opportunities in the coming weeks to help job seekers even more, so stay tuned!
Member Highlights
Welcome to Our New Members!
@Sruthi Malla
@Amy Drohan Matson
@utechj
@umarkhan06
@kmcgrew
@Ashley Ford
@kyledickson7
@albakari
@mvasquez
@eringuagenti
@JessPress
@Ryan Matherly
@Kevin
@Priya
@kangbk46
@MTravis
@abaray
@Sredzepagic
@Alicja Warczak
@Crystal
@nataliam89
Advancing Through the Ranks
Navigator
@Gol
Celebrating Anniversaries!
1st Year
@mspielma
2nd Year
@Joshua Slyman
@boikenc
4th Year
@Andy Chandler
@Joe McElhaney
@John Parrell
@Jared Orr
Re: Help! Strategies for Value and Sales Alignment
Hey @Kevin —
I suggest you start with what your new GM cares about: revenue and cost impact. Frame the team's contributions in terms of increasing the likelihood that customers will stay and buy more. Improving the odds by even a small percentage typically pays for the entire team, makes a substantial margin contribution, and generates attractive ROI—even without counting upsells or cross-sells.
You might want take a look at an excerpt from one of the modules in my self-paced Udemy course, Advanced Customer Success, that describes how to make a simple, intuitive business case. It gives some top-down guidance for CSM coverage as well. I can send you the spreadsheet if you wish. If your environment is tiered or you need to show your team's impact empirically with hard data, I'm happy to help with that as well.
Ed Powers
TLC - Are You AI Ready?
This was the topic brought to the GGR Office Hours audience on July 25 by Jake McKee, and the conversation was very robust! Helping both your team members and your leadership through change management to see AI as a tool to support the work being done rather than replace it was a part of the conversation.
What ways are you seeing AI readiness play in developing AI tools rather than just throwing resources at it to keep up with the Jones's?
Could Someone Give me Advise on Improving Customer Retention Rates in SaaS Companies?
Hello there,
I am reaching out to tap into the collective wisdom of this forum regarding strategies for improving customer retention rates in SaaS companies. Our company has been facing challenges in this area; and we are keen to implement; effective solutions to ensure long-term customer loyalty and reduce churn.
We have developed a comprehensive onboarding process to ensure new customers understand how to use our product; effectively from the start. Despite this; we notice a drop off in engagement after the initial few weeks.
Our support team is responsive and well trained. We offer various channels for support; including live chat; email; and a knowledge base. Although; we still receive feedback about unresolved issues and slow response times.
We regularly update our product and communicate these updates to our customers through newsletters and in app notifications. Still; we sometimes get feedback that customers feel disconnected from our products evolution.
We actively seek feedback through surveys and direct communication. Despite our efforts; we struggle to implement changes; quickly enough to satisfy our customers needs.
Given these efforts; we are looking for additional insights and ;proven practices that have worked for other SaaS companies.
Also; I have gone thorough this post; https://gaingrowretain.com/kb/articles/223-5-proven-steps-to-get-the-budget-for-your-customer-golang-project which definitely helped me out a lot.
Effective methods for maintaining customer engagement beyond the initial onboarding period.
Best practices for enhancing customer support experiences and reducing resolution times.
Strategies for keeping customers informed and involved with product updates and developments.
Thank you in advance for your help and assistance.
Re: Seeking Input on the Usefulness of AI Bots for Customer Success Learning and Coaching
The problem I see, @Rahul Choudhary, is that variance in practice is substantial—what works in one company may not work in another. GenAI provides the most likely answers based on its training set, but that doesn't mean they're the correct answers. And it's dangerous to assume AI can think for you.
Case in point, I saw a demo of a generative AI data analyzer in which the user asked the bot to analyze churn data and provide recommendations for improvement. It faithfully did so, providing a list of six things to address. But neither the user nor the technology recognized a logical fallacy that correlation doesn't imply causation. The bot had leapt to conclusions just as effectively as the human, and did so much faster.
Is there a need to provide generic answers to specific problems that may not be relevant? Perhaps, since many are finding GenAI to be helpful summarizing and generating "first drafts." That said, anything we get from GenAI should be taken with a BIG grain of salt. That's true now and will likely be the case for many years to come.
Re: Tech to support the entire Revenue Org
Commenting to also see others feedback!
I have seen huge success in using Gainsight for client sales (assuming similar to your AM function) + CS functions both utilizing. For net-new sales, they were not on the platform but I can easily see how they could be. The timeline function can easily show high-level the client journey & all interactions, the dashboards + account view can be customized to have a view pertinent to each function & their goals/what they care about for the client, and the CTAs can be customized to each function as needed.