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What's your worst post-sales-engagement story?
CS Folks - When it comes to post-sales engagement, we all know how important it is to get it right. Sometimes though, it can go really, really wrong! I’m curious, what is the worst post-sales engagement experience you’ve ever had? And how could it have been made better? And conversely, what is your best? Please remember -…
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Let's talk subscription preferences
No, we're not talking about canceling your Netflix account. We're here to talk about how you stay in touch with Gain Grow Retain. Rather than spamming, we're giving you the option. (And hoping you'll make the right decision). We don't sugarcoat it, here are your options - make sure it's right for you: Announcements &…
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GGR Podcast - How Customer Success Operations Can Help Scale
In this episode (originally aired on December 4, 2019), Jennifer Kirkland shares how her team at Conversica used CS Ops to support and improve the customer experience through processes and technology. A big piece of advice she shared from her learning is to "identify your weaknesses and what you are trying to solve for,…
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GGR Blog - How to Create an Effective Feedback Loop Between Customer Success and Product Teams
This week, @llitton (Laura Litton) shares some practical strategies to build an effective communication pathway between CS and Product. This relationship is vital in ensuring customer needs are understood and then accounted for as new releases, updates, and add-on's are created, and if this process is not effective, a lot…
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Customer Education - Phases and Challenges
Customer Education programs can be broken down into four phases: Chaotic Developing Scaling Strategic In the April 27th GGR Office Hours, CS Leaders came together to talk about what these phases look like and connect with their peers in small groups to talk about their own CE programs with a focus on the following…
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Scaled CS - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
When thinking about scaled programs, what are the pro's and con's of scaling Customer Success? What are some successes and/or failures you have experienced in the process of implementing a scaled program?
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GGR Blog - The CS Leader's Guide to Community Content
@Brigid Colver shared a blog this week that looks at how content can be a game changer for customer success teams working to scale their efforts and still bring high value to customers. After defining community content, Brigid then makes a case for the 'Why'. Why should CS teams care and get involved here? And a big reason…
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GGR Podcast - Renewals
Who owns renewals, and does it really matter? The answer is 'it depends'...that response that can feel very frustrating, but in this instance, is quite well explained by @Julie Fox. Having been on both sides of the ownership question, Julie has found that there are benefits to wherever it lives, and so many other variables…
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How are you meeting needs well in today's climate? GGR wants to hear from you!
Effectively meeting needs with limited resources is a challenge many of us are facing right now. How can we provide a customer experience that not only meets their basic needs but also furthers a more strategic partnership that increases retention and even upsells — despite having fewer resources to work with? We are…
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GGR Blog - Three Practical Ways to Collaborate with Your Product Team
Joining forces with your product team can amplify your ability to meet the needs of your customer in a way that is highly effective, but how to you being to tie the teams together in a way that makes sense? This week, @kristinhaluch shares some practical tips to lay a solid foundation as you work to create this mutually…
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GGR Blog - Measuring What Matters: A Guide to Discussing and Measuring Customer Goals
Are you measuring the right things? Julie Fox, Senior Manager of CS at FloQast takes a look at how to help customers achieve their outcomes. From getting started through strategic conversations to help you identify the tangible goals your customers have to increasing the customer experience through cross-collaboration…
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GGR Podcast - Focus on Your Customers
Are your customer interactions focused on you or them? @Bob London joins @Jeff Breunsbach this week to talk about the importance of moving away from a product-centric conversation into one that not only increases impact and alignment, but keeps your customers coming back to the table. Some practical tips that you can begin…
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GGR Podcast - Meeting Prep is a Lost Art
Are you making your customer meetings stand out? Zoom fatigue is a real thing, and customers are taking a hard look at their calendars as they decide what meetings are worth attending...or not. Doing the simple things really well can make you stand out. This week, @Jeff Breunsbach shares some of the ways you can increase…
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What automation playbooks do you recommend for low-touch CS?
Hi there! What’s your experience with automating low-touch CS? And what kind of automation playbooks do you use to make things run smoothly? I’m trying to see how other CSMs in this space do it.
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Using video in your Follow-up emails
Hello Community, Happy end of the year :) I'm trying to come up with innovative ways to catch the attention of our potential customers. If they have a specific amount of users we will Follow up with them via. I was thinking of adding a 30-second video to the email but I'm having problems finding the right app that adds the…
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GGR Podcast - Making Your CSMs Become Great Change Management Experts
Are your customers waking up with the goal of using your product more today? The answer is not likely. This means your CSMs need to be stepping into a more strategic role, focused on adoption. Who needs to be involved? What problems are going to be solved (business challenges) What processes need to be updated with your…
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Why Customer Retention is Difficult
In this first of a 9-part series, Anita Toth @ ati shares how 'price' as a reason for churn is often the justification, not the reason, behind customers not renewing. The Customer Emotional Journey shows that the hope and excitement of the purchase of your product of service is very quickly overridden by a feeling of…
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GGR Podcast - Building Predictability into your CS Organization
Improved predictability and repeatability correlates with faster growth and better outcomes for your organzation. So how can Chief Customer officers and aspiring Chief Customer Officers delivery repeatable, predictable processes? It all starts with delivering the right skills and strategies. This week's GGR podcast with…
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How do you keep CSMs happy?
Did you know that about 69% of current CS teams have quiet quitters? What's more alarming, 71% of CS teams had people physically quit last year, including 4.6% who had over 10 members leave 😳 So how do you keep your team happy & satisfied with their work? Hi everyone 👋 This post is directly related to an article Irina…
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GGR Podcast - Our CSMs Are Really Change Management Experts
Are your CSMs prepared to step away from a reactive relationship with your customers into one that helps drive strategy and becomes a true partnership? This week, Garrett Morris and Michael Click from Abrigo talk with Jeff about how they are moving the needle. As a leader, how are you making sure that CSMs are keeping the…
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CX Kick-Off - Dream Agenda
Our industry is very cyclical, and our busy season starts at the same time every year. Our company does a Sales Kick-Off every year, but this year they have finally approved a "CX Kick-Off." We get one day and are trying to stay out of the weeds of our product, which is happening earlier in the week. But more of an…
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Have you ever had to fire a customer?
Let's be honest CS isn't always rainbows and butterflies. Sometimes we are left to handle very difficult customers. My question is have you ever had to fire a customer? If so, how did you go about it?
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Watch out for scam text messages targeting members
Just wanted to give a heads up, I got a scam text message from someone claiming to be Jay Nathan last night and the area code matched South Carolina. It seemed off from the beginning but I'm assuming they were targeting members of GGR. I confirmed with him that he wasn't texting me (we've never talked other than being…
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GGR Podcast - Strategic, Tactical, Operational
Damien Howley of Whip Around joins the team this week in a discussion that focuses on customer stakeholders. While having a single-point of contact with a customer is known to be a potential point of failure, Damien takes things even further, outlining the need for multi-threading in relationship building. This allows:…
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CSM Retention Clinics - Internal hackatons that help mitigate risk
This week, we repost a blog from Ashley Harpp sharing the thoughts of Filipe Rufino on CSM retention clinics (aka Internal Hackatons). This is a process to work with internal teams to help mitigate risk prior to renewal. It has the added benefit of encouraging team collaboration. This step-by-step guide walks you through…
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Customer Journey vs Customer Experience Mapping Webinar
What is the difference between a Customer Journey Map and a Customer Experience Map? Turns out quite a bit! Join GGR and @Mike Zahller today at 4pm EST (Tuesday, March 14) to learn more about how adding specific and strategic customer experiences to your map can strengthen your ability to meet the customer needs in a way…
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GGR Podcast - Scaled Customer Success is Looking Alot Like Marketing
Karessa Parish, Growth Marketing Manager at ClassTag joined GGR to talk about some of the ways Scaled CS and Marketing are similar. Some of the lessons Karessa has learned are: Automate processes your are repeating over and over Audit your content to make sure you are meeting the self-service needs of your customers CSMs…
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Missed a GGR Office Hours?
Schedules are full and time is precious. We get that! So to help those who would have liked to have been able to join us at a live Office Hours but couldn't, we've got you! Did you know that since last May, our Office Hours have been turned into Summary Documents? They not only capture the topic overview, but the…
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GGR Podcast - QBRs Need an Overhaul
QBRs - a valuable opportunity to share information with your customers, but are they being used well? Check out LinkedIn and you will find numerous discussions about the various issues they are presenting in their current iteration. This week, @Jeff Breunsbach takes a quick look (9.5 minutes) at how to move away from a…
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GGR Blog - Developing an Optimal Strategy for Scaling Customer Success
This week, @Chitra Madhwacharyula shares her thoughts on creating a scale strategy for Customer Success. As CS matures into a space where Standardization and Scale are possible, how do you lay down the right foundation for success? Building a Customer Success Center of Excellence (CS CoE) can help ensure the customers is…
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GGR Blog - Building Scalable Customer Success Through Communities
This week, Brian Oblinger, strategic community consultant, shares some practical areas that community and scaled CS can work together to strengthen the customer experience and lighten the load of the CSM. When community is focused on some specific ways to support your customers, everyone wins. So what are some ways that a…
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GGR Podcast - Effortless Experience
This week, Matt Dixon joins Gain Grow Retain to talk about how the common thought of going 'above and beyond' for your customers is surprisingly not the best route to take. Going above and beyond can be expensive in terms of time, resources, and money, and in the long run, doesn't have a larger impact on customer…