Building the CS Department

bethweltz

Hi everyone! I am newer to this group and was referred by the awesome @Jan Young! I am just diving into reading the posts and love all the insights you share. CS professionals are the most generous people! I have been working in healthcare SaaS (in roles in CS, Training, and Sales Support/Product Specialist) for 10.5 years after a successful 15+ year career in education as a school director/teacher.

I am in a new role with a small SaaS healthcare company where I am the CS Lead. There are not a lot of processes "in writing" yet and I am working to define the CS processes. Specifically, I have been tasked with creating a scalable CS Plan, Implementation Plan, Training Agenda(s) and customer facing decks. Previously, I worked for a large global company and all of this was already created or I was building on a solid base or materials and processes. I'm struggling with analysis paralysis trying to get started from scratch.

⭐️ It would be very helpful to see templates others use to give me some inspiration. The content is in my head, but how to present it is my struggle.

Right now, we use Google Suite and HubSpot and are not planning to implement any other CS tools although I am encouraging the company to adopt OneNote to better organize the materials (over Google Drive).

Thank you all!

Jeffrey Kushmerek

Hi Beth! I have some templates- just send me a message :)

Tiago Mota

Hi Beth!

I'm in a similar position: Head of CS at a small-ish SaaS, now starting to build and grow the CS Org (we even use a similar tech stack as you do!).

Happy to connect and see what we can learn from each other :)

BrandiRice

Hey Beth and Tiago, I'm also in the same situation - same tech stack - would love to bounce ideas around!

Not sure if we are able to share linkedin (will remove it not) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandimrice/

PKarora

https://gaingrowretain.com/discussion/comment/10103#Comment_10103

Hi Jeffrey, I am also in the same situation & also there is a shift of industry from Automotive to Saas environment . I am struggling too with the content and also want to understand and also would like to start implementing right away and make management happy :)

GloriaJ

Hi everyone! I’ve been following this post and came across this on LinkedIn today that might be of use: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markus-rentsch-customer-value-led-growth-for-saas_saas-customersuccess-customervalueledgrowth-activity-6945691833410760704-iskA?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=ios_app

bethweltz

@Jeffrey Kushmerek, thank you so much! It has been a very busy week but I will be diving into that post and sending you a message! @Tiago Mota @BrandiRice @PKarora @GloriaJ It seems as if we can all benefit from this topic. I will connect with all of you and perhaps we can share some ideas via a virtual meet up. Would love to have others join as well. Have a great weekend everyone!

GloriaJ

@bethweltz - I am open to, and eager for, a virtual meetup. When ready, reach out! 🙌

ken

@bethweltz I think I'm in a similar position but not tasked with so much as we're still growing. Wouldn't mind jumping in to listen and learn (if you don't mind)

bethweltz

@ken , the more the merrier!

Amanda Flurry

Hi @bethweltz,

You may find this article helpful re: the scalable CS plan. I really appreciate the data-driven focus and it's implications for budgeting.

I hope this helps!

Gary Allum

@bethweltz While I can't claim the CS lead aspect, our CS org is building out out our processes now, and I have been extensively involved in getting a lot of that done. I can try to answer any questions, and can for sure give some feedback on the pitfalls I have come across!

Jan Young

@Jeffrey Kushmerek Can I just say, I love your article! I have lived your article. Anyone who has worked at a startup has lived those phases. Thank you for sharing!

Quincy Kennedy

@bethweltz I'm the CS lead at a small startup and in a similar position. I'd love to join the conversation.

rdetroch

@bethweltz Same story here, CS Lead at small start-up, focusing on scalibility with exactly the same tech stack… Would love to participate in a virtual meetup!

Lakshmi Narayanan Gurumurthy

Quite late to the party but @bethweltz, @Tiago Mota, @BrandiRice, @PKarora, @GloriaJ, @Quincy Kennedy, @rdetroch - would love to join a virtual meetup if you all are planning one. I'm on a similar boat - I recently joined a small-ish SaaS startup to head the CS function. No processes or playbooks, Hubspot for everything customer-facing (though we are moving to Freshdesk for the support tickets alone). 

agconrad

I will jump in here with @Lakshmi Narayanan Gurumurthy as well as a newly appointed Customer Success team lead and say I would be very interested in joining with this group, especially given they have a six month head start on us! Is this a possbility, @bethweltz, @Tiago Mota, @BrandiRice, @PKarora, @GloriaJ, @Quincy Kennedy, @rdetroch?

pdhabadi

This is quite an awesome opportunity and would like to be a part of this group. We are small company and a Google partner. Recently launched the Customer Success program. No playbooks, QBR/EBR etc. Am involved in building relationships with customer through the trainings, knowledge sharing, Customer support etc. Would like to go to the next level of CS. If you are planning for virtual meets, please do let me know. Thanks in advance. 

kmulhalljr

Hi Beth! Plenty of great answers in the comments. Only thing I would add is that if you're company is invested in Workspace & HubSpot you probably don't need much else. I put together a Workspace whitepaper reviewing the applications (and use scenarios) contained within the platform and would be happy to share. I've also got a contact that launched the CS team at a medical billing SaaS start up that would likely open up her calendar & or provide some resources and insights Jessie Gold Koester | LinkedIn

Anna Alley

Hey Everyone, Super late to this party but I'm now in the same boat and actually evaluating using Hubspot (in my previous job everything was in Salesforce and PowerBI). I would love if anyone has something they've found super useful and any tips/tricks you've found with Hubspot as well! @bethweltz

emilyabramson

Hey @bethweltz and team, late to the party as well but would love to join the conversation as well! I have a similar tech stack and challenges, but am in a slightly different vertical (consulting as opposed to SaaS). Let me know how I can get involved in this group! 

Lakshmi Narayanan Gurumurthy

 @bethweltz, @Tiago Mota, @BrandiRice, @PKarora, @GloriaJ, @Quincy Kennedy, @rdetroch, @agconrad, @Anna Alley, @emilyabramson, @pdhabadi - I came across this webinar in LinkedIn, for running CS using Hubspot - https://arrows.to/workshops/how-to-run-customer-success-in-hubspot/

I've signed up, hoping to pick up some tips. Sharing in case it ends up useful for you all  


There's also a playbook from the same website: https://arrows.to/resources/hubspot-customer-success/

Anna Alley

@Lakshmi Narayanan Gurumurthy this is great, thank you!