Growth Mixtape Podcast with Bob Mathers

A podcast where I talk to the most interesting people you may not have come across yet. I find that these conversations give me new insights and perspectives about topics I didn’t know existed.

Please join me for stories from engaging leaders in business, the sciences, academia and the arts. It is these unexpected collisions that I’m excited to explore in this new podcast.  The further from our comfort zone, the better. My goal in every episode - provide you with a surprising insight that you can apply right now to get unstuck, and start building the business and the life you've always wanted.

These conversations might not seem to have a lot in common at first. But just like songs on a mixtape, they create something memorable and emotional.

Podcast Host

BMCX Consulting Inc.

As a CEO, founder or revenue leader, the biggest challenge you face is hitting your targets consistently - and building the confidence of your investors, peers and teams.  

As a revenue coach and consultant, I have seen inside over 400 companies; what works, what doesn't and why.  I bring this experience together with the expertise of you and your team to create something greater than the sum of its parts.  

We make an impact quickly with meaningful strategies that put your customers' needs at the centre - building your stakeholders' confidence and your brand as a leader that gets results.

Revenue Coach & Consultant

Accelerator Centre

I serve as the Customer Experience mentor at the Accelerator Centre, an award-winning centre for the advancement of technology start-ups in Waterloo. I work with founders, specifically on:

- CX planning focused on driving customer retention, loyalty and growth
- Customer journey mapping to deliver on client needs from the top-of-funnel to trials, conversion, onboarding, support and renewals
- Developing and implementing key KPIs in customer success including time-to-value, gross/net ARR churn, logo retention and customer lifetime value
- Customer outcomes management that drives customer loyalty by proving that we deliver what we promise
- Land and expand strategies that maximize customer growth and revenue

Mentor, Customer Experience

Collide

Formerly known as Powernoodle, Collide is an easy-to-use team collaboration platform.  

Collide’s software enables your team to quickly share information, facilitate ideation, have threaded discussions, organize and vote on ideas, assign outcomes, and link with your third-party project management systems. 

Responsible for creating engaging customer experiences that drive customer loyalty and growth.

Head of Client Success

Growth Molecules, LLC

We are growth revenue advisors who deliver data-driven customer success strategies to enable your teams and customers.

In this role, I am available to serve as a fractional Chief Customer Officer, conduct organizational assessments, facilitate customer success workshops, provide executive coaching, and construct customized playbooks for customer success, professional services, customer support, and customer experience operations. We also offer due diligence assessments for private equity firms and thought leadership work with their portfolio companies.

Senior Consultant

Igloo Software

Lead a talented and creative team dedicated to the success of Igloo's customers.  Work across all parts of the Igloo organization to ensure that what our customers need to succeed is woven into the fabric of everything we do.  

Responsible for engineering the entire post-sales customer journey across consulting, training, implementation, customer success and customer support.  Accountable for customer advocacy, retention and growth.

VP, Customer Experience

Lead a team of passionate professionals dedicated to ensuring our customers' success with the Brightspace platform - success as defined by them.  Whether it's improving learner outcomes, furthering enterprise strategies, or increasing learner engagement - linking these outcomes to the use of our technology in a tangible and measurable way to drive results.   Responsible for customer retention, growth and adoption, customer satisfaction, and stakeholder value.

Director, Customer Success

Lead a team of technical professionals that advise and support D2L's most critical and strategic customers through the execution of their vision to engage and inspire learning in their students, employees and clients.

Director, Premier Account Services

Advise and manage Desire2Learn's most critical corporate partners through the execution of their vision to engage and inspire learning in their employees and clients.

Strategic Program Manager

KPMG

Develop relationships with prospective clients and mine new relationships within KPMG’s existing clients to uncover new opportunities for growth.  
•  Clients include small and medium-sized enterprise clients, start-ups and high-growth emerging companies across multiple verticals.
•  Work closely with local incubators and investment groups to support the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem.  
•  Lead the go-to-market strategy for new and innovative business advisory services to augment KPMG’s traditional tax and audit offerings.  
•  Coach and advise KPMG partners on business development strategies for key clients.

Business Development Director

Information Services Group

ISG (NASDAQ: III) is a leading technology insights, market intelligence and advisory services company, serving more than 500 clients around the world to help them achieve operational excellence. www.ISG-One.com

Develop and expand client relationships with existing and prospective accounts within Canada. Key clients included Loblaw, CIBC, Hydro One, Bruce Power, Enbridge, Desjardins, Canada Post, Rogers and Canada Pension Plan Insurance Board.
•  Work with delivery team of 400+ professionals in North America to identify and architect client-specific solutions that leveraged existing methodologies, capabilities and tool sets. 
•  Speak at industry events on market trends and emerging practices in IT financial management, performance improvement and outsourcing.

Director, Business Development and Principal Consultant

Helping Customer Success execs in B2B SaaS hit their revenue targets 🎯 | Grow from $10M to $100M ARR 🚀 | Build their brand as a leader that gets results, every time⚡

I help VPs of Customer Success hit their targets.  Period.  🎯

Are we a good fit?  Read on...⬇️

______________

Does this describe your situation? ⬇️

You're a VP Customer Success
Your team loves you and so do your customers
You made a big impact quickly in your role

But you've LOST MOMENTUM
You're FORECASTING CHURN that the company has never seen
You're LOSING THE TRUST of the CEO and your peers
You're being asked to REDUCE YOUR TEAM
Work ISN'T FUN ANYMORE- your team is over-worked and LOSING FAITH it will ever get better

And the worst part?

You're out of answers.  What made you successful isn't cutting it anymore.

______________

I've been where you are now
I know how lonely it can be

Here's the good news: ⬇️

You can take CONTROL and regain the MOMENTUM you've lost

I've worked with dozens of leaders in this situation.  In every case, we...

- Quickly get clarity on the one problem we need to fix first
- Build a plan for the next 6 months with measurable improvement targets we can defend
- Start to regain the confidence of the CEO, our peers and our team
- Build the momentum we've lost

Do you want to be the leader that makes people believe again? 📣

________

IMPACT I'VE MADE

🚀 Increased revenue from existing clients from 40% to 65% in 1 year
🚀 Increased revenue from client renewals by 35% in 1 year
🚀 Increased services revenue by 8Xs in one year
🚀 Reduced time spent by CS team on reactive activities from 55% to 35% in 1 year
🚀 Improved time to value from 18 months to 6 months in 1 year


WHAT CLIENTS SAY

➡️ Bob's expertise in developing and implementing effective customer success strategies is unmatched.  

- Deniz Omurgonulsen, VP Member Experience @ Leading Hotels of the World

➡️ Bob has been instrumental in helping our team implement a CX program with an NPS of 90 and 65% of our revenue coming from existing clients.  

- Aaron Barth, CEO Dialectic.

➡️ Bob was pivotal in my journey establishing our CX strategy in Canada and Brazil.  He is an empathetic mentor that listens and helps people navigate challenges with resilience.  

- Ingrid Polini, CEO SafetyDocs Global

________

If you're a VP Customer Success, I can help you:

- Hit your targets
- Regain clarity, confidence and momentum
- Build your brand as a leader that gets results

Book a free consultation:
https://calendly.com/bmathers/coaching-consultation

I'm Bob Mathers, and I believe that together we can create something powerful that is greater than the sum of our parts 🤘

"I just may tell my boss to go f*ck himself today." 
 
Turns out I didn't have to.  I was fired 3 hours later. 
 
Every week, I talk to people going through career transitions. 
 
They ask me about my journey. 
 
This is the part I don't talk about. 
 
But I should.  It's the part that's had the biggest impact on where I am today. 
 
________________ 
I was VP Customer Success and I was the golden child for a while. 
 
Then things went south. 
 
--> Big customers were leaving for the first time. 
 
--> They were tired of us releasing features aimed at new customers, not them. 
 
--> The new Sales leader was the golden child now, killing his targets by selling anything to anyone.   
 
--> The team was burning out trying to onboard, support and manage bad-fit clients. 
 
--> I was burning out trying to be the shit umbrella for my team. 
 
I was drinking a bottle of pinot noir many nights to get to sleep. 
 
So when I got escorted out by HR, you'd think I'd be relieved. 
 
But it's more complicated than that. 
 
Week 1 - Stunned, angry.  Word got out and I had tons of support from colleagues and peers.   My schedule was full of coffee/beer meetings, and talk of all the opportunities I'd have to pick from. 
 
Months 1-3 - Hopeful, with lingering bouts of anger.  I had dozens of recruiters reaching out.  3 VP opportunities, 2 of which got to, "you'll have an offer by Friday."  Then I was ghosted and told 3 weeks later they went with an internal candidate. 
 
Months 4-8 - Fear and isolation.  No more recruiters, no more coffee/beer meetings.  The low  hanging fruit had expired.  Everyone went back to their normal lives. 
 
Around 6 months, I tried to launch my consulting business for the first time. 
 
It sputtered and stalled. 
 
Month 9 - Desperation.  I swallowed my pride and took a job as an individual contributor.  I was taking support calls, training clients - things I used to have teams to do. 
 
I was embarrassed.  I didn't want to talk about work. 
 
And yes, looking back it was the best thing to ever happen to me. 
 
But man, it sucked at the time. 
 
It turns out I wasn't ready the first time I tried to go on my own. 
 
But after 2 years in that role, I tried again. 
 
And business took off. 
 
And I am so much better at what I do because of it. 
 
So what's the lesson? 
 
Sorry, this isn't one of those posts. 
 
You tell me. 
 
Everyone's got a story.  Mine is no more inspiring or tragic than anyone else's. 
 
It's just life and it sucks sometimes. 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

Bob Mathers

No alternative text description for this image

What does it really mean to have a Customer Success mindset, and does your company have one?  Let's get real. 👇 
 
Use a scorecard to see where you stand. 
 
If you're in SaaS, your business depends on renewing and growing customers. 
 
But most SaaS companies are simply not set up to do this. 
 
They spend 80% of their resources on the first 20% of the customer journey. 
 
They still function as if finding new customers is the most important thing to growth. 
 
And existing customers just renew on their own. 
 
And they wonder why they're not growing like they used to. 
 
_____________________ 
That is why we say Customer Success is a mindset. 
 
It's not a department or a function. 
 
It only works if everyone across the company owns their piece of it. 
 
But what does that mean? 
 
Let's ask ourselves... 
 
If we built a company from scratch that had to keep customers for at least 5 years, what core functions would we build? 
 
Most importantly, what is each function's role in long-term customer success? 
 
Marketing - Defines our ideal customer and our promise to them. 
 
Sales - Closes deals with our ideal customer and defines their goals. 
 
Onboarding - Tailors programs that deliver customer value quickly. 
 
Customer Outcomes (CS) - Proves customer value received against their goals. 
 
Support - Delivers effortless support where the customer is. 
 
Renewal & Upsell - Renews and expands revenue based on proven value. 
 
Product - Develops solutions that deliver on our promise to ideal customers. 
 
Sure, some of these names sound familiar. 
 
But they're not the functions most SaaS businesses have today. 
 
_________________ 
Which brings us to the fun part. 
 
What if you gave your company a red/yellow/green on each of these? 
 
What do you see?   
 
Does this heatmap help explain some of the dysfunction in your business? 
 
Now let's take it a step further. 
 
What if you gave this exercise to each of your senior leaders? 
 
Now what do you think you'd see? 
 
Or worse, would they even do it? 
 
Would they care? 
 
I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted talking about companies not having a CS mindset. 
 
It's time to get real. 
 
This is a great start. 
 
P.S. If you want a copy of my 5-year Customer Org Scorecard, DM me the word SCORECARD or comment SCORECARD below. 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

Churn is not a Customer Success problem. It's a Sales and Product problem.👇 
 
That sounds harsh.  Yes, CS plays a key role.  But let's get real. 
 
If you've been in CS any period of time, you're probably tired of explaining why churn is not a CS problem. 
 
It's a constant battle in most organizations. 
 
Did you ever wonder where this notion came from? 
 
How did CS become the scapegoat for churn? 
 
Because CS in most companies is created IN RESPONSE to customer churn. 
 
--> Companies grow quickly through new logo acquisition. 
 
--> Leaders are not concerned with post-sales.  Renewals are a given. 
 
--> Companies succeed for a while, until customers start leaving after their first or second renewal. 
 
--> CS is spun up to stop the bleeding. 
 
--> Churn slows, but then hits a wall as CS delivers the bad news. 
 
And that bad news... 
 
--> CS can't fix churn. 
 
--> Sales is making promises the product doesn't deliver on. 
 
--> Product isn't addressing big gaps that customers say matter to them. 
 
_______________ 
Yes, our customers' success is an organization-wide responsibility. 
 
Marketing has a big role.   
 
So does Finance. 
 
But if your Sales and Product leadership isn't owning churn MORE THAN CS, things will never get better. 
 
How do you start? 
 
--> Get your leadership together and align on what CS means across the org. 
 
--> Define the role that CS plays. 
 
--> Prioritize rolling out CS principles across the org, starting with Sales and Product. 
 
Your leaders' openness to this process will tell you whether they "get it." 
 
If they do, you can make huge strides to becoming a true Customer Success org. 
 
If they don't, you're going to have to settle for small, incremental improvements. 
 
But at least you'll know. 
 
P.S. Want to explore how this works?  DM me. 
 
#customersuccess #churn #saas 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

I used to think I had a great way of building Customer Success organizations.  Now I realize...it doesn't work. 
 
Enough is enough.  It's time to turn everything on its head.👇 
 
I've built CS organizations myself and I've coached 100s of leaders on doing it. 
 
This isn't easy to admit. It doesn't work. 
 
Well, that's not entirely true. It does work - for a while. But CS eventually runs into the same issues everywhere, and it stalls.  
 
--> Rising churn. 
 
--> Bad fit customers taking up all our time. 
 
--> New features designed to attract new clients, not retain existing ones. 
 
--> Weak data on the impact we're making. 
 
--> CS becomes the "everything department", reacting not leading. 
 
__________________________ 
Why is this the story of 99% of CS organizations out there? 
 
Because CS is not an organization, it's a MINDSET. 
 
Without the mindset, CS is doomed. 
 
Everyone thinks, " We'll build the CS team first, then grow the mindset from there." 
 
No. I have NEVER seen this work. 
 
It has to START with the mindset. This means complete alignment from the CEO and the leadership team. 
 
--> Product vision that delivers quantifiable impact on the customer problem we promised to solve. 
 
--> Marketing laser focused on our ideal customers and making promises we can deliver on. 
 
--> Sales incented to only sell to good fit customers with long-term growth potential. 
 
--> All teams aligned across the customer journey, and their role in it. 
 
--> Leadership committed to the long-term success of customers above all else. 
 
Once you have alignment on this, then and only then, build your CS function. 
 
The beautiful part?  
 
--> It'll be half the size. You don't have as many gaps to fill. 
 
--> CS is proactive and strategic. 
 
--> CS is a valued role in the company. 
 
--> You attract and retain the best people because you're one of the few companies doing CS right. 
 
When incrementally better isn't good enough, it's time for dramatically different. 
 
P.S. If you want to explore how this could work in your organization, DM me. 
 
#customersucess #saas #software 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

Too many leaders are still trying to upsell their way to higher NRR.  It only makes things worse. 👇 
 
Improving NRR starts with less churn, not more upsell. 
 
I've had the same conversation with 3 leaders in the last week. 
 
--> I'm under pressure to improve NRR. 
 
--> I need more upsell. 
 
--> How do I uncover upsell opportunities fast, and get the team to close them? 
 
Look, I get the importance of upsell. 
 
But if this is your primary focus, you're missing a critical point. 
 
You need to EARN THE RIGHT to sell more to customers. 
 
________________ 
The truth is upsell only happens when customers are already getting 10Xs ROI from your product. 
 
These are your healthiest customers. 
 
You've earned the right to solve new problems for them. 
 
Upsell is easy with them. 
 
When you try to upsell to less healthy customers, you'll fail. 
 
And you usually do more harm than good. 
 
--> Damage key relationships. 
 
--> Increase churn. 
 
--> Lose your best people. 
 
Instead, try this... 
 
Bucket customers into Red/Yellow/Green based on likelihood to renew. 
 
🔴Red: No upsell.  Renewal only. 
 
🟡Yellow: Identify opportunities for upsell but do not include in any forecast until you get them to Green. 
 
🟢Green: Identify opportunities for upsell and forecast based on renewal/sales stages. 
 
This simple approach keeps the focus where it belongs for customers at risk - on retention. 
 
It provides a path to upsell these customers, but only after their renewal health improves. 
 
Most importantly, it allows your team to focus on the upsell opportunities that will actually close. 
 
Earn the right, and see how much easier it is. 
 
Your customers and your team will thank you. 
 
P.S. If you want to chat about how this could work for you, DM me. 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

I used to think traditions were stupid.   Now I’m the tradition police.   👇

They help me slow down, like pausing on a still photo in a life that’s racing by.   

Every Canada Day, we have a parade around our small cottage community.   

We dress up, sing Gordon Lightfoot and Stompin Tom Connors.   

It’s cringe.   I used to bitch and moan every year.    

But I’d go through the motions, for the grandparents.  

They thought it was important for some reason.  

So we’ve been doing this since my kids were in strollers.

Every year.  

Now they’re in their early 20s.  

And I’m the one at the front of the parade.   

I know they’re doing it for me.  

Like I did it for the old farts in the early days.   

But I don’t care why they do it.  

I don’t care if they see my eyes fill with tears.  

Just wait.   

Life is coming for you too.  

Happy Canada Day to all those that celebrate.   

“Sundown, I think it’s a shame when I get feeling better when I’m feeling no pain.” 🎵 

#canadaday

So you want your CSMs to be more revenue-focused.  This is the #1 thing you're missing.  👇 
 
It's not about new skills.  It's about them WANTING to do it. 
 
I talk to 5-10 CEOs and CS leaders every week. 
 
Virtually every one of them is trying to get CS to be more focused on revenue. 
 
They are usually focused on: 
 
--> New skills around consultative selling and negotiation. 
 
--> New compensation structures involving CS having a quota for the first time. 
 
--> Split of responsibilities between Sales and CS for renewals and upsells. 
 
Yes, these are all important. 
 
But none of this matters if you don't deal with the elephant in the room. 
 
Most CS people got into CS because THEY DIDN'T WANT TO BE IN SALES. 
 
If you don't re-frame what being "more salesy" means to your team, none of this other stuff matters. 
 
___________________ 
How do you do this? 
 
Focus on showing that being more commercially focused aligns with their purpose. 
 
In Daniel Pink's book, "Drive. The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us", he shares the research on motivation. 
 
For complex tasks like selling, people need 3 things... 
 
--> Autonomy: Control over our work and how we do it. 
 
--> Mastery: The drive to continually improve. 
 
--> Purpose: Doing work in service of a larger goal. 
 
Applying this to our situation, I see most leaders focused on autonomy and mastery. 
 
--> Building autonomy with new skills and tools. 
 
--> Building mastery with support and mentoring. 
 
But without purpose, your stool only has 2 legs. 
 
Great CSMs are passionate about being of service to their clients. 
 
They love building long-term relationships. 
 
They see "sales" as being in conflict with their purpose. 
 
Focus on showing them how being commercially minded helps them at what they care most about. 
 
Once you have that, the comp and everything else won't matter. 
 
They'll show you what needs to be done. 
 
Oh, and what does my fish pic have to do with this topic? 
 
Nothing.   
 
Sometimes you just need to show off your nice bass. 
 
P.S. If you want to talk about turning your CS team into a growth engine, DM me. 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

Ask this one question to gauge the health of Customer Success in your company. 👇 
 
"How is CS involved in Sales?" 
 
The answer to this simple question tells you everything about how your CS function is viewed in the organization. 
 
Is it a trusted voice in the organization? 
 
Or is it the dumping ground for everything customers need but nobody else wants to do? 
 
I've tried this with dozens of CEOs and CS leaders.  
 
Go ahead, try it out. 
 
____________________ 
If you answered something like... 
 
--> CS gets involved after the sale. 
 
--> Sales presents the onboarding process on its own. 
 
--> CS is notified of new customers after they've been signed. 
 
I bet your CS... 
 
--> Struggles to hit targets while other departments hit theirs. 
 
--> Spends all their time on "difficult customers". 
 
--> Feels like they are the only ones trying to make customers successful. 
 
____________________ 
On the other hand, if you answered... 
 
--> CS is involved in the late stages of every deal. 
 
--> CS is brought in to validate customer goals and walk them through the onboarding process. 
 
--> CS is trusted to identify any risks and adjust it's onboarding approach accordingly. 
 
I bet your CS... 
 
--> Has a good track record of delivering customer value quickly. 
 
--> Has strong executive and operational relationships with customers. 
 
--> Creates accurate forecasts for churn and upsell. 
 
___________________ 
Why does this one question tell us so much? 
 
We know Customer Success is a mindset. 
 
It only works if every department plays it's role in making customers successful. 
 
But not every department is created equal. 
 
And Sales is the big daddio. 
 
Yes, Product and Marketing are critical. 
 
But get the Sales piece right, and you're halfway there. 
 
P.S. I've got a scorecard that gauges the health of your CS mindset across the org.  If you want a copy, DM or comment with SCORECARD. 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

I used to struggle with getting executives' attention.  Now I don't.  Here is the one thing that's made the biggest difference.👇 
 
Video.  Here's how. 
 
First, execs are just like the rest of us. 
 
They have very low expectations for meetings. 
 
Because we've all had so many crappy ones. 
 
I cringe when I think of how many awful meetings I've run. 
 
So when you reach out to them asking for a meeting, you can't blame them for ignoring  you. 
 
It's your job to prove how this one will be different. 
 
Stand out.  Be bold. 
 
___________________ 
--> Create 3-4 slides containing information people need to digest ahead of time. 
 
--> Record a short video that walks them through the material and hits on key points. 
 
--> Tell them WHAT you want them to do before the meeting and HOW that will help make better use of your time together. 
 
--> Show your face in the corner.  Smile and bring the energy. 
 
--> Include the thumbnail link in your email (not  just a link).  It increases the number of people that watch. 
 
EVERY time I do this, I get great feedback. 
 
It shows respect for people's time. 
 
And that's very rare. 
 
___________________ 
Now I know this might feel a bit scary. 
 
Despite the fact most of us spend our lives staring into a camera, lots of people are still uncomfortable recording themselves. 
 
I still remember the first one I did. 
 
It took me all day to record a 5 min video. 
 
But it gets better.  Fast. 
 
A word of caution... 
 
You might hear, "This is so good, I want this before every meeting." 
 
Which is great news for you.  
 
You're the innovator. 
 
Not all your peers will love you for it. 
 
P.S. What video tips have worked for you? 
 
#customersuccess #sales #video 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

A good customer story is a salesperson's best friend for closing deals.  Mine used to suck.  Yours don't have to.👇 
 
Use this proven formula for stories that make an impact. 
 
It's the hero journey.   
 
(And the hero ain't you.) 
 
I've talked to 100s of Sales leaders and the #1 thing they say they need from Customer Success teams.... 
 
MORE STORIES. 
 
Customer stories give your promises clout.   
 
They help reduce the fear, uncertainty and doubt that stand between a YES and NO. 
 
But most customer stories miss the point. 
 
I wrote dozens of crappy ones. 
 
--> They were all about US. 
 
--> OUR company, our solution. 
 
--> What WE did. 
 
They made US feel good. 
 
They worked ok for Sales. 
 
Not great. 
 
__________________ 
Here's a better way... 
 
Imagine your prospect reading the story. 
 
You want them to say to themselves... 
 
YES, I want to be THAT person. 
 
--> That wasn't happy with the status quo. 
 
--> That made a brave choice. 
 
--> That is the HERO. 
 
So follow a simple outline that puts your customer at the center of the hero journey. 
 
If it works for Disney, it'll work for you. 
 
Yes, the language is exaggerated for dramatic effect.  But we need drama. 
 
__________________ 
 
Title: How [Customer Name] Became a Trailblazer with [Your Solution] 
  
Introduction: 
In this story, we unveil the remarkable journey of [Customer Name], an innovative leader determined to revolutionize their industry.  
  
Customer Background: 
[Provide a brief background of the customer, highlighting their industry, challenges, and goals.] 
  
The Challenge: 
[Describe the specific challenges and pain points the customer faced.] 
  
Your Champion's Decision: 
[Highlight your champion who recognized the potential for your solution and made the brave choice to champion its adoption. Discuss their vision, leadership, and dedication to driving change.] 
 
The Solution: 
[Explain how your solution was an ideal fit for the customer. Highlight the collaborative process between your company and the customer.] 
  
The Transformation: 
[Detail the transformation that occurred after the customer implemented your solution. Discuss the specific benefits they experienced and quantify those where possible.] 
  
The Road to Success: 
[Outline the steps taken by the customer to achieve success, i.e. training, adoption, and ongoing collaboration with your team.] 
  
Conclusion: 
[Summarize the customer's journey, emphasizing their courage, vision, and the outstanding results they achieved. Express gratitude for the partnership and reaffirm your commitment to supporting their ongoing success.] 
 
Make them the hero. 
 
The End. 
 
#customersuccess #saas #storytelling 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

I have a complicated relationship with praise. ⭐

Ah that's BS, I love it.

Especially when that praise comes from Michelle Grocholsky.

Michelle has dedicated her life to making organizations more equitable and diverse.

In every single conversation with her, I am humbled by how far I still have to go on my own journey of diversity and inclusion.

They're my absolute favorite kind of coaching conversations.

--> Emotional and thoughtful.

--> I learn as much as I share.

--> I can't believe I get paid for it.

I'm so grateful to be in Michelle's orbit.

And yeah, she's kind of a big deal.

If your organization is looking to create more welcoming spaces, please reach out to her.

You'll see what I mean.

🔖 Save for later
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

Research shows that people hate humble brags more than straight-up brags.👇

Fine then. I'm really good at what I do.

That said, working with incredible leaders makes my job easy.

Deniz Omurgonulsen Altuğ is leading a team of passionate innovators at The Leading Hotels of the World to bring the best of customer success to the luxury hospitality industry.

I am so grateful to be part of LHW's charge to transform the experiences they deliver to their member hotels.

It's an incredible team.  

They make me look good. 

That's not why I love them.  

But it helps 😁.

P.S. Check out the link in comments to hear more of Deniz's story.

Matt Bowe Cherish Gallant, CRME Fernanda Melo (Altman) Ariel Hsu Lauren Alba Chris Walker and so many more.

#customersuccess #hospitality 

🔖 Save for later
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

I used to think Services was a bad word In B2B SaaS.  But it's the key to unlocking revenue.👇 
 
Your customers deserve it.  Here's how to get started. 
 
I had a conversation with a tech founder last week about building new services to support their SaaS offering. 
 
In short... 
 
--> He didn't want to deliver services. 
 
--> He had already run a consulting business. 
 
--> He started a SaaS company to be more scalable. 
 
I've had this conversation many times. 
 
I get it. 
 
I've also been in this situation. 
 
I was a post-sales leader where our solution relied heavily on services. 
 
And the CEO hated it. 
 
--> He believed his tech was all customers needed. 
 
--> I was under constant pressure to reduce the team. 
 
--> We had to keep services <10% of total revenue. 
 
__________________ 
What have I learned from these situations? 
 
--> There is often a gap between what your solution delivers and the value your customers receive. 
 
--> Someone needs to fill this gap, or your customers will not get the value they need to renew. 
 
--> If you're expecting your customer to do it, you will fail.   They don't know how. 
 
--> It's your job to give them what they need.  Period. 
 
Stop treating Services like a bad word. 
 
Every customer you take money from deserves to be successful. 
 
--> Define the gap (training, implementation, consulting). 
 
--> Build a service catalogue of 3-5 offerings. 
 
--> Price them and discount cautiously. 
 
And here's the best part. 
 
--> New revenue (yes, even recurring). 
 
--> Lower churn. 
 
--> Higher upsell. 
 
So tell me again why you don't want to deliver services? 
 
P.S.  If you want to chat about designing your first set of services, DM me. 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

Everyone wants their CSMs to be strategic advisors.  So why are so few companies delivering?👇 
 
It's not a lack of skill.  It's a lack of discipline - across the entire company. 
 
I met with a client recently in NYC to map out the next phases of their CS transformation.  
 
It's an incredibly passionate and inspiring group. I am very lucky. 
 
One of the key pillars of their CS transformation is about making CSMs a strategic advisor to customers. 
 
That's not ground-breaking.  
 
But when we started digging into what this really means, things got interesting... 
 
Yes, we need to ask better questions and be better listeners. 
 
But when we uncover new strategic insights, we have a responsibility to do something with them.  
 
What does that mean? 
 
--> Mapping our offerings to our customer's strategic priorities to make an impact on what matters to them. 
 
--> Identifying gaps in our offerings and presenting a plan for how we will close them, and when. 
 
--> Being transparent about the gaps we will never close. 
 
This is not an exhaustive list of what it means to be a strategic advisor. 
 
But it's the part many companies miss. 
 
They send CS out into the wild to ask better questions and gather new insights. 
 
But then they leave them hanging. 
 
Product and Marketing, in particular, need to consume these insights and arm CS with messaging that shows you're listening. 
 
It's not just the CSMs that needs to listen. 
 
The COMPANY needs to listen. 
 
If it's not, CS is left with nothing new to say. 
 
It's an awkward and unfair position to put them in. 
 
And worst of all, customers stop talking. 
 
If you don't have commitment from across the company to ACT on what you hear, you'll never earn the right to be an advisor. 
 
You'll be a team of CSMs that ask good questions and care a lot, but don't have the influence to do anything with it. 
 
Your customers will still love you. 
 
But they'll leave anyway. 
 
P.S. If you want to talk about creating a team of real strategic advisors, DM me. 
 
🔖 Save for later 
💬 Comment and let's start the conversation 
♻️ Repost for more visibility and to show you care

Taplio

Bob Mathers's Linkedin Analytics

Bob Mathers

What is Bob talking about?

Bob Mathers's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Taplio

.css-1jgreyo{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39,43,72,1) 0%, rgba(33,47,183,1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Bob Mathers's Linkedin Analytics

Bob Mathers

What is Bob talking about?

Bob Mathers's Best Posts .css-qqfgvy{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);}(last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Bob Mathers's Linkedin Analytics

Bob Mathers's Best Posts (last 30 days)