Jay Nathan

Love these tips from Daphne to stop CSM’s being reactive and start being proactive

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Our partnership with Brex now gives us unparalleled insight and breadth in SaaS purchasing reports

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SME vs. Experienced CSM Different industries require different skills and while some roles will value Customer Success or Account Management experience others might need professionals with industry expertise. Most CS Leaders have actually shared that their favorite approach is a blend of employees from both. In my 12 years of experience across 5 companies and industries I've actually felt most successful in the industries where I was an SME. Personally I felt I was able to bring more value and engage my customers differently as I was able to "speak their language". For me personally, I was able to learn the "CS stuff". But that said, if you're a professional CSM you can learn the industry of your customers too. Learning more about your customer's role and their industry will allow you to: ▶ Be more strategic and offer advice and guidance to help them better understand how to get value from your solution ▶ Build trust and credibility with your customers, building deeper relationships sooner ▶ Be more effective with communication; an industry expert will be able to bridge the gap between teams when it comes to business needs and challenges ▶ Create tailored training and enablement helping your customers get up to speed quickly and efficiently ▶ Serve as a differentiator in a competitive landscape; your customers will get value beyond your software that they might now get anywhere else If you're not an SME or don't have previous experience working in a particular industry here are 3 tips to help you get up to speed quickly: 1) Join industry specific communities and follow industry experts on social media 2) Interview your customers and learn more directly from them about their work, role and responsibilities (Bonus points if you learn more about their pain and challenges specific to your product) 3) Attend industry specific events and conferences - there are plenty of virtual events if budgets are tight At the end of the day, it's up to you to do the work and figure out how to bring the most value to your customers. Once you understand who they are, you'll understand what they need.

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I speak to many SaaS leaders and their main pain point is scaling effectively while ensuring they have a steady stream of quality leads. At WMAmerica, we tackle these challenges head-on with a targeted approach to lead and demand generation that delivers real, measurable results. Here’s how: - Personal Story: When I joined WMAmerica, my mission was clear: help SaaS companies break through the noise and connect with the right people to drive growth. From my own experience in sales, I knew how challenging it could be to get a foot in the door with potential clients. I made it my priority to not just open doors—but open the right ones. - Client Story: Recently, we worked with a SaaS company that was struggling to scale their demand generation efforts. They had great product-market fit, but their lead funnel just wasn't flowing. In just 3 months of partnering with WMAmerica, they saw: - 60% increase in qualified leads - Closed 5 new major clients - Massive impact on their pipeline, allowing them to scale faster than anticipated. - Another Success Story: A founder approached us frustrated with "bad leads" that led nowhere. By focusing on targeted outreach and quality lead generation—not quantity—we helped them achieve: - 30+ meetings with ideal prospects in one quarter - 40% revenue growth, giving them confidence in their sales process Scaling a SaaS business isn't easy, but with WMAmerica's proven approach to lead and demand gen, it's absolutely achievable. If you're ready to take your demand gen efforts to the next level, let's chat. Your growth story could be our next success post.

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Visibility is everything for revenue leaders. Here’s one of my favorite examples: Four years ago, Joe was stepping into a global CRO role at one of Clari’s great customers. This was his first time having access to Clari. I reached out as part of our onboarding process. Immediately, Joe sent back this note. “Kevin,” he said. “I don’t know how I would have stepped into this job so quickly if I hadn’t had the level of visibility your solution has provided.” Visibility enabled Joe to:  - Learn his team’s pipeline at record pace - Identify revenue strengths and weaknesses - Feel confident implementing new strategies and tactics Before Clari, it would have taken Joe months to reach this point. However, he was up-and-running at lightning speed. That’s the power of visibility.

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ZoomInfo Copilot is working 24/7 — surfacing important updates you should know about your top accounts.  With breaking alerts delivered via Slack, you'll never miss when a buying group shifts or a key account spikes on intent. 🔔 Have a question about one of your accounts? Ask Copilot's interactive, AI-powered chat and get answers in seconds.  Ready to give Copilot a try? Request a demo: bit.ly/3Kj4myP #ZoomInfoCopilot

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I was talking to one of our #CustomerSuccess teams at AlertMedia and lamenting how much I hate the LinkedIn posts that say 'the QBR is dead.' They told me I should write a post about it so here we go... I've been on the road a lot this month and in talking with customers, several of them have gone out of their way to tell me how valuable they find that dedicated hour to review metrics and usage and strategize with us about how to increase adoption or drive further new use cases going forward. In fact, some executives have told me they look forward to these meetings. These customers have worked with our team to tailor the presentations such that the data and insights presented are not only VALUABLE for them but for their leadership team and business more broadly. At AlertMedia this year we're going to set a record in terms of the number of QBRs we've conducted. It's really not going to be close. And I'm confident that customers keep doing QBRs with us because they truly find value in them. It's not that the QBR is dead, it's that you aren't giving your customers any value from the meeting. Try adding things your customers deem valuable and see what happens. Rant over.

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Want to elevate your sales game and win over C-suite executives? 📈 Learn from the best with ZoomInfo's top sales tips, including insights from our CEO and Founder, Henry Schuck!  Discover the definitive guide to selling to the C-suite in 2024: bit.ly/4aSCL3i

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Today I had a chance to chat to three former colleagues who are now friends. This morning I was a guest on Closing Time podcast with Denis Crushell and Pat Williams, two deeply experienced CROs and just hilarious and kind humans. We went deep in GTM alignment, company level GtM KPIs and the role of RevOps to connect and guide teams across full customer journey. We also talked about how all the tooling in the world to operationalize your actions, outreaches, followups, personalized emails mean nothing…if you’re going after the wrong person. Investing to get your ICP right is paramount yet so many companies we work with underestimate this importance. In the afternoon I then had a lovely chat with one of the best pre-sales leaders I know Jameson L. (congrats on your promo buddy!) and we were discussing how companies we know that start with PLG then realize the importance of upgrading to enterprise sale but don’t know how to transition to something more value led. Every time I talk to one of these individuals there is so much learning, laughter, and sparks of new ideas. Nurture your network!

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Nick Mehta says we might consider moving #CustomerSuccess execs under sales and the CRO to consolidate the customer experience. Maybe there is another group to move? What if we moved #Product execs under the CRO as well? #CS #CRO #sales #Product

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WE DON’T WANT TO REPLACE SDRS Agent Frank was never meant to replace your sales team. Sure, it can help you reduce some costs - for example, instead of hiring 2 new reps, you can just hire one and onboard Agent Frank - https://lnkd.in/e69mGgBG But the goal was always for Agent Frank to work WITH your team and enable them to focus on the best part of being an SDR: Closing deals 🚀

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Top H1 takeaway from QBR's about our Rev Org: "We're an ecosystem, not a hierarchy." (h/t Alexandra B.) We collaborate, everyone's voice matters, and we strive to put people in roles they love so they can be madly successful. Hearing this statement was validation that what we are building in the Revenue Org at LibraryPass is unique, and scalable, and contagious. And we have roles coming soon! So if you're interested in being part of an ecosystem, let's chat. Here's to an even better H2!

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Are MQLs really dead? Or are we missing the bigger picture? Doug and Jess tackle these questions on The RevOps Show as they break down a controversial LinkedIn article. But is the problem with MQLs themselves–or with how we’re applying them? Turn in to the latest episode to learn why it might be time to rethink MQLs and realign them with your revenue goals. 🔗Apple: https://hubs.ly/Q02R66jD0 🔗Spotify: https://hubs.ly/Q02R5MPS0 #TheRevOpsShow #MQLs #MarketingQualifiedLeads #LeadQualification

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🕒 A Day in the Life of a CSM (Because We Make It Look Easy... But It’s Not) 8:00 AM – Inbox Battle Royale Wake to a burn fire. Reply to emails. Respond to the same question… for the 5th time this month. ("Yes, you can find that in the Help Center!"). Inbox zero? Not even close. 9:00 AM – Firefighter Mode Urgent escalation. The customer suddenly remembers their renewal is next week, and now it’s an “emergency.” Cue panic mode. Remember to breath! 10:00 AM – 3rd Internal Meeting of the Day Discuss KPIs and dashboards with teams that use a completely different set of metrics. Translation mode: activated. 11:00 AM – Reporting Overload Your CRM is somehow missing 50% of the data you need. The spreadsheet is missing the other 50%. Guess who's combining them manually? 12:00 PM – Lunch... or Not You thought you had 30 minutes to eat. Wrong. Surprise meeting with the product team to discuss why Feature X isn’t working for customers in 3 different time zones. Bye, sandwich 🥪. 1:00 PM – Customer Sync Call Walk the customer through a roadmap that’s 90% wishlist and 10% reality. Smile and nod while they ask for features that won’t be released until 2027. 2:00 PM – CRM Admin Black Hole Update your customer records, health scores, and next steps. Find out half the data is outdated, and none of it matches what your customer actually said on the call. 3:00 PM – Renewal Strategy Meeting Plot the customer’s renewal. Build a case for expansion. Then find out they’ve been secretly trialling a competitor for weeks. Fun times. 4:00 PM – Post-Fire Drill Damage Control The customer escalation from 9 AM? Still on fire 🔥. You're now a therapist, product expert, and contract negotiator all at once. 5:00 PM – Last-Minute Follow-Ups Send out 3 follow-up emails, fix a PowerPoint deck, and add 6 more tasks to tomorrow’s to-do list. Oh, and you’ll still have to smile while doing it all again. It’s 8 hours of chaos, spreadsheets, and deep breaths—and somehow, we still make it look easy. 😅 Ready for a better way of CSM-ing? 🚀 Join 11K+ Customer Success Professionals who read my weekly newsletter for insights on how to skip the rat race and focus on delivering value for customers. [link below] #DayInTheLife #CSM #RevOps #CustomerSuccess #CustomerRetention

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If your Customer Success team isn't tied to revenue, start worrying. Thankfully, this is less of a debate in 2024 and more a matter of different degrees of variable comp plan 😅. I’ve seen CS comp plans succeed in two very different ways, and the right approach? It all comes down to where your company is in its journey. (note: there are dozens of similar combos, but lets keep it simple). Option #1: Gross Retention + Manager Discretion I’ve seen this work at earlier-stage startups when things are more scrappy, and adoption/retention are king. Here’s the split: 🎯 75% Gross Retention (renewals). 🎯 25% Manager Discretion, so leaders can reward foundational work like proactive customer management, EBRs held. Simple, flexible, and it gets the job done when you’re scrappy as hell. Option #2: Gross Retention + Net Retention + Advocacy I've used this in scale-up mode, when the revenue machine is predictable and expansion motions are dialled in. You want CSMs thinking broad: 🎯 60% Gross Retention (renewals). 🎯 30% Net Retention (expansion). 🎯 10% Advocacy (e.g., referenceable items - case studies webinars) It’s a sophisticated model that works if you’ve got the maturity to track these metrics and the processes to support it. Double comping with AEs? Do it - as long as leadership is thoughtful about the % splits and everyone wins. So, Which One’s Right? If you’re early-stage, start with Option 1 - keep it simple, focus on retention, and reward key behaviours. When you’re in scale-up mode, Option 1 ties CS to revenue growth and customer advocacy. Either way, align with your Sales counterpart AND make sure your CFO is all smiles. What comp structure has worked for your teams? #CustomerSuccess #Leadership #SaaS #Compensation #Retention

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After speaking with 100’s of Rev Ops Leaders over the past few weeks, a few key issue stuck out. Here are 3 of the areas I heard over and over: 1.   Aligning Sales and Marketing 2. Data Silos and Visibility 3. Resistance to Change What are you hearing? Comment Below Here is an article that address other issues Rev Ops Leaders are experiencing.  https://lnkd.in/ewhKQGJA.

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It's a marathon, not a sprint! Whether you have a rep who's great at phone calls deliver a lunch-and-learn on best practices, bring an outside sales coach in for intensive training, or send a few reps to an industry event -- it's important to continuously offer various learning opportunities to your reps to reduce churn, increase employee engagement, and drive ongoing productivity.  #RevenueEnablement #SalesEnablement

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Day -5, Customers - 4, ARR - $0 If you aren’t a force multiplier as an IC, you won’t be as a manager In some cases I have seen people make bigger impacts on culture as an IC peer vs team lead. IC’s can - set the standard - educate their peers - sympathize and empathize - problem solve by truly understanding the problem Impacting a culture can seem daunting, if you are struggling to get started, show up with relentless positivity and you will figure it out from there

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