Kyle Dovenbarger

CSM, here are 28 reasons to be thankful for in 2024: 1- AI tools are reducing administrative grunt work 🤖 2- CEOs understanding the importance of retention 💡 3- Predictive analytics are getting much more robust 🔮 4- Remote work expanding global CS opportunities 🌐 5- Retention metrics at board-level conversations 📉 6- The flywheel is overtaking the funnel as a GTM engine 🤲 7- Measuring Customer Outcomes is a top priority for CS 📊 8- Automation is handling repetitive customer interactions 🤖 9- Salary ranges for CSMs are becoming more competitive 💰 10- Customer health scoring is more sophisticated than ever ❤️ 11- There are so many learning programs for CS professionals 🎓 12- More companies budget for professional CS development 🏆 13- Customer feedback loops are faster and more transparent 🔄 14- More start-ups are tackling CS challenges and opportunities 🚀 15- Diversity and inclusion are improving in CS leadership roles 🌈 16- Tech stacks are becoming more integrated and user-friendly 💻 17- Executive leadership values emotional intelligence more now 🤝 18- CSM burnout prevention is getting more leadership attention 🧘‍♀️ 19- Technology is making personalization easier and more effective 🎯 20- The first CRM that supports the CSM work launched (HubSpot) 🧡 21- The skills learned in CS are highly transferable across industries 🌍 22- We're finally unifying the data to tailor the customer experience 🏅 23- The job market for CS professionals is showing genuine recovery 📈 24- The CS community is more supportive and collaborative than ever 🤙 25- Customer success is recognized as a revenue-generating function 💸 26- Networking opportunities have expanded through digital platforms 💻 27- Learning resources for CS professionals are abundant and accessible 📚 28- The stigma around customer success as a "nice to have" is disappearing 🔥 Customer Success is growing and it's becoming better. Despite the hurdles, there’s nowhere else I'd rather be. Who's ready for another revolution around the sun, making a real impact? Let’s go! - 📧 Join thousands of others learning to ace their CS roles by subscribing to my newsletter. (link below) #CustomerSuccess #SaaS #CustomerExperience #CSM #revops

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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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This is solid advice for CSM’s who feel “awkward” around selling. I recommended a new product to a customer this week and they stopped me mid sentence and asked, “Why are you recommending this to us?” (Before I had a chance to get there) I told them how the product fit for their end users, how it would save them time and money and shared an ROI calculation. They were appreciative that I understood their business enough to bring them new products that can save them time and money and improve their end user experience. Win/win. CSM’s should never shy away from commercial responsibility because I think we make some of the best “selling” decisions for our customers.

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Hey CS Leaders: Customers don't want empathy. - They want to not have problems to empathize with. SVP of CS reaches out to me. - Sends CSAT survey - Get's 0s across the board - Get's my quick feedback too - Asks if I can have a call to explain - I say no, we have been through this - Nothing has changed for the better - Another call is a complete waste of time Then I get an email from my team - We've been waiting a month - To get answers on an open case - So I ask this SVP of CS for his help - He asks again for me to get on a call - To "explain my customer experience" - To "evaluate ways to better serve clients" I responded: - I don't want a call - To explain this again - For at least the 10th time - I just want this case resolved - Is that too much to ask them for? Case is resolved in 24 hours GREAT! BUT........ Do I have to email the SVP of CS every time my team can't get an answer from his team? And do I have to explain to him why I'm dissatisfied? He wants me to take time to explain the problem. Here it is: - Their "system is broken" - They don't track case resolution - Or don't make effort to improve it - Their CS team is very poorly trained - And/or not held accountable in any way - And/or they're immensely under-resourced *My best guess is they don't want to spend the money to have more CS reps to resolve issues faster, nor to improve their processes, systems, reports and metrics. There's really no other explanation for lack of response. 1. Poor systems 2. Lack of training 3. Zero accountability 4. Insufficient resources If we have to have our customers explain this to us on a Zoom call we're miles behind the curve. ✌️

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If you're a CSM you should be learning from your sales counterparts. There are just things that are just second nature to a salesperson that a CSM may not even think about doing. My favorite thing that all sales folks do, they secure the next meeting. There's none of this "Oh I'll send you a link to my Calendly" nonsense. They make sure to leave time at the end of the call to summarize and pull up calendars to book the next meeting. I cannot tell you how many times I've had a renewal meeting with a CSM and when I ask when the next meeting is I get one of 2 responses: 1) "Oh I sent them my link and I am waiting for them to book" OR "I sent them a few times and I am waiting for them to get back to me" OR 2) Our next regularly scheduled call is on XYZ Neither of those is acceptable to me. I'm sure you're thinking, "But Kristi, number 2 is fine, they have a meeting on the calendar." WRONG. They have their next recurring cadence of engagement on the calendar which should be used for strategy sessions or adoption support, project follow up etc. but those are not the commercial diven meetings I am looking for and here is why. 1) The CSM or the customer usually has an agenda for that meeting and it should be regarding their value realization and be more strategic in nature. 2) It's usually not soon enough - I'm not waiting 3 weeks before we chat about moving things to the next stage on this upsell/renewal/expansion. Where is the sense of urgency? 3) The right stakeholders are not always part of that regular recurring meeting. Now are there exceptions ... Of course, not everything is black or white. ▶ Maybe the next meeting is later that week or even next week - This MAY meet an acceptable timeline to advance the discussion ▶ The customer has specifically asked to use the next meeting that's on the calendar to continue the discussion **caveat being that the time to that meeting is appropriate** ▶ You work directly with the decision maker/budget holder and they are in all meetings So yes, there are exceptions. But generally speaking, if you are the CSM, and you're having commercial conversations with your customer it's appropriate to ask for their availability and lock in the next meeting to keep the conversation going. Sorry if this hits a nerve, but this is my personal pet peeve. Am I wrong?

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Scaling isn’t about hiring more people. PEOPLE DON’T CREATE DEMAND. Sure, adding headcount looks like growth on paper. But without demand, they’re just added costs—not revenue drivers. Let’s think about this. How many of your reps are consistently hitting quota? Are you maximizing revenue per FTE? What’s happening with activity levels, pipeline health, win rates, and conversion rates? Is there room to optimize? And what about ACV and ARPU? Are you leaving money on the table? Could better automation, smarter AI, or streamlined processes shorten sales cycles? Is your tech stack doing its job, or just adding complexity? (Believe me, it happens). Can smaller customers self-serve via PLG? Is that even a possibility? How are your SDR-to-AE ratios? Is Customer Success stepping in early enough, or just post-sale? Please, please, please: answer those questions before you even think about adding headcount. But scaling isn’t just about zooming into the details. It’s also about stepping back to see the bigger picture. How’s your LTV:CAC ratio? Are your pricing and packaging strategies protecting margins—or eroding them? Is churn under control? How’s NRR? GRR? Are you capitalizing on upsells and cross-sells? Again, how much can you gain before adding costs? Then there’s the market. I know, I know, it's getting longer. But it's critical (and sometimes ignored). Are you nearing saturation? Is there room to grow, or is it time to explore new verticals or product lines? And let’s come back to demand. Really? Really. People don’t create it (yes, I’ve said it before—and spoiler alert—you’ll hear me say it again). Can your inbound-outbound engine scale? Is inbound strong enough to support growth, or are you overly reliant on outbound? Outbound isn’t getting any easier. Without the right balance, more reps just add noise—not results. Are you adding quality behind quantity at the top of the funnel? Is your messaging resonating with ICPs? Are marketing and sales truly aligned to convert intent into revenue? If you’re going upmarket, is your product-market fit proven? Is the whole company ready—not just GTM, but Product, Dev, and Ops? Scaling isn’t about throwing people at the problem. It’s about building a machine that works—and works well. Clear, repeatable processes. A documented, applied enablement strategy. Teams trained and empowered with the right tools and data. And the most important piece of the puzzle: people. They are (by far) your most important asset—but only if they’re set up for success. Diversity, creativity, and motivation within your team is what really drive results. Scaling isn’t just a numbers game; it’s a people game. Are you creating an environment where your team thrives? Beyond the slogan, are you? Fix what’s broken. Optimize what’s working. Empower your people. Then scale. Because scaling isn’t about more—it’s about better.

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Check out Henry, In Your Corner! Get Account Summaries in 30 seconds using ZoomInfo's AI Copilot. I use these every day. Hit me up with any questions! 😎 #zoominfo #copilot

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

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Today is a big day for Product Marketers who use Gong. Because today, Klue is launching our new Gong Integration. Here’s the scoop: ⬅️ Before: It was a challenge to track how often competitors come up over time ➡️ After: Gong tracker data is visualized within Klue so you can track competitor mentions ⬅️ Before: Deal support was reactive based on individual requests ➡️ After: Sort your calls by # of competitor mentions and prioritize deal that need support ⬅️ Before: The sales team was responsible for updating the competitive fields in the CRM ➡️ After: Automatically update these fields in your CRM based on competitor mentions ⬅️ Before: Klue content couldn’t be accessed in Gong ➡️ After: Sales can experience any Klue battlecard from Gong Engage Check out our landing page to learn more and test drive the product. Link will be in the comments.

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Our revops “team” at Chili Piper does A LOT OF automations. If you’d see our list, you’d think we have a full train of rev ops folks working here at Chili Piper (spoiler alert, we have 1 and a half). Here’s an example of an “unconventional” automation We assign churned accounts to SDRs. Yep, we automate outreach to churned accounts Here’s why and how First, let me tell you, it breaks my heart to see any customer churn. I feel like my heart is asking but always aim to learn from it and make everything better for them if they were to come back. Hence, we want to learn what made them leave, fix the problem, and win them back And the good news is that we win many of them back . Here are the nitty gritty on how we do this : We setup these rules for assigning churned accounts to our SDRs: – Account Status = updated to Churned – Transaction End Date = 91 days – Round Robin across SDRs and update SDR Owner – SLA: after 12 working hours, check if there was activity yesterday AND ROE phase ≠ unfit to work, send Slack notification – SLA: after 12 working hours, check if there was activity yesterday AND ROE phase ≠ unfit to work, reassign – Provide a Slack notification to the AM (80 days post-contract end date) – Provide a Slack notification to the SDR once the Account has been assigned (91 days post-contract end date) – Provide SDRs with information on why the account is churning in SFDC to give them the context to sell into the account effectively. If you are curious about more details on this, let me know!  

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CSM's, 5 Signs Your Company’s a Dumpster Fire—and It’s Time to Leave 🔥 1️⃣ Churn is Out of Control Every town hall’s starting to feel like a therapy session. Leadership talks “vision”. While you’re stuck managing unhappy customers and broken promises. Ask yourself: Is this where I’m meant to be? 2️⃣ The Slack Talks Are All Negative. Quarterly layoffs, top CSM's leaving. The vibe is “who’s next?”, it’s clear—the clock’s ticking. How long will you wait to make your move? 3️⃣ Career Growth? Radio Silence. You’ve hit your KPI, grown accounts, kept customers around. But every time you ask about growth, it’s “let’s talk next quarter.” Question is: How many quarters are you willing to wait? 4️⃣ Disconnected Leadership They preach “innovation” from afar but haven’t spoken to a customer in years. You’re in the trenches, fighting fires while they stand miles away. Are they even seeing the real picture? 5️⃣ The Product’s Losing Ground You’ve flagged issues, done the damage control, apologized to customers. But nothing changes. If they won’t listen now, will they ever? The right CSM role is out there—one where your growth and impact actually matter. Don’t settle for a company that isn’t moving forward and doesn't give a flying flower about you 🌻 👉 DM me "Interview" to grab early bird pricing for my interview masterclass.

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A mock conversation to help position yourself as a performance consultant during your next request for enablement: THE TIP: Go broad before getting specific. Requesters typically start with a specific problem. —— SME: “Reps aren’t asking the right questions during discovery to surface business impact. We need training!” *Pause* *Get broad first* YOU: “Sounds like they’re at risk for not hitting quota.” SME: “Well, some are on track. But many aren’t.” YOU: “Hitting quota typically depends on the amount of deals booked and the average deal size. Are both a problem?” SME: “No, we actually have a consistent deal size. It’s the number of deals they aren’t closing because they aren’t asking the right questions early on!” YOU: “I see. Number of deals booked requires deals to be created and then converted through the sales cycle. Are they struggling with those?” SME: “Creating opportunities isn’t a problem - they’ve actually been able to surpass our meeting metrics. The problem is converting because they aren’t doing proper discovery!!!” YOU: “Meeting metrics?” SME: “Yes. They need 3 prospect meetings a week. We’ve averaged four, so it’s the discovery skills they lack to actually convert into qualified opportunities.” YOU: “Who do they book these meetings with?” SME: “Good question. We do want them to get high in the org, but most are with lower level personas…probably because they’re easier to book a meeting with.” YOU: “You mentioned reps weren’t surfacing business impact. Can lower level personas provide business impact data?” SME: “Hmm…I suppose not.“ YOU: “If they had the right personas on the call, could they uncover the right business impact data?” SME: “Well…I suppose they could. The information we want them to gather is well documented, along with sample questions to ask.” YOU: “Do they know who the right personas are and are they properly prioritizing them?” SME: “I’m not sure. We do prioritization at the account level during territory planning, not at the contact level.” YOU: “Do you think that might help?” SME: “I do. An easy lift as well.” YOU: “And those meeting KPIs - any chance we can include persona-level requirements?” SME: “Great idea. The amount might drop, but the quality could be improved.” YOU: “Another easy lift. Should we give it a try and measure how it impacts conversion rates before adding any formal training?” SME: “Good idea. The reps have been asking for less training lately anyways.” —- You’re looking for leverage; you can only find it if you dig. #sales #salesenablement

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🏄‍♂️ Scott Leese has a great take on this. Too often I’m seeing RevOps people tout proudly complex comp plans and thinking that it’s ok. Where are we on this? Are there truly products that are too complicated or sales cycles that are so complex that having a quant wizard workbook is warranted to pay your salespeople? When I was interviewing, many members even in Pavilion within the RevOps community, had an air of accomplishment in their structure being so complex that it would take a full onboarding to even understand why the structure was the way it was. I’m open to being called wrong, but I’m 100% in agreement that if the comp plan is too complicated, it sucks, and it’s broken. Having been under many comp plans myself, you easily build distrust if transparency isn’t available and plans designed by people who have never been on a variable comp structure often reflect this. It’s not chutes and ladders, or cones of dunshire, or “who was the best mathlete”, it’s how people pay their mortgage, feed their kids, and live their lives. #revenue #operations #sales #revops #enablement #compensation

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I used to view discovery meetings as pass/fail: Pass: Right person, right problem, continued conversation with that person. Fail: No next steps with that prospect. Now, I break successful discovery into two categories: 1) Opportunity progressing discovery 2) Account progressing discovery Opportunity progressing discovery means right person, big problem you can solve, and next steps agreed with that individual. This is the best outcome, but when it’s an early discovery meeting with an account, it’s unlikely. The next best outcome is an account-progressing discovery. This means you leave the conversation with more knowledge about problems the company is solving, how they are trying to solve them, and gaps in their process. You may not have next steps because the person you spoke with isn’t the right person, but you have a stronger point of view. And that point of view will get you in front of the right people where you’ll evolve from account progressing discovery to opportunity progressing discovery. If you view discovery as pass/fail, you’ll abandon great accounts too soon. If you view discovery as an ongoing process for each account, you’ll break into more of your best accounts.

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What the heck does being "a strategic CSM" mean? Let's decode it together. 🧐 Vague job descriptions and generic training often leave us with buzzwords like "strategic advisor." But without practical steps, this advice is unhelpful. Let’s break "strategic" down into 7 actionable components: 1. Understand Your Customer’s Goals. Know why they bought your product and how it benefits their business. 2. Connect Goals to Your Solution Guide them on using your product to achieve their objectives. 3. Drive Adoption and Change New systems require new habits. Help your customers adapt smoothly. 4. Communicate Persuasively Influence action by speaking in a way that resonates with your customers. 5. Create Win-Win Scenarios Balance your company's needs with those of the customer. 6. Prioritise Effectively Invest your time where it yields the best returns. 7. Multi-threading Establish connections with multiple contacts at different levels within the customer’s organisation. Master these 7 skills and you won’t just be "strategic. You'll be a top-performing CSM, advancing your career and boosting your earnings. Ready to elevate your CSM game? 🚀 Join 11K+ Customer Success Professionals who read my weekly newsletter for insights on building and scaling a CS team. 📩 [Sign up in the comments] #csm #customersuccess #customerexperience #CX #revops

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RevOps leaders are building their tech stacks around tools they are confident can scale alongside their growing teams (and complexities). Today QuotaPath has released a series of features that position us as the most adaptable commission software for high growth teams with complex compensation problems. I use QuotaPath constantly (a fun perk of the job), and we are constantly listening to our customers and evolving QuotaPath to address their biggest pain points. Features like a first-of-its-kind Mapping Manager that allows users to build data logic once in a template, save it, and re-use it anytime they need to add a new comp plan and connect to its data source. (A massive time saver.) Our Manager Plans and Dynamic Team Assignments are designed to seamlessly support the shifts that occur when reps transition between teams. These features ensure that your compensation plans stay aligned with your evolving team structure. And a new multi-level approval process promises that by the time Finance gives its final sign-off on commission earnings, reps and sales leadership have already seen and approved their earnings, streamlining the payout process while giving reps more ownership over their commissions. Congrats to our team and thank to every customer who has contributed to QuotaPath’s evolution. 

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If you are a #CSM then ask yourself this question every morning when you start work: "Why...?" And no...it is NOT: "Why...am I here?" 😅 As every CSM or #CS leader knows - every day in CS is a busy one. You have a long to-do list. Many KPIs to hit. Customers reaching out. Leaders asking you for things. Meetings back-to-back. It's easy to get overwhelmed. It is even easier to get distracted. And almost impossible to optimize your time. That is where "Why?" comes into the picture. When you start your day (or finish the previous day): 📆 Look at what you have on the calendar 📋 Look at your inevitable to-do list 📲 Look at your meetings for the day 🕺🏽 Look at how much "free" time you have that day Now consider your short-term goals & KPIs: weekly/monthly And consider your medium-term goals & KPIs: Quarterly/qualitative Here is where you ask yourself, "Why?" - Why should I spend time on this activity? - Why is that meeting important (or how to make it important)? - Why is this task at the top of my list? - Why, why, why... If the answer does not include something in line with..."because it best helps me get to this goal or KPI"...then you probably should not prioritize it. The reality in CS is that you never have enough time. There is always more. You can even spend TOO much time on GOOD activities. So don't waste it. Ask "why?". And maximize each day. *** 🛎️ If you enjoy my content, follow me for more ♻️ Repost to share with your network #CS #customersuccess #accountmanagement #timemanagement #csvalue #revsetter

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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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Discovery calls can sometimes feel like an interrogation - you grill the customer for info and they tell you about themselves and their business. But it shouldn't be that way. Discovery is a conversation - a collaboration. You need to involve your client and build a sense of shared ownership, which is key for a strong foundation of trust and long-term relationships. Here are essential practices that can transform your discovery calls into a tool for closing deals: 1️⃣ Ask the right questions. Demonstrate your expertise by asking insightful questions that encourage thoughtful answers. This approach deepens your understanding and solidifies your position as a trusted advisor. 2️⃣ Align your questions with the buyer's role. Customize your questions to reflect the buyer's current role and industry knowledge. This alignment helps in avoiding frustrations and enhances engagement. Once you identify a prospect's job title, understand their Critical Business Issues (CBIs) by repeatedly asking "Why?" until you uncover the core challenges. 3️⃣ Listen actively. Effective discovery involves deep listening—aim to understand not just the words but the underlying needs and emotions conveyed by your buyers. Steer clear of close-ended questions and utilize expansion questions to explore your client’s pain points more deeply. 4️⃣ Continuously re-validate information. As priorities and situations change, updating the information you gather regularly is vital. Employ tools like a Situation Slide to record each situation accurately, keeping your approach relevant and informed. 5️⃣ View discovery as a process. Understand that discovery is not a one-time event. It's crucial to continually adapt your approach based on the buyer's evolving needs and circumstances. Implementing these practices can significantly enhance your discovery process, leading to more successful outcomes. Gain a deeper understanding of the customer's situation and uncover hidden needs and opportunities. If you're looking to elevate these skills further, Great Demo! offers specialized training and support to refine your techniques and maximize the effectiveness of every sales opportunity. Send me a message!

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