Porscha Scott O'Neal

🚨 The Silent Crisis In Customer Success 🚨 Most CSMs aren't meeting customers as often as we think. Here’s the reality: 😱 Many CSMs have fewer than two customer meetings a day 😱 Almost half of scheduled calls are rescheduled 😱 Email is their main mode of communication This isn't the CSM's fault. Why is this happening? - Firefighting takes away planned engagement time - Unclear value proposition for customer meetings - Lack of support from marketing-led initiatives - Overwhelmed by internal meetings - No automated meeting reminders CSMs are trapped in an environment that limits their effectiveness. 🔥 What successful CS teams are doing differently: - Use smart health scores to prioritise - Automate pre-meeting reminders to ensure attendance - Trigger touchpoints using health scores - Track engagement as a key indicator - Limit internal meetings to a maximum of 30% of their time Here’s the truth: Customers don't churn instantly. They drift away during the silences. Worried this might be happening to your team? Analyse data from the last 90 days: - Check how many calls your CSMs have logged - Divide by total CSMs and 90 days for the daily stat - Compare with their calendars from the last 30 days The difference might surprise you!

14

3 Comments

31 mistakes every CSM makes: Poor time management.  Ignoring the competition. Not following up regularly. Lack of strategic planning. Skipping onboarding steps.  Being too reactive to issues. Over-relying on automation. Ignoring customer feedback. Avoiding difficult conversations. Not aligning with customer goals. Not leveraging data and analytics. Not seeking continuous improvement. Over-promising and under-delivering. Not keeping up with product updates. Not preparing adequately for meetings. Focusing only on high-touch customers. Not documenting customer interactions. Not setting measurable success metrics. Not listening actively to customer needs. Neglecting to personalise communication. Underestimating the importance of training. Not understanding the customer’s business. Failing to coordinate with other departments. Neglecting to celebrate customer milestones. Not setting clear expectations with customers. Assuming the customer’s definition of success. Not seeking feedback on their own performance. Reacting rather than proactively managing accounts. Ignoring potential upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Failing to advocate for the customer within the company. Not building strong relationships with key stakeholders. Want to avoid them? Sign up for my newsletter. 📥 Join 10k+ CS Professionals who read my newsletter on how to build and scale a CS Team [sign up in the comments section]. #csm #revops #customerexperience #gtm #customersuccess

165

14 Comments

CSM, I know you don't want to hear this but... Your appearance matters. 💁🏻‍♀️ Imagine joining a customer call looking like you just rolled out of bed. Instantly, your credibility takes a hit. You could be the best CSM in the world... But will the customer trust your advice now? In a world where our living rooms have become our offices, it's crucial to remember: Your setting, your lighting, your overall appearance—they all shout your level of professionalism. But don’t worry, professionalism isn't about wearing a suit and tie. It's all about being intentional. Here are my 3 virtual presentation essentials: 👗 Dress With Purpose Show up as you care about the meeting. I like to have my "work uniform", a set of simple crew neck jumpers in colours that work for me. I don't need to think about it every morning, I simply open the drawer and throw it on. 🏡 Curate Your Environment A clean background and proper lighting make a world of difference. You don't need to have a fancy office, just shift that desk in front of a white wall. 🤌🏼 Don't Forget About Body Language Sit upright or stand up; ensure the camera is at eye level and that people can see your hand gestures as well as your face. You are the window to the organisation. How you show up matters. #csm #customersuccess #gtm #SaaS #personaldevelopment

693

92 Comments

Recently, a CS leader asked me, "What might make a good Customer Health Score?" Here was my reply: Product usage - have they completed all of the steps required? Have they gotten the certification in the usual time frame? Tickets -nothing disastrous here CSM Sentiment - Weight this score, but has the CSM detected something from a call that would indicate churn/risk or not. Demonstrable ROI/Business value articulated - Have they said in their own words what the business value of Sprinto is? Executive alignment - Are the executives bought in to this? Engagement- Are they responsive/willing to engage? There’s controllable churn and non-controllable churn. Health scores can’t consider if they ran out of money or if their own product doesn’t have product-market fit. That falls into non-controllable churn. But for the things you can control AKA are they receiving the value you promised in the sales cycle, it better be recorded somewhere for everyone to see. Then take these values and weight them to calculate the score. Some can be all or nothing. Ex if there’s no value articulated that means no matter what the entire score is red. We’re the only platform that can do that + we have more analysis once the health score is set up into the trends and more statistical analysis as well. These indicators are always tweaked over time but this is what I’d probably start with from what I know about Sprinto. And if I learned more I’m sure I’d have additional recs, but this is a good start. By doing this you can get in front of churn and the cost of getting something to help with this can pay for itself through saving even 1 deal. Hope this is helpful. _____ What might you add/take away here?

28

7 Comments

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

25

4 Comments

What's a fair salary for a CSM? Last week Noah Little blew the CS corner of the internet with a hot take that CSMs should be paid like sales reps. Needless to say, when it comes to money, the more the merrier. 🤑 But should CSMs and Sales Reps be paid in the same "structure"? Probably not... Different roles and different tasks, therefore different comp structures. So instead of comparing ourselves to sales, we need to be able to: 1- compare ourselves to the rest of the industry 2- align the comp of the CSM to the revenue it generates That's how we fight for more of the pie. The issue is that if you are in Europe, it's really hard to get good salary data to even start this process. That's why I partnered with some of the top CS brands in Europe to collate a survey that helps us understand our local salary landscape. The report will help: - Leaders design fair and equitable compensation packages - CS Professionals benchmark their offers and salaries Link to answer the survey is in the comments section! #csm #customersuccess #salary #compensation #growthmindset

109

9 Comments

Did you know that top performing sales reps speak 6% slower on calls than their peers? When they get frustrated during a conversation with a prospect, they increase the number of words per minute even further 😱 That happens because we get nervous and our confident levels drop. We are not sure we can bounce back from that objection and in fairness, maybe we can’t. Perhaps we already explained twice something that should be simple in our mind, but the prospect is not getting it. Or it is just that he or she is being unreasonable and you secretly want to punch them in the head. ⏸️ Top-performers PAUSE after objections. They remain calm throughout the conversation and actually make longer pauses after objections than in any other part of the sales call. Calmness not only creates trust, but also shows confidence and authority. You are so certain of what you are talking about, that you calmly wait for your turn to speak and go straight to the point without blabbing and sweating. The power of pause can help us all win more deals. May the Goddesses of outbound sales enlighten us in the heat of the moment 😅 🧘🏻‍♀️ #ouboundsales #topperformingskills #pause

17

Positioning impacts whether the CSM is viewed as strategic (or not), how the customers treat the CSM, whether they listen to the CSM, and whether they’ll hold up their end of the Joint Accountability agreement.

18

2 Comments

Sales leaders! Shift your focus to people for stronger sales results. Instead of fixating on forecast calls, prioritize weekly people development calls to empower your team. Sure, continue coaching on the go during forecast calls but set weekly time to work on specific development topics. Confidence, support, and growth will lead to higher numbers. Make it about the people! 👥

20

There was once an SDR manager that was told they should put an SDR on a PIP. The manager didn’t think they deserved it. There were some challenges happening and over time standards weren’t met. The manager inherited this person from another leader who had left the business. An SDR managers worst nightmare. After a few conversations with the SDR, the manager saw that it wasn’t a performance issue, but a focus issue. What does that mean? They were focusing on the wrong things and were beat down by the circumstances. After seeing that they were willing to put in the work and were coachable, the manager saw they had a ton of future potential. With constant focus, reminders, and highlighting positive behaviors the SDR was off to the races. They proceeded to hit 200% plus quota the next two months and 120%+ for two months after that. They went on to the next step and became an account executive. The SDR just needed someone to invest in them. They were willing to put in the work and had a ton of future potential. If the will is there, get to the root cause and coach your people.

316

15 Comments

It should not be so hard to empower your sales teams. But, in 2023: 📉 53% of CROs struggled to increase sales velocity and rep productivity 📉 72% of salespeople spent time not selling 📉 28% of sales reps expected to attain quota This year, learn how to leverage the power of sales enablement 🚀 https://lnkd.in/eHDKVJ_J #salesenablement #change #saas

7

📣 The latest Customer Education Weekly is here! Packed with research opportunities, expert insights, and upcoming trends: 🔬 Research & Opportunities • Intellum's Education-Led Growth™ Survey is live! Share your insights and get a chance to win access to Julie Dirksen's Design for Learning course ($249 value) • Gainsight's deep dive into Digital Self-Service success metrics • Intellum's guide to Annual Reports in Education Programs 📚 Fresh Industry Content • Echtus explores L&D's role in company-wide education strategy • MeltingSpot breaks down CE's impact on SaaS success • Skilljar's November Skillet Newsletter • Intellum's comprehensive guide to video in Customer Education 🌟 Community Highlights • Shannon Howard's CE Strategy Deck Template • Kristin Thompson's insights from 90 days as CE Director • Blair Mishleau on curiosity as the success driver • Lila Krutel Meyer's CE Scorecard & EOY Course Updates Framework • CELab is collecting 2024 CE wins - share yours! 🎧 Must-Listen Episodes • CS Talks (Bayron Toruño Solano): Vicky Kennedy on CE's impact on retention • Customer Educated: Jason Gorman's 60% efficiency boost with Gen AI • The Digital CX Podcast: Scott K. Wilder on AI in CX • Talented Learning Show (John Leh): Next-gen video assessment 📅 Don't Miss These Events • Dec 5: Creating Accessible Learning Content • Dec 12: 2025 CE Trends Preview • Mar 18-19: CEdMA Annual Conference (Austin) Want weekly insights delivered to your inbox? Check the comments below for the link! #CustomerEducation

51

9 Comments

CSM, get out of the hamster wheel before you burn out. ❌ Stop fire-fighting ❌ Stop with check-in calls ❌ Stop reacting to your inbox ❌ Stop taking support queries ❌ Stop ineffective repetitive tasks ❌ Stop solving for this month's number ❌ Stop emailing unresponsive contacts ❌ Stop only prioritising in-month renewals ❌ Stop manually doing what should be automated A ton of hard work. Very little to show for it. You'll never get out of the rat race if you keep working this way. Here's a different and better way of CSM-ing: ✅ Establish your customers' expected outcomes ✅ Build a Success Plan from day one ✅ Ensure they have the right set-up ✅ Hold customers accountable ✅ Report on and share results ✅ Ask if they intend to renew ✅ Monitor leading indicators ✅ Pick up the phone ✅ Multi-thread Proactive, strategic and consultative. 1000x better. If reading this makes you feel ashamed because you don't know where to start or overwhelmed because your current work situation is too chaotic to create the time for this, you're not alone. Thousands of CSMs feel exactly the same way. I know what you're thinking: -> You can't afford to stop right now -> You don't have time to make changes -> You only need to weather the storm and things will get better I've been there too. But these are the excuses that are holding you back. Nobody is coming to save you. You need to save yourself. So here's my advice: 🛑 Stop everything 🛑 Book 2 days "OOO" in your calendar. And do these 3 exercises: 1- Create a Calendar Blueprint: Set up a separate calendar from your current one. You'll use this to design a new calendar blueprint for yourself. You should add every single thing you need to do proactively in this calendar, it's the baseline for you to start changing the make-up of your working day. 📆 I'll link the one I designed for CSMs in the comments. 2- Book of Business Review: Do a full review of your customers and place them into one of the 4 buckets of priority. This way you can decide which customers to pay attention to and which ones to de-prioritise at this time. 🧰 Engagement prioritisation framework linked in the comments. 3- Calendar Planning Book or delete meetings based on customers you need to prioritise over the coming 6-8 weeks. Craft unique messages to send to these customers with compelling reasons why they should attend. 🤖 Use the T.A.V.U method I shared in the newsletter a few weeks ago + ChatGPT can help you be efficient here. Do these 3 things and I promise you that you'll: - get better results - transform your work-life - improve your mental health Create the space. 📥 If you're interested in improving your Customer Success skills, consider joining 10k+ CS Professionals who read my weekly newsletter on how to build and scale a CS Team [sign up in the comments section]. #csm #customersuccess #customerexperience #revops #saas

554

61 Comments

No one knows if their posts are being saved. But if they’re not, what’s the point? Recently revamping onboarding content, I realized I've come back to my ~100 saved posts almost daily. I've leaned on them to: 🔺 Spark ideas for sales training content as an enablement leader. 🔺 Lay the foundation for new sellers and assign out before a discussion. 🔺 Support my perspective when pitching a new idea/challenging status quo. 🔺 Source new ideas for experimentation and learning to drive sales results. In 4 years, I've liked 1000s of posts. Followed 10,000 people. Guess how many creators are represented within my saved posts? TWENTY. Even more interesting... 💸 They’re the only people I’ve bought workshops, guides, or templates. 💸 Championed their technology internally, introducing to stakeholders. 💸 Referred them/their content to every sales team I support. Their content earned them my trust, loyalty, promotion and $. Despite some of the posts only getting 50 likes. So why waste so much energy reverse-engineering the algorithm... Adding links buried in the comment section. Sharing motivational quotes found on signs at Homegoods. Taking cringey selfies. I'm guilty of this garbage too. Don't judge me. But 2025 is the year us sellers optimize for Saves vs. Likes (even if we can't measure it). Curious what you think - What's different about posts that make us save vs. like? This question inspired a major nerd out sesh with Chatgpt. I screenshotted all 100 posts for the robots to analyze. What surfaced...blew me away. I'll share tomorrow. Have great posts saved I should add to the analysis? Add it to the comments and I'll incorporate to get a larger data set. Live, laugh, love y'all. #Socialselling

19

People that care about UX and productivity for sales people: SDR Managers (god bless you wonderful folks). I do find that most direct managers in Sales aren't polling their employees--especially AE's to find out what's not working, what they are putting up with and not complaining about. There are tons of tools that sales folks are buying on their own dime like Scratchpad, Superhuman, etc. We all care about "giving developers the right tools to stay in flow".. but your revenue team? Sure, leaders need our forecasting tools and enablement systems (maybe)--but ask your team "what sucks about this CRM layout, how does thing work on your mobile device, what things are getting in your way, how much time do you spend clicking around poorly designed tooling interfaces---and what would move the needle for you". As an AE-centric leader, i'm working to put things in place that sure--make folks more productive--but that they don't hate using. What say you? whats sucks in your world? what tools do you buy on your own to deal with your day? or even how should the world work for a day-to-day SDR/AE/Account Manager, etc

18

6 Comments

Spoiler alert: Customer success management Isn’t Just Tech Support Let’s create a scenario: You’ve just signed up for an awesome new SaaS platform. It promises to revolutionize the way your team works—more efficiency, less hassle. But a few weeks in, you’re not quite seeing the magic. It looks like a lot to navigate through and you're wondering if you’re even using half of the features. 🤔 Here comes the bride 😁 “The Customer Success Manager”🧑‍💻 We’re not just here to wave and smile when you log in after deployment. Our job is to ensure you don’t just own the software, but actually master its usage. Customer Success is about walking with you, helping you navigate any bumps, and keeping your experience smooth, efficient and successful! So get yourself a customer success manager today 😉. #Customersuccess #FridayPost

26

So many CS folks are struggling with motivation. - unhappy in their roles - not passionate about their company - disatisfied with their work schedules - no investment in professional development It’s the reason why we’re hearing more and more CSMs say they want “out”. But the solution isn’t always to lobby your company for better programmes. Why? Because motivation is intrinsic. It’s why you can give someone a pay rise, direct reports or a new project and their unhappiness will persist. If you are feeling unmotivated, ask yourself: What am I willing to work hard for? - is it money? - is it flexibility? - is it creativity? - is it autonomy? - is it challenge? - is it growth? - is it status? - is it power? Get seriously honest with yourself. Make a list of the top 2-3 needs that need to be met in order for you to feel fulfilled. Once you articulate these things you can start crafting a path for yourself. For example: If you value autonomy and challenge, you might consider starting your own side hustle that you can eventually make your main work stream. If you value flexibility and autonomy, you might consider joining a company that offers remote work policies. If you value creativity and challenge, you might consider joining a start up where you can build things from the ground up. If you value money and status, you might decide to join a well stablished company that pays really well and offers a linear career ladder that you can climb. Don’t wait for a company or a manager to figure you out. Take charge of your own path. 📥 If you're interested in Customer Success, consider joining 8.5k+ CS Professionals who read my weekly newsletter on how to build and scale a CS Team [sign up in the comments section]. #csm #customersuccess #careerpath #growthmindset #career

199

26 Comments

What a Customer Success Manager (CSM) is…and isn’t When people ask me what I do as a Customer Success Manager, I often describe it as relationship management—but with a difference. There’s a misconception that CSMs only manage relationships, but the role is so much more. A CSM is: ✅ A strategic partner who drives business outcomes. ✅ A problem-solver who ensures customer goals are met. ✅ An advocate for the customer’s voice. ✅ A proactive guide who anticipates challenges. What a CSM isn’t: ❌ Not just a contact point – We ensure value, not just conversations. ❌ Not reactive – We prevent problems before they happen. ❌ Not a sales rep – We focus on long-term success, not short-term gains. Customer success is about empowering customers, delivering results, and building lasting relationships. 🏆 #CustomerSuccess #CSM #CustomerExperience #ValueRealization #ProactiveService #BusinessGrowth 👉 How do you define customer success? Share your thoughts below! 👇

12

When is the best time to start with Customer Success? 🙋🏻‍♀️ As soon as you start a business. Customer Success is a philosophy that helps you build products that solve real problems and create real value. But I get that the question isn’t when to start “thinking” customer success. It’s -> when do you make your first CS hire? As soon as you are ready to move from founder led delivery. If you have a hand-full of customers who are paying you, you can probably bring a “jack of all trades” CSM to own the post-sales relationship. As you grow you can specialise. The order I see working best: 1️⃣ Phase 1: jack of all trades CSM 2️⃣ Phase 2: break out support and CSM 3️⃣ Phase 3: break out onboarding and CSM 4️⃣ Phase 4: break out renewals and CSM Customer Success should become more proactive and more focused on sustained value creation as you mature. Where is your team in this maturity framework? 📧 Interested in how to build and scale your CS team through these phases? You’ll love my newsletter. [link in comments] #csm #revops #customerexperience #customersuccess #customerretention

146

16 Comments