William Schmidt

Every CSM has that ONE customer. The one you KNOW could succeed... If only they had the right resources. Here's what their reality looks like: → Their implementation team is stretched thin → Their engineers have other top priorities → Their budget was cut last quarter → Their admin is doing 3 other jobs → They can't hire a data scientist → Their champion just left Fast forward nine months. Still no working system. Renewal is only three months away. What’s a CSM to do? Here’s your action plan: 1️⃣ Remind them of their initial vision: “In April, you aimed to boost marketing leads to sales by 20%.” 2️⃣ Seek confirmation: “Is this still a priority?” 3️⃣ Address current challenges: “We planned to launch three initiatives: Social Media, a newsletter, and dynamic forms. None have taken off.” 4️⃣ Identify gaps: “Without in-house content creation, execution will continue to stall.” 5️⃣ Offer solutions: “Many clients face this. Partnering with an agency could fill the gap. Are you open to exploring this?” A yes" can be a breakthrough. A "no" opens new paths, like prioritising one initiative. Either way, it's a win. So don't avoid this conversation just because it's highlighting gaps in usage and value. This is what true leadership looks like! - 🤔 Got a resource-strapped customer? Join 12.5K CS professionals learning how to engineer success by subscribing to my newsletter today. (link below) #CustomerSuccess #RevOps #CustomerExperience #CSM #SaaS

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​​✨ Attention RevOps teams✨ I am looking for companies who are interested in getting early access to tailor-made RevOps solutions we've built here at Zapier. If any of the problems resonate with you, drop a comment or DM me. What you get: First access to the solution plus 1:1 implementation support. 1️⃣ Manage HubSpot Quote approvals in Slack: With a centralized place to collaborate, reps can avoid having to chase approvers. Plus, you can easily keep on top of how quotes are progressing and customize your approval matrix. Features: Easily assigns multiple approvers for each quote (not available natively), configure a dynamic approval matrix, and automatically manage out-of-office. You’re a fit if: You use HubSpot and Slack 2️⃣ AI-powered sales coaching: Track your reps and teams progress on core competencies, give them automated coaching advice, and keep your managers in the loop on how they’re performing. Features: Share summarized feedback with managers and reps directly, customize your competencies You’re a fit it: You use Gong. Ideally, you use Slack, but we can work with other communication tools. Check out the video for a sneak peek... And huge thanks to the awesome RevOps folks who gave input and inspiration that helped us build these solutions including Lars Skjold Iversen Crissy Saunders Kevin Sundeen Carlos Ramirez Daniel Hakmon 🙏

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The path to a leadership role in Customer Success (CS) is both rewarding and challenging. As someone who has been actively engaging in the job market, I’ve noticed a few consistent hurdles that make the process more difficult than it seems on the surface: 🔍 **Ambiguous Role Definitions**: The scope of a CS leadership role can vary drastically between companies. Some expect you to drive retention strategy, while others want you to build and scale the entire function from scratch. A clear definition of expectations is key for aligning experience with job requirements. 🛠 **The "Perfect Fit" Syndrome**: Many companies are looking for the “unicorn” candidate who ticks every box—from technical proficiency to leadership experience, sometimes across industries. This narrow focus can often exclude great candidates who may bring fresh, innovative perspectives. ⏳ **Lengthy Hiring Process**: Leadership roles in Customer Success often come with lengthy interview processes that can span months. While thorough vetting is understandable, long gaps between steps or unclear timelines can lead to candidate frustration and lost momentum. 📊 **Metrics Overkill**: As CS leaders, we live by KPIs and metrics, but the interview process can overemphasise historical numbers over future potential. Instead of simply focusing on past data, it’s important to also discuss how your strategy can drive future growth and success. 💼 **Internal Transitions**: A growing trend is that companies are promoting internally for CS leadership roles, which can make it harder for external candidates to break in. While promoting internally is great for company culture, external candidates often bring fresh ideas that can accelerate growth. While the job market can be tough, staying adaptable, persistent, and focused on the value you bring to an organisation will help you stand out. I’d love to hear how others are navigating their leadership search, and what strategies have helped you overcome these challenges. #CustomerSuccess #Leadership #JobSearch #HiringChallenges #CustomerSuccessLeadership #CareersInCS

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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

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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

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Wouldn't it be powerful if Salesforce AI Cloud could take advantage of the Omnistudio Data Mapper (aka Vlocity DataRaptors)? Operationally speaking, most Salesforce AI use cases need three things: 1. Prompt (Instructions) 2. Salesforce Data(Extraction and Transformation) 3. Action (Update a Field, Create a Task etc.) imho, Omnistudio, if used creatively can take care of #2 and #3. What are your thoughts?

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Big life update... I GOT MARRIED! Here's a cheeky little post on how managing RevOps is very similar to planning a wedding. 😄 💍 Finalizing the Timeline: Aligning cross-functional teams around a project plan is like finalizing your entire wedding weekend timeline. With thousands of details to manage and everyone having opinions, it's a delicate balancing act. And if someone is late, it’s like a domino effect. 💒 Vendor Selection: Picking the perfect tech stack mirrors selecting your wedding vendors – your planner, photographer, florist, hair and makeup, stationary, etc. You aim for the best team to capture every moment and make your event beautiful. Similarly, in RevOps, you need the right tools, people, and processes to keep everything running smoothly. 💐 Florals & Stationary: Customizing dashboards and reports is like picking out flowers and stationary items. You carefully choose colors, layouts, and different formats, hoping the sales team appreciates it just as much as your guests love the floral centerpieces. And, just like you hope Managers bookmark that new dashboard you've built, you hope your guests read the timeline to avoid waltzing into the ceremony fashionably late. 😉 👗 Dress Rehearsal: Testing new processes in revenue operations feels like your wedding ceremony rehearsal the day before. You aim for perfection, but anticipate the inevitable forgotten detail. It's all about smoothing out wrinkles, ensuring everyone knows their role, and aiming for a seamless performance. 🗣️ Seating Charts: Coordinating with finance on budget requests mirrors deciding on the seating chart with family. With differing preferences and tricky negotiations, it's about keeping everyone happy while ensuring the plan works for the big picture. 📋 To-Do Lists: Your project management tool doubles as your wedding planning documentation, with enough details to *hopefully* keep questions from family and friends at a minimum. Constantly updating tasks, checking off items, creating new pivot tables, and color-coding becomes second nature. But you still wonder why guests are asking you questions like “What should I wear?” or "What time will the shuttles arrive?" Moral of the story: Whether it's managing revenue operations or planning a wedding, adaptability, being able to pivot, and having a sense of humor is key! Whether it's a last-minute change in strategy or a sudden downpour on your big day (luckily the sun came out in time for ceremony☀ ), remember to roll with the punches, and laugh along the way! #RevenueOperations #WorkHumor

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Biggest churn reason im hearing from talking to every single CS Leader within the Enterprise SaaS space right now… “Our customers are losing their budgets” Reality check.. Budgets may get smaller, but they aren't "lost"…they just decided that you weren’t important enough to be kept within their smaller budget. The real question.. Why aren’t you renewed within their decreased budget? #customersuccess #churn #saas

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🔥 PSA for New SaaS Leaders: Stop Wasting Time on the Wrong Relationships Listen up, folks—your title doesn’t make you influential. Your relationships do. And spoiler: not all relationships are created equal. If you’re not doing your own influence mapping, you’re missing the boat. Big time. The key to making an impact in your new role? Finding the people who actually move the needle. These aren’t always the people at the top of the org chart—they’re the ones shaping opinions and driving decisions behind the scenes. And yea, you want to be in tight with those guys. I can't tell you how many times I started at an organization and focused on building relationships with just about everyone. I treated every relationship the same and that was my first mistake. So take it from me - they are not all equal and will not all serve you the same way. Here’s how to spot the MVPs of influence: 1️⃣ Who’s the go-to? Look for the person everyone turns to when they need something done (or unstuck). 2️⃣ Who’s got the ear? Pay attention to who’s driving the narrative in meetings—even if they’re not the loudest voice. 3️⃣ Who’s the connector? Find the people who know everyone and can bridge teams, ideas, and priorities. Found them? Great. Now, don’t just show up asking for favors. Build the relationship first. Here’s how: 1️⃣ Give before you take. Help them solve a problem or lighten their load—people remember who’s got their back. 2️⃣ Ask their advice. It’s flattering AND it shows you respect their influence. Win-win. 3️⃣ Be present. Relationships aren’t built overnight, so keep showing up and adding value. Consistency is everything. Here’s the deal: If you focus on the right relationships, your ideas will land, your goals will hit, and you’ll make an impact that sticks. Skip this step, and you’ll be wondering why no one’s listening. 👊 Ready to map your influence?

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

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Salesforce won’t invest more in CPQ. The market sentiment says so. Since the launch of RLM (Revenue Lifecycle Management), the market sentiment for CPQ has gone down. People are speculating: → no new advancement → differences b/w RLM and CPQ → CPQ as an outdated tool and more. Here’s the most absurd yet believable speculation: In light of RLM, Salesforce will discontinue CPQ in 2-3 years. But all of this may be just that - speculation. There is nothing to worry, yet. Because RLM isn’t ready to use. It is still in beta. I’ve been getting a lot of queries around - how to migrate from CPQ to RLM. My answer - There is no straight forward way. Even if we do, the migration is going to be costly. What do you think about the future of Salesforce CPQ? #cpq #salesforce #salesforcecpq #rlm

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When I was at Salesforce, they doubled spend on new customers in the first 12 months. New customer acquisition is so tough right now. Nothing is more critical than retaining and growing existing customers. Here are some of the plays I learned at Salesforce: 1. Product Whitespace - Run a report for each Account Mgr - Show products purchased by account - Show products not purchased by account - Account Mgr can now call down accordingly 2. Stakeholder Whitespace - Run a report for each Account Mgr - Show key stakeholder roles by account - Show who we’ve contacted and who not - Show who we’ve met and who we haven’t - Account Mgr can now call down accordingly 3. Monitor Customer Health - Create a Customer Health Score - Scoring their usage of the product - Integrate this score into Salesforce - Run a report showing unhealthy accounts - AM can then call down on these accounts - And work to get them healthy before upselling 4. Find Expansion Signals in Product - Look for potential expansion signals - Example: CS Cases => Premiere Support - Example: Lots of data => Extra Data Storage - Example: Lots of emails => Sell marketing tools - Create reports AM can use to call down accounts 5. Leverage Renewal Event - Meet every single CFO ahead of Renewal - Ask if them they would like “Optimal Pricing” - Very few of them will say they want to pay extra - Ask to review their spending across the company - Get sponsorship to talk to other key stakeholders - Sell bigger package at renewal w/ bigger discounts These are just a handful of plays that worked for me. What would you add? 🤔 More on expansion here: https://bit.ly/4ad3iHy ✌️

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Revops Leaders: I'm asking because I'm genuinely curious if you've done this work for your org. I want to learn from you. This is not a call for "what tech do you love" but instead a financial question about your team dynamic. What is your tech stack marginal cost to carry an AE, BDR? - Prospect enrichment - CRM - Call recording - Contact sequencing - Contract management - Quoting / proposal management - Learning management solution - etc. etc. Do you know how much, as a percentage you are spending to carry an AE with technology? Curious to know this by ASP... e.g. 10K, 100K, 1M average spend...

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Starting RevOps? Here's how to NOT fall flat on your face Imagine starting a new job where things are a bit messy, like a fresh mountain of snow. Building RevOps from scratch is kind of like that. Here's how to be a superstar (and avoid wiping out): 1) Listen Up: Ask questions and understand how things work before you start changing everything. 2) Don't Be Reckless: Take smart chances that can make things a lot better, but don't jump in head first. 3) Learn from the Past: Just like a good skier knows the mountain, use your experience to make good decisions. 4) Get Moving: Don't just stand around – take action and make things happen. The goal? Figure out what's most important, make things smoother, and pick a clear direction for your business. Bonus Tips for a Smooth Ride: 1) Be Bendable: Things change all the time, so be ready to adjust your plans. 2) Follow the Clues: Numbers and data are like your compass – use them to see how you're doing and make changes. 3) Talk it Out: Tell everyone where you're headed and why they should care. 4) Celebrate Small Wins: Building RevOps takes time, so pat yourself on the back for progress along the way.

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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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2-weeks into a successful POC, this client ramped from 40 to 440 instances. THE POC SUCCESS CRITERIA: 1️⃣ Cost Savings 2️⃣ No Service Disruption 3️⃣ Easy to use. THE POC TEST RESULTS: ✅ Reporting 68% Savings ✅ Zero Issues (Even went on PTO) ✅ Easy Management via Terraform 🤔Think they’ll buy❓ 😀 Wouldn’t you❓ LET US HELP YOU SAVE, TOO: https://lnkd.in/dsibkiKE #ec2 #aws #kubernetes #k8s #costoptimization #finops #gcp #googlecloud #SpotVM #GoogleCloudConsulting Xosphere FinOps Foundation

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Behind every great CS team, is a RevOps team. CS Teams that don't invest in operations, end up with: 💽 Data Silos 🎯 Wishful Targets ⚒️ Cobbled Systems 📈 No Ability to Forecast 🧿 Limited Strategic Insights ⛓️‍💥 Disjointed Customer Journey 🤖 Inefficient Processes and Workflows There's no way a CS team can be strategic with this set-up. And your GTM team can never collaborate well in this environment. You need someone (or a team of people) thinking holistically about how to structure the organisation to solve for the customer, the team and the business. Investing in RevOps can 10x your team. - Integrated Strategy - Integrated Systems - Integrated Processes - Integrated Data Not only you scale better, but you move faster. Because you are operating in a healthier ecosystem, you can deploy solutions, improve processes, leverage data etc, in days instead of months. Tag your favourite RevOps person and show them some love! 📥 If you're interested in building and scaling Customer Success Teams, 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 #gtm #revops

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Ops Folks, Are you enabling enablement? The Ops and Enablement partnership is critical to the success of both teams. Align to your enablement partner by providing insights that can help them strategically enable the team. Some of the ways I like to do this: - Observe your reps (shadow) to understand their role beyond just performance - Measure adoption of enablement tools and provide related insights to your partner - Identify content/skill gaps in the buying cycle with buyer journey mapping - Align your teams to definitions, tools, and processes to maximize impact of enablement - Join the enablement sessions - some of the best ops ideas come directly from these Even lead a few enablement sessions, if you have expertise that can help the team. You can't align your revenue teams without aligning your ops and enablement teams

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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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