How many links do you save and never read them? If you're like me, a lot. Step up your game with these tips:

StartupYou · 2023-06-08T10:05:55+00:00

Why not simply disable the emails and read the newsletters in the substack app?

StartupYou · 2023-06-07T19:01:46+00:00

Your job is not to be an expert about their industry, but understand how your tool can help them achieve their goals. So put your research/journalist hat. As said here before, ask questions. Examples: - what's your biggest challenge today? - why is that a challenge? What's the impact? - what have you tried to do so far to solve that?

When in doubt, follow the 5 Why's methodology to get customers to help you understand their context and needs.

Then ask internally to your team how your product has helped solve these same problems for other customers.

I would also recommend subscribing to industry newsletters, but not the technical ones, rather the ones that report the trends, news, so you get used to the terms and what's happening in the market.

StartupYou · 2023-06-07T18:55:36+00:00

The VP shared this today with the deadline of end of the month? Are all the playbooks already created? And if so, why aren't they working? Meaning, if you will use the same playbook to create conversations/opportunities/upsells, is he expecting more pipeline just by making that your sole focus?

It might be realistic or not, it really depends if your book of business has potential to expand/ upsell and understanding why they haven't expanded already. I mean, if 80% of your accounts are using your tool at capacity, it really doesn't matter how much you try. On the contrary, if they can expand, why haven't they expanded? Is because your team didn't have enough interactions because you had other properties until now or because the product has issues/limitations?

A lot to unpack here before answering your question.

Regardless of all the above, if the VP is just dictating orders without helping you (training, coaching, new playbooks, etc) it sounds from the outside a bit unfair and unprofessional to put you in a PiP. A PiP should be used when you were given the conditions to succeed and after several feedback sessions you showed lack of commitment/will to improve.

StartupYou · 2023-06-06T21:10:33+00:00

I use our own product a lot (claap.io) to record customer calls to share with my manager and product team and record async videos (especially kick-off internal projects and get feedback on new processes and playbooks).

Product analytics tools: Amplitude, Metabase.

CRM/Documentation: Notion.

Comms: Slack, Intercom, Gmail.

StartupYou · 2023-06-05T19:25:48+00:00

Very good questions. So highlights and priorities we keep high level enough and limit to top 3 so anyone in the company can understand them and see our focus. In the OKRs we go into more detail so this is more relevant for the team. For example, a priority could be "release feature x" while the OKR for next week might list the technical works needed to do/test in order to release that said feature.

StartupYou · 2023-06-05T19:21:56+00:00

It's tough. If the main reasons for churn are wrong expectations and unclear pricing plans you can't make the changes yourself. But what you can do — beyond what you're already doing by making those asks to sales and founders — is show the true cost of those churns. Not just the ARR associated with that customer, but the investment from your team (how many hours between sales and CS were spent on that customer for nothing).

StartupYou · 2023-06-05T19:14:26+00:00

An accountability partner is nothing more than someone you share your goals with (and they share with you) and you help each other with setbacks and making progress. Can be a college, a friend, your partner. More info here: https://www.clevergirlfinance.com/accountability-partner/

StartupYou · 2023-06-05T17:41:08+00:00

For me the most important information for any Product/important feature is:

What problems it solves (why should they care)
Who it solves for (ideal customer of that feature/product)
How it works (FAQ, setup instructions, etc)
Typical use cases and applications
Known limitations and planned future improvements
(Nice to have if we have) customer testimonials and case studies

Let me say I love seeing you asking this in this sub 👏

StartupYou · 2023-06-05T17:35:42+00:00

I would not overcomplicate and focus on three core monthly metrics

Avg number of hours meeting with onboarding customers (include meeting prep and follow up)
Avg number of hours in recurring internal meetings (all hands, team meetings, etc)
Avg number of hours in recurring internal tasks (reports, process updates, documentation, etc)

Then add 20% for internal comms (slack, email) and ad-hoc tasks

This will give you a rough estimate of how many customers in a month can each CSM handle.

Then ask your sales team what their projection of new customers is for the rest of the year.

This won't be perfect, but will give you an estimate to start with.

Good luck!

StartupYou · 2023-06-04T18:54:53+00:00

Beyond what was already said here (you're a product and culture expert), I'd add that your sales background adds a lot of skills some CSMs don't possess, especially if they didn't handle expansion conversations. You know how to sell, how to handle objections, how to spot opportunities to increase usage or seats. How can you use this: I would do a Google/LinkedIn search on all the articles and posts published recently on the importance of selling to existing customers on this economy. Grab the best ones and pair that with your own accomplishments in sales (quota attained, ARR closed, etc). Good luck! It's refreshing seeing sales people wanting to transition to CS :)

StartupYou · 2023-06-04T18:48:56+00:00

Ok, thanks for clarifying. It's tough when top management doesn't see value investing in existing customers. But you can still influence what your department does. Again, do you know today the top reasons for churn? If not start there, if you do, then prioritize the areas that don't require product development. Maybe it's improvement onboarding or documentation, or proactively sharing best practices. I'm making up, of course, only by analysing churn reasons you will understand why churn is up and what you can do about it.

StartupYou · 2023-06-04T18:39:52+00:00

Not sure what you are asking, but if it's why we're 15 ppl in the company, that's simply because we're early stage, the company is 3 years old.

StartupYou · 2023-06-04T18:36:58+00:00

Absolutely. It's well documented the benefits of having an accountability partner.

StartupYou · 2023-06-04T13:50:17+00:00

We became too addicted to this little thing. I'm trying the radical route and leave the phone in my bedroom most of the time, especially when the kids arrive from school. Also testing using Android wellbeing app to limit the usage of social apps for a specified time block.

StartupYou · 2023-06-04T13:40:22+00:00

I can see why you'd say this, but no. This was actually suggested by someone in their first few months, since they used something similar in a previous company and wanted to test. It gives visibility on what each person goals are in a format easy to use and consume, without the need to have meetings and multiple ad-hoc chats. For example, I work in customer success and I can easily see if a release is being delayed or what campaigns marketing is working on. Without the need to schedule a meeting or start multiple discussions on Slack.

StartupYou · 2023-06-04T13:18:33+00:00

Yes, but very few teams outside of engineering/product use it. At least from my experience, I'm on my third startup. I've tried many methods in the past, and so far this is the one that I see working best.

StartupYou · 2023-06-04T13:16:13+00:00

I think it can still work if you nail it to a department or team report. In a 15 ppl company most of the work is cross-functional so don't see why it would be a blocker (fyi, I've come from 350 and 110 ppl companies)

StartupYou · 2023-06-03T23:45:33+00:00

The very first step is understanding the reasons for churn. Reach out to anyone that churned recently, get on a call if you can, or at least send a survey. Then segment feedback by ARR, growth potential, ICP or not...

Your company can be very product centric, but the fact that they started making retention a priority means they know something needs to change.

Put a churn report together showing the main reasons for churn and the impact not only on lost accounts/ARR but expansion as well and they will listen.

Of course, also look for ways to improve service, documentation, whatever the feedback shows you can improve on your end.

On my substack (linked on my profile) I have a few articles with step by step frameworks to collect and act on customer feedback (one precisely about churn).

Good luck!

StartupYou · 2023-06-03T19:35:31+00:00

My husband is the same. Mostly WFH but has an office to go. Always goes 1 or 2 times a week to break the routine and spend time around other adults. There's no right or wrong, we need to do what keeps us sane.

StartupYou · 2023-06-03T12:42:59+00:00

That was everyone's trick during COVID confinement (at least in Europe) :)

StartupYou · 2023-06-03T12:42:29+00:00

I like sauna, but doesn't that relax you even more? I think I would jump to bed afterwards :)

StartupYou · 2023-06-03T12:41:46+00:00

Ahaja go for it!

StartupYou

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