Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business 1116: Your business needs a CUSTOMER SUCCESS TEAM (and here's how to do it on a budget!) w/ Zach Hawley
How do you measure the real value your business delivers? In this episode, Zach Hawley, founder and CEO of SteerCo, shares how he's transforming the way companies track customer success, collaboration, and ROI. After leaving a high-paying corporate job, Zach saw the struggle businesses face in proving their value to customers—and he set out to fix it.
Whether you run a SaaS platform, a service business, or a startup, Zach’s insights will help you retain more customers, improve engagement, and build lasting client relationships. If you’ve ever wondered why some customers leave despite your best efforts—or how to turn them into brand advocates—this episode is packed with game-changing strategies.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
🚀 Why proving your value to customers is just as important as delivering it
📊 The power of customer scorecards and why tracking engagement boosts retention
🤝 How to build long-term customer relationships (even if you're a solo entrepreneur)
📈 The secret to aligning your business goals with your customers’ success
💡 How small businesses can apply enterprise-level customer success strategies
🛠️ What SteerCo is doing differently—and how automation can help you scale customer success
📝 About Zach Hawley
Zach Hawley is the Founder and CEO of Steerco Analytics, a SaaS platform transforming how companies build transparent, value-driven customer relationships. Zach boldly left a high-paying corporate position to build Steerco after witnessing companies struggle with value performance and ROI measurement.
Under his leadership, Steerco evolved from vendor management into a powerful tool for sales and customer success teams, providing real-time insights and a centralized collaboration hub. The platform empowers businesses with data to build fair, transparent, and mutually beneficial relationships.
Beyond business, Zach is a passionate team builder and mentor who developed a Udemy course on successful management. He leads a growing team of Enterprise Customer Success professionals while advocating for relationships built on trust and measurable outcomes.
A dedicated father of three daughters, Zach remains committed to leadership development and connecting with others who share his passion for customer success, data, and innovation.
🎯 Zach’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
“Keep pushing forward. Progress isn’t about being busy—it’s about moving in the right direction.”
🔹 Take small steps every day. Even small progress compounds over time.
🔹 Don’t confuse busyness with progress. Measure your actions against your actual goals.
🔹 Be honest about what’s working. If customers aren’t engaging, it’s time to change your approach.
💡 Actionable Takeaways
✅ Track your value. Set up customer scorecards to measure success beyond just revenue.
✅ Talk to your customers. Regular conversations about value prevent surprises at renewal time.
✅ Automate customer success. Use tools like Steerco to make engagement and retention easier.
✅ Build for customer-led growth. Your happiest customers are your biggest marketing asset.
🔗 Links & Resources