Account Management Secrets The CCO Playbook for Durable Customer Growth | EP73
Jan 23, 2026
Jim Richmond, Chief Customer Officer at Smartling with 25+ years leading customer teams, shares a playbook for modern customer leadership. He talks about making value creation the priority. He stresses curiosity, deeper discovery, and honest conversations. He outlines risk detection, turning crises into trust, and the evolving skills CSMs need in an AI era.
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Make Skill Refreshment A Continuous Habit
- Continuously refresh skills, especially as AI changes use cases rapidly.
- Prioritize discovery and make QBRs about customer outcomes, not your activity.
Value Creation Over Renewal Chasing
- Customer value creation beats obsessing over renewals alone.
- Savings, risk reduction, and outcomes are the levers that create lasting customer value.
Measure Value By Client Levers
- Frame value in the terms that matter to each customer: revenue, cost, or risk.
- Track turnaround time, quality, and cost-per-word as primary levers for translation value.
