VP of Customer Success at Emburse, Mike Sasaki, discusses scaling CS for profitable growth in 2023. Topics include optimizing customer onboarding, empathetic customer service, executive engagement, and efficient task management. Insights on leadership and effective meetings for successful scaling are also highlighted.
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Quick takeaways
Scaling CS should focus on profitable growth, reducing churn, improving NPS, and lowering customer effort scores.
Successful customer onboarding is crucial to long-term success, setting customers up for a positive trajectory early on.
Effective change management is essential for successful adoption of new software solutions, minimizing resistance and highlighting benefits.
Strong leadership is vital in customer success, aligning team goals, driving operational efficiency, and maximizing productivity.
Deep dives
Introduction and Upcoming Events
Jay Nathan welcomes Mike Sasaki from Inverse to the GameGrow Retained Podcast, recounting their recent meeting at an event in Denver. They discuss the success of their past events in cities like Raleigh, Atlanta, Boston, and San Francisco. They express interest in bringing the event to San Diego in the future.
Mike Sasaki's Role at Inverse
Mike Sasaki details his role as the Vice President of Customer Success at Inverse, leading a team of 35-40 individuals globally. He shares his previous experience at MyTech, focusing on mobile check deposit and identity verification. Inverse specializes in expense management for finance and accounting teams.
Scaling Customer Success in 2023
The discussion delves into the evolving concept of scaling customer success and its focus on profitable growth. Mike emphasizes the importance of driving growth while maintaining profitability, reducing churn, improving NPS, and lowering customer effort scores. He highlights the shift from growth for growth's sake to sustainable and profitable scaling strategies.
Optimizing Customer Onboarding
Mike discusses the significance of efficient customer onboarding, emphasizing the impact of a successful onboarding process on long-term customer success. He emphasizes the importance of setting customers up for success early on, particularly focusing on the crucial phase of onboarding to establish a positive trajectory for customers.
Embracing Change Management for Enhanced Adoption
The importance of change management in driving successful adoption is highlighted, especially regarding the transition to new software solutions. Mike explains the role of effective change management in minimizing resistance, explaining the benefits, and demonstrating the value of the new software to facilitate smoother adoption.
Internal Change Management and Resource Allocation
The conversation shifts to managing internal change within teams, emphasizing the need for strong leadership to guide teams through transitions. Mike emphasizes the importance of aligning team goals and driving operational efficiency by reallocating resources strategically, focusing on key metrics, and identifying and eliminating non-essential tasks.
Empowering Leaders and Optimizing Team Productivity
The discussion underscores the significance of leadership skills in customer success, highlighting the essential role of leaders in guiding teams towards aligned goals and maximizing productivity. The focus on delegating responsibilities based on individual strengths, reducing non-essential tasks, and promoting time efficiency within teams is emphasized.
Encouraging Efficiency with Reduced Meetings and Task Prioritization
Efforts to enhance efficiency by reducing the frequency of meetings and prioritizing essential tasks are discussed. The emphasis is placed on analyzing the necessity of tasks, minimizing unnecessary work, and optimizing time allocation within teams to drive productivity. Strategies to streamline meeting schedules and task management for improved operational efficiency are highlighted.
In this episode, Mike Sasaki, VP of Customer Success at Emburse talks with Jay about scaling CS. Not simply from a growth perspective, but a more important impact on profitability focus. From areas of his business he has been able to scale effectively with strong results to other areas of consideration that have to be managed when scaling programs, Mike's practical examples and insights will help you take a look at scaling in a broader way.
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