Unchurned - The No. 1 podcast for Customer Success

How to Hire, Build, and Grow an All-Star Customer Success Team ft. Amy Oilman (Conversica)

Jan 29, 2025

In this discussion, Amy Oilman, SVP of Customer Success at Conversica, draws from her extensive background at Google and Salesforce. She emphasizes the importance of a clear team vision and core values in building effective customer success teams. Amy shares innovative strategies for battling customer churn and fostering lasting relationships. Additionally, she dives into the significance of hiring with intention, promoting empathy, and preparing effectively for customer interactions to drive satisfaction and success.

27:51

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Episode guests

Amy Oilman

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Empathy towards customers is vital for CS teams, enhancing relationships and driving loyalty, engagement, and renewal rates.

Establishing a clear vision and core values is essential for building an effective CS team that aligns with organizational goals.

Deep dives

The Core of Customer Success Teams

The foundation of any successful customer success (CS) team lies in the realization that the primary focus should be on understanding customer needs. It's essential for CS teams to foster a sense of empathy towards their customers, ensuring that they feel valued and cared for, regardless of whether their statements or decisions align with expectations. This customer empathy is crucial, as it strengthens relationships and promotes loyalty, thus making it easier for teams to drive customer engagement and renewal rates. By prioritizing customer emotions and working collaboratively, CS teams can create a supportive environment that benefits both customers and the organization.

Intro

5min

Building an All-Star Customer Success Team: Vision, Values, and Team Dynamics

4min

Building Empathy and Collaboration in Customer Success Teams

5min

The Importance of Preparation and Positive Engagement in Customer Interactions

2min

Building Strong Customer Success Teams

12min

#updateai #customersuccess #saas #business

Amy Oilman, SVP of Customer Success at Conversica, joins hosts Jon Johnson, Principal CSM, Key Accounts at UserTesting, and Josh Schachter, Co-Founder & CEO at UpdateAI, to share insights from her experience building and leading customer success teams at industry giants like Google and Salesforce. Drawing from her time at these powerhouse companies, she reveals how to create the most effective customer success teams, emphasizing the importance of a well-defined team vision, the core values guiding her teams, and innovative approaches to battling churn and ensuring customer satisfaction.

Timestamps

0:00 – Preview & Intros

4:10 – Priorities for 2025

7:07 – Rules of the Road

8:40 – The #1 Rule of the Road

11:23 – Collaboration with Internal Teams

13:00 – Showing Up with a Point of View & Being Engaged

15:37 – Identifying and Hiring Potential Candidates

17:20 – "The Best in the Universe"

21:37 – Amy's Experience at the CS100 Conference

23:40 – Personal Branding and Growth

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👉 Follow the podcast

Youtube: https://youtu.be/JprAz-o-dWk

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3dfWXmD

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3KD3Ehl

👉 Connect with the guest

Amy O.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-oilman/

👉 Connect with hosts

Jon Johnson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonwilliamjohnson/

Kristi Faltorusso: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristiserrano/

Josh Schachter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/

👉 Sign up for ⁠UpdateAI⁠ - the only Zoom virtual assistant for customer-facing teams.

👉 Be the first to know when a new episode of Unchurned is dropped. Sign up for our newsletter at ⁠https://blog.update.ai/⁠

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Keywords:

How to keep your customers happy, customer success manager, customer support, customer success management, Customer Success Manager role, customer success metrics, customer success, customer success team, customer empathy, conversational AI, rules of the road, customer satisfaction, customer retention, customer expansion, Salesforce, Google, customer relationships, CS leader, Conversica, CS priorities, customer experience, retention strategies, customer advocacy, customer insights, collaboration, internal teams, customer empathy, customer journey, customer feedback

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Unchurned is presented by UpdateAI

About UpdateAI

At UpdateAI our mission is to empower CS teams to build great customer relationships. We work with early & growth-stage B2B SaaS companies to help them scale CS outcomes. Everything we do is devoted to removing the overwhelm of back-to-back customer meetings so that CSMs can focus on the bigger picture: building relationships.

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