Build Your First Customer Success Retention Program with Parul Bhandari

9 snips

Jun 4, 2025

Parul Bhandari, a Chicago-based Customer Success consultant, shares insights on building impactful retention programs. She emphasizes the necessity of aligning with customer goals and the role of early engagement in setting up successful strategies. Parul discusses her journey into fractional consulting and the trend's rise in the industry. The conversation also highlights the importance of adapting retention efforts as customer relationships evolve, with a focus on viewing challenges as opportunities for growth in customer success.

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ANECDOTE

Parul's CS Leadership Journey

Parul Bhandari shared her journey starting as a consultant and building the first customer success team at a SaaS startup.
She enjoyed building the function from scratch and later worked in scaling CS teams in larger organizations.

ADVICE

Start Retention Early and Proactively

Start building retention programs well before the first renewal date by understanding contracts and risks.
Track customer goals and outcomes from the first interaction to set the foundation for success and renewal.

ADVICE

Use CS to Track Product Market Fit

Continuously track product market fit and customer segmentation by gathering customer goals and outcomes as part of CS conversations.
Document and communicate mismatches in product market fit to improve retention and business decisions.

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In this episode of the Customer Success Pro Podcast, host Anika Zubair and guest Parul Bhandari discuss the critical aspects of building effective customer retention programs. They explore the importance of understanding customer goals, the role of product market fit, and the necessity of tracking essential metrics from day one. Parul shares her journey from leading customer success teams to becoming a fractional consultant, emphasizing the growing trend of fractional roles in the current market. The conversation highlights the need for early-stage startups to prioritize retention strategies alongside acquisition efforts, ensuring a solid foundation for long-term success. In this conversation, Anika Zubair discusses the evolution of customer retention strategies as organizations grow. She emphasizes the importance of understanding customer health, structuring effective renewal processes, and adapting to changes in customer sentiment and stakeholder dynamics. Anika also highlights the need for continuous engagement with customers and the role of health scores in retention efforts. The discussion covers practical steps for building retention programs and the significance of viewing challenges as opportunities for growth.

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction
08:13 The Importance of Early Stage Customer Success
12:09 Creating Retention Programs from Day One
13:37 Understanding Customer Goals and Outcomes
16:21 The Role of Product Market Fit in Retention
20:12 Tracking Metrics for Early Stage Companies
25:31 Essential Metrics for Customer Retention
27:53 Identifying Customer Retention Challenges
28:23 Evolving Retention Strategies for Growing Teams
29:46 Understanding Customer Health and Renewal Programs
31:14 Structuring Effective Renewal Processes
32:42 Navigating Customer Sentiment and Product Changes
34:57 Re-Onboarding and Stakeholder Realignment
36:54 Leveraging Health Scores for Retention
39:42 Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
41:07 Surprises in Mature Retention Phases
43:05 Engaging Customers for Long-Term Retention
45:27 Keeping Retention Strategies Fresh
49:12 Practical Steps for Building Retention Programs

Connect with Anika Zubair:
Website: https://thecustomersuccesspro.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anikazubair/
CSM RevUP Academy: https://thecustomersuccesspro.com/revup

Connect with Parul Bhandari:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parul-bhandari-1294488/

Website: https://customerxsuccess.com/

Parul is a Customer Success consultant based in Chicago. Following time working for large corporations, Parul launched her first Customer Success (CS) team from the ground up, and from then on has found a passion in leading CS teams. Parul draws from her collective background to design CS organizations which can be scaled successfully, to drive CS as a profit center and to drive value exchan

Send Anika a text :)

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Podcast Editor: https://podcastmagician.com/