The Customer Success Pro Podcast

Grab your copy of the 2025 Customer Experience Benchmarks Report: everafter.ai/benchmarkIn this episode of the Customer Success Pro podcast, host Anika Zubair speaks with Alana Stoltzfus, a leader in digital customer success at Okta. They discuss the evolution of customer success, the importance of digital growth, and how Okta's Success Hub enhances customer experience through personalized recommendations. Alana shares insights on the tools and systems that power their digital success plans, the challenges faced in data management, and the lessons learned from building a scalable customer success program. The conversation emphasizes the need for continuous improvement and the importance of delivering value to customers.Chapters00:00 Introduction 02:52 Alana Stoltzfuss: Journey into Digital Customer Success05:46 The Evolution of Digital Customer Success at Okta08:43 Understanding Digital Growth and Customer Segmentation11:50 The Success Hub: Enhancing Customer Experience15:04 Personalization and Business Goals in Customer Success17:59 The Role of Digital Customer Success in Business Growth27:58 Tailored Customer Experiences for Gold and Silver Clients30:06 Personalized Communication and Value Realization32:29 Differentiated Messaging for Admins and Executives34:38 The Importance of Personalization in Customer Success36:36 Tools and Systems Powering Digital Success42:41 Lessons Learned and Future Directions in Customer SuccessConnect with Anika Zubair:Website: https://thecustomersuccesspro.com/LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/anikazubair/RevUP Academy: https://thecustomersuccesspro.com/revupConnect with Alana Stoltzfus:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanastoltzfus/Alana leads the Automation & Scaled Insights team at Okta, where she drives efforts to increase customer adoption, retention, and growth at scale as part of the Digital Success motion. Through the delivery of data and insights to customers and customer-facing teams, as well as AI-powered experiences, she has enabled Okta to serve all customers from SMBs (via self-service) to its largest enterprise customers, not just to scale but also to more effectively drive better customer outcomes through deeply personalized experiences. Prior to Okta, Alana worked in roles across customer success, voice of customer, and digital success, most recently at LinkedIn and Atlassian. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and 2 sons.Grab our FREE resources here: https://thecustomersuccesspro.com/resources Want to be our next podcast guest? Apply here: https://www.thecustomersuccesspro.com/podcast-guest Book Anika as a speaker at your next team event: https://www.thecustomersuccesspro.com/team-event

Anika Zubair explores the often-misunderstood Quarterly Business Review (QBR), emphasizing the need to shift from mundane reports to impactful discussions. She highlights common pitfalls, such as treating these sessions as mere usage reports and failing to engage executives. Learn her 5-step framework to align discussions with executive priorities, framing product outcomes in terms of business value. The conversation wraps with a challenge to transform your next QBR into a strategy-focused session that drives growth and opens new opportunities.

Sean Reid, an award-winning customer success leader with experience at HubSpot and Personio, dives into the intricacies of health scores. He reveals how green scores can hide churn risks and emphasizes the importance of multithreading to engage key stakeholders. Sean introduces the concept of a Renewal Probability Score, balancing human sentiment with product signals for better forecasting. He also discusses transforming quarterly business reviews into compelling value stories and argues for viewing NPS as a long-term trend rather than a single data point.

Explore the spooky world of customer ghosting during Halloween! Discover why customers go silent and how being reactive hurts engagement. Learn the importance of clear value and expectations to keep conversations alive. Anika shares a personal ghosting story and effective strategies for re-engaging clients, focusing on adapting communication styles and understanding customer needs. Get ready for actionable tips to transform ghostly interactions into successful partnerships!

Discover the key strategies for building an effective Customer Success function from scratch. Anika Zubair shares her insights on avoiding common pitfalls and emphasizes the importance of collaboration across teams. Learn why focusing solely on renewals can limit your success and how to measure what truly matters. She stresses starting small, mapping the customer journey, and tracking predictive metrics instead of vanity ones. Anika also encourages listeners to start by listening to customers to create impactful strategies.

Discover how to turn customer objections during renewals into golden opportunities. The speaker highlights common pitfalls and emphasizes the importance of strategic listening. Explore techniques like validating concerns and reframing discussions to emphasize business impact. Learn the significance of following up and documenting next steps for effective resolutions. Plus, a challenge encourages listeners to craft response strategies that can enhance their confidence and career growth in customer success.

Explore the vital investment in customer success teams to match sales efforts. Learn about the pitfalls of motivational training and the need for practical skills that drive revenue. Discover how building commercial confidence and structured frameworks can transform CSMs into strategic partners. From handling objections to multi-threading accounts, the focus is on developing a revenue-driven mindset. Anika also challenges leaders to evaluate their training investments and emphasizes the importance of tailored, hands-on workshops for long-term success.

Cara Benecke, Head of Customer Success and Support at WorkFlex, has over a decade of expertise in building effective onboarding programs. In their discussion, she emphasizes the critical role of an onboarding program in driving customer success and engagement. Cara shares her strategies for crafting 'wow moments' at the start and stresses the importance of feedback in refining the onboarding process. She also highlights the balance between automation and personalized support in onboarding, and how understanding customer needs is essential for long-term retention.

Anika Zubair shares her inspiring journey from Customer Success Manager to Vice President in just seven years. She highlights common pitfalls that keep professionals stuck, like relying on tenure and avoiding risk. Anika encourages embracing leadership roles early and seeking environments that foster growth. She stresses the importance of visibility and self-promotion using tools like the CS Promotion Tracker. Listeners are challenged to identify bold career moves and understand that tangible proof of impact is key to advancing in their careers.

The first 90 days of a customer's journey are crucial for ensuring long-term success and adoption. Common pitfalls include an overemphasis on features rather than focusing on positive outcomes. A personalized approach to onboarding can greatly enhance customer satisfaction and retention. The podcast outlines a playbook for driving adoption while encouraging customer success managers to understand specific customer needs. Anika also shares personal insights and finishes with a practical challenge for listeners to implement these strategies effectively.