ON TODAY'S EPISODE:Johan and Lincoln tackle a pressing concern for Heads of Customer Success and Customer Success Managers: Why high usage doesn't equate to customer success. They explore the "Usage Trap" and introduce the concept of Success Gaps as a way to understand and act on customer goals effectively.THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:“My customers are frequent users of our platform, but my numbers are not what I want when it comes to churn, contraction, as well as expansion. What can I do here?”TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:The critical difference between high usage and actual customer successUnderstanding the concept of "Success Gaps" and why they matterHow to identify and act upon customer goals for meaningful progressQUOTES:Lincoln Murphy (05:22): “High usage without context is like driving with a blindfold.”Johan Nilsson (10:48): “Ignoring Success Gaps is like filling a leaky bucket; it'll run dry eventually."Lincoln Murphy (15:05): “Understanding customer goals isn't a luxury; it's a necessity for scalable success.”Johan Nilsson (21:37): “If you're not aligning with customer goals, you're just hoping things work out."Lincoln Murphy (28:55): “Usage metrics can be smoke and mirrors; look for signs of real value.” Do you want more of this? Check out Impact Academy for interactive Customer Success training programs. https://www.impactdemy.com/Do you have a question you want us to answer? Submit it here.

Scaling expert in Customer Success teams, Johan, and Lincoln discuss the challenges of scaling Customer Success teams without losing the personal touch. They address topics such as customer life cycle stages, capacity planning, leadership, and coaching. Key quotes include 'Confidence and competence: The twin engines of scaling customer success' and 'Leadership isn't about control, it's about empowering control in others.'

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:Keeping up with ever-evolving customer goals can feel like chasing a moving target. In this week's episode of Impact Weekly, Johan and Lincoln unravel the mystery behind continuous goal alignment. They break down strategies for understanding, tracking, and staying in sync with customer goals, offering critical insights on joint accountability, maintaining customer relationships, and driving long-term success.THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:“I know Goal Discovery is important but how often should I update the goals with the customer?”TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:The psychology of “because” in communication and how it improves customer cooperationThe importance of reminders and joint accountability in maintaining alignment with customer goalsStrategies for integrating goal discussions naturally into customer interactions and adapting to changing objectivesQUOTES:Lincoln Murphy: “If I don't know what's going on with you, I can't help you achieve your goals. Joint accountability is key.”Johan Nilsson: “Customers are happy to update you, but they need reminders. Make it part of your routine to stay in sync.”Lincoln Murphy: “You can't become super attached to achieving goals, sometimes things change. Adaptation is part of success.”Johan Nilsson: “Discussion around goals needs to be natural. It's not a one-time thing; it's a continuous dialogue.”Lincoln Murphy: “Look for triggers and milestones that might affect the customer's ability to achieve their goals. Be proactive.” Do you want more of this? Check out Impact Academy for interactive Customer Success training programs. https://www.impactdemy.com/Do you have a question you want us to answer? Submit it here.

Join Impact Academy's Success Plan program starting August 21, 2023!Learn more and sign-up here.ON TODAY'S EPISODE:Balancing goal discovery with time constraints is a common challenge for CSMs and Heads of Customer Success. In this week’s episode of Impact Weekly, Johan and Lincoln explore the importance of goal discovery, how to prioritize it among daily tasks, and how to equip CSMs with the necessary skills to ensure success.THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:“Goal discovery makes total sense to me. But, practically speaking, at what level (user, exec sponsor, etc.) should I be having these conversations and how am I supposed to make time to do this with 40+ clients? Help!”TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:The importance of goal discovery in customer success and the challenges of finding time for itHow to build goal discovery as a competence and incorporate it into daily routinesThe role of leadership in coaching and encouraging CSMs to perform goal discoveryQUOTES:Lincoln Murphy (00:27:00): “You have to be deliberate and prioritize the important things or they will sort of naturally be pushed aside by less important, but more seemingly urgent things. So you have to control for this.”Johan Nilsson (00:29:00): “Customers always have goals. And to do this, to work with customers and to manage goals, there are two key skills that you need as a customer success manager, goal discovery and objection breakthrough.”Lincoln Murphy (00:28:00): “We want to make sure that heads of customer success are focused on high priority, important things as well, and aren't falling into the trap of managing CSMs on the urgent, unimportant things, right?”Johan Nilsson (00:29:30): “It might seem, if you haven't done this before, like a huge task, but we've seen this so many times that when you start working this way, it becomes practice basically. And you will be able to fit it in, in your schedule, but of course you have to prioritize it.”Lincoln Murphy (00:26:00): “So it's not about finding time. It's about shifting priorities.” Do you want more of this? Check out Impact Academy for interactive Customer Success training programs. https://www.impactdemy.com/Do you have a question you want us to answer? Submit it here.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:Johan and Lincoln delve deep into the intricate relationship between Sales and Customer Success. They highlight the pitfalls of working in silos and shed light on how to build a more cohesive, collaborative approach. Tune in to uncover practical strategies and actionable insights that can help bridge the divide and pave the way for a smoother customer journey.THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:“We are very siloed in our work between CS and Sales, no one's fault really, but do you have any tips on how we can be more aligned?”TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:The strategic importance of executive down alignment for cohesion between Sales and Customer Success.Communication strategies to ensure Sales is updated on the intricacies of the onboarding process.The immense benefits and necessities of a comprehensive handover process between the two teams.QUOTES:Lincoln Murphy (20:25): “The best salespeople go into every situation, hoping that that customer will be a reference for them to help bring in future customers.”Lincoln Murphy (21:45): “We know that customers hate three things: surprises, unknowns, and repeating themselves.”Lincoln Murphy (22:30): “Salespeople, they work a deal, they close the deal, they're onto the next deal. They don't want to have to deal with an angry customer.”Johan Nilsson (23:50): “Sales can help you as well, but they need to understand the process as well, the real process.”Johan Nilsson (24:20): “Especially when you grow a lot and when you add a lot of new people, sales don't think too much about onboarding either. But it's really important.” Do you want more of this? Check out Impact Academy for interactive Customer Success training programs. https://www.impactdemy.com/Do you have a question you want us to answer? Submit it here.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:In this insightful episode of Impact Weekly, Lincoln delves deep into the challenges of convincing customers to take actions they don't initially want to do. Drawing parallels from a broad range of scenarios, from accounting to pediatric neurosurgery, Lincoln illustrates the human element in customer success management and demonstrates how understanding your customer can make a world of difference in driving successful engagement.THIS WEEKS QUESTION:“How can CSMs effectively drive product adoption and engagement for solutions that address necessary, but unattractive tasks without resorting to things like scare tactics?"TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:Recognizing and empathizing with the human factor in customer success.The importance of laying out a structured plan for customers.Why involving the execution team early can lead to better results.Re-framing 'difficult' conversations to improve outcomes.QUOTES:Lincoln (06:34): “If they feel heard, if they feel seen, they're much more likely to do what you want them to do.”Lincoln (12:02): “We've created a plan that will be as least disruptive to your daily work as possible."Lincoln (17:30): “There's peace in the plan.”Lincoln (20:38): “So if we can understand psychology, we understand how things work, we can work with that to ensure that our customers are doing what they need to do to be successful."Lincoln (22:18): “Involve the execution team early in the process, so they have a feeling of ownership and are less likely to feel blindsided and overwhelmed.”Lincoln (23:40): “No more difficult conversations, they're just conversations. We have to reduce and remove the negative connotations of the most important conversations we can have with our customers.” Do you want more of this? Check out Impact Academy for interactive Customer Success training programs. https://www.impactdemy.com/Do you have a question you want us to answer? Submit it here.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:In episode 35 of Impact Weekly, Johan and Lincoln take a deep dive into the complex world of partner success within a multi-channel landscape. They discuss the differences and similarities to traditional customer success and offer insights on how to ensure that both the partner's and the end customer's success align perfectly.THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:"I'm setting up a partner success, what are the differences and similarities to normal customer success, and what are our recommendations?"TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:The definition and significance of partner success potentialThe importance of creating a robust partner success planThe necessity of understanding and aligning the evolving goals of partners and end customersQUOTES:Lincoln Murphy (10:48): “Even in the best scenario, you want to rely as little on other people as you can.”Lincoln Murphy (11:50): “So to the extent possible, you want to create the playbooks and the processes... the same thing you would do for your CSMs, we want to do for them.”Johan Nilsson (15:30): “We need to have a partner success plan. And I would say also that this can differ between partners as well.”Lincoln Murphy (18:30): “If right now you cannot do a lot of enablement for them... that will tell you right now, whether some partners have success potential or not.”Johan Nilsson (19:45): “Be aware that usually a partner strategy requires quite a lot of enablement to make it successful and be aware that you have those resources and you have that maturity in the company before you launch.” Do you want more of this? Check out Impact Academy for interactive Customer Success training programs. https://www.impactdemy.com/Do you have a question you want us to answer? Submit it here.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:Discover the potential hidden within your Customer Success Management (CSM) teams. In this week’s episode of Impact Weekly, Johan and Lincoln delve into strategies for customer allocation to CSMs, discussing how thoughtful allocation and capacity planning can optimize the potential of your CSMs and enhance customer success.Here's a link to the Customer Success survey we mentioned.THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:“As a new head of CS, what should I consider when allocating customers to my CSMs?”TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:The need for CSMs to feel ownership of their customersThe role of capacity planning in preventing CSM burnoutThe importance of segmenting customers based on their appropriate experienceQUOTES:Lincoln Murphy (05:48): “If we take a look at the various life cycle stages that the customer goes through, there are going to be and we take into consideration the appropriate experience of the customer.”Johan Nilsson (11:23): “Get the customer success manager to assume ownership here. And to do that, we need to have the right, we can be thoughtful how we think, look at the customer base and allocate them, but we need to fit it needs to be able to fit it in, into their calendar."Lincoln Murphy (15:39): “A lot of movement with customer success managers from one company to another is absolutely traced back to what they would cite as burnout."Lincoln Murphy (17:52): “We have to understand what it's actually going to take in order to help the customer achieve their desired outcome across the entire customer lifecycle.”Lincoln Murphy (22:43): “You can become a better head of customer success. And if you really want to do that you can just try to put into place what we've talked about today, or you can come to our impact Academy and learn all the details of how to do that.” Do you want more of this? Check out Impact Academy for interactive Customer Success training programs. https://www.impactdemy.com/Do you have a question you want us to answer? Submit it here.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:This week’s episode of Impact Weekly is the response to a thought-provoking tweet by industry visionary Jason Lemkin. Johan and Lincoln dissect the intricate relationship between ally and nemesis, questioning whether Customer Success has veered off course. Get ready to challenge your assumptions and discover the delicate balance between being an ally and transforming into a nemesis in the realm of customer success."THIS WEEKS QUESTION:“I would love to get your view on Jason Lemkin’s assessment that customer success is moving from the customer's ally to its nemesis.”Read the original post from Jason Lemkin that we are referring to here. TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:* The concept of customer success as an ally versus a nemesis* Challenges faced by companies in a downturn market and the pressure to increase revenue* The significance of raising concerns to leadership and seeking a customer-centric approachQUOTES:Lincoln Murphy (22:13): “Check yourself before you wreck yourself, are you acting as a nemesis or an ally?”Lincoln Murphy (25:44): “We need to speak to the numbers. We need to speak to the results.”Lincoln Murphy (25:56): “Short-term tactics can have long-term consequences”Johan Nilsson (30:09): “if you're being pushed to the nemesis side of things by your leadership, you need to raise concerns”Do you want more of this? Check out Impact Academy for interactive Customer Success training programs. https://www.impactdemy.com/Do you have a question you want us to answer? Submit it here.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:Convincing non-tech users to embrace change can be a challenge. In this week’s episode of Impact Weekly, Johan and Lincoln delve into the underlying reasons behind the excuse of being “non-tech” and share valuable insights on how to overcome resistance, understand customer motivations, and navigate customer reluctance to drive successful adoption.THIS WEEKS QUESTION:“My users are very non-tech, and I have a hard time convincing them to change their way. What can I do here?”TOPICS BEING ADDRESSED:* The importance of understanding user motivation and acknowledging the human element in Customer Success Management* Underlying reasons for resistance to change* Approaches to help users adaptQUOTES:Lincoln Murphy (03:02): “We need to understand that convincing doesn't work”Lincoln Murphy (03:28): “People don't like to change, so they make excuses”Johan Nilsson (09:57): “When you use the non-tech excuses you are actually afraid of showing that you don't know this product”Lincoln Murphy (14:54): “As a CSM we want to empower the people that are buying our product”Lincoln Murphy (16:20): “Empower your customers to involve their users”Johan Nilsson (19:59): “Try to identify a champion that has the acceptance of the group.”Do you want more of this? Check out Impact Academy for interactive Customer Success training programs. https://www.impactdemy.com/Do you have a question you want us to answer? Submit it here.