#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 ___________________________ 👉 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/⁠ ________________ 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 ______________________ 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.

Christine Boermeester, Senior Director of Strategy & Enablement at Deltek, shares her insights on transforming customer success roles to drive growth. Tune in as she discusses innovative initiatives aimed at enhancing customer relationships. Hear about the challenges of standardizing processes across diverse products and how specialized roles are being created. Christine also reveals the excitement within her team as they prepare for a customer success kickoff, aiming to redefine engagement in a rapidly changing landscape.

Leah Bauman, Head of Enterprise Product Alignment at monday.com, brings her sales expertise to the forefront of product development. She discusses the importance of aligning customer feedback with product strategies. Leah shares her journey of bridging gaps between client-facing teams and product developers. The conversation highlights innovative feedback loops and how Monday.com has evolved its Voice of the Customer culture. Leah emphasizes the necessity of structured communication in transforming customer insights into impactful product decisions.

The hosts dive into how companies are reinventing compensation models to better link customer success with revenue outcomes. They discuss the evolving roles of customer success and account management, emphasizing revenue accountability and data management challenges. The conversation also touches on the impact of AI on content authenticity, particularly on social media platforms. Lastly, they stress the necessity for a solid strategy in customer success to cope with shifting expectations and leadership dynamics.

Colin Murphy, SVP & Chief Customer Officer at BMC Software, joins Josh Schachter to shed light on customer success management. They discuss the triad of risk mitigation, adoption, and expansion as core objectives for success. Colin reveals BMC's innovative vision for 2025, emphasizing the transformative potential of AI in enhancing client interactions. He shares insights into building a dedicated customer success team and how systematic tracking can boost retention and revenue. Dive into strategic initiatives that can reshape customer engagement!

Emily McIlwain, Director of Customer Success at Exo, discusses her role at a Silicon Valley startup innovating ultrasound technology. She highlights the importance of building scalable processes in fast-evolving environments. The conversation dives into the complexities of merging software with medical devices and emphasizes user engagement strategies. Emily also addresses the significance of clear communication during process changes and setting realistic customer expectations, shedding light on the challenges faced in the startup ecosystem.

Margaret Wise, Chief Revenue Officer at ActiveProspect, shares insights from her extensive career in sales and CRM. She discusses the importance of aligning sales and post-sales strategies for enhancing customer experience and reducing churn. Topics include transforming compensation incentives to promote long-term customer relationships, ensuring seamless handoffs between teams, and the role of AI in marketing and customer onboarding. Wise emphasizes the value of understanding customer needs and building sustainable relationships.

Sam Slevin, Global Senior VP of Customer Success at AlphaSense, shares insights on aligning customer success with client needs. He discusses the importance of strategic onboarding and mapping value over time to enhance customer experiences. The conversation delves into navigating global growth complexities and integrating AlphaSense's recent acquisition to boost content quality. Slevin emphasizes the need for tailored digital success approaches and highlights exciting job opportunities as the company expands.

Tatiana Ferreira sheds light on the complexities of mergers and acquisitions and their impact on customer communication. The discussion reveals the shift towards proactive outreach and the challenges of multi-CSM interactions. AI's emerging role in predicting customer risks is a hot topic, along with the balance between specialized and general customer support. The importance of clear communication and aligning motivations during organizational changes is emphasized, ensuring teams can navigate transitions smoothly and enhance customer success.

Ozge Ozcan, Chief Customer Officer at Forter, shares her expertise in customer experience and revenue-focused strategies. She discusses the risks of obsessing over churn, which can stifle growth opportunities. Ozge highlights the importance of hiring for curiosity and adaptability in customer success roles. She emphasizes managing churn budgets and setting retention targets, while advocating for a balanced approach that prioritizes long-term relationships. Tune in for insights on fostering collaboration and optimizing strategies for both retention and expansion.