[Un]Churned – The No. 1 Podcast for Customer Retention

When revenue growth is a company's top priority, the value of post-sales teams is often overlooked.Customer success (CS) teams are among the most critical touchpoints in the customer journey. By partnering with the CCO, who can help develop and implement customer-centric strategies that increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and spending, companies can retain their existing customers and boost revenue.In this episode, Josh Schachter, Founder of UpdateAI, speaks with Alexis Hennessy, Partner at Heidrick & Struggles, and Rod Cherkas, CEO and Founder of Hello CCO, about:The role of post-sales teams in driving revenueThe need for cross-functional collaborationHow to highlight the value and challenges of post-sales teams through real customer examplesTrends in career paths for chief customer officersCheck out the video episode here: https://youtu.be/SzSz7tXhnfc👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 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/ 👉 Josh would love to connect to hear your feedback & suggestions. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter

Customer Success, in hindsight, is a long-term renewal strategy. Watch the uncut BTS & BS on our YouTube channel - https://youtu.be/Hyk_jL3i0u0Join  Josh Schachter, Kristi Faltorusso, Jon Johnson  & Mickey Powell as they chat with Jeff Kushmerek, Founder of Infinite Renewals. Jeff helps startups improve their customer success strategy.Episode Highlights- Consultants reset expectations and provide better advice- Lack of customer engagement may lead to customer loss- Need for diverse perspectives and engagement with a broader range of customers- Challenge of managing underperforming employees- Learn from successful customer success companies- Consultants versus Executive Leadership... and, a lot of BSGet the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 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/ 👉 Josh would love to connect to hear your feedback & suggestions. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter

Customer experience is more than just using the product. Every interaction with a customer is a touchpoint that can influence your relationship with them.Don't let your customers fall through the cracks.Ahmed Quadri, CCO at Heap, joins Josh Schachter, CEO of UpdateAI, to discuss how they navigate the value journey at Heap to maximize the value and relationship customers get.Josh and Ahmed also discuss- Expanding existing customer base- Using data-driven health scores to make customer data actionable-  Conducting a deal readiness assessment during the pre-sale cycle - Identifying and solving red flags in the deal- Aligning teams to ensure continuity in the value journeySubscribe to UpdateAI's YouTube channel to get the latest updates and enjoy the video podcast - 👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 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/ 👉 Josh would love to connect to hear your feedback & suggestions. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter

Every customer-facing team has a hypothesis about what drives customer success. How accurate is this hypothesis?Finding problems and fixing them in silos isn't going to give the full picture of what a successful customer journey needs to look and feel like from onboarding to renewal. Watch the uncut BTS & BS on our YouTube channel - https://youtu.be/DnAkuGOrG78Ramli John joins  Josh Schachter, Kristi Faltorusso, Jon Johnson  & Mickey Powell to highlight the necessity of cross-functional collaborations and- Finding and reinforcing the positives to customers- Engaging with customers early on for long-term success- Understanding micro steps for activation and strategy development- Onboarding as a cross-functional area involving success, sales, and marketing teams- Using tools to capture data on customer interactionsGet the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 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/ 👉 Josh would love to connect to hear your feedback & suggestions. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter

Shareth Ben, former VP of Customer Success at Securonics, joins Josh Schachter, CEO of UpdateAI to share his insights on the challenges faced by customer success teams and also discusses the three pillars of his customer success strategy: gap analysis, executive touchpoints, and value engineering team.Finally, Shareth shares his advice on how to handle conversations regarding alternative solutions and tactical approaches to address plan B scenarios.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 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/ 👉 Josh would love to connect to hear your feedback & suggestions. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter

Every decision goes through emotional processing. How we feel about something at heart is way more important and impactful than what we think about something. So we need to lead with the heart and rationalize with logic. Ed Powers, a principal consultant at Service Excellence, joins Josh Schachter for an unchurned conversation about how customer success teams can use psychology to manage expectations, build trust, and drive customer success.Josh & Ed discuss- The danger of assuming others understand us- Creating shared accountability and understanding; setting expectations-  Emotions drive decisions- The need for Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Exposure👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 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/ 👉 Josh would love to connect to hear your feedback & suggestions. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter

Do you want to make a career switch and break into CS? Join  Josh Schachter, Kristi Faltorusso, and Jon Johnson as they uncover the truth behind the preconceived notions of the customer success industry with Julie Raeder, CSM Dooly, who transitioned from education to customer success. Key Highlights- Importance of empathy and individualization in CS - Tailoring customer journeys and understanding needs- Creating lesson plans versus success plans- Lack of feedback and reliance on data-  Recommendation to watch sales calls and study case studies to understand product and decision-making processes and much more" I assumed a lot of people would know what customer success is, like, internally, and then also, like, you know, in other businesses as well. " - Julie Raeder👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success - Subscribe to CS Insider Report👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 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/ 👉 Josh would love to connect to hear your feedback & suggestions. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter

When every other business is cutting costs, it has become more important than ever to retain your customers.With a focus on retaining customers, Gillian Heltai, CCO of Lattice shares insights on her 2x2 framework to help you assess customer health and put in place strategies to retain customers during the downturn.  Key Highlights- Tech downturn impacting budgets and renewal cycles- An economic framework for customer retention strategies- Assessing value: ask, adoption metrics, health score- Determining business health: ask customers, and analyze data- North Star Metric: health score elements, product adoption- Focus on best customers, reinforce value, gather resources- Health score drives customer engagement and retention- Helping customers during the crisis to retain advocates.We spend more of our time on the value than we do on the health of the customer." - Gillian HeltaiCheck out the framework: https://www.emcap.com/thoughts/playbook-for-retaining-customers-in-an-economic-downturn/👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 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/ 👉 Josh would love to connect to hear your feedback & suggestions. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter

There has been a long-standing cold war between Sales and CS. This episode addresses the tiff. The disconnect between the teams' expectations makes it challenging for organizations to prioritize the long-term health of the customer.Hamish Stephenson, Founder & CEO of, Selr.io joins our hosts,  Josh Schachter, Kristi Faltorusso, Jon Johnson  & Mickey Powell to defuse the tension between the two teams by discussing whether-  CS needs to contribute to the sales process to improve customer retention and NRR- CSMs need recognition and fair compensation in comparison to sales representatives - Organisations need to learn to act upon the insights and recommendations by CSMs- Companies can balance the focus on growth and retention- A strong product can reduce the reliance on sales and customer success teams- Companies need to strike a balance between short-term revenue targets and long-term customer health👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success - Subscribe to CS Insider Report👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 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/ 👉 Josh would love to connect to hear your feedback & suggestions. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter

The terrifying truth is that the prosperity or downfall of a SaaS organization depends on the value the product delivers to its customers. Despite the fact that the feedback loop between product and customer could be challenging, the efforts made by the CS & the product team to understand and prioritize customer input hugely decide the fate of our company. Alli Tiscornia, CCO & Abby Hammer, CPO at ChurnZero join Josh Schachter on this unchurned episode to discuss the importance of- Understanding the Customer Perspective while tailoring solutions-  Having multiple methods of obtaining customer feedback- Avoiding unrealistic product promises - Involving the CS team in feature development- Developing a roadmap to present to customers- Reviewing enhancement requests and assigning a business impact valueYou can also binge-watch the Unchurned videos on our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@updateai9697👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter👉 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/ 👉 Josh would love to connect to hear your feedback & suggestions. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.👉 Get the advice and insights you need to thrive in Customer Success. Subscribe to the CS Insider Newsletter