Joshua Jimenez

Stop settling for bad CS jobs—ask these questions! Just because they say it’s CS doesn’t mean it is. Last week, I interviewed a CSM currently at a startup that does everything wrong when it comes to CS. Everything, we talk about here on LI every day until we're sick of it 🤢 This CSM was desperate for a way out, but afraid to quit because of the shaky job market. 😬 Sound familiar? My skin crawls knowing that in 2024, companies like this still exist. But here’s the harsh reality: they do. Some companies out there are posting CS roles that are support positions disguised as something they’re not. They talk a big game, act like they’ve got a "well-oiled" CS department, but behind the scenes? 🚨 It's a chaotic mess.🚨 𝗧𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲: ✋🏽 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗱! You deserve better. You deserve to work for a company that respects CS and sets you up for success, not failure. Here’s the good news: not every company is like that. ✅ There are CEOs and leaders who “get” Customer Success. 🙌🏽 To you, I say: THANK YOU! Your efforts are what’s driving this industry forward. You understand that CS isn’t just a “nice-to-have,” it’s a business growth engine. ❌ To those that don't? Well, you’re not just hurting your company; you’re damaging your brand and reputation. But let's get back to YOU, the job seeker. You don’t have to fall into this trap again. 👇🏽 Here are some questions you can ask during your next interview to suss out if a company knows their stuff: How many accounts does a CSM handle? • Who does the CS team report to? • How do you invest in the growth of your CS team? • How does CS, Product, and Engineering collaborate? • How does your company define the role of Customer Success? • What happens when a customer isn’t a good fit for your product? • What indicator do you look at to see that your CS team is performing? • Give an example of how a CSM helped shape or influence company strategy? • Describe a time when CS had to push back on Sales for overpromising to a customer? • What’s your customer churn rate, and what’s being done to improve it? • How are customer feedback and issues escalated and resolved? • Walk me through your CS process from onboarding to retention? • What tools are in place to support the CS team’s work? • What is the average tenure of a CS team member? • How do you measure the success of your CSMs? Ask these, and you'll quickly know if you're walking into a well-structured CS department or a dumpster fire. 🚒🔥 👉🏽 What’s the worst CS experience you’ve ever had at a company? What other questions can you ask to test the CS maturity level? Drop it in the comments! #customersuccess #saas #startups #careercoaching  #CS #CSM #SuccessHacks #customersuccessmanager #lessonsfromanewvp  

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CSM, get out of the hamster wheel before you burn out. ❌ Stop fire-fighting ❌ Stop with check-in calls ❌ Stop reacting to your inbox ❌ Stop taking support queries ❌ Stop ineffective repetitive tasks ❌ Stop solving for this month's number ❌ Stop emailing unresponsive contacts ❌ Stop only prioritising in-month renewals ❌ Stop manually doing what should be automated A ton of hard work. Very little to show for it. You'll never get out of the rat race if you keep working this way. Here's a different and better way of CSM-ing: ✅ Establish your customers' expected outcomes ✅ Build a Success Plan from day one ✅ Ensure they have the right set-up ✅ Hold customers accountable ✅ Report on and share results ✅ Ask if they intend to renew ✅ Monitor leading indicators ✅ Pick up the phone ✅ Multi-thread Proactive, strategic and consultative. 1000x better. If reading this makes you feel ashamed because you don't know where to start or overwhelmed because your current work situation is too chaotic to create the time for this, you're not alone. Thousands of CSMs feel exactly the same way. I know what you're thinking: -> You can't afford to stop right now -> You don't have time to make changes -> You only need to weather the storm and things will get better I've been there too. But these are the excuses that are holding you back. Nobody is coming to save you. You need to save yourself. So here's my advice: 🛑 Stop everything 🛑 Book 2 days "OOO" in your calendar. And do these 3 exercises: 1- Create a Calendar Blueprint: Set up a separate calendar from your current one. You'll use this to design a new calendar blueprint for yourself. You should add every single thing you need to do proactively in this calendar, it's the baseline for you to start changing the make-up of your working day. 📆 I'll link the one I designed for CSMs in the comments. 2- Book of Business Review: Do a full review of your customers and place them into one of the 4 buckets of priority. This way you can decide which customers to pay attention to and which ones to de-prioritise at this time. 🧰 Engagement prioritisation framework linked in the comments. 3- Calendar Planning Book or delete meetings based on customers you need to prioritise over the coming 6-8 weeks. Craft unique messages to send to these customers with compelling reasons why they should attend. 🤖 Use the T.A.V.U method I shared in the newsletter a few weeks ago + ChatGPT can help you be efficient here. Do these 3 things and I promise you that you'll: - get better results - transform your work-life - improve your mental health Create the space. 📥 If you're interested in improving your Customer Success skills, consider joining 10k+ CS Professionals who read my weekly newsletter on how to build and scale a CS Team [sign up in the comments section]. #csm #customersuccess #customerexperience #revops #saas

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Our partnership with Brex now gives us unparalleled insight and breadth in SaaS purchasing reports

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I was recently asked, can a SAAS org get to $10M in Revenue with just 5 sales reps (on $10K ARR). The answer is yes. The better question is how will we get enough pipeline to furnish the demos required per rep per day to hit that Rev target. That is the question, and the riddle that ails most orgs. My suggestion? •Back into your pipeline numbers needed for $10M •Back into your baseline pipe generation today •Identify your pipeline gap •Assign gap % ownership via department: Sales, Marketing, partners, referrals, etc... •Then get insanely creative to generate enough leads to make those demos happen! Some levers to consider: Increase ARR, Increase Conversions, Buyer ready lead pools, Freemium, Pricing structure, SDR's (inside/outsource), Demo offerings, VAR's, ICP/PMF, co-selling Partnerships, etc... There are a million things go consider. But it really comes down to identifying the gaps, assigning department ownership, and giving those leaders autonomy to get creative, and to provide potential solutions to make it happen! This is a great exercise for all orgs to do, as it also will flush out a lot of opportunity gaps in your current pipeline gen efforts. Which means you will find plenty of areas for improvement as you flush out your pipeline economics. If you are in this growth quandary; ping me, as Ive done it the right way and the wrong way, and am happy to share my experience there. Enjoy!

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Many executives believe that closing deals at all costs is the best way to grow. I would challenge that mindset. It’s especially important to recognize that success doesn’t end with the sale—your Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and teams working with the customer post-sale are crucial to long-term growth. As a salesperson, you close the deal and move on, but behind every successful sale is a team responsible for managing the entire customer lifecycle. Unfortunately, too many executives focus on implementing CPQ (configure, price, quote) tools and spend significant resources customizing them. In doing so, they often overlook the most critical aspect: retaining the customer they worked so hard to win. Customer churn is a real issue, but it can be minimized by automating the post-sale process and focusing on the customer experience after the initial sale. At SAASTEPS, we equip your CSMs and post-sales teams with even more tools than your sales team—all within a single data model. We provide everything from subscription management and billing to invoicing, renewals lifecycle management, and revenue recognition. We handle the entire revenue management process flawlessly, allowing your teams to focus on what matters most: earning and maintaining customer trust.

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‼️ Hiring Alert ‼️ LifeLoop is hiring for an Enterprise CSM! Application 👇🏻 Geo: Central US ACV: $80k-$100k # of customers: 15-25 parents + their communities Required: Prior SaaS CS experience Bonus: Senior living experience NOTE: This role requires regular onsite travel to your customers communities. The role IS remote eligible for US applicants only (NO international opportunities available). Perference may be given to candidates who more closely locate to the territory Success looks like: - partnering with account management for growth opportunities - understand and communicate the customers’ desired outcomes and goals - create maintain a mutual success plan with every customer - proactively communicate barriers and risk to success - taking initiative to solution internal and customer challenges - loves customer feedback and conducting additional discovery to ensure proper alignment between our organizations Next steps: 1) Check out the Job description 2) Apply! The rest of the position details and the hiring process is outlined in the job description. Thank you for taking the time to read, review, and hopefully apply! Please note, if you send a LinkedIn DM, I will likely not be able to respond quickly. Your best course of action is to apply. Thank you for your understanding. *Not eligible for agency/external recruitment hires. #CustomerSuccess #LifeLoop #Hiring

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This might be the biggest Hot Take ☀️ I’ve ever made: sometimes it makes sense for a #CustomerSuccess executive to report to a leader who owns all of the customer journey (sales and CS). [Ducks for cover] I’m a big believer in the need for a Chief Customer Officer role. Someone should be accountable for the customer experience. Someone senior needs to own retention. And in a company going through transformation toward a customer centric culture, a CCO reporting to a CEO helps bring that mindset to the leadership table. For startups this is often the only choice. In addition, many of the top CCOs 💪🏾 want to report to a CEO. But there are situations where an integrated organization makes sense: ✅ All revenue is centralized under one leader. ✅ The sales process is a huge part of the customer journey - so having pre and post sales together can drive a more integrated customer experience. ✅ In this model CS executives can more easily own expansion revenue (good for sustainability of their teams and for their own careers). Some CS executives have had a bad experience reporting to a CRO. But I'd argue that’s often because the CRO is a “sales leader” who also owns CS. There is a new crop of CROs and Presidents who are rising up to the challenge of owning the full revenue lifecycle. They look at themselves as a customer leader - not just a revenue leader. Increasingly I’m seeing people who own the entire lifecycle thinking of themselves as Chief Customer Officers versus sales leaders. I was prompted to write this because I was having coffee with a CS exec I trust and she said that she’s learned that all of go to market under one leader makes a lot of sense. Again this isn’t for everyone. If you need a big transformation, you may need to split out the CCO role. If you don’t have the right CRO, it may be impractical. And sometimes, to get the best person, you need to offer a role under the CEO. But my own POV is that it’s more important to be successful in a job than obsessing over to whom you report. And increasingly, a playbook that succeeds is to break the silos between and pre and post sales. Indeed, the idea of “pre” and “post” sales needs to go away. What benefits and drawbacks have you seen from having CS under a CRO? P.S. BTW the CRO doesn't have to come from a sales background. Increasingly, I'm watching CROs like Emily McEvilly and Sangeeta Chakraborty coming from a CS point of view.

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