AMA: GitLab Senior Director Customer Success Operations, Jeff Beaumont on Influencing the C-Suite

For the c-suite, it's intermittent and that makes each interaction (even a Slack!) that much more relevant. I tend to interact a lot with VPs and other directors. Because I have deep topical depth, it's tempting to share everything I know or give everything that I think they need or want to hear. Instead, I've learned to write it like a news article headline; don't bury the lede. Here's what I've learned: 1. Make it memorable. If they only remember a 10 second soundbite or 1-2 sentences, what would it be? 2. Concision is your friend. Depth is tempting, but you're not doing the high dive as an olympic swimmer. Give the 2-3 relevant points. 3. Add contrast. Not all the times, but when a decision needs to be made, offer a slide that provides Plan A and Plan B. Go ahead and advocate for Plan A, but offer an acceptable backup or alternative. This gives the c-suite the opportunity to choose, go with a Plan C, or say we need to go back to the drawing board 4. Preflight. If you are representing your C-suite member, run your proposal, update, or whatever by them. Even if they agree with it, spend a few minutes (sometimes can be a slack message!) telling them what you plan to say, give them your deck/doc/spreadsheet, and allow them to ask questions or offer pushback. This gives them confidence in how the meeting with go with their peers and offers you more insight for what to expect. 5. Be curious! The VPs that I work for know their C-suite leader(s). Work with them and ask questions, not just when you're preparing for a meeting, but throughout the year. Be curious! Ask questions. Humanize them. It was incredible — eventually I learned that C-suite members are humans just like me. Your C-suite members are, believe it or not, also human. They make mistakes, need their sleep, and get hungry — just like us.

Tie your work to a revenue driver, be a vocal advocate for company initiatives, and go the extra mile. * Hit your numbers: While this sounds like a "duh" statement, it's important because it shows you know what you're doing. You were entrusted with a task and you demonstrated excellence. While it does not guarantee C-suite members will come knocking on your door, it does put you on their radar (in a positive way!). * Revenue driver: At least in an Operations, Strategy, Analytics, or other similar functions, it's helpful, wise, and important to make sure you're supporting a revenue driver and/or top initiatives. That's where the company is focused and thinking about. For example, in Sales/CS this could be: renewals, expansion opportunities, product analytics to drive customer purchases. For a CSM, it relates to hit your numbers but also understand what else the company is looking at, even if it's not tied to your comp. * Vocal advocate: Not in a brown-nosing way, but find ways to positively speak up, offer your vantage point, and provide recommendations. Company leaders look for "bright", "smart", "capable", "strategic" people and that often translates to someone who has insights that lead to recommendations. It's not simply that a person knows something but that they can effectively communicate it, too. * Extra mile: "if someone asks you to walk with them one mile, go with them two". Are you willing to help with that special project? If you're noticing trends, did you share that with your analytics or operations team? Do you trust that they'll represent you well and give you credit? Help them out and they will bring up your name as someone who is capable.

My first career was in public accounting. I theoretically had 9 different partners that could give me work at any time. Those 7 years taught me how to navigate disagreements, especially in the middle of tax season when everyone was at their wits' end. A few suggestions come to mind: 1. It's not binary. Don't get stuck thinking it's either A or B. Is there a third way? Chip and Dan Heath in their book Decisive talk about "narrow framing". We often get ourselves riled up because we only see two forks in the road. Sometimes that means you need to reverse course and look for another way. 2. Understand the needs, desires, and fears of the execs. Sometimes we just need to be heard. When someone "knows" me and can speak up on my behalf, I will feel better and relax a bit. Know your execs and ask, "What is that you're wanting out of this?" They may still not get it, but so often we just want to be heard. 3. Give it time. While that's happening, ask yourself if there's a chance it can get resolved within days, weeks, or months. If weeks, ask yourself "what does this make possible?" and see if you can work on another project that got pushed to the back burner. NOTE: this is sometimes wishful thinking because if two execs are locked in disagreement, it's often a critical project and you cannot afford to "waste" time. 4. Phone a friend. Talk to a friend or someone outside your company. Try to explain what's going on. Because you have to translate it out of your company's speak, it causes you to tell the situation in a different way. It helps you better understand the situation and also your friend can ask you basic and probing questions. 5. BATNA. BATNA is a negotiation technique which stands for Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement. What would be the best alternative? While you don't want to compromise your values, who you or, or build an ugly product that has a little bit of everything for everyone (pleasing no one!), what are the alternatives that you can consider? 6. Go on a run or walk. Psychologists have helped us understand that when we're stuck, we need to do the unintuitive thing: get up and go do something fun, go on a walk, call up an old friend. While you're away, your subconscious can process the information. 7. Look for a mediator. While I wouldn't jump to this, but if you're really stuck, consider if there's a third or fourth person to break a tie or help mediate. Don't make this your first choice because it could get worse. 8. Look for a new job. If it's really really bad, you may need to move on — either for a new project or job. Hopefully not!

Your plan must be concise, strategic in nature, and has a high ROI. The other piece here is frequent communication. Make sure they hear from you, know you, and trust your judgment. Relationships help them know that you've already thought it through, have a plan, and are determined to execute and see it through. 1. Concise: As with most things, you must have the details but save them for later. Give the very very high level summary. Think just a few sentences up front and then the appendix can have the details. It should be like a mullet: short in the front, long in the back. 2. Strategic in nature: This is where a lot of us get tripped up when we use the word "strategy". My best reference is the book Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. "Strategy" is a list of actions in response to challenges. With that, whatever you are proposing cannot be in a vacuum, and it must be a significant challenge that is important to the company. Easier said than done. An example could be: 1. Challenge: Renewal rates have been low due to macroeconomic events and the layoffs within the tech sector 2. Coherent set of actions: We will ___________ (improve onboarding, better sales handoff, improve our qualification...) 3. High ROI: 1. High. It's one thing to have a return on investment, but the risk must pan out. Meaning, it can't just be a 2-3x ROI. But don't make stuff up, either! 2. ROI. Think of what their return on investment will be. If they say yes to you, how much money do they need to spend over how long and when will they see their return? How safe is it? Is this a sure thing, a complete guess (then it's an experiment). It's okay if it is an experiment, but frame it as such. And then help them understand what it will mean for them, the business overall, and the long term valuation of the company

This is tough because it's easier said than done. Hit your target. Prove your capability with what's expected of you (e.g., renewal rates, engaging with customers...), and then find ways to stand out such as getting customers to say "you better give _____ a raise!" or "I want to work with _______ again!" Stand out to your customers and that will come back to your company. This is a key way of standing out as a CSM. From there, you'll earn influence and the C-suite (or your CS/Sales leadership team, depending on the company size) will pay attention and be watching you. You will earn opportunities to say "this is what I do..." or "here's what I've seen our customers want...".