John Brunkard

AMA: Sitecore Senior Director, Head of Customer Success APJ, John Brunkard on Developing Your Customer Success Career

May 4 @ 10:00AM PT
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Where do you see the future of customer success heading?
What skills will a future customer success manager need that he/she doesn't have today?
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
Great question. Customer Success is continuing to grow & mature. I see more of a focus on customer value and actual quantifiable outcomes and how these drive the cust...
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847 Views
1 request
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
I am assuming this question is about career progression and movement to the next grade level. You should have a growth mindset and a desire to continuously improve, devel...
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1460 Views
3 requests
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
I am assuming this is while maintaining an individual contributor role.Consistently meet and exceed your KPIs. Be the go to person for Customer Success within your organi...
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913 Views
2 requests
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
Here are some of my favourite links. Web Sites Customer Success Box – Top 50 resources for customer success Customer Success Network Customer Success Association Gain G...
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1376 Views
3 requests
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
I have many different questions and always include some scenario based questions to see how they would handle those. Often I start with a very fundamental question along ...
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1470 Views
2 requests
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
Let me answer this from the perspective of some of the things that frustrate me and my team.When the role is misunderstood or confused with that of Customer Service or Si...
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1029 Views
2 requests
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
Here are a few areas to consider.Financial Factors: Is the overall economy healthy. A salary increase may be dependant on how the company is performing; Are the financial...
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874 Views
2 requests
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
What makes a great Customer Success Manager? Comfortable in a customer-facing role – Customer First Mindset, a passion for Customer Success Has a Growth Mindset and exce...
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1029 Views
2 requests
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
There are many possible paths for a Customer Success Manager. Some examples are; Individual Contributor (IC) Path Associate Customer Success Manager => Customer Suc...
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3480 Views
2 requests
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
Here are some of the things that can frustrate CSMs from time to time.When the role is misunderstood or confused with that of Customer Service or a single point of contac...
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638 Views
1 request
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
Here are some suggestions that come to mind?Gain relevant experience in other customer facing roles to build up the skills that can be reapplied and are relevant to the r...
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924 Views
2 requests
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
Business Model. For me the company should be a SaaS based company. I.e. selling cloud-based software for a subscription fee. If the company is hybrid i.e. has some older ...
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879 Views
2 requests
John Brunkard
Salamander Advisory Customer Success Advisor | Formerly Adobe, Sitecore, Red Hat, Symantec, Blue Coat, Intel, Dell, Dialogic3y
This somewhat depends on the company and its products. In general I would say that having technical skills can be helpful for a CSM…an additional plus in the trusted adv...
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1841 Views
2 requests