Cormac Kelly

One of the initiatives I'm most proud of, has been the creation and evolution of the Customer Success Qualified Lead (CSQL) motion. In SurveyMonkey, CSMs have responsibilities around expansion and NRR - which in my opinion is a critical element to the CS role - value selling applies to both retention and expansion. As we partner with our sales team to expand customers footprint in the product, the Success team are in an incredible position to truly understand how the customer uses the product, a ...Read More

There are tons! I think it can be summarized by the fact that we live in constant change, so to be a CS leader (or maybe just work in tech?) you have to be way to the right on that change curve, as its up to you to help lead your team through changes. Sometimes you have insight to and can plan for the changes(*strategy, org changes, product releases) sometimes not (market conditions, customer changes, etc) and you have no control over what is happening. Therefore, its crucial to keep change mana ...Read More

I love this question - because this is a hard one to get right, and to be honest, its something that needs to be constantly worked on. The place I like to start from is that there needs to be a shared understanding of priorities and goals, and a realization that sometimes these goals will overlap nicely, but sometimes they will not. If you take the example of customer success and sales, sales want to expand a customer, but customer success sometimes feel that to keep the customer at any costs is ...Read More

My leadership philosophy at its core values remains the same but with regards to how I apply it, has changed over time. My clear values as a leader are A = Accountability - for you as a leader and your team C = Consistency - the best businesses have structure as to how they are run T = Teamwork - customer engagement is a team sportI constantly work on how I communicate to my team, that's always the area thats most important. And I go through ups and downs on that - when your busy or in times of ...Read More

Customer success is an amazing discipline, because it exposes you to so many elements within your business, while keeping you close to the customer, and the product. This can set you up for so many opportunities to grow. Some tips I have when you want to be a Excel at what you do right now. The best leaders need to show that what they do and how they do it is important Be conscious of being a strong collaborator or partner - leaders are in a constant state of collaboration/conflict and need to b ...Read More

The number one metric has to be customer time. That could be business reviews, cadence calls, webinars etc , but an instance where you can speak to the customer, ideally ask them questions , meet with multiple contacts and learn about how they are using (or not) the product. You'll also learn so much about how you or your team speak to customers, prep, structure and run calls as well as what piques customer interest or not. Its critical you speak to them . You'll also spot risk and opportunity, ...Read More

This is a great question, because what metrics you look at and what standards you set are incredibly important. It also really depends on what Customer Success means to your business, sometimes CS owns renewals, some times support, sometimes not. The critical element to think through is what value you are driving for the business. For me, the CS team should own renewals as an example, and should have some ownership of NRR or expansion. This way, you can demonstrate really tangible results for th ...Read More

The answer is a keep it to a few :) Keep them tight and keep focussed. As a customer success function, be super clear on what the key value that you are bringing to the table for the company is, and then anchor around that. This will help the team focus on the most relevant and impactful activities, it will tie what they do every day into what they are hearing not only from the customer leader, but also from the company leadership. This is critical, as if the team feel more connected to the comp ...Read More

First of all, congratulations, that's awesome that your company is investing in such and important space, and also, that you are the customer success artist that has a blank canvas to create your masterpiece! For me the first thing to do is to define what customer success means for you and your company. There are a number of things that I believe are integral to core culture of what a good customer success organization is. Customer-Centricity - table stakes right? But it needs to be called out, ...Read More

Honestly, This is such a great question. Too often, leaders feel they have to choose: you either run a lean, efficient machine that quite honestly can feel robotic to the customer, or you run a high-touch, white-glove model that make lead to burn out in your team and impacts your margins. For me, it’s not an 'either/or.' It’s about structuring for Relevance. Here is how I approach it, focusing on three specific layers: 1. Prioritization: Moving from activity to impact, lets be honest, the bigges ...Read More