Jeff Beaumont

Before I start, know this is a difficult question to answer. Here is how I approach it: Review the job description and make sure I understand it Review it with my manager to ensure we're aligned. The point of this is uncovering any gaps between you and your manager Note: if there are others involved, you should make sure they're aligned too! Establish a priority list. I prefer Google Sheets/Excel so they can be stack ranked with health status (red, yellow, green) Other fields Description (in 1-2 ...Read More

This can vary wildly. Areas It depends… CSM/Pooled CSM Digital Renewals Support Professional Services Implementation Education Operations/strategy Enablement So when you look at all those, a CS org structure could be complex even with a small team! My recommendation is to start small, ensure your definition of success and annual strategy is clear for where you need to go based on your product/service, is aligned with other teams, avoids the errors of 1) being overly complex, 2) being non-ambitio ...Read More

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: Make it memorable. If they only remember a 10 second soundbite or 1-2 sentences, what would ...Read More

Two examples, one SMB and one enterprise: SMB: Theme: work backwards from what you want: customer is well-trained —> product adoption —> high retention. A long time ago I worked for a company entirely focused on SMB (think single users up to 20). With that, we worked backwards from what "good" looked like (high retention) and then determined what they would need to do (use cases in the product) and then we saw the results. Put differently, we put together a list of customers who were hardl ...Read More

We've used several methods, depending on the size and type of the company. Roadshows. One of the more effective yet costly in terms of time and useful for larger changes. We share a slide deck, explain the process, and run an AMA Join team calls and/or join leadership calls to walk them through the changes, collect feedback, and share learnings A monthly (or quarterly) "team update" doc that is shared in company standard mediums (e.g., Slack, email, message board...). This is usually a collectio ...Read More

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 fu ...Read More

This isn't exhaustive, but can be a good starting point: Annual survey results. It's a lot of work, but after gathering that feedback, share it back with your customers in a annual survey results PDF. For example, share some of the best practices, which tools have high adoption, success stories, or other items that could help your audience become inspired, motivated, and have a path to adopt Internal feedback loop. If you aren't already feeding that information to your Product and Exec teams, no ...Read More

The most important part: do not be single-threaded. Make sure you build connections with multiple people at the organization. Ask your champion who else you should talk with. If you struggle to get the champion to divulge that, share tidbits, insights, and other recommendations so your champion wants to carry those into the organization. From there, run EBRs with your champion and slowly, over time, build the trust to ask for other contacts. Ask again. During the renewal cycle, get in front of p ...Read More

This become highly complex based on the user persona, the complexity, of the product, and the time to adoption, among other things. However, a few things to consider are: Knowledge Base: Do you have a solid, robust knowledge base? Is that knowledge base actively referenced in your product, website, by Support, by Sales, etc.? Identify the ideal path: If you could meet with a user face-to-face and walk them through that adoption, what would that look like? What does it look like currently for sel ...Read More