Rebecca Warren

I’ve been at Eightfold for just over 2 years now, moving over to customer success from a 20+ year career in Talent Acquisition, so remember that my experience is unique vs. a traditional CS career path. I was the first CSM to join the EF team, reporting into a leader who had created the group from scratch. I moved from senior leadership position in my previous position to an individual contributor role with similar compensation. I was concerned that I might be taking a step back, but I knew I ha ...Read More

Been there, done that! IMO, it’s pretty simple – start with who is screaming the loudest and why. Take what they are frustrated about, ask them to prioritize their needs, and then see about knocking them off, one at a time. You can’t fix everything overnight, but get a win under your belt, and then another win, and so on. And then take those lessons from your loudest clients and see what you can apply for other clients. · Ask lots of questions of your internal teams to see if you can solve issue ...Read More

These might be more generic than what you are looking for, but in your first 3 months, there is so much to learn, and every organization is different. Some of the best advice given to me by previous leaders when I tried to do all the things right when I started – “you can’t boil the ocean. Breathe. Listen.” Remember, quick wins might be for you, your team, your organization, or your clients! My thoughts: Build relationships with your stakeholders – inside your team and cross-functionally Set a # ...Read More

I love this question! My top 4 thoughts: Every sales team is different. Find out how they work – in Eightfold, we have Account Executives (they are front end pre-sales deal closers), Account Managers (focused on install base after implementation), Sales Development Reps (responsible for lead generation and first connects), and Solution Consultants (demonstrating our platform to potential clients). Find out what your sales folks do and how that impacts you. Talk to more than 1 salesperson in each ...Read More

As with any time you join a new company, listen, listen, listen, and THEN ask, ask, ask! I highly suggest driving those 1:1s if they aren’t already scheduled for you, and then spend time understanding the internal processes (and why they were built the way they are). I would stay away from “well, in my former company we did xxx and xxx and it worked great” – instead ask “do you know why this is done this way?”. Get all the info on interactions with clients that you can as well – your internal fo ...Read More

I’ll share 2 questions – one is behavioral based, and one is situational. One of our core values is Extreme Ownership. I ask candidates to “Tell me about a time when you had to convince someone to do something in order for you to meet a goal or deadline. Why did you need to convince them? What was the goal/deadline? What was the result?” What I like about this question is it embodies all things CS - accountability; influence (usually without authority; partnership and teamwork; creativity… I loo ...Read More

I think customers will continue to expect quick yet complex answers - our products and platforms will need to be able to keep up by offering more access and self-service options. CSMs need to be able to respond with speed and accuracy, which means they need to know the product themselves.  I see CS moving to a multi-support model using chat (both chatbot and live-hosted), AI, and large language models, with CSMs for some accounts, pod support for others.  In my opinion, for CS to remain a highly ...Read More