Steph Gerpe

Driving alignment across remote, cross-functional teams comes down to creating clarity, consistency, and shared ownership, then reinforcing that through repeatable operational rhythms. 1. Establish repeatable operating rhythms that anchor the work Alignment doesn’t happen ad hoc - it’s built through consistent forums and disciplined execution. The most effective teams define a clear cadence of touchpoints (e.g., weekly execution reviews, monthly strategic alignment sessions, quarterly planning) ...Read More

A successful first 90 days breaks down to focus across three key areas: (1) Deep learning and curiosity around the product and the experience of the customer within that product; relationship building, (2) Hypothesis based experimenting and feedback collection and (3) Planning and alignment of go-forward motions 30 days: Dedicate ample time to learning about your product - both internally and directly with customers. Why do customers purchase the product? How does the product function within a l ...Read More

I approach cross-functional partnerships with the belief that alignment starts with clarity and trust - specifically, clarity on what success looks like for each team at the table and trust that our contributions are in pursuit of collective business-level outcomes. The first step for me is always investing the time to understand how each partner measures and quantifies success. That means getting beneath the surface of their stated goals to really understand the metrics, incentives, and priorit ...Read More

There are many facets of CS that may differ based on the size of the organization. With differences in organizational size, come differences in priorities, growth strategies, cost measures and balance for scale, as well as customer journey architectures/needs. A few specific areas to note: At least initially, the size of the CS org is likely to grow based on the expanding customer pool. In the early days of an organization, more customers may equal more customers success managers until a balance ...Read More

This is a great and timely question, especially considering that most product/feature sets are evolving at an extremely rapid pace in a technology ecosystem becoming more expansive by the day as well (thanks, AI). One of the most important places to start is to consider what business objectives your product helps to serve, even if not considered critical to the customer's business. There's a reason your product is purchased across your customer base. What sets your product apart in the marketpla ...Read More

I think one of the biggest 'surprises' was that regardless of the maturity level of the CS organization, some of the same considerations held true in both cases: The role of CS is constantly evolving alongside other customer facing roles. Even if you have the ability to build a strategy at the start, the need to commit to regular check-ins on how CS strategically fits within the broader organizational goals remains present. Examples include: Are the measurements and incentives the right ones to ...Read More

This is one of the most critical components of customer success leadership both when establishing a CS function or joining a team with an already established CS org. If a CS team sits within the sales organization, there may be a natural alignment already anchoring the full team to joint business-based KPIs like churn reduction or retention/renewal outcomes. In this case, it's important to recognize how each team contributes to those shared outcomes - while the KPIs may be shared, the path to ac ...Read More

Absolutely - I think it’s one of the most important differentiators in driving effective outcomes. At a high level, the core principle stays the same: you’re always working toward a shared goal. But how you get there should look different depending on the stakeholder, because each team brings its own priorities, pressures, and definition of success. First, I spend time understanding what that stakeholder uniquely cares about and is accountable for. Every function is optimizing for something slig ...Read More

I'd recommend starting with these key areas when creating a CS function: Defining customer success - what does successful use of your product or platform look like? When a customer in successful in your platform, what are the outcomes? What is considered optimal use of your product, gathered from a variety of perspectives (product, leadership, marketing, beta customers)? Defining the customer journey - considering how customer success is defined and what outcomes successful customers should stri ...Read More

One of the most important shifts I’ve made when navigating historically tense cross-functional relationships is to start with curiosity. It’s easy to anchor on past friction, but much more productive to step back and genuinely seek to understand how we got here and what’s driving each team’s priorities. Asking thoughtful questions and listening without defensiveness often uncovers context that wasn’t visible before. I also try to assume positive intent in prior decisions. Most tension doesn’t co ...Read More