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The Shift from Reactive to Proactive Customer Success: Takeaways from the Copenhagen CS Snack Breakfast 

The role of Customer Success Management (CSM) has evolved from being primarily reactive—focused on addressing issues as they arose—to a more proactive and strategic discipline. 

In the past, CSM teams were primarily tasked with resolving customer problems after they had occurred, acting as troubleshooters or customer service representatives. The goal instead was to fix problems quickly and efficiently, minimizing disruption to the customer experience. 

However, as customer expectations have shifted and businesses have recognized the importance of long-term customer relationships, CSM has transformed into a forward-thinking, value-driven function. This was stressed during our recent CS Snack event at Copenhagen. 

We gathered with various CS Professionals and thanks to our great moderators – Mohammad Kolahdouzan, Robin Sigl, Cille Pedersen, Harry Bandell, Benedicte Ravn Rahbek, Milosh Dunjic, Mick Weijers, Hüseyin Karahasan, Katrine Eiter, Mariana Vagos,  whose insights have been pivotal for this article.

Here are the topics we covered:

  1. Efficiency & Prompt Engineering (AI)
  2. Customer Success Enablement
  3. GTM Alignment with Sales & Marketing
  4. Value-Based Communication & Stakeholder Management
  5. Client Change Management & Tooling
  6. Communities, Playbooks, & Automation
  7. Customer Marketing (Cases/Multi-Threading)
  8. Team Structure & Compensation

Below, we will share our learnings from the above topics:

Efficiency & Prompt Engineering (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) has firmly established itself as a vital part of our daily business operations, especially in customer success. There’s no question about this. The rise of AI-driven systems is changing how companies engage with their customers, driven by efficiency and prompt engineering. But with this rapid evolution, there’s an important question to consider: Is this shift truly beneficial, or are we losing something essential along the way?

In a recent session led by Mohammad Kolahdouzan, we dove into the impact of AI on customer success, with insights from various experts sparking lively discussions. Here are the key takeaways from our conversation:

  1. AI-Driven Customer Success is a Breakthrough
  2. The Real Cost of Efficiency
  3. Efficiency vs. Empathy: Striking the Balance

Let’s explore these conclusions further!

AI-Driven Customer Success is a Breakthrough

AI, mainly through chatbots and virtual assistants, has revolutionized how businesses manage customer success. Think about how often customers ask for updates on deliveries, account balances, or troubleshooting tips. AI can handle these routine inquiries in real-time, cutting down wait times and boosting operational efficiency significantly.

This newfound efficiency not only reduces stress on human agents but also allows them to tackle more complex and meaningful interactions. With the right setup, AI can streamline workflows and enable customer support teams to engage with more clients without risking burnout. It really does seem like a win-win situation, doesn’t it?

The Real Cost of Efficiency

Are we losing the human touch? For many, chatting with a bot can feel cold and robotic, especially when they’re looking for empathy or understanding in difficult situations. AI excels at answering “what” and “how” questions, but it often stumbles on the deeper “why” questions that define human conversations.

Efficiency vs. Empathy: Striking the Balance

At the heart of this discussion is finding the balance between efficiency and empathy. Sure, AI is transforming customer success with its lightning-fast solutions to routine issues, but are we sacrificing the personal touch that customers genuinely appreciate?

As we move forward, it’s vital for organizations to understand that efficiency doesn’t have to come at the expense of empathy. Thoughtfully integrating AI can enhance customer interactions, allowing businesses to respond quickly while still making customers feel understood and valued. Striking this balance is crucial for maintaining meaningful connections.

So, as we look beyond, the conversation isn’t just about whether AI can improve efficiency—it’s clear that it already does. The real question now is how we can use AI to enhance, rather than replace, the human touch that’s essential for outstanding customer experiences. By blending AI’s efficiency with human empathy, companies can create interactions that resonate emotionally and drive real customer success.

During the sessions, we were also able to gather resources which were vital for people navigating AI in the CSM industry. Here’s a list:

  1. For Leveraging Hyperparameters in Prompts – “The Art of Prompt Engineering” (online course) and GPT-3/4 documentation.
  2. Exploring Perplexity AI & Investigation Tools – Perplexity AI website and DeepMind research papers
  3. Other Tools to Use – ChatGPT

From numerous insights and discussions, we were able to sum up the following:

🟢 START: Maximizing AI’s full potential

Apply AI to research management. Organize customer feedback, product insights, and other data using AI. Creating AI-powered templates, and developing templates for common tasks to streamline repetitive work is a must for CS teams now.

🔴 STOP: Using Vague Prompts.

While AI is helpful, over relying on it can cause more harm than good. You also need to exert extra effort to structure inputs that will drive actionable AI outputs. Another is collaborating with industry stakeholders to tailor AI solutions to your specific use cases.

🟠CONTINUE: Exploring beyond ChatGPT

ChatGPT isn’t the only tool out there, but many people think it is the goldmine.  Investigate AI tools in areas like data analytics and behavior prediction, to better maximize the function it has over your team. 

CS enablement 

At our recent session led by Robin Sigl, Head of Customer Success & Experience, and Cille Pesersen, industry experts gathered to tackle the big question: Is CS enablement genuinely transformative, or are we just adding another layer of corporate jargon?

One key takeaway from our discussion is that there seems to be some confusion about what exactly CS enablement means. Is it about empowering customers to succeed, or is it focused on enabling the CS team itself? We explored both perspectives, revealing various challenges and approaches related to tools, processes, and people. Here are some insights we gathered:

  1. Emphasize the Right Traits and Automation
  2. Clear Role Definitions and Balance Human Touch with Scale
  3. Collaboration and Flexibility are Key

Here’s a breakdown of:

Emphasize the Right Traits and Automation

We discovered that hiring for personality traits over specific skill sets can make a big difference in the success of customer-facing roles. Traits like empathy, stress tolerance, and communication skills often trump practical experience. 

Another key strategy is to implement or improve automation. For instance, one of our participants shared how he’s streamlined processes with playbooks that extend from sales to onboarding, using tools like Custify to reduce manual effort. Structured onboarding with the right tools—like Eloomi, which helps ramp up new employees—can significantly enhance the training process.

Clear Role Definitions and Balance Human Touch with Scale

One challenge we faced was the misconception that Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and Account Managers (AMs) are interchangeable.A Head of Professional Service and CS at Relesys, highlighted the difficulties that arise when roles aren’t aligned with the customer journey, leading to performance dips. It’s essential to define roles clearly to avoid this pitfall.

We also talked about the risk of over-relying on human touch at the expense of scalability. One also pointed out that while personal interactions are crucial, balancing them with automation can help maintain service quality without overwhelming CSMs.

Collaboration and Flexibility are Key

Collaboration across teams emerged as another critical theme. One participant , emphasized the value of evaluation meetings with Key Account Managers (KAMs) to assess progress and share best practices. This kind of teamwork can enhance alignment among customer-facing roles.

And then stressed the importance of flexibility. By giving CSMs room to develop their unique styles while providing structure and support, managers can help their teams thrive.

Here, we found resources like Anika Zubarr and Dafne from Hub Spot, to be good people to follow and learn from. 

Drawing insights from all the observations and exchanges, we were able to solidify another Start, Stop, Continue Model.

🟢 START: Focusing on Positive Processes. 

Fostering effective communication, utilizing measurement tools like Miro, Notion and Scribe are all essential in enabling CS within the team. Moreover building trust, leveraging technology, and providing comprehensive training ensures a seamless customer experience.

🔴 STOP: Unclear Product Definitions

Customers may be hesitant to invest time and resources into a product that they don’t fully understand or believe will benefit them.

🟠CONTINUE: Ensure effective internal alignment and gather feedback from all teams.

Learn from different departments within your organization. Knowledge sharing is important especially when building rapport with the whole team.

GTM Alignment with Sales & Marketing

Go-to-market (GTM) alignment between Customer Success (CS), Sales, and Marketing is often hailed as the secret weapon for growth, but the pressure to align these departments is stronger than ever. While many believe it’s a clear path to success, others view it with skepticism, questioning whether it drives tangible outcomes or is just another overhyped trend.

In our recent discussion, moderated by Harry Bandell, and Benedicte Ravn Rahbek, participants highlighted that the biggest hurdle to alignment comes from departmental silos. Teams often have different targets and goals, leading to closed-loop conversations where Sales focuses on deal-closing, Marketing on leads, and CS on customer retention. These misaligned objectives can stall collaboration and create friction, leaving many to wonder: are we fostering real synergy or just creating more layers of complexity?

Here’s a three-point concept from our discussion:

  1. Joint Planning Sessions: A Strategy for Cohesion or Futility?
  2. Shared KPIs: Aligned Goals or Conflicting Interests?
  3. The Reality of GTM Alignment: Is It a Game-Changer?

Joint Planning Sessions: A Strategy for Cohesion or Futility?

The idea behind joint planning is to bring together cross-functional teams to craft a unified go-to-market strategy. However, without the right framework, this can easily become an exercise in futility. One, pointed out that “overselling” due to poor communication between Sales and CS can result in unrealistic customer expectations. While Sales teams might push to close deals quickly, CS teams often have to face the fallout of unmet promises.

One model that shows promise is the “pods” concept, where personnel from different departments—CS, Sales, and Marketing—work together in smaller, cross-functional teams with shared targets. This structure promotes accountability and fosters cohesion across departments. Yet, as noted by a participant from Dayforce, pods can struggle without the inclusion of the right people (like marketing or product teams), leading to constant reshuffling and instability. The key takeaway? Cross-functional planning needs the right balance of structure and flexibility to work effectively.

Shared KPIs: Aligned Goals or Conflicting Interests?

Shared KPIs are often promoted as the glue that binds CS, Sales, and Marketing together. When done right, they create a common purpose, driving growth through collaboration. However, as another participant pointed out, focusing solely on revenue metrics like MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) or NRR (Net Revenue Retention) can sometimes lead to a misunderstanding of CS’s value. Sales teams, driven by revenue targets, may neglect accounts that are at risk of churning—leaving CS to pick up the pieces.

A balanced approach is needed, one that includes feedback loops and collaborative sessions between CS, Sales, and Product. This ensures that each team is aware of the customer journey and is focused on the long-term value, not just short-term wins. As suggested, hosting joint brainstorms or customer portfolio reviews every six months could provide a practical way to align teams around customer success rather than just sales success.

The Reality of GTM Alignment: Is It a Game-Changer?

While GTM alignment between CS, Sales, and Marketing is seen as crucial, it’s clear that true alignment requires much more than just setting up meetings or introducing shared KPIs. It’s about breaking down silos, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and ensuring that each team understands and appreciates the value that CS brings to the table.

Key strategies that can drive effective GTM alignment include:

Value-Based Communication & Stakeholder Management 

During this topic session, two ideas consistently take center stage: value-based communication and stakeholder management. We all talk about how essential these are, but are our efforts in these areas truly impactful, or are we simply recycling the same strategies? The urgency is clear, and now more than ever, it’s time to confront the tough questions:

  1. Is Value Based Communication delivering real value, or just lip service?
  2. In Stakeholder Management, Are We Meeting Unique Needs, or Spreading Ourselves Thin?
  3. Is Personalization a Buzzword or Game Changer?

Value-Based Communication: Is It Delivering Real Value or Just Lip Service?

The foundation of value-based communication lies in articulating the value your product or service brings to your customer. Yet, many organizations still fall into the trap of focusing on features rather than communicating the tangible impact these features have on customer success. As participants from a recent event discussed, the question isn’t whether we’re communicating—it’s whether we’re effectively delivering value.

Don’t just focus on the key decision-makers; ensure the broader team also understands how they benefit from your product. A participant from Relesys, also emphasized this as a crucial step in preventing future issues, especially when champions leave the organization.

Stakeholder Management: Are We Meeting Unique Needs, or Spreading Ourselves Thin?

Stakeholder management is about much more than just keeping key players informed. It’s about continuously engaging them and ensuring their expectations are being met throughout the customer journey. However, as our discussion highlighted, too often, businesses try to manage too many relationships at once, diluting the effectiveness of their communication.

Another shared how refining their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) allowed his team to reduce misaligned expectations and ensure better communication from the get-go.  Instead of frequent interactions, focus on fewer but more strategic engagements that offer clear value.

Personalization: A Buzzword or a Game-Changer?

Personalized engagement can often sound like just another buzzword, but when executed well, it can make all the difference. Whether it’s through stakeholder mapping or using tools like WhatsApp for customer communication (as suggested by Victor, a Customer Success Specialist at Agreena), personalization builds stronger, long-lasting relationships.

One of our joiners, emphasized that engagement is a key metric for measuring value. Even when there’s no clear metric for success, driving end-user adoption and maintaining engagement over time is crucial for showcasing long-term value.

In addition, we also gathered resources. In this topic,  Marcus Rentsch is a must-follow. On the other hand, Victor suggested how vital WhatsApp is, on communications like this. This is best for regular communication with customers as well. As for processes, here’s a list:

  1. Stakeholder Mapping – Document Key contacts in your CRM for post-preventative measures.
  2. Use a clear and value focused agenda.
  3. Develop Onboarding Templates to streamline the operations. 

Other frameworks include, Books, Courses, Podcasts and newsletters. So far, from the session, we’ve concluded this:

🟢 START: Be mindful of your audience and tailor your communication style to their preferences. If your message isn’t landing, change your approach.

To do so, understanding your audience’s perspective is crucial. Consider their background, experience, and communication style, and pay close attention to your audience’s verbal and nonverbal cues. 

🔴 STOP: Do not apply a one-size-fits-all approach in all your communication styles. 

You must recognize that people have unique communication styles. Some may prefer direct and concise messages, while others may require more detailed explanations. Whenever possible, personalize your communication to make it more engaging and relevant to your audience.

🟠CONTINUE: Be alert to changes in customer behavior and signals of potential shifts in their needs to ensure your strategies remain relevant.

One approach is to regularly seek feedback from your customers to understand their evolving needs and expectations. This can be done through surveys, focus groups, or one-on-one conversations.

Here’s a simplified breakdown of the resources:

Customer Insights:

📌https://www.google.com/alerts

📌https://www.insightpartners.com/ideas/accelerating-value-with-value-gap-mapping/ 

📌https://info.insightpartners.com/rs/936-JAF-209/images/Creating-Value-Based-Relationships-Through-Customer-Success.pdf 

Strengthening Relationships:

📌https://www.boblondon.co/s/Bob-London-QBR-Fatigue-ClientSuccess.pdf 

📌https://www.boblondon.co/how-to-do-b2b-customer-discovery/v/837628mz3c7adw63w4za2y3wjbyr6x 

📌https://www.boblondon.co/how-to-do-b2b-customer-discovery/v/tfu-and-let-your-customers-voice-be-heard-with-bob-london 

Client Change Management & Tooling 

In the world of Customer Success, managing client expectations and guiding them through change can make or break the entire onboarding experience. Change is never easy, especially when it involves new systems, processes, or ways of working. As CSMs, we often find ourselves caught between delivering on the promises made during sales and ensuring that users truly adopt the solution. 

The challenge lies not only in implementing the tools but in managing the human side of change—ensuring that decision-makers and end-users alike see the value and embrace it. How we handle this delicate balance defines whether we’re driving long-term success or losing clients in transition.

Some of the most highlighted things we discussed are:

  1. The Complexity of Change Management
  2. Aligning Expectations and Readiness for Change
  3. The Role of Tools in Change Management

The Complexity of Change Management

Change is inherently difficult, especially when clients are asked to adopt new ways of working that may disrupt their established routines. Sales teams often paint an attractive picture of the benefits a new product or service will bring, but once onboarding begins, the reality of the “hard stuff” emerges. Suddenly, clients are faced with complexities that weren’t fully apparent during the sales pitch.

A common issue is the disconnect between decision-makers and end-users. Decision-makers might sign off on the solution, but it’s the end-users who need to implement and adjust to the change. If onboarding is not carefully structured, these users may feel overwhelmed, resulting in disengagement and, ultimately, failed adoption. As onboarding specialists, it’s vital to split the process: business goals and system settings should be discussed with decision-makers, while hands-on training and practical discussions should be reserved for the users.

Frequent follow-ups are also essential. We need to consistently check in with clients to ensure that knowledge is being shared internally and that users feel confident with the new solution. Asking questions like, “How do your colleagues feel about the new system?” can help gauge the level of internal buy-in.

Aligning Expectations and Readiness for Change

Misaligned expectations are one of the most common obstacles in client change management. Too often, promises made during the sales process do not align with the realities that the client experiences during implementation. This forces onboarding specialists to play the role of the “bad cop,” resetting expectations and bringing clients back to a more realistic understanding of the product or service.

Establishing a clear framework for the onboarding process can mitigate these issues. Outlining what the client can expect—and, crucially, what is expected of them—early on, even during the sales process, ensures smoother transitions and better results. Involving onboarding specialists in the sales process from the start can help bridge the gap between client expectations and readiness for change.

The Role of Tools in Change Management

Another key aspect of client change management is leveraging tools effectively. But are these tools really helping, or are they complicating the process further?

For many specialists, tools like Salesforce, Asana, and Totango offer ways to manage client onboarding, track tasks, and share relevant materials. However, these tools can become burdensome if not implemented correctly. One major challenge is ensuring that clients ramp up and adopt these tools fast enough, particularly when there are both software and hardware components to manage. The latter often proves to be more complex, leading to slower adoption rates.

Creating better structures to transition projects from decision-makers to end-users is critical. Encouraging self-learning through “academy platforms” or tooltips can empower users to adopt and explore systems independently. For some, setting up paid sandbox trials or light “proof-of-concept” periods can help ease clients into new systems, while offering CS teams an opportunity to better align expectations from the outset.

From the topics that were raised, we concluded the following:

🟢 START: Focusing on Users: Involve users early by providing sales materials they can share. 

Always keep in mind that psychology matters. Understand user emotions and behaviors. As for the user journey, analyze the entire user experience, and get feedback from users early on.

🔴 STOP: Stop listening: People working in silos won’t do you much good. 

Silos hinder communication and cooperation, preventing teams from sharing knowledge, resources, and best practices.

🟠 CONTINUE: Share Information: To onboarding from sales. 

Effective communication and information sharing between sales and onboarding teams are essential for a seamless customer experience. 

Communities, Playbooks, & Automation 

Communities, playbooks, and automation are heralded as essential tools in today’s landscape.  At a recent discussion led by Mohammad Kolahdouzan and Katrine Eiter, we took a hard look at these strategies, exploring their actual impact and the challenges they pose. 

  1. Are communities more than just a trend?
  2. Is automation boosting efficiency or hindering connection?
  3. A Pragmatic Approach for 2024

Are communities more than just a trend?

The Promise: Playbooks are designed to provide structured guidance for CSMs to deliver consistent results across various customer interactions, especially during onboarding and engagement milestones.

The Reality: While playbooks work well for onboarding and specific cases—such as tech support ticketing—many organizations find they don’t suit every situation. The problem? Customers are diverse, and generic playbooks often miss the mark. They risk being either too detailed or too rigid, and sometimes, internal teams don’t use them at all.

What Works: Playbooks function best as flexible frameworks rather than strict manuals. CSMs benefit when given the freedom to tailor playbooks to unique client needs. Additionally, playbooks should be closely tied to data and customer feedback, evolving as new insights emerge.

Is automation boosting efficiency or hindering connection?

Automation is expected to free up time for CSMs by handling routine tasks, enabling them to focus on more strategic, high-value work. That’s the promise. But here’s the reality.

Automation is often relegated to onboarding, where standardized processes are most effective. After that, it’s frequently abandoned. Why? Because customers are different, and so are their needs. It’s difficult to build automated workflows that account for these differences beyond the initial onboarding phase.

What Could Work instead is this. CSMs need to map the customer journey more effectively, identifying touchpoints where automation can drive value without sacrificing personalization. The challenge lies in integrating data from various tools to provide real-time insights for more strategic automation post-onboarding. MixPanel, for example, could help bridge this gap by offering deeper behavioral insights to inform automated touchpoints.

A Pragmatic Approach for 2024

Instead of ignoring non-ideal customers, companies should develop scalable ways to engage them while ensuring they still receive value. Tools like Gainsight and Totango can aid in prioritizing accounts by health scores and usage data.

Another is conducting A/B tests on outreach strategies to refine playbooks and optimize engagement. Meanwhile. building a robust data foundation for better segmentation, automation, and real-time decision-making is also essential.

As we reflect on the role of communities, playbooks, and automation, it’s clear that these tools are not one-size-fits-all solutions. Success in digital CS depends on continuously refining these strategies based on real-world results, data-driven insights, and genuine customer feedback. By taking a pragmatic approach—starting new initiatives, stopping ineffective ones, and continuing those that provide value—CS teams can drive meaningful outcomes in 2024 and beyond.

Here are the resources to leverage:

  1. A/B Testing for CS Strategies – Optimizely or Google Optimize for A/B testing tools.
  2. Account Prioritization Using Data – Gainsight, Planhat, Totango for account health analytics and prioritization CS tools.
  3. Looking at the Entire Customer Lifecycle – “The Customer Success Economy” by Nick Mehta & Allison Pickens (book)
  4. Utilizing Data for Account Segmentation – HubSpot or Segment for advanced data-driven customer segmentation.

In conclusion, we were able to finalize this framework:

🟢 START: Build a community.

To enhance customer engagement and satisfaction, analyze customer data to identify opportunities for segmentation and personalized interactions. Balance automation with personal touch to ensure a positive experience. Finally, build communities for specific customer groups to foster deeper connections and engagement.

🔴 STOP: Using irrelevant playbooks.

Often, the number of playbooks available online can feel overwhelming and every one will seem like this shiny new object, however it’s also important to remember that it doesn’t guarantee that it’ll work for you. 

🟠 CONTINUE: Create Client Days.

Client Days can be powerful events to foster stronger relationships and deepen customer engagement. Make it more powerful with eventful locations. Choose a location that is meaningful to your customers or aligns with your brand. Also ensure that the atmosphere breathes an ambiance ready for celebration. 

Customer Marketing (Cases/Multi-Threading)

Case studies have become a vital tool for both Customer Success and Marketing teams, but are they genuinely showcasing real impact or simply cherry-picking success stories? During a recent session moderated by Mariana Vagos, participants emphasized the importance of choosing authentic client narratives that truly demonstrate the value of products and services. 

Engaging clients in the creation of these success stories is crucial, ensuring they see the value in participating rather than viewing it as a mere favor.

Let’s breakdown the topics into three parts:

  1. Aligning Customer Success with Marketing
  2. Building Trust and Fostering Relationships
  3. Multi-Threading: Engaging Multiple Stakeholders

Aligning Customer Success with Marketing

For customer marketing to be effective, collaboration between Customer Success and Marketing teams is essential. Marketing requires insights and data from CS to craft compelling content that resonates with potential customers. Customer advocacy programs can serve as excellent avenues for generating success stories, but it’s important to maintain a balance to avoid overwhelming clients with constant requests for participation.

Building Trust and Fostering Relationships

Ultimately, the goal of these strategies is to build trust and deepen relationships with clients. During the discussion, participants highlighted the need to incentivize clients to participate in marketing efforts without making them feel exploited for sales. Establishing partnerships where both sides derive value seems the best way forward.

Multi-Threading: Engaging Multiple Stakeholders

Multi-threading emerged as a significant strategy for fostering stronger client relationships. By connecting with various stakeholders within a client’s organization—decision-makers, end-users, and influencers—CS teams can create a broader safety net for their relationships. However, this approach presents challenges, such as conflicting priorities among stakeholders. The consensus is that effective communication and stakeholder mapping from the outset can mitigate these conflicts, leading to more robust partnerships.

For more info like this, then it’s a must to join our CS Snack Events and be updated on the latest trends in the Customer Success industry. Learn from over 450 Professionals all over Europe.

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