Chris Hicken

Product-led, sales-led, marketing-led... Why doesn’t anyone say they’re a customer-led growth company?

@MTemkin @TechCrunch @MTemkin we're doing a big AI product launch on Dec 10th. Short story - take down the huge (but boring) category of customer experience software - think big companies like Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, Medallia. Interested in a chat?

Some personal news. I am beyond thrilled to announce that today is my first day as a venture capital and startup reporter at @TechCrunch . I can’t believe I’ll be working alongside some of the best reporters and editors on the beat.

What should CS Ops Own? Our own, @bohappa contributed, to this thoughtful piece along with several other leaders - worth a read. about 'CS Ops is the 2.0 Leader’s Secret Weapon'. #CustomerSuccess #simplifyingCS #CSOps #leadership #SaaS bit.ly/3yBd3x1

Check out my lateast, thanks to @ChrisHicken, CEO @nuffsaid : linkedin.com/posts/jebdaste…

See my LinkedIn post linkedin.com/posts/dsakamot… for the list of amazing leaders who contributed their insights based on their deep background in #customersuccess. Also check out how awesome the volume is!!! @ChrisHicken @emiliadanzica

Customer Success is like an injury. Focusing on retention is like going to a physical therapist. Focusing on churn is like taking a painkiller. Which leads to better outcomes?

The future of SaaS is customer-led growth 🔮

“The metric we care about the most ... more than growth, more than gross profit, more than anything else in the business — is retention.” @MackeyCraven, @OpenViewVenture Watch Mackey's full answer from our Q&A on How CS Becomes More Strategic at the Executive Level:

How would you define Customer-Led Growth to your CEO?

What's your process for facilitating feedback between CSMs? Any tactics that have worked for you that other teams should consider trying?

Read the full piece here: edbatista.com/2021/04/the-ju…

We featured it in a recent issue of Success Happy Hour because it's highly actionable for leaders and brings home why structure is crucial as you scale. One of my favorite quotes:

Some of you know I'm a fan of structure—calendars, meeting hygiene, email, you name it. So it shouldn't be a surprise that I'd recommend reading this article from @edbatista on why larger companies need more structure.

Questions you should be asking to hiring your next great CSM:

In five years, we'll come back to this episode of 'wellsaid with @Jeff_Heckler to see if we were right: The future of SaaS is customer-led growth 🔮 Here's why:

"Make them talk about you at dinner tonight." @Tesla's customer philosophy guides every decision a team member takes. The answer to “how should I approach this problem?” is simple: do what it takes to make them talk about you at dinner tonight.

I have been asked to create content for @CSInsiderReport revolving around Cross-Department Collaboration. If you’re in a department other than #CustomerSuccess and would like to help me/share ideas, let me know! #MarketingTwitter

@ashvinvai @hapapower @SherrodPatching @emiliadanzica @peterarmaly @adamhjoseph @FarmerAlexE You mean besides the usual boiler churn plate reasons? 1) Champion left, 2) Low product usage, 3) Lost budget, 4) Competitors, 5) Bad fit I'd wager money that the actual reason for churn (most of the time) is the product doesn't solve a severe, ongoing problem for the customer

What Customer Success leaders should I follow here? @jnoble100, @BoazMaor, @jaynathan, @KristenHayer, @emiliadanzica, and @hapapower are great. Who else?

Listen to Lauren’s advice: share.transistor.fm/s/7b576c8b

"At the end of the day, customers want to be told the best practice. They want to be told what to do. And so if you give them a really clear path, it turns out they do really well. In terms of scalability and cost effectiveness, you are fighting less unique fires down the road.”

All customers are unique and special, but you shouldn’t treat them that way… At least not during onboarding.