In this episode, Matthew Armstrong, Head of Customer Success at Sidechain Security, shares insights into building a thriving customer success organization.

We learn about aligning objectives with clear metrics, proactive engagement, and personalized approaches.

We discuss the importance of cross-functional collaboration and gathering post-sale feedback for continuous improvement—essential traits of successful customer success initiatives.

Matthew also offers practical tips for setting up a customer success team and emphasizes the importance of every person in every department of the organization adopting a customer-centric mindset.

#salesconsultantpodcast #customersuccess #cs #b2bsales #growth #value

Time Stamps:

[4:00] A story that epitomizes the pinnacle of customer success: From a modest $150,000 initial order to a staggering $40M in total purchases.

[8:00] - When customers fail to realize the value of their purchase.

{12:30] - When sales over promises on the capabilities of the product and CS is left to clean up.

[14:50] - Why CS should report into Sales or be its own business unit reporting to the CEO.

[18:30] - Collecting customer insights post-sale for the purpose of becoming more buyer-centric.

[20:00] - The importance of conducting interviews and truly being in tune with customer as opposed to only relying on stale surveys.

[22:00] - What it looks like in the early days of building out a new CS function including the top KPIs and where the priorities lie as a leader.

[25:00] - When it makes sense to assign a dedicated CS Manager (CSM) to a single account.

[27:35] - Advice to aspiring CS professionals: The worst thing you can say is, “that’s not my job”.

Connect with Matthew:

Matthew’s LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwarmstrong/

Connect with Derrick:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrickis3linksales/

These interviews are also available on Derrick’s YouTube page - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFfMnGtGWVrzO3BorCimojw