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Giving key customers regular face-time with your executives is a great way to strengthen the relationship. But which leaders should you tap in, and how do you use these meetings effectively? Growth Molecules™ Managing Director SABINA M. PONS, MA has some thoughts. In her new article for the #VitallySuccessNetwork, Sabina shares her best tips for managing an effective executive sponsor program. For example: 𝟭. 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀 "Let’s say your CFO previously worked at a CRM company. If your client is a CRM software provider, then you may peer-match the CFO to that account. "Even though they may not know the intimate logistics of the service offering or the license types the customer purchased at the granular user level, they may have enough rapport at the executive level to talk industry shop." 𝟮. 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 "𝘄𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲" "Commercial white space is about whether there’s an opportunity to grow and expand an account or if they have already bought all your products or services...There are customers where you’ve only scratched the surface and there’s a lot of commercial white space or opportunities to expand sales into other departments or divisions of the account. "You also need to look at product or service white space. Consider how the customer is leveraging your offering in comparison to their peers’ utilization. Expanding how many of your product or service categories an account leverages creates a stickier customer who’s less likely to churn." If your company doesn't have an executive sponsor program yet, read the full article to get up to speed: https://lnkd.in/guKtcHZW #CustomerSuccess #HighTouch #MultiThreading

Is your team re-inventing the wheel every time a customer comes up for renewal? These ready-to-use #VitallyBlueprints can help. Check out how Tomas Williams, Mary Migiano, Mark Stagi, and the Vitally team have used our platform to manage, automate, and streamline the renewal process and improve retention. And be sure to click into each playbook for an interactive tour of how to set up these playbooks in Vitally. https://lnkd.in/gFCaBRNx #CustomerRenewal #CustomerRetention #CustomerSuccess #CustomerSuccessPlatform

To build trust with clients, Giftpack's David Barnes uses a classic communication framework he learned in school: 𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀, 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗼𝘀. Here's how he explains it in his latest #VitallySuccessNetwork article: 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀: 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 "Customers look to us not just for product knowledge but for insights that connect directly to their industry and goals...For instance, when talking to a healthcare client, I share best practices from others in the field to show that my advice is informed by industry standards, not just product specs." 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀: 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 "Recognizing the human element is key. Many clients are overwhelmed with various responsibilities, and we become valuable partners when we can take on some of those burdens. I let my clients know, 'I’m here to make your life easier, not harder.' Addressing their concerns with empathy opens the door for them to see me as a partner invested in their goals, not just a support contact." 𝗟𝗼𝗴𝗼𝘀: 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰 "Every recommendation I make is backed by data, whether it’s a case study from a similar customer or tracked outcomes within our platform. Using data to support my insights allows customers to feel confident that our strategies are grounded in real results." Learn more of David's tips for becoming a trusted consultant to your clients at: https://lnkd.in/gd4kS3P7 #CustomerSuccess #trust #ethos #pathos #logos

"Customer-centricity" 🤔 All CS teams talk about it, but how do you get other departments to play along? We asked SABINA M. PONS, MA, Dr. Mike Lee, Kari Ardalan, Stijn Smet 🐳, Jolyn Isabelo, Laura Kightlinger, Rathna kumar, and Kellie Lucas for their best advice on creating a customer-first culture in your organization. Watch 'One Vital Question' episode #17 to hear what they had to say: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gbsu2spn #CustomerSuccess #CompanyCulture #VitallySuccessNetwork

Meet the new Vitally Demo Center 👋 Our new Demo Center makes it even easier for anyone to instantly experience all the different features of the Vitally platform. In the Demo Center, you'll find over 15 interactive product tours built using Navattic. These tours take you from end to end so you can fully understand how to use Vitally and get the most out of the platform. Hop on in! We're looking forward to showing you what Vitally can do for you and your #customersuccess team. Visit today: https://lnkd.in/grKmhufH

Congrats to Alexis McBride, Tyler Stratton, Michaela Anderson, Phillip Klugman, Brittany Milbourne and the rest of the world-class CS team at Writer on this incredible milestone! Keep growing! 🚀 #CustomerSuccess #GenAI #EnterpriseAI

Customer survey tip of the day: "𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲." As our SVP of Global Customer Success Kelley Turner writes in her new blog article: "A common pitfall I’ve noticed in survey creation is the lack of a clearly defined goal...Companies should focus on gathering actionable insights that will inform specific improvements. "When customer feedback is tied directly to actionable items — such as product enhancements, customer service improvements, or onboarding processes — it enables businesses to refine their strategies in real time." Scratching your head about low response rates from your customer surveys? Check out Kelley's best advice for survey structure, timing, personalization, and closing the feedback loop so your customers are excited to take more of your surveys in the future.   🔗 https://lnkd.in/gEa53HRZ #CustomerSuccess #communication

We're in the thick of Q4, and I've noticed 3 very, very common themes from all the CS Leaders I've been speaking with: 🚀 Customer Success is a Critical Growth Driver In a competitive landscape, retention has always been the name of the game. But now, CS teams are stepping up in a bigger way - more than just keeping customers happy, they’re directly tied to the company’s bottom line. In fact, it's becoming clear that Customer Success isn't just about preventing churn; it’s about expanding relationships and driving revenue. 📈 CS Teams are (still) expected to 'Do More With Less' This is a theme that seems universal no matter where you go. The demand for CS teams to manage bigger portfolios with fewer resources is growing. But it’s not all doom and gloom - there are tools (like Vitally.io 🙂 ) and strategies emerging that empower CS teams to be more efficient and effective in delivering value at scale. 🔍 Data-Driven Decision Making is the Future Whether it’s spotting expansion opportunities or tracking customer health in real time, having the right data at your fingertips is more crucial than ever. Real-time insights allow CS teams to act faster, enabling proactive engagement with customers before issues arise and opening doors for upsell opportunities when the time is right. It'll be interesting to see how these trends evolve in 2025, especially with AI making its way into the mix 🤖

"If I could sit in on your next board meeting, what do you think the top priority or challenge being discussed would be?" This is Bob London's go-to question for understanding the customer’s bigger picture. As he writes: "Early in my consulting career, I realized that kicking things off with product metrics or account statuses was too narrow. Customers want to talk about what matters to them, and that usually starts with their company’s priorities and challenges, which are far above your specific product or service... "This question catches people off guard — in a good way. It’s disarming and immediately shifts the conversation from a transactional exchange to something more strategic. Once we understand their priorities at a high level, it becomes easier to connect the dots between their business goals and how we can help achieve them." Over the course of 2,800+ B2B discovery conversations, Bob has collected a wealth of knowledge on how to communicate with customers in a way that builds trust and uncovers hidden opportunities, and he shares some of his best lessons in his new article for the #VitallySuccessNetwork. If you feel like your clients have been tuning you out lately, this one is a must-read 🔗 https://lnkd.in/g-5tj__9

When Donna Weber works with B2B #CustomerSuccess teams, she uses a four-stage model to understand the maturity of their onboarding processes. Those stages are: 🩹 REACTING: Your time is spent jumping from fire to fire. Every customer gets a different experience because consistent processes haven’t been defined. ⏲️ PERFORMING: You have a formal playbook for how to onboard new customers and you might even have a dedicated onboarding team, but you still rely on manual processes. 🤖 SCALING: You start leveraging technology to address customer and internal needs, in order to handle a larger volume of customers efficiently. 💰 OPTIMIZING: You can demonstrate the impact of customer onboarding on your business's bottom line by quantifying improvements in customer retention, lifetime value, or customer support costs. But here's the important part: You can't skip a step. As Donna writes in her latest #VitallySuccessNetwork article: "A lot of people look for technology before they define the process. They want technology to be the magic bullet, so they skip right over the Performing stage and straight to Scaling. They invest a lot of money in technology, spend time implementing it, and then incur additional costs ripping it out because it didn't magically improve everything." Read the full article to learn how using a customer onboarding maturity model helps you deliver value to your customers faster and ensure your team members are working efficiently with the resources they have. ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gWeh6AJC