Must-Reads for Customer Success Professionals

The Melo Associates pearls represent our philosophy, as our logo features a pearl that symbolizes purity, integrity and loyalty. These qualities direct all of Melo Associates’ business in Customer Success and Professional Services, operational and relational decisions, and foundational beliefs.

As Customer Success and Professional Services continue to evolve, staying ahead of the curve is crucial. In this edition of 'The Pearls of Wisdom', we’re highlighting books for Customer Success and Professional Services professionals. These works, from a variety of leaders, practical guidance and celebrate the power in driving business growth and customer satisfaction. Whether you're a seasoned leader or an aspiring professional, these books should be added to your "READ" list.

The Chief Customer Officer Playbook By Rod Cherkas

• "Being a Chief Customer Officer can be the most rewarding role you will ever have. It requires you to achieve a balance of strong results for customers, employees, and your company. You can develop and master the skills you need to be a successful CCO. This book will show you how to accelerate your career growth, build your confidence, and deliver stronger, repeatable results. Now more than ever, customer-facing leaders need to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive and challenging market. You must consistently show that the skills you possess and the strategies you apply translate into organizational success."

Customer Communities: Engage and Retain Customers to Build the Future of Your Business by Nick Mehta and Robin van Lieshout

• "In Customer Communities: Engage and Retain Customers to Build the Future of Your Business, Nick Mehta and Robin Van Lieshout deliver an actionable playbook on how to cultivate meaningful communities that fuel quantifiable business growth. In the book, you’ll learn how to capitalize on this new growth strategy to scale your company and develop excitement around your products and your firm. The authors outline the 10 foundational Laws of Community, explaining why community development does not need to be expensive and how to integrate community in the heart of your customer journey."

Customer Success: How Innovative Companies Are Reducing Churn and Growing Recurring Revenue By Gainsight 's Nick Mehta, Dan Steinman , and Lincoln Murphy

• "Customer Success is the foundation of SaaS. But what exactly is it? Where did it come from? Where is it going? Three of the pioneers and thought leaders of the movement answer those questions and more in this definitive book."

The Customer Success Economy By Nick Mehta and Allison Pickens

• "The Customer Success Economy builds on the success of Gainsight and addresses how Customer Success is practiced at organizations across various industries."

Customer Success Mindset: Building Customer-Centricity into the DNA of your Growth Strategy by Jyo Shukla

• "Unlock unlimited growth potential for your business using your biggest advocates: your customers. Being a truly customer-centric organization goes beyond just having a customer success function. This book talks about some strategies that will help you adopt a company-wide customer-first mindset to fuel your growth."

The Customer Success Professional's Handbook: How to Thrive in One of the World's Fastest Growing Careers--While Driving Growth For Your Company by Ashvin Vaidyanathan and Ruben Rabago

• "The Customer Success Professional’s Handbook is the definitive reference book for CSMs and similar roles in the field. This practical, first-of-its-kind manual fills a significant gap in professional customer success literature, providing the knowledge every CSM needs to succeed―from the practitioner level all the way to senior leadership. The authors―acknowledged experts in building, training, and managing Customer Success teams―offer real-world guidance and practical advice for aspiring and experienced CSMs alike. The handbook is written by practitioners for practitioners."

Digital Customer Success: Why the Next Frontier of CS is Digital and How You Can Leverage it to Drive Durable Growth by Nick Mehta and Kellie Capote

• "In Digital Customer Success: The Next Frontier, a team of trailblazing Customer Success professionals and digital entrepreneurs delivers an insightful discussion of the next stage in Customer Success management. In the book, you'll discover how to design and deploy touchless and automated digital interventions that help your software users learn and grow as they use your product and unlock the value trapped within it ― without ever needing to reach out to a live Customer Success Manager."

Mastering Customer Success By Jeff Mar and Peter Armaly

• "This Customer Success book offers a comprehensive framework for mastering essential skills in a rapidly evolving field. It covers key areas like account segmentation, financial tiering, and customer engagement, with practical guidance on playbook development for CSMs and Operations Managers. Through case studies, it illustrates successful Customer Success implementation, highlighting the resilience needed to build and operate effective organizations. By the end, you'll be equipped with the tactics and mindset to excel as a Customer Success leader, driving growth and exceeding customer expectations."

Mastering Product Experience By Mickey Alon , Myk Pono ???? , and Nick Bonfiglio

• "According to a 2022 Harvard Business Review study, 96% of respondents believe the quality of an organization’s digital product experience has a direct impact on the quality of its customer experience. This book is an invaluable resource on today’s recurring revenue growth model and will change the way you look at expanding through your customer base."

Onboarding Matters: How Successful Companies Transform New Customers Into Loyal Champions By Donna Weber

• "Without a customer onboarding plan, you're losing customers and future revenue. Onboarding is crucial in the customer journey, yet many B2B companies fail to act proactively, leaving Customer Success teams to reactively save accounts and fight fires. A successful onboarding program leads to more satisfied customers, higher solution adoption, and increased customer lifetime value. In Onboarding Matters, Donna Weber introduces the Orchestrated Onboarding? framework, transforming onboarding from a missed opportunity into a competitive advantage."

Onboard and Upwards: Creating out-of-the-world onboarding journeys by Srikrishnan Ganesan and Shuvedha Subramaniam

• "Adding a big logo to your customer base is only half the battle won. Making a stellar first impression and setting yourself up for a long-term successful relationship with them? That's where you need reinforcements. This short fiction follows the story of the team at RevRocket as they deal with the myriad complexities that crop up when you work towards bringing customer-centricity into your team's DNA. Pick up this book to learn what out-of-the-world customer onboarding looks like."

Pressing ON as a Tech Mom: How Tech Industry Mothers Set Goals, Define Boundaries and Raise the Bar for Success by Emilia D'Anzica, MBA, PMP , and SABINA M. PONS, MA

• "Distilling wisdom from interviews with more than 300 tech industry leaders who are moms themselves, D’Anzica and Pons have assembled the ultimate list of tips, strategies and resources for tech mothers trying to balance their family lives along with their career aspirations. Though the industry can be hostile to ambitious mothers, Pressing ON as a Tech Mom offers them helpful strategies and calls on male allies to support them in challenging workplace sexism. In the process, D’Anzica and Pons present the hopeful future of a tech world that views mothers as assets precisely because of their identities and not in spite of them."

REACH By Rod Cherkas

• "REACH is a strategic guide that empowers Customer Success and Account Management teams to systematically generate expansion revenue and enhance customer value. By understanding and applying the principles of Relationships, Engagement, Actions, Customer Value, and Horizons, professionals can predictably achieve growth and elevate their roles to become proactive revenue generators."

Reimagine Customer Success: Designing Organizations Around Customer Value by Sasi Yajamanyam

• "Each major economic shift from the Industrial age to the Digital age has given rise to new sets of management practices. Yet, we have not changed how companies are organized and teams are managed to reflect the needs of the Digital age. Reimagine Customer Success explores how to design organizations that manage customer relationships, with a focus on organization-wide alignment around the customer and what success means to them."

The Startup's Guide to Customer Success: How to Champion the Customer at Your Company by Jennifer Chiang

• "Are you looking to start or grow a customer success team? Customer success is no longer just for companies with large teams and resources. It's a company mindset that can unlock the biggest opportunities in business. Customer success can help streamline experiences, grow product engagement and loyalty, and more importantly — retain business. In The Startup's Guide to Customer Success, Jennifer Chiang presents a guide on how to plan, execute, and grow your own customer success team and the actionable steps that you can take to champion the customer at your company."

Coming Soon: The Customer Excellence Enterprise: A Playbook for Creating Customers for Life by Wayne Simmons, CCXP and Tom DeWitt, Ph.D.

• "The Customer Excellence Enterprise: A Playbook for Creating Customers for Life is a must-have for the boards of directors, C-Suite executives, line of business leaders and managers, marketers, sales teams, product leaders, human resources, customer experience, operations and other customer-facing professionals tasked with answering pressing questions like, Why are exceptional customer experiences still so rare? and If customers are truly the most valuable of corporate assets, why are they consistently being treated so poorly? This book serves as an invaluable tool and urgent call to action for anyone committed to elevating how customers are viewed, treated, and valued―the keys to creating customers for life."

In the ever-evolving world of Customer Success and Professional Services, a commitment to continually learning is the key to staying ahead and even just keeping up with the times. These books are not just resources but are discussing topics shaping the future of Customer Success, Professional Services, and Tech. Let us know which books you've read!

*All descriptions from the book come from purchasing pages of each.

Upcoming Event:

Our 'The Talent Lens: Success Magnified' webinar series is designed to support professional growth. Rachel Provan , Founder and CEO of Provan Success, LLC , has partnered with Melo Associates to support professional growth through speaking on 'Beyond Busy: Strategic Time Management for CS Leaders and CSMs'. Register today and join us September 25th at 11am CST .

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