Success Club - The Breakfast of Champions

October didn’t just bring ?? season and ?? spice - it came packed with Customer Success engagements too.

I had the pleasure of joining the first Customer Success Snack event in Bucharest as a group moderator — an experience full of CX learning insights, brought to us by Mick Weijers , Custify & Mirro.io . This led me to realize that these opportunities to build a thriving Customer Success community are invaluable, fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and a healthy dose of innovation.

?? The event gathered CSM professionals to dive into subjects, like:

?? Efficiency & Prompt Engineering (AI)

?? Customer Success Enablement

?? GTM Alignment with Sales & Marketing

?? Value-Based Communication & Stakeholder Management

?? Customer Marketing (Cases/Multi-Threading)

?? Team Structure & Compensation

I've personally, moderated the "Team Structure & Compensation" group & here's the scoop on the brainstorming session we had:

Scaling personalization was a big topic. For low-touch customers, group training sessions and onboarding calls were championed as time-savers that still create a sense of community. And yes, using tools like Loom for personalized replies and #AI for scaled automation kept popping up—because who doesn’t want to work smarter, not harder? ??

Compensation got a lot of attention too. Flexible plans that separate #customersuccess from sales incentives were seen as crucial for focusing on customer retention and growth. Aligning team incentives with long-term goals rather than quick wins? A must.

Cross-department collaboration was also a hot topic. Regular cross-functional projects and meetings are the secret sauce to a seamless customer journey. Plus, tiered customer success models were praised for effectively allocating resources and tailoring support to client needs, from low-touch to “white glove” service. This strategy, plus role-specific compensation tweaks, keeps teams motivated.

We all nodded vigorously to the importance of staying customer-centric. Metrics like NPS don’t always fly globally, so adapting feedback strategies to fit different cultural contexts is essential. Leveraging CRMs and engagement platforms? No-brainer ?? Also, regular team huddles and cross-functional chats? They’re still the MVPs for aligning teams and sharing victories. No one likes working in a vacuum.

Some practices got the thumbs down, too. One-size-fits-all strategies? Out. Sales and CS as a single department? Frowned upon. Rigid comp plans? Time to move on. Bonuses tied to customer success metrics and short-term “spiffs” are the way to go ????.

A standout session on customer marketing and multi-threading highlighted different tactics. Oracle’s many-contact approach versus Verifone’s centralized style sparked debate. The lesson? Engage multiple stakeholders and avoid relying on one key contact ????♀?.

The event reaffirmed how much shared knowledge and community matter in CS. A connected CS network boosts everyone’s game through collaboration and innovation.

You can find an in-depth article on the topic, complete with insights from all the focus groups, here ?? https://customersuccesssnack.com/beyond-one-size-fits-all-customizing-customer-success-management-strategies-with-insights-from-our-bucharest-cs-snack-breakfast/

Can’t wait to see what’s next for this growing community and the lessons we’ll uncover together.