John (JJ) Jarnagin

CSM, get out of the hamster wheel before you burn out. ❌ Stop fire-fighting ❌ Stop with check-in calls ❌ Stop reacting to your inbox ❌ Stop taking support queries ❌ Stop ineffective repetitive tasks ❌ Stop solving for this month's number ❌ Stop emailing unresponsive contacts ❌ Stop only prioritising in-month renewals ❌ Stop manually doing what should be automated A ton of hard work. Very little to show for it. You'll never get out of the rat race if you keep working this way. Here's a different and better way of CSM-ing: ✅ Establish your customers' expected outcomes ✅ Build a Success Plan from day one ✅ Ensure they have the right set-up ✅ Hold customers accountable ✅ Report on and share results ✅ Ask if they intend to renew ✅ Monitor leading indicators ✅ Pick up the phone ✅ Multi-thread Proactive, strategic and consultative. 1000x better. If reading this makes you feel ashamed because you don't know where to start or overwhelmed because your current work situation is too chaotic to create the time for this, you're not alone. Thousands of CSMs feel exactly the same way. I know what you're thinking: -> You can't afford to stop right now -> You don't have time to make changes -> You only need to weather the storm and things will get better I've been there too. But these are the excuses that are holding you back. Nobody is coming to save you. You need to save yourself. So here's my advice: 🛑 Stop everything 🛑 Book 2 days "OOO" in your calendar. And do these 3 exercises: 1- Create a Calendar Blueprint: Set up a separate calendar from your current one. You'll use this to design a new calendar blueprint for yourself. You should add every single thing you need to do proactively in this calendar, it's the baseline for you to start changing the make-up of your working day. 📆 I'll link the one I designed for CSMs in the comments. 2- Book of Business Review: Do a full review of your customers and place them into one of the 4 buckets of priority. This way you can decide which customers to pay attention to and which ones to de-prioritise at this time. 🧰 Engagement prioritisation framework linked in the comments. 3- Calendar Planning Book or delete meetings based on customers you need to prioritise over the coming 6-8 weeks. Craft unique messages to send to these customers with compelling reasons why they should attend. 🤖 Use the T.A.V.U method I shared in the newsletter a few weeks ago + ChatGPT can help you be efficient here. Do these 3 things and I promise you that you'll: - get better results - transform your work-life - improve your mental health Create the space. 📥 If you're interested in improving your Customer Success skills, consider joining 10k+ CS Professionals who read my weekly newsletter on how to build and scale a CS Team [sign up in the comments section]. #csm #customersuccess #customerexperience #revops #saas

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The humble Note template can be one of the most powerful weapons in a CSM's arsenal. They make your life easier *and* make customer interactions more meaningful. Here are 10 Note templates that our own Senior CSM Mimi Marani uses every day to standardize common customer touchpoints and bring chaos into order. https://lnkd.in/gDrK7_AX

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When I was at Salesforce, they doubled spend on new customers in the first 12 months. New customer acquisition is so tough right now. Nothing is more critical than retaining and growing existing customers. Here are some of the plays I learned at Salesforce: 1. Product Whitespace - Run a report for each Account Mgr - Show products purchased by account - Show products not purchased by account - Account Mgr can now call down accordingly 2. Stakeholder Whitespace - Run a report for each Account Mgr - Show key stakeholder roles by account - Show who we’ve contacted and who not - Show who we’ve met and who we haven’t - Account Mgr can now call down accordingly 3. Monitor Customer Health - Create a Customer Health Score - Scoring their usage of the product - Integrate this score into Salesforce - Run a report showing unhealthy accounts - AM can then call down on these accounts - And work to get them healthy before upselling 4. Find Expansion Signals in Product - Look for potential expansion signals - Example: CS Cases => Premiere Support - Example: Lots of data => Extra Data Storage - Example: Lots of emails => Sell marketing tools - Create reports AM can use to call down accounts 5. Leverage Renewal Event - Meet every single CFO ahead of Renewal - Ask if them they would like “Optimal Pricing” - Very few of them will say they want to pay extra - Ask to review their spending across the company - Get sponsorship to talk to other key stakeholders - Sell bigger package at renewal w/ bigger discounts These are just a handful of plays that worked for me. What would you add? 🤔 More on expansion here: https://bit.ly/4ad3iHy ✌️

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Zendesk help center a mess? Steal these editorial guidelines to make it better: 🗞️ Define a clear scope of work. What topics will you cover and what won’t you? 🗞️ Outline clear stages for your content lifecycle. What happens at each stage and who’s responsible for it? How will you track each article? 🗞️ Use consistent terminology. You might even have a glossary that specifies which terms you use to refer to what, so your customers can always understand what you mean. 🗞️ Write clear content guidelines for the style of writing, titles, formatting, and styling.

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VISIBILITY NO GOOD = FORECAST NO GOOD Get better visibility into your team's pipeline with Scratchpad. The fastest way to update Salesforce and easiest way for sales leaders to inspect deals. Understand what changed and why at a quick glance. Learn more or try it out for free at the 🔗 👇 #Sales #Revenue #GTM

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Prospecting just got a whole lot easier. ✨ ZoomInfo Copilot connects you to the right buyers at the right time, so you don't have to spend hours searching for your next lead. Request a demo to see Copilot in action: bit.ly/3Vj9RCS #ZoomInfoCopilot

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What co-selling feels like to most AEs: too chaotic, too complicated, too unpredictable. So how do we change that? How about another enablement session, a few more amazing stats on why working with partners is better, maybe another Salesforce field? None of those truly deliver sustainably and at scale… Here’s my take: We need to stop telling AEs that what they do sucks and that they need to change their workflows. Instead: 1️⃣ We need to show up when they have an issue (e.g., a deal that’s stuck) and provide solutions when they need them. 2️⃣ We need to figure out ways to make it ridiculously easy to work with partners. So easy that they don’t need to be trained.

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Customer Product Demo Spotlight: Gusto See how you can work faster and reduce errors with automated payroll, HR, and more. Powered by Navattic demos. Start a demo: https://hubs.li/Q02wFF9Z0

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Love these tips from Daphne to stop CSM’s being reactive and start being proactive

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If a bot came in, could they automate everything I am doing as a CSM? My answer was "yes." That's when I knew I had something I like to call Voiceless CSM Syndrome. It's when you're doing your job as a CSM. - You show up to the client calls - You send those "just checking in" emails - You're overly helpful and say yes to absolutely everything - You stick to the script like reading from slides (word for word) - Your conversations never move post "hi CLIENT, how are things?" - Never push back because their happiness comes first (or don't think you can) - And you never ask for help – you don't want others to know "you can't do your job!" It sounds okay, but you're just going through the motions. You never quite feel like you're making the impact you really wanted to have. I really thought this was a "me" thing but going through this is almost like a rite of passage for many new CSMs. So how do you find your voice? What does that journey look like? Stijn and I sat down to talk about this on his podcast, Your First... And let me tell you, he had me reliving some embarrassing moments from my CSM days 😅 Today, as CS professionals, AI is on our heels while we're still trying to figure out how best to communicate our work and value. We know we're important and we need to fight if we want to stick around – having a voice helps us do that! I highly recommend it if you've ever doubted your skills in CS or felt like you didn't belong. Oh, and if you just want a good laugh—there were plenty of fun moments! I'll leave it in the comment section so you can check it out 👇 #customersuccess #accountmanagement #csm P.S., I forced Stino to take a pic of us on the day we recorded the episode. I spent a considerable amount of time getting ready, thinking it'd be a video/audio recording sort of thing – it turns out it was just audio. So we didn't let all that preparation go to waste 😂

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Want to be a great CSM? Start with this simple principle: ➡ Do what you say you will do ⬅ Here's how: 1️⃣ Make a commitment (say what you will do) 2️⃣ Make it happen (do what you say) Do this 2-3 times a week and you'll be outperforming the pack by the end of Q2. 🤳 Avoid distractions - try closing emails & slack for 1hr a day. 🙅‍♂️ Say no in lieu of higher value tasks - try making your to do list public (Asana, notion etc). 🏗 Build your track record - try sharing customer soundbites with SLT to generate buy-in of this approach. What are your best tips for "making it happen"? #customersuccess #timemanagement

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How to waste your time as a CSM: ❌ Chasing support tickets ❌ Creating mammoth QBR decks ❌ Doing sales demos ❌ Testing new product releases ❌ Optimizing internal dashboards Start here instead: 1️⃣ What is the customer goal? 2️⃣ Why does it exist? 3️⃣ How is it measured? 4️⃣ When does it need to be achieved by? 5️⃣ Who are my key stakeholder(s)? 6️⃣ Where in the journey map are we? Stop spending the majority of your week on internal tasks. You've been warned 😊. #customersuccess #saas

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SALES IS HARD But that doesn't mean you need to make it harder on yourself by relying on outdated spreadsheets and notes that aren't connected to Salesforce to keep track of your opportunities. Scratchpad is the fastest way to update and find information in Salesforce so you never let a deal slip through the cracks. Learn more or try it out for yourself at the 🔗 👇 #Sales #Revenue #GTM

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You are not the main character. It is one of the hard things about Customer Success leadership. In a meeting with a customer the hero’s journey belongs to them. The CSM or Salesperson you are there to support is the hero’s guide. At home you celebrate their success. You tell their story. It’s hard to pause. To take a breath. To wait for the journey to evolve according to the guide’s plan. It’s hard to set your ego aside. To not jump in. To not claim the story and make it your own. There is joy in watching others rise. There is satisfaction. Pride in the story. In time. With time. But it’s hard. #customersuccess #leadership #startup

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I like how Markus Rentsch summarizes what a Good CSM does, there are many more things to add such as: Challenge Customer's Goals and Share good practices.. and more

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This concept came up at the awesome update ai design session. What is CSM drunk dialing? Only contacting your customers when you need something: - Renewals - References - Expansions You get the drift. Your customers see RIGHT THRU this. They will only take so much of your shenanigans before they kick you to the curb. What proactive activities are you doing so that your customer does not feel like an afterthought?

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So many CS folks are struggling with motivation. - unhappy in their roles - not passionate about their company - disatisfied with their work schedules - no investment in professional development It’s the reason why we’re hearing more and more CSMs say they want “out”. But the solution isn’t always to lobby your company for better programmes. Why? Because motivation is intrinsic. It’s why you can give someone a pay rise, direct reports or a new project and their unhappiness will persist. If you are feeling unmotivated, ask yourself: What am I willing to work hard for? - is it money? - is it flexibility? - is it creativity? - is it autonomy? - is it challenge? - is it growth? - is it status? - is it power? Get seriously honest with yourself. Make a list of the top 2-3 needs that need to be met in order for you to feel fulfilled. Once you articulate these things you can start crafting a path for yourself. For example: If you value autonomy and challenge, you might consider starting your own side hustle that you can eventually make your main work stream. If you value flexibility and autonomy, you might consider joining a company that offers remote work policies. If you value creativity and challenge, you might consider joining a start up where you can build things from the ground up. If you value money and status, you might decide to join a well stablished company that pays really well and offers a linear career ladder that you can climb. Don’t wait for a company or a manager to figure you out. Take charge of your own path. 📥 If you're interested in Customer Success, consider joining 8.5k+ CS Professionals who read my weekly newsletter on how to build and scale a CS Team [sign up in the comments section]. #csm #customersuccess #careerpath #growthmindset #career

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WANT TO GET YOUR MANAGER OFF YOUR BACK? With Scratchpad, you can update Salesforce at the speed of thought. Whether it's Command+J that lets you pull up any record from anywhere on the web or AI Sales Assistant that automatically fills required Salesforce fields and generates call summaries from meetings with prospects, your manager is going to have the visibility they need to know exactly what's going on in your pipeline without having to set aside 2+ hours at the end of the day for updates. Automatically synced to Salesforce without having to learn new workflows. Learn more at the 🔗 👇 #Sales #Revenue #GTM

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