Stephanie Berner, Head of Customer Success at LinkedIn Sales Solutions, discusses when early-stage startups should hire for systems-building versus operational firefighting in customer success.
“The first hire does need to be that firefighter bias for action. I think by about your third or fourth, you need to make sure you have that skill set somewhere in your team.”
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More from Stephanie Berner
Insight
Berner: NPS and CSAT are easily gamed and less actionable early on
“In later stages, you can start to look at other metrics like NPS, CSAT, time to launch, and your implementation. Those can be great metrics. Those sometimes can be, you know, easily gamed, so they don't necessarily provide the right insight for leadership or e…”
Stephanie BernerFeb 1, 2024▶ 27:54A customer success masterclass | How to build and scale a CS org | Stephanie Berner (LinkedIn)
Insight
Berner: Simple renewals belong in CS, expansion renewals belong in Sales
“If renewals are primarily just that, a renewal conversation, where there's a quick, you know, exchange of papers, a quick conversation, if there's a change in price, but there isn't a detailed negotiation or any complexity with that transaction, that renewal p…”
Stephanie BernerFeb 1, 2024▶ 28:33A customer success masterclass | How to build and scale a CS org | Stephanie Berner (LinkedIn)
Insight
Berner: CS Reporting Directly to CEO Keeps Leadership Close to Customer Experience
“I am a big fan of, say, the CS organization reporting right into the CEO, because in those cases, the CEO is really close to the customer experience, no matter what phase the business is in, super early or operating at scale.”
Stephanie BernerFeb 1, 2024▶ 30:50A customer success masterclass | How to build and scale a CS org | Stephanie Berner (LinkedIn)
Opinion
Berner: CS Reporting to Product Creates Unnatural Organizational Alignment
“From my perspective, I think that's challenging because customer success is core to the go-to-market motion and aligning CS at minimum to the revenue team and putting it in line with marketing creates a flywheel for your go-to-market team in a way that I think…”
Stephanie BernerFeb 1, 2024▶ 32:47A customer success masterclass | How to build and scale a CS org | Stephanie Berner (LinkedIn)
Insight
Berner: Tying CS comp to renewal quotas neglects product adoption
“The thing that I think companies get tripped up by is when you put a significant amount of comp against a renewals or expansion quota, that is going to drive behavior. And if you want your teams only focused on getting the renewal across the line, that is wher…”
Stephanie BernerFeb 1, 2024▶ 53:33A customer success masterclass | How to build and scale a CS org | Stephanie Berner (LinkedIn)
Insight
Berner: Dedicated implementation specialists outperform generalist CSMs on onboarding
“The problem with that is CSM Brett does an implementation and onboarding process once, maybe twice a year. Because that's how many net new customers you get in your portfolio. Versus if you have a group of implementation specialists, they do it all day, every …”
Stephanie BernerFeb 1, 2024▶ 1:04:33A customer success masterclass | How to build and scale a CS org | Stephanie Berner (LinkedIn)
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