Win with Strategic Customer Success (Part 2)

Bigger isn’t better. Faster is. Because when you’re smaller, you’re nimbler. Hungrier.

Author

Tomas
March 3rd, 2025

Featured Article

In Part 1, we rebuilt your Customer Success engine. Now, we’re igniting the afterburners.

This isn’t about matching giants—it’s about outflanking them.

Because when you’re smaller, you’re nimbler.

Hungrier.

And (when done right) far more dangerous.

🤖 1. AI That Actually Works (Not Just Hype)

“But we’re not a tech giant!” Cool. Neither are the 37% of companies already using AI to scale 1:1 service. Your secret? Deploy a chatbot that learns.

Do this TODAY:

  • Install a simple AI bot (Drift, Intercom, whatever) to handle “Where’s my invoice?” and “Reset password” drudgery.

  • Train it on your last 100 support tickets. Update weekly.

  • Free your team to hunt bigger fish: at-risk accounts, upsells, strategic check-ins.

Your team’s time is gold. Stop burning it on trivia.

🕵️ 2. Customer Profiles That Don’t Suck

70% of companies have blind spots because their data’s scattered. Be the 30%.

The fix:

  • Smash sales, support, and billing data into one dashboard (Zapier + CRM = 3 hours max).

  • Tag customers by:

    • Product usage (daily? ghosting?)

    • Payment history (late = red flag)

    • Support tickets (3+ = churn risk)

Now your team sees everything. No more “Wait, they also complained to sales?!”

🔮 3. Predict Problems Before Customers Do

34% of companies are going proactive. Be smarter: use predictive analytics.

Playbook:

  • Track 3 churn signals: login drops, support spike, invoice delays.

  • Set alerts for “Code Red” accounts (Tools: Totango, barebones Excel works).

  • Kill fires preemptively:

    • “Noticed you haven’t logged in this week. Everything cool?”

    • “Your payment failed. Need help updating?”

Churn prevention > damage control.

💸 4. Turn Support Calls into Revenue Streams

70% of teams focus on retention. Winners grow accounts.

Hack consultative selling:

  • Arm CS reps with:

    • Pricing tiers (”Gold gets this feature”)

    • Case studies (”Client X upgraded and saved $20k”)

  • Train them to ask:

    • “What’s your next big goal?” → “Our Enterprise plan does exactly that.”

Every interaction = a sales pitch in disguise.

Bottom line:
Pick one. Nail it. Then level up. You don’t need a Fortune 500 budget—just ruthless focus on what actually moves needles.

The big players are slow. You’re not. Use that.

Your move.

P.S. The best Customer Success Managers aren’t just tech-savvy — they’re emotion-savvy. They don’t “manage” customers; they get them. I talk about this and how to make your Customer Success Managers stand out in my latest LinkedIn post.

Events

Save The Date

CX Symposium 2025
📅 Date: April 2-3, 2025
📍 Location: Hunter Valley, Australia
🌐 Website: https://ashtonmedia.com.au/symposiums/customer-360-symposium/cx-symposium/

TSIA World INTERACT 2025
📅 Date: April 29 - May 1, 2025
📍 Location: Orlando, Florida, USA
🌐 Website: https://www.tsia.com/conference

X4 Summit 2025
📅 Date: March 18-20, 2025
📍 Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
🌐 Website: https://www.qualtrics.com/x4summit/#overview

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