In this episode, Anika Zubair discusses the challenges of scaling customer success teams without losing sight of customer value with guest Saahil Karkera. They explore the importance of understanding customer value, the need for continuous engagement with customers, and the significance of personal relationships in customer success. Sahil shares insights from his experience in scaling CS teams in SaaS companies and emphasizes the need for ongoing conversations to define and deliver value effectively. In this conversation, we explore the intricacies of customer success management, focusing on strategies for effective engagement, the balance between hiring and optimizing processes, and the role of AI in enhancing customer experiences. The discussion emphasizes the importance of collaboration across teams, learning from past mistakes, and the future direction of customer success towards hyper-personalization and value delivery.

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Chapters:

00:00 Introduction 

12:32 Defining Customer Value 

24:39 Building Personal Relationships in CS

 26:40 Navigating Customer Engagement and Progress Tracking 

29:07 Optimizing Customer Success Management Without Overwhelm 

32:02 Hiring vs. Optimizing: Balancing Resources in Customer Success 

37:04 Leveraging AI for Enhanced Customer Success 

41:00 Learning from Mistakes: Collaborating Across Teams 

43:47 The Future of Customer Success: Hyper-Personalization and Value

Connect with Anika:

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Website: thecustomersuccesspro.com

Coaching with Anika: CSM RevUP Academy

Connect with Saahil Karkera :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/saahilkarkera/

CS Connect: https://www.joincsconnect.com/

Saahil Karkera is a Customer Success leader with 9 years of experience scaling and transforming CS teams in Seed to Series A/B SaaS companies. He took an unconventional path to Customer Success, starting in Enterprise Sales at a startup that was later acquired by one of its customers. Since then, he has built and scaled three high-performing CS teams, with a deep focus on driving retention, expansion, and operational efficiency.

Beyond his CS leadership role, Saahil is the founder of CS Connect—a no-fluff, results-driven community for Customer Success leaders navigating the chaos of SaaS startups. His mission? To arm CS leaders with the tools, knowledge, and network to turn CS into a scalable revenue driver rather than just a support function.

When he’s not optimizing CS strategies, you’ll find him spending time with his two young children, Mae and Colin.

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