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SaaS Therapy
By BrainStormBusiness
SaaS Therapy episodes
- Security in SaaS with Josh Mullis, Head of IT @Productiv
Todd Kirk and Casey Trujillo are joined by Josh Mullis, the head of information security at Productiv. They discuss the challenges and sticking points that SaaS companies and their customers face when it comes to security.
Listen to hear thoughts on risk management, data protection, and the impact of COVID-19 on SaaS adoption.
Takeaways
- Security is a sticking point for many SaaS organizations and their customers, and it is important to address concerns around risk and data protection.
- The COVID-19 pandemic led to an explosion in SaaS adoption as organizations had to enable remote work, but now there is a correction back to more intentional spending and governance.
- Data visibility and control are key factors in reducing risk and ensuring data security.
- AI is becoming a selling point and a differentiator for SaaS providers, as it enables data rationalization and synthesis.
- Productiv's 2023 State of SaaS Spend report provides valuable insights into SaaS adoption and utilization trends.
- SaaS management involves optimizing license usage and reducing redundancies in an organization's tech stack.
- Regularly reviewing and right-sizing an organization's SaaS portfolio is essential to ensure value and eliminate redundancies.
Contents
- 00:00 Introduction
- 05:42 Addressing Security Concerns in SaaS
- 08:15 Governance in Software Purchasing
- 10:02 Data Visibility and Control in Risk Management
- 12:59 The Role of AI in SaaS
- 16:23 Insights from the 2023 State of SaaS Spend Report
- 18:56 AI Governance and Best Practices
- 22:06 Transparency and Customer Consent in AI
- 30:07 Optimizing SaaS Management
Resources
Connect with Casey
Connect with Todd
Visit the show page
Get to know BrainStorm
Credits
Show direction: Debra Wilson
Show design: Kensie Smith
Show manager: Angela Allred
44 min - Can customer success keep up? with Jan Young, 2x Top 25 CS influencer
Todd Kirk joins Jan Young, a trailblazer in the customer success world, to discuss the importance of customer success leaders understanding the language of business and connecting their work to revenue. She emphasizes the need for CS professionals to have business acumen and be able to speak the language of the executive team. Jan also highlights the importance of viewing the customer journey as a series of conversions and understanding the impact of each stage on revenue.
She discusses the challenges of being seen as a cost center and provides insights on how CS teams can change that perception by driving revenue and demonstrating their impact.
Extra resources
Intestered in learning more? Jan has a webinar coming up - here's a link to the webinar waitlist: https://forms.gle/HkeexmiYfC7wf3758
Download this free guide: 7 Steps to Post Sales Revenue Leadership https://www.janyoungcx.com/7-steps-revenue-leader
Takeaways
- Customer success leaders need to understand the language of business and connect their work to revenue.
- Viewing the customer journey as a series of conversions can help CS teams understand their impact on revenue.
- CS teams should focus on driving revenue and demonstrating their value to change the perception of being a cost center.
- Understanding the economics of the business and the metrics that drive revenue is crucial for CS leaders.
- CS leaders play a crucial role in driving change and managing expectations and effort.
- Connect neuroscience to change management to better understand the emotional and habit-changing aspects of change.
Contents
- 00:00 Introduction
- 05:50 The Challenges of Being Taken Seriously in CS
- 10:23 The Importance of Business Acumen in CS
- 23:56 Understanding the Economics of the Business
- 27:32 Factors Contributing to the Gap in CS
- 30:27 Identifying Conversion Points in the Customer Journey
- 32:16 Connecting Neuroscience to Change Management
Resources
Connect with Casey
Connect with Todd
Visit the show page
Get to know BrainStorm
Credits
Show direction: Debra Wilson
Show design: Kensie Smith
Show manager: Angela Allred
54 min - Check-In: Charging customers an implementation fee?
Hello! Welcome back for a short recap from Tuesday's episode with guest Donna Weber.
Ask yourself: In my role as I communicate with customers, what does a Level 1 experience look like for my customer? What does a Level 10 experience look like?
Did you know that less than 30% of SaaS vendors charge an implementation fee? If you want to give customers a Level 10 experience, is there a cost that should be passed down to the customer? Go back and listen to Donna Weber's podcast episode to find out.
Resources
Connect with Casey
Connect with Todd
Visit the show page
Get to know BrainStorm
Credits
Show direction: Debra Wilson
Show design: Kensie Smith
Show manager: Angela Allred
5 min - Top pitfalls in SaaS onboarding with Donna Weber, customer onboarding expert
Donna Weber, a leading expert in customer onboarding and success strategies, joins Todd Kirk and Casey Trujillo on SaaS Therapy. They discuss the importance of onboarding and the challenges organizations face in executing a successful onboarding experience.
Donna emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to onboarding that involves cross-functional teams and aligns with the customer's journey. She also highlights the importance of ongoing onboarding and the need to continuously deliver value to customers.
Takeaways
- Onboarding is a critical part of the customer journey and should be an ongoing process rather than a one-time event.
- Successful onboarding requires a holistic approach that involves cross-functional teams and aligns with the customer's journey.
- Change management is an important aspect of onboarding, and organizations should focus on empowering customers to make their own changes.
- Customer education plays a crucial role in onboarding and should be aligned with the customer's needs and goals.
- Pitfalls in onboarding include lack of alignment between teams, lack of defined metrics for ongoing value, and reliance on legacy tools.
- Charging for onboarding services can lead to better customer engagement and value realization.
Contents
- 00:00 Introduction
- 05:25 The Importance of Ongoing Onboarding
- 10:04 The Role of Cross-Functional Teams in Onboarding
- 21:56 Common Pitfalls in Onboarding
- 24:48 The Value of Charging for Onboarding Services
- 26:30 Recurring Revenue: Incentivizing Sales and Ensuring Success
- 36:11 Digital Customer Success: Personalization and Meaningful Interactions
- 43:25 Listening to Customers: Key to Delivering a High-Value Experience
Resources
Connect with Casey
Connect with Todd
Visit the show page
Get to know BrainStorm
Credits
Show direction: Debra Wilson
Show design: Kensie Smith
Show manager: Angela Allred
45 min - Nailing customer success playbooks
Todd Kirk and Casey Trujillo talk all about playbooks in customer success! They challenge the idea of blindly following a playbook and emphasize the importance of thinking critically and adapting to each customer's unique needs.
They suggest that customer success managers should act as coaches rather than players, guiding and empowering customers to achieve success.
Takeaways
- Customer success managers should act as coaches rather than players, guiding and empowering customers to achieve success.
- A successful playbook requires mentorship and leadership, asking open-ended questions, and providing data to customers.
- Customer success professionals should be disagreeable givers, challenging the status quo and helping customers achieve their goals.
- Avoid blindly following a playbook and instead think critically and adapt to each customer's unique needs.
Contents
- 00:00 Introduction and Warning
- 03:03 Rethinking Customer Success
- 10:33 The Role of Playbooks
- 23:49 Asking Open-Ended Questions
- 29:20 Becoming Disagreeable Givers
Resources
Connect with Casey
Connect with Todd
Visit the show page
Get to know BrainStorm
Credits
Show direction: Debra Wilson
Show design: Kensie Smith
Show manager: Angela Allred
32 min - Check-In: Who's the coach & who's the player in client relationships?
Say hello to Debra, one of the podcast managers who is usually behind-the-scenes. Stepping in for Todd who is out of town for today's check-in, Debra addresses all of the highlights from Tuesday's episode with the Jasons.
Listen to hear clips & commentary from Tuesday's episode about playbooks, vanity metrics, and customer relationships in customer success.
Takeaways
- CSMs should focus on making an impact with one customer before trying to scale their efforts.
- Understanding the people in the organization is key to successful customer adoption and value creation.
- Vanity metrics should be used in the context of leading to more meaningful outcomes.
- Playbooks are not a one-size-fits-all solution and should be adapted to each customer's unique needs.
- Finding the right balance between automation and personal relationships is crucial in customer success.
Contents
- 00:00 Introduction and Recap
- 01:28 Making an Impact with Customers
- 10:31 Vanity Metrics
- 12:26Playbooks
- 18:05 Conclusion
Resources
Connect with Casey
Connect with Todd
Visit the show page
Get to know BrainStorm
Credits
Show direction: Debra Wilson
Show design: Kensie Smith
Show manager: Angela Allred
19 min - The evolution of customer success with "The Jasons Take On" Co-Hosts
Meet Jason & Jason, co-hosts of The Jasons Take On in today's podcast collaboration.
Todd Kirk and Casey Trujillo join Jason Whitehead and Jason Noble, the co-hosts of The Jasons Take On podcast to discuss the evolution of customer success.
Learn some of the challenges of scaling impact in customer success, the need for expertise and methodologies in customer success, and the shift towards a consultative function.
Takeaways
- There is a need for expertise and methodologies in customer success
- The role of customer success is to accelerating time to value for customers
- Creating value for customers in customer success requires a focus on understanding customer outcomes.
- Vanity metrics can be misleading and may not accurately reflect the impact of customer success efforts.
- A consultative approach in customer success involves asking the right questions and guiding customers to solve their own challenges.
- Scaling customer success presents challenges in maintaining a human-to-human approach while leveraging technology.
- The role of technology in customer success journeys should be tech-enabled, not tech-led.
- A mindset shift is needed in customer success management to operate more like a coach guiding customers to achieve their goals.
Contents
- 00:00 Intro
- 03:01 Getting to Know the Jasons and Their Podcast Journey
- 06:32 Playing the 'Most Likely To' Game
- 09:12 The Evolution of Customer Success and Shifting Perspectives
- 12:25 Challenges in Scaling Impact and Making an Impact with Customers
- 15:15 Understanding What Good Looks Like in Customer Success
- 28:00 Navigating Vanity Metrics and the Need for a Consultative Approach
- 36:36 Challenges of Scaling Customer Success and the Role of Technology
- 47:48 Mindset Shift in Customer Success Management
Resources
Connect with Casey
Connect with Todd
Visit the show page
Get to know BrainStorm
Credits
Show direction: Debra Wilson
Show design: Kensie Smith
Show manager: Angela Allred
50 min - Check-In: Should customer education have a seat at the table?
Listen to Casey Trujillo recap Tuesday's episode with Dave Derington. What kind of metrics should you be focusing on in customer education and customer success? Casey summarizes Dave's thoughts on vanity metrics and how customer education impacts the bottom line.
Takeaways
- Find ways to move on from vanity metrics to business outcome metrics.
- Customer education deserves a seat at the table in leadership because of the way is touches so many parts of the business.
- Customer education is the key to so many SaaS challenges.
Contents
- 00:00 Intro to Dave's episode
- 0:52 Impacting business outcomes
- 1:07 Getting a seat at the table
- 1:25 Customer education is the key
Resources
Connect with Casey
Connect with Todd
Visit the show page
Get to know BrainStorm
Credits
Show direction: Debra Wilson
Show design: Kensie Smith
Show manager: Angela Allred
3 min - Move on from vanity metrics with Dave Derington, Co-Founder @CELab
Listen to Todd Kirk and Casey Trujillo's conversation with Dave Derington, a thought leader in customer education. They discuss the challenges and misconceptions in customer education, the importance of focusing on learning outcomes, and the principles of effective customer education.
Dave shares insights on shifting from traditional teaching to customer education, the need to measure business impact, and the mindset required to succeed in customer education.
Takeaways
- The focus in customer education should be on guiding customers to value, not just educating them on every feature.
- Measuring class activity is a vanity metric; the focus should be on data tied to business outcomes.
- Agile methodologies and designing experiences are essential in effective customer education.
- Shifting from traditional teaching to customer education requires a change in mindset and approach.
- Customer education professionals need to collaborate with executives and data teams to measure and demonstrate business impact. Customer education plays a crucial role in driving business outcomes and should be aligned with business goals and metrics.
- Leadership needs to understand the fluid nature of education roles and the impact of customer education on business outcomes.
- Engaging with the C-Lab podcast and community can provide valuable insights and connections for those involved in customer education.
Contents
- 00:00 Introduction
- 05:20 The Challenge of Measuring Impact in Customer Education
- 11:26 Shifting Mindset: Traditional Teaching vs. Customer Education
- 15:40 Principles of Effective Customer Education
- 26:12 The Importance of Business Alignment in Education
Resources
Connect with Casey
Connect with Todd
Visit the show page
Get to know BrainStorm
Credits
Show direction: Debra Wilson
Show design: Kensie Smith
Show manager: Angela Allred
50 min - Check-In: Developing empathy for customers
Join Todd Kirk as he gives a short recap of Tuesday's episode with Debra Wilson, head of marketing at Brainstorm. Debra's conversation shares insights on how to handle customer dissatisfaction and breaches of trust.
She also highlights the significance of building a positive relationship with customers before anything goes wrong. Learn how you can put her insights into action in your role!
Takeaways
- Understand the customer's perspective and actively listen to their concerns.
- Focus on what can be done to make it right for the customer.
- Build positive relationships with customers before anything goes wrong.
- Develop empathy for customers by examining personal reactions to negative experiences.
Contents
- 00:00 Introduction
- 02:23 Making It Right for the Customer
- 03:45 Turning Negative Situations into Positive Ones
- 04:41 Building Positive Relationships with Customers
- 05:39 Developing Empathy for Customers
- 06:34 Conclusion
Resources
Connect with Casey
Connect with Todd
Visit the show page
Get to know BrainStorm
Credits
Show direction: Debra Wilson
Show design: Kensie Smith
Show manager: Angela Allred
7 min
About SaaS Therapy
From the publisher's feed
Get comfy. It's time for "SaaS Therapy," with industry veterans Todd Kirk and Casey Trujillo – the podcast for customer-facing teams in SaaS. Casey and Todd leverage their experience working between…
software vendors and their clients to help you master your SaaS customer relationships. They dig into the complexities of client relationships, offer expert insights, and share proven strategies for overcoming common challenges. It's not just a podcast—it's a masterclass in nurturing and enhancing your SaaS customer connections.