TSIA Takes: Salesforce and the Customer Success + Support Services Experiment

TECHtonic: Trends in Technology and Services

Join us for the first episode of TSIA Takes, a limited TECHtonic podcast series. During this series, Thomas Lah dives deep into the pivotal question: What is the value of customer success? This pressing question has turned the customer success organization upside down as it navigates what the future of its business looks like.

In this episode, Thomas is joined by Jim Roth, President of Customer Success at Salesforce, who discusses Saleforce’s pioneering approach to integrating customer success, support, and training into a seamless, unified experience. They explore the dynamic roles within Salesforce, emphasizing the importance of customer success managers (CSMs) as orchestrators who ensure comprehensive customer support.

Jim shares how Salesforce's strategy of merging support, training, and success roles leads to a more streamlined and compelling customer experience. This allows Salesforce to leverage data to drive customer health, adoption, and education and create a unified customer success score that guides its strategies.

They also discuss the financial models behind customer success, debating the merits of monetizing versus offering services as part of the overall customer experience. Jim provides a compelling argument for why tech companies should consider customer success a critical investment rather than a cost center.

Whether you're a tech industry veteran or new, this episode offers insights to elevate your understanding of customer success. Take advantage of this first episode of our TSIA takes special podcast series, which challenges conventional wisdom and provides a fresh perspective on making your customer success business model successful.