The Customer Success Pro Podcast
This is The Customer Success Pro Podcast, hosted by Anika Zubair. Customer Success is not a destination, but a a journey. Join me on this crazy CS journey as I chat to leaders, strategists and experts in customer success about their experiences and definitions of customer success and share with your their best practices on how to build and scale world class CS organization. Each interview will unlock tips, tricks and best practices to help scale your customer success career and company. I will dive into important and relevant topics to help spread knowledge about customer success in order to help companies put the customer at the center of their business. Because at the end of the day when customer are successful, so is the company.
Learn more at: thecustomersuccesspro.com
The Customer Success Pro Podcast
The Strategic CSM: How to Drive Business Outcomes with Chad Horenfeldt
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In this episode of the Customer Success Pro Podcast, host Anika Zuber speaks with Chad Hornerfeld, VP of Customer Success at Sienna AI, about the evolution of customer success and the importance of strategic customer success management. They discuss the shift from traditional customer success roles to a more strategic approach, focusing on business outcomes rather than just product adoption. Chad shares insights from his newly published book, 'The Strategic Customer Success Manager,' and provides frameworks for CSMs to enhance their strategic conversations and relationships with customers. The episode emphasizes the need for CSMs to understand their customers' businesses and to ask the right questions to drive value and outcomes.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:52 The Evolution of Customer Success
06:01 The Strategic Customer Success Manager
08:50 Defining Strategic CSMs
11:50 The Importance of Business Outcomes
14:47 Frameworks for Strategic Conversations
17:42 Managing Up and Building Relationships
20:54 Quickfire Questions and Wrap-Up
The CS Promotion Tracker: https://www.thecustomersuccesspro.com/offers/wh6BFvEc
Connect with Anika Zubair:
Website: https://thecustomersuccesspro.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anikazubair/
CSM RevUP Academy: https://thecustomersuccesspro.com/revup
Connect with Chad Horenfeldt:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadhorenfeldt/
https://www.strategiccustomersuccess.com/
Chad Horenfeldt is the VP of Customer Success at Siena AI and an award-winning CS leader with over 20 years of experience building high-impact teams at companies like Eloqua (acquired by Oracle) and Kustomer (acquired by Meta). Known for his blend of strategic insight, empathy, and operational excellence, Chad has shaped the careers of hundreds of CSMs and helped define the modern CS profession. He’s a founding member of CS Angel, advisor to emerging CS tech, and a longtime advocate for elevating CS into a strategic function.
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