Not Just for Startups: Test and Refine CS Strategy with an Incubation Model

Startup incubators are well-known programs that allow entrepreneurs to test out their new business ideas. They usually offer support like office space and mentors so the idea can be tried out and improved upon in a nurturing environment. Building or expanding a Customer Success organization can be surprisingly similar to developing a startup. The most […]

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CS Technology Vendor Selection: Gathering Tool Requirements

Utilizing a Customer Success tool can be an invaluable part of your customer engagement strategy, but with the ever-growing number of providers and platforms, it’s difficult to know which solution is the right fit for your business. A tool won’t magically fix the challenges you face or fill in any gaps you may have in […]

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Customer Success and Revenue: Why CS Should Embrace the Numbers

Tying Customer Success to your company’s strategic growth (aka revenue) can be tricky to maneuver. Yet, for most Customer Success organizations, embracing revenue goals is the only way to have a seat at the table as your company expands and evolves. To really prove your value to senior leadership, CS metrics must have a direct […]

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7 Tips for Effective Virtual Training

Before Customer Success even existed, ESG already had a long history of robust experience in customer education – selling and operationalizing training sessions for some of the country’s largest software companies. As technology evolved, so did training modalities – moving from primarily in-person instructor led to include virtual training and on-demand options. Through this experience, […]

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The Customer Education Maturity Model

Like many things in the world today, the role and purpose of education organizations inside companies is very dynamic. Once a stalwart of technology offerings, education departments were able to get by with producing quality content and scheduling courses to deliver that content for many years. With the dawn of the digital era, much of […]

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Empathy Now Leads to Loyalty Later

I know, I know, you’re sick of reading articles about Coronavirus, how to respond to it, and what happens after it. But let’s face it, whether we like it or not, that is our current reality. And might be reality for…well…awhile. And when this crazy, unprecedented time is all over, I hope that the pieces […]

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ESG Partners with ChurnZero to Offer Digital Customer Success Strategy Consulting Services

Customer Success as a Service® provider ESG announces a partnership with ChurnZero, a real-time Customer Success platform, to offer Digital Customer Success strategy consulting services to their customer base. ESG is now offering a Digital Customer Success Starter Pack to augment ChurnZero customers’ bandwidth. Communication is essential to maintaining a healthy relationship with your end […]

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The Customer Success Maturity Model

Building a Customer Success Organization is no easy task. Let me rephrase. Building a proactive and predictive CS organization is no easy task. Make no mistake, there is big difference between adding CS to a company org chart vs. building a scalable operationalized practice. To accomplish this, here are just a few considerations to keep […]

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CSM Specialization: Balancing Relationships and Knowledge

While we may agree that it takes a certain set of characteristics that make an awesome CSM, your definition of the role of a Customer Success Manager (CSM) likely looks slightly different than the definition that your competitors, vendors, and customers use in their own businesses. The set of customers each CSM interacts with will […]

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Implementing Customer Success in non-SaaS Businesses

You’ve likely heard that Customer Success was born out of the subscription economy, and new market needs of subscription customers. This is 100% true. This also means that CS is primarily referenced with some level of connection to SaaS. But just because CS originated within SaaS does not mean that it only applies to businesses […]

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