Customer success is at a crossroads. Does it need a complete rebrand? A new strategy? A bigger role in driving revenue?

In this episode, Alex Raymond talks with Rav Dhaliwal, a veteran in customer success and account management, about what’s working, what’s broken, and what needs to change. Rav shares why customer success teams struggle to define their own value and how that disconnect affects both customers and company growth.

One of the biggest challenges? The divide between sales and customer success. Both teams focus on helping customers see value, yet outdated structures keep them working in isolation. Rav explains why shared goals and incentives could create stronger results for everyone.

Rav also questions whether the term “customer success” still makes sense. Is it time to rethink the function entirely? Should it evolve into something bigger? If customer success is truly a competitive advantage, leaders need to stop treating it as an afterthought.

This episode pushes past buzzwords and into the real conversations happening inside companies today. If you’d like to know where customer success is headed, this is one you don’t want to miss.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Introduction

01:55 Rav’s Career Journey and Insights

02:57 The Evolution of Customer Success

06:19 Linking Customer Success to Revenue

08:17 Incentives and Organizational Alignment

09:11 Misconceptions About Customer Success

10:09 The Need to Retire the Term “Customer Success”

13:05 The Future of Customer Success

15:26 Customer Success and Revenue Ownership

19:30 Organizational Design: CCO vs. CRO

22:39 Skepticism About the CCO Role

25:05 The Importance of a CCO in Complex Organizations

29:40 Typical Friction Points in Alignment

35:04 The Competitive Advantage of Great Customer Success

37:04 Integrating CS into the Sales Process

42:15 Growing the Deal with CS Involvement

Links

Connect with Rav Dhaliwal:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravinderdhaliwal/

Medium: https://ravsterd.medium.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/

Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Drowning in unrealistic expectations? If “hero mode” feels like your default setting, it’s time for a reset.

Rachel Provan, a customer success leader turned coach, joins Alex Raymond to discuss why so many account managers are expected to operate at peak performance with fewer resources and more demands. She breaks down how to push back effectively, set real priorities, and communicate workload challenges without feeling like you’re making excuses.

This episode digs into the mindset shifts that help account managers move from constantly defending their role to confidently leading client conversations. Rachel also challenges the way we approach QBRs, arguing that they should be more than a routine box to check.

Want to be seen for the impact you make? Start tracking your wins, speaking up, and claiming your seat at the table. Alex and Rachel’s discussion gives you the strategies to do exactly that.

Quotes

• “If you ask me to do the work of 10 people, I physically cannot do that. So what I advise people to do is really to look at what are the things that I have to get done? What’s the outcome that we need? Get really, really clear on priorities with these people, with whoever your boss is.” (03:54 | Rachel Provan)
• “We have this sense of this idea of time management that if we somehow time box and figure out the right order of things and do enough planning, we’ll somehow be able to fit 10 pounds of potatoes into a five pound bag. And time is fixed. There’s no managing it. So it’s really all about prioritization and being realistic across the board.” (09:53 | Rachel Provan)
• “The number one thing that I advise people to ask their teams, especially if you’re going in there for the first time, if you’re having your first one-on-ones with people, my favorite question for them is: Do you feel your work here is valued? That is the number one question that will tell you if they’ve got one foot out the door, if they’re checked out. Because if they don’t feel their work is valued, what’s the point?” (11:11 | Rachel Provan)
• “If people aren’t giving you recognition, it’s not necessarily because they think you’re crap at your job. They’re thinking about themselves. They’re not thinking about you. They’re not keeping track of what you’re doing. I encourage everyone to keep an accomplishment tracker.” (36:45 | Rachel Provan)

Links

Connect with Rachel Provan:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelhprovan/

Website: https://provansuccess.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/

Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Most account managers are told to ask great questions, but without trust, those questions go nowhere. So how do you earn the right to dig deeper without losing credibility?

In this episode, Alex Raymond is joined by Richard Harris, the founder of the Harris Consulting Group and author of “The Seller’s Journey,” to discuss how emotional intelligence helps account managers earn the right to dig deeper without losing trust. Richard introduces the “respect contract,” a way to set the stage for better client conversations.

This episode also explores why focusing on economic impact is the best way to drive urgency and meaningful engagement. Along the way, Richard challenges common sales advice and shares practical strategies for handling disengaged clients, navigating tough conversations, and strengthening relationships. If you’ve ever struggled to get real answers from a client, Alex and Richard’s discussion will give you the tools to change that.

Quotes

• “In sales—and even in account management after they become a customer—our job is to keep earning our customers’ trust.” (03:22 | Richard Harris)
• “If leadership hasn’t taught them to send an email before you ask those questions, well, that’s just piss poor leadership, in my opinion. That’s just terrible leadership.” (09:54 | Richard Harris)
• “Nothing drives urgency more than money. Nothing.” (27:25 | Richard Harris)
• “You don’t become more resilient by doing the same thing over and over again. You become more resilient because you try something and you adjust.” (31:35 | Richard Harris)

Links

Connect with Richard Harris:

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/rharris415/

Website: https://theharrisconsultinggroup.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/

Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Most customer success strategies miss the mark because they push a product instead of solving real customer pain points. So how do you keep clients engaged and drive real growth?

Alex Raymond sits down with Emilia D’Anzica, the Chief Customer Officer and founder of Growth Molecules, to discuss what makes customer success work. Emilia shares why leaders struggle to get buy-in, how silos kill momentum, and why clear roles and accountability matter more than ever. She also challenges companies to rethink their approach—are they equipping teams to drive retention, or just expecting results without the right tools?

From using AI to lighten the load on account managers to the shift in how investors view customer success, this episode has insights for leaders who want to build stronger, more sustainable client relationships.

Quotes

• “Stop trying to push your whole product on a client. No one cares about your product. They care about what the product is going to do to help alleviate their pain.” (43:31 | Emilia D’Anzica)
• “1st, what’s the company’s North star? What’s our organization doing in this grand scheme of things? And then what’s in it for the individuals who are going to make it possible? If you aren’t answering those two questions around the why, the why for the company, the why for me, then people can quickly get lost or working in silos. And I think that’s really important, understanding the big picture and then breaking it down into micro steps to success. And that’s where I would start as a leader.” (​​04:28 | Emilia D’Anzica)
• “I cringe when people say everyone owns customer success or everyone owns this goal that the company’s achieved. Actually, no, you need to break it down and really explain who owns the function.” (06:58 | Emilia D’Anzica)
• “The one thing you can’t automate with tech is making sure that people feel like they’re part of the mission and the change, and that you’re enabling them during change.” (10:17 | Emilia D’Anzica)

Links

Connect with Emilia D’Anzica:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emiliadanzica/

Website: https://growthmolecules.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/

Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Account management is more than a role. It’s the backbone of customer success and a springboard to leadership. David Karp, chief customer officer at DISQO, joins Alex Raymond to share how his 20-year career journey, rooted in building relationships and understanding customer needs, led him to the C-suite.

David provides a behind-the-scenes look at the multifaceted responsibilities of a CCO, from aligning sales, product, and operations to fostering collaboration across teams. He points out the importance of key metrics like net revenue retention to assess value delivery and drive business growth, while emphasizing a hands-on approach to understanding customer interactions and feedback.

This episode also touches on the often-overlooked contributions of account managers—David calls them the “unsung heroes” of business—and he advocates for showcasing their impact to elevate their role within organizations.

Quotes

• “The biggest difference of that CCO role versus the others is how much time I spend working on the business instead of in the business.” (09:05 | David Karp)
• “If you roll your sleeves up in today’s world, that gives you the option to roll them down. Things are changing so fast. We need to be close enough to what’s happening in the business to support teams, help customers, and make rapid decisions.” (13:03 | David Karp)
• “The customer doesn’t care what department you’re in. They just want to know: ‘Are you going to help me?’” (34:24 | David Karp)
• “We started with trying to make sure we understand the moments that matter for customers. And then, how do we create metrics around those moments that matter?” (24:40 | David Karp)
• “We don’t just need other people to shout out and take those unsung heroes and make them heroes. You know how I want them to be heroes? Because everybody else realizes I should be more like them… that to me is the coolest part about it. That’s the influence that account managers can have when we set them up for success and they start to do what they do and share it with others.” (43:07 | David Karp)

Links

Connect with David Karp: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidalankarp/

Connect with Alex Raymond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/

Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“Any successful organization is only successful because it puts its customers at the heart of what it does. If they’re not, then it’s what I would call a scam or a rip-off, quite frankly,” says Dave Jackson, a coach and author known as the “CS Heretic.” In this episode, Dave joins Alex Raymond to talk about customer-led growth, exploring why it’s not just a post-sale activity but a comprehensive approach to the entire customer lifecycle. Are companies truly understanding and delivering what matters most to their customers, or are internal silos holding them back?

Dave shares insights into the importance of aligning teams across marketing, sales, product, and post-sales to deliver measurable results that customers value. He challenges organizations to rethink their design, shifting from internal processes to an outside-in perspective rooted in customer success. How do your customers measure the impact of what you do? And are your efforts truly helping them achieve their goals?

Join Alex Raymond and Dave Jackson as they explore how customer-led growth strengthens customer relationships and creates a foundation for sustainable growth.

Quotes

• “Any successful organization is only successful because it puts its customers at the heart of what it does. If they’re not, then it’s what I would call a scam or a rip-off, quite frankly.” (04:24 | Dave Jackson)
• “One of my favorite [quotes] is by an American called Arthur Jones: ‘Every organization is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.’ If you want to change the results that you get, you have to change the organization.” (09:39 | Dave Jackson)
• “One of the first management consultants, a guy called Peter Drucker once said, ‘The customer rarely buys what the company thinks it’s selling.’ We tend to push our products, talk about their value and benefits, but what we actually sell is features.” (13:10 | Dave Jackson)
• “How do customers measure the impact we have on them? Once you start to understand that, you'll build momentum that says, ‘We can’t not do this.’” (37:08 | Dave Jackson)
• “If you don’t deliver some form of measurable results, you ain’t going to retain that customer. You might have put huge amounts of effort into acquisition, but your LTV value is going to be crap.” (37:31 | Dave Jackson)

Links

Connect with Dave Jackson:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjacksonuk/

Website: https://www.customer-led-growth.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/

Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Retention is the secret weapon for sustainable growth, yet too many companies overlook its true power. Ali Cudby, the CEO of Alignment Growth Strategies and author of “Keep Your Customers,” joins Alex Raymond in this episode, and explains why fixing the leaks in your bucket changes everything.

Why do so many businesses prioritize acquisition over retention? Ali breaks it down, and points out the hidden costs of churn and the untapped potential of keeping customers engaged long-term. From chaotic onboarding processes to misaligned internal teams, she shares how these common missteps can derail growth.

Can retention become a company’s strategic focus? Ali offers ways to shift this mindset, including the power of clear playbooks and leadership-driven alignment across departments. By tackling onboarding challenges head-on and investing in customer success, businesses can create lasting relationships and sustainable profitability.

Ali and Alex’s discussion will challenge you to rethink the role of retention in your organization, because growth doesn’t come from plugging holes; it comes from building a stronger foundation.

Quotes

• “If you talk about what drives growth—what’s really gonna make your company move, hit their revenue targets, move to the next level—it’s retention.” (05:43 | Ali Cudby)
• “When you plug the leaks in your bucket, then every customer that you bring in, every new customer, instead of filling a hole, is growth revenue. It’s net new. And so, it’s not just the downside of plugging the holes. It’s the upside of being able to level up.” (08:21 | Ali Cudby)
• “By looking at the impact of churn and really being able to isolate the numbers, what is it costing us? Then, you can start to tease apart and see what that impact of churn really looks like. And when you can articulate the impact in numbers, it’s a lot easier for account management teams to come to the table and say, ‘Here’s why we need the support that we need, and here’s what’s at stake, and here’s what we’re bringing.” (18:55 | Ali Cudby)
• “In order to deliver a great customer experience, you need two things: the smart—systems, processes, tracking—and the heart—making people feel seen, heard, and valued.” (33:40 | Ali Cudby)

Links

Connect with Ali Cudby:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicudby/

Website: https://alignmintforgrowth.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/

Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Customer success teams are facing mounting pressure to prove their worth as organizations tighten budgets and shift priorities. Ed Powers, an expert in customer success and account management, joins Alex Raymond to discuss the challenges of reducing churn and demonstrating customer value in a way that resonates with decision-makers. Why do some customers leave while others stay and deepen their engagement? Ed points out the importance of understanding this dynamic and argues that true success lies in connecting day-to-day activities with tangible business outcomes.

The discussion also examines the evolving role of customer success, from bridging gaps in the customer journey to aligning efforts with revenue goals. Ed shares insights on measuring value and creating a compelling narrative that positions customer success teams as indispensable. This episode invites leaders to rethink their strategies and focus on what truly drives retention, loyalty, and long-term growth.

Quotes

• “What is the economic impact of building trust with a customer? Well, that has been very fuzzy. It’s a lot of hand-waving. There’s no real numbers that tie those two things together. And if you don’t have that, if you can’t kind of convincingly show that cause and effect, then they’re not going to put money into it, right? They’re going to take the easy way out, which is, well, just give them a quota number.” (07:17 | Ed Powers)
• “No one’s really paying attention to that customer’s experience of value, closing the gap between the expectation and the realization of that value. Nobody owns that. It just gets lost in all the silos.” (15:30 | Ed Powers)
• “When customers achieved a certain milestone, a certain value realization milestone, the odds of them renewing and expanding increased by a factor of five and a half times, five and a half times versus those who didn’t get there.” (39:30 | Ed Powers)
• “Understand why your customers leave and why others stay and buy more. If you’re not crystal clear on that and you can’t quantify that, you’re lost already. Start with what is driving the behavior of your customers. That is the secret to everything.” (41:33 | Ed Powers)

Links

Connect with Ed Powers:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-powers-ab5315/

Website: https://se-partners.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/

Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm