By Jan Young
We’ve already had some great thought leadership shared in our blog this year, and that made me think about the difference between human thought leadership versus what we can generate from AI tools.
One AI tool that has been getting a lot of buzz lately is OpenAi’s ChatGPT3. Once you create a login, you can write a “prompt” and ask the AI engine to explain (write) something and give it suggestions for a topic.
So, I asked ChatGPT3 to “Explain 3 best practices for a CS Leader to communicate effectively with their CEO and CFO”. Below is what it returned.
Communicate effectively with data and metrics:
To effectively communicate with the CEO and CFO, it's important to provide data-driven insights and metrics that demonstrate the value of the customer success team and its impact on the company's overall financial performance.
This includes data on customer retention, revenue growth, and cost savings.
Align goals and create a shared vision:
To ensure that the customer success team is working towards the same objectives as the company, it's important to align goals and create a shared vision with the CEO and CFO.
This includes discussing the team's budget, forecasting, and performance metrics, and working with both parties to identify areas where the team can drive revenue growth and cost savings.
Build relationships and be proactive:
Building strong relationships with the CEO and CFO is essential for the success of the customer success team.
This includes understanding their priorities and concerns, as well as proactively seeking their input and feedback on the team's strategy and initiatives.
Additionally, keeping them informed and engaged in the team's activities can help build trust and support for the customer success team.
Be proactive in sharing the customer success team's performance metrics, any potential issues or risks that may impact company's financials and any proposals to improve the performance of the team.
I would have combined and modified 3c and 3d:
I don’t think CEOs and CFOs want to be kept up to date on the team’s activities or performance, but rather, the team’s progress towards metrics that are aligned with the company’s priorities, and challenges to achieving them. The exception is a small startup where the CEO is still involved in employee decisions.
Note:
ChatGPT3 generates responses trained from data gathered from the internet up until 2021. Anything that has occurred in 2022 and 2023 doesn’t exist in its data set. That’s why I steered away from querying anything specific to current events.
The top-level advice I asked ChatGPT3 isn’t groundbreaking thought leadership. But the tool is.
Already, Customer Success applications are using the ChatGPT3 API and applying the tool to their data sets. For example, just a couple of weeks ago, ChurnZero announced they’ve introduced generative AI. Already it has been used thousands of times by their customers.
Tools like these can save time and help teams scale. But in 2023, we’ll see that AI and Machine Learning applications can do more powerful things. We’ll be able to:
Easily determine Customer segmentation based upon their behavior
Create Customer Journeys that serve the Customer
Rely on Customer Health Scores - no more “green” customers churning!
Project Expansion and Renewal revenues more accurately
Enable CS teams to focus on proactive activities that drive revenue
These capabilities will enable our companies to be more customer-centric. And customer-centric companies will win in 2023 and beyond.
If you want to learn more about the next-gen CS tools that can help your organization scale and do more with less, or if you know of some new CS tools in this area, reach out to me. It’s my favorite thing to talk about!
The Success League is a customer success consulting firm that offers a CSM Certification program that includes classes that focus on selling, including Managing the Selling Cycle and Objections & Negotiation. For our full list of offerings, please visit TheSuccessLeague.io
JAN YOUNG
PRINCIPAL
Jan is passionate about lifelong learning, demystifying technology, optimizing teams, processes, and systems, and building effective relationships and communities. Her experience has included working in Enterprise companies and Startups of various stages, and she has advised several founders and startups. She serves on the board of Gain, Grow, Retain as co-lead of the Voice of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion council, and is a Founding Community Lead for CS Insider for which she writes and curates a series called “Inclusive Innovation”, and was recognized as a 2021 Top 100 Customer Success Strategist for her work in the community. She holds a BA from UC Berkeley, and an MBA from Columbia University. In her free time, she enjoys wine tasting, hikes, and Pickleball.