Matt Best

It's so fascinating that a lot of that same stuff I recognize from a customer success perspective, cost center, right? Definitely not the having fun. It's many customer success managers who really feel like they have an awful lot of fun. But it's this sort of intangibility about it.

It's so fascinating that a lot of that same stuff I recognize from a customer success perspective, cost center, right? Definitely not the having fun. It's many customer success managers who really feel like they have an awful lot of fun. But it's this sort of intangibility about it.

Maybe it's because as we're talking about this, I wonder if a lot of that stems from, it does go right back to that kind of ability to measure. Whereas in sales, it's a little bit easier and can be a little bit more binary to say, you've won a client. This is how much that client's worth. That's attributed to you. Congratulations, off we go. You've paid your salary, the margin.

Maybe it's because as we're talking about this, I wonder if a lot of that stems from, it does go right back to that kind of ability to measure. Whereas in sales, it's a little bit easier and can be a little bit more binary to say, you've won a client. This is how much that client's worth. That's attributed to you. Congratulations, off we go. You've paid your salary, the margin.

And the reliance on either side of sales. So you've got marketing relying on sales being able to effectively close and customer success relying on sales having sold the right thing.

And the reliance on either side of sales. So you've got marketing relying on sales being able to effectively close and customer success relying on sales having sold the right thing.

And I guess just sort of going, I don't want to go too kind of philosophical and I know there's not one size fits all, but I think that we talk about getting these teams in the room. How have you helped businesses in doing that? Apart from manhandling the teams to say, you've all got to come in, you've all got to be involved in this because otherwise it's not going to work.

And I guess just sort of going, I don't want to go too kind of philosophical and I know there's not one size fits all, but I think that we talk about getting these teams in the room. How have you helped businesses in doing that? Apart from manhandling the teams to say, you've all got to come in, you've all got to be involved in this because otherwise it's not going to work.

But is there a structural thing there? If we think about organizational structures, worked in businesses where you've got, you know, success that are more closely joined to service delivery and support and therefore going to a COO, right? And then you've got a CMO and a CRO or probably a CRO, CCO, right? All the C's. But that's where the alignment stops.

But is there a structural thing there? If we think about organizational structures, worked in businesses where you've got, you know, success that are more closely joined to service delivery and support and therefore going to a COO, right? And then you've got a CMO and a CRO or probably a CRO, CCO, right? All the C's. But that's where the alignment stops.

If you're out there and you're listening to this or you're building a business and you're saying, right, I need to make a big decision about this structure of this organization. Is there a point in that hierarchy, in a traditional kind of business hierarchy, that you think we should be bringing it together? And should it be sooner than the CEO?

If you're out there and you're listening to this or you're building a business and you're saying, right, I need to make a big decision about this structure of this organization. Is there a point in that hierarchy, in a traditional kind of business hierarchy, that you think we should be bringing it together? And should it be sooner than the CEO?

I've worked with a couple of really successful businesses that had a recruitment journey. So regardless of what role you join the business in, this is a SaaS organization, well, now SaaS organization, but every role that was going to be client-facing had to start on the support desk and you had to do three months of answering support tickets.

I've worked with a couple of really successful businesses that had a recruitment journey. So regardless of what role you join the business in, this is a SaaS organization, well, now SaaS organization, but every role that was going to be client-facing had to start on the support desk and you had to do three months of answering support tickets.

And there is no better way to get connected to the real on-the-ground challenges of your customer, but also how you can... understand what everybody else is going through.

And there is no better way to get connected to the real on-the-ground challenges of your customer, but also how you can... understand what everybody else is going through.

So then when you leave that team and you go into the role that you were hired to do, whether that's a customer success manager, account manager, new business sales, whatever that might be, you've got this appreciation, not only for what the customer wants, but what the team that's going to be serving the customer that you win has to deal with. And it's really kind of transformed.

So then when you leave that team and you go into the role that you were hired to do, whether that's a customer success manager, account manager, new business sales, whatever that might be, you've got this appreciation, not only for what the customer wants, but what the team that's going to be serving the customer that you win has to deal with. And it's really kind of transformed.

So I guess it's sort of where you don't have that, because obviously not all businesses can onboard in that way. But just having that exposure to what other people are going through in the team is critical.

So I guess it's sort of where you don't have that, because obviously not all businesses can onboard in that way. But just having that exposure to what other people are going through in the team is critical.