Ready to churn less and win more? 🏆 Subscribe for a simple, once-a-month rundown of the episodes at gainsight.com/unchurnedJim Richmond is the Chief Customer Officer at Smartling, an AI-powered translation company doing AI "before it was cool" since 2009. Leading 50 professionals across support, services, and customer success, Jim shares his 2026 playbook: why GRR is his North Star, how he's building systems to scale 4x, and why role specialization beats generalization in the AI era.Jim reveals how AI bots eliminated single-touch support tickets at Smartling, why he still carries his own book of business as a CCO, and his career advice for aspiring leaders to build the professional empathy that makes them an authentic partner.---Timestamps0:00 - Preview & Introduction2:05 - Meet 0:00 - Introduction to Jim Richmond & Smartling0:44 - What is Smartling? AI-powered translation and localization2:04 - Company size and team structure2:58 - 2026 Priorities: GRR as the North Star metric5:43 - Building a four-quarter forecast to eliminate surprises7:25 - Why poor forecasting is dangerous for boards and businesses8:54 - Building systems for 4x growth: "This is the smallest this team will ever be"11:19 - Role specialization: Moving from generalists to specialists13:51 - The debate: Will AI make CSMs more generalized or specialized?14:22 - Why AI application companies will win (not just frontier LLMs)16:57 - How AI bots eliminated single-touch support tickets18:47 - AI removes the "where is the bathroom" questions20:48 - What it's like being a first-time Chief Customer Officer22:58 - The rule of thirds: How a CCO allocates time24:44 - Leading from the front: Why this CCO still carries his own book of business25:25 - Career advice: Seek out a diversity of experiences27:33 - The power of professional empathy and "I won't ask what I wouldn't do"---What You’ll Learn* How to build a four-quarter forecast that eliminates revenue surprises* Why role specialization creates more operational leverage than generalization* How AI bots eliminated single-touch support tickets at Smartling* Why leading from the front means carrying your own book of business* How to build professional empathy by seeking diverse experiences across sales, CS, and services---Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at unchurned.substack.com.---Where to Find Jim Richmond LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimrichmondatl/---Where to Find Josh:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/Unchurned Substack: https://unchurned.substack.com/

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