Marlee Wagner, Head of Customer Success Programs & Strategy at EverHealth, shares a cautionary tale about a failed CS platform implementation due to overlooked data infrastructure incompatibilities, and provides crucial advice for evaluating customer success platforms.

• Carefully examine your data infrastructure compatibility when evaluating new platforms
• Involve RevOps early in platform evaluations to avoid technical mismatches
• Consider three critical data aspects: validity, access, and infrastructure compatibility
• Consult with marketing teams who have previously integrated with your CRM
• Include the future platform administrators in the decision-making process
• Hire administrative talent before finalizing platform selection when possible
• Start with small pilot programs when implementing new processes
• Build relationships with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment

Follow Marley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marleywagner/

🌐 Website
https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/

📰 Subscribe to the JDTT Newsletter –
Get raw insights, no-fluff frameworks, and tech touch tactics straight to your inbox: https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/jdttnewsletter
🎙️ Be a Guest on the Podcast
Have a CS horror story or digital-first strategy worth sharing? Submit to be a guest:https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/podcast

🔗 Connect with Joe on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephdigrande

📺 Watch Full Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaH58ojbaWym4ej_PedQ4Fw

De' Edra Williams, Chief Customer Officer of DeepHow, shares how her team turned a potential $2.2 million customer churn into a full renewal with expansion by mobilizing cross-functional resources and developing a strategic intervention plan. This customer success recovery story demonstrates the importance of proactive renewal planning, deep customer listening, and aligning solutions with specific business outcomes.

• Building a rigorous renewal process that starts 6-12 months before contract end dates
• Implementing a red-yellow-green forecasting system with clear intervention triggers
• Mobilizing cross-functional "red teams" for at-risk accounts below 40% renewal probability
• Sometimes breaking up with customers is necessary when product-market fit is lacking
• Maintaining candor and trust even when parting ways can lead to future opportunities
• Customer success must embrace revenue metrics (ARR, NRR, customer lifetime value)
• Creating strong partnerships across sales, marketing, and product teams
• Focus on solving customer problems: making money, saving money, or saving time
• Understanding the value of referrals and brand evangelism from satisfied customers

For more insights on customer success strategies, follow De'Edre Williams on LinkedIn and check out her Star Trek-themed newsletter that breaks down customer success concepts.

Find De'Edra on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deedraswilliams/

🌐 Website
https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/

📰 Subscribe to the JDTT Newsletter –
Get raw insights, no-fluff frameworks, and tech touch tactics straight to your inbox: https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/jdttnewsletter
🎙️ Be a Guest on the Podcast
Have a CS horror story or digital-first strategy worth sharing? Submit to be a guest:https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/podcast

🔗 Connect with Joe on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephdigrande

📺 Watch Full Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaH58ojbaWym4ej_PedQ4Fw

Customer success isn't just about building relationships – it's about understanding your customers' strategic outcomes and helping them achieve measurable business results.

• Building relationships without connecting to business outcomes leaves accounts vulnerable to churn
• Track customer data meaningfully and use it in authentic, non-cheesy ways to strengthen connections
• Ensure smooth information transfer from sales to implementation to customer success
• Multi-thread relationships within customer organizations to protect against stakeholder turnover
• Never confuse customer satisfaction with customer success – they aren't the same thing

Follow Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justchappell/

🌐 Website
https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/

📰 Subscribe to the JDTT Newsletter –
Get raw insights, no-fluff frameworks, and tech touch tactics straight to your inbox: https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/jdttnewsletter
🎙️ Be a Guest on the Podcast
Have a CS horror story or digital-first strategy worth sharing? Submit to be a guest:https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/podcast

🔗 Connect with Joe on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephdigrande

📺 Watch Full Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaH58ojbaWym4ej_PedQ4Fw