Despite our best efforts at keeping our customers at ease, it may so happen that the customers may not be fully delighted. Understanding, managing, and fulfilling customer expectations needs our proactive approach as CSMs.

In this episode, Parker Chase-Corwin joins Mausmi Ambastha, our host to discuss one of the most critical aspects of customer management: handling escalations.

With over 20 years of experience in customer success, Parker shares his insights into the complexities of escalations, starting with defining what an escalation truly is and why early-stage companies often struggle as they transition from founder-led support to a more structured process.

Together, Parker and Mausmi discuss the challenges of maintaining customer trust, the importance of post-escalation analysis, and proactive outreach to prevent future crises and improve overall growth and profitability.

Timestamps
0:00 - Preview & Introduction
3:03 - Defining Escalations
5:01 - Escalations are growth inhibitors
6:21 - How to be resourceful during escalations?
9:35 - Ensuring transparent communication during escalations
13:31 - Identifying the level of communication during escalations
16:30 - How to not over-promise and restore trust
21:35 - Managing customer relations post-escalation
25:21 - Winning trust as an account manager
29:19 - Adjusting customer expectations
31:11 - Reverse engineering escalations to improve customer service
35:00 - Closing
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About Parker Chase-Corwin
Parker is a customer-focused go-to-market leader with 20 years of experience in the software and services industry. He has demonstrated his mastery in customer success, operational, sales, and account management roles and had the privilege of building several customer-facing teams from the ground up across several diverse companies and in various stages of maturity. He has been recognized as an innovative collaborator in cross-functional initiatives for his emphasis on enhancing the customer experience; minimizing customer attrition; growing recurring revenue streams; and optimizing operations.

Follow Parker on LinkedIn 👉https://www.linkedin.com/in/parkercorwin/
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Follow the Podcast Host Mausmi Ambastha on LinkedIn 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mausmiambastha/

CS is evolving, with a push towards revenue. While focusing on nurturing the customer relationship, CSMs are now tasked with making sales.
Balancing the art of creating an excellent customer experience along with revenue generation is a herculean task.
Maranda Dziekonski, SVP, CS & Ops at Datasembly, joins Mausmi Ambastha,on this episode of the Scale Tale Podcast to discuss how the future of CS is beyond support & success of the customer and how it leads revenue-generating activities like renewals, upsells, and even cross-sells with existing customers.
We'll hear Maranda detailing the intricacies of negotiation skills for CSMs, the power dynamic shifts within account teams, and the impact of budgets and resources on customer success. She outlines a value cycle essential for customer success to be involved right from lead generation to understanding customer goals – the roadmap for adding value to customer partnerships.

Timestamps
0:00 - Preview & Introduction
2:55 - Should you adopt revenue-centric CS
8:36 - Will CS be displaced by account management?
12:40 - The right time to introduce CSMs to customers in the customer journey
19:21 - Upsell by going wider in the organization
24:04 - The easiest way for CSMs to learn the skills of negotiation & upselling
29:45 - What changes in organizations when CS is tied to revenue
32:45 - Closing


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Maranda Dziekonski, SVP, CS & Ops at Datasembly has over 20 years of experience both working in and building world-class operations and extensive experience building and scaling teams in early and mid-stage startups. Her specialties are in Customer Success (B2B, B2C, B2B2C), Customer Support (B2B, B2C), Tech Support, Contact Centers (Inbound/Outbound), Sales, and various other teams in operations. She has been honored as a Top 100 Customer Success Strategist in both 2017 & 2018, Top 25 Customer Success Influencer Judge in 2020, Top 25 Influencer for both 2021 and 2022, and sits on numerous boards.

Follow Maranda on LinkedIn 👉https://www.linkedin.com/in/marandaanndziekonski/
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Follow the Podcast Host Mausmi Ambastha on LinkedIn 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mausmiambastha/

To build the foundations of a business focused on growth and sustainability it’s essential to learn why customers pack their bags and how every departure holds a lesson for your business.

Markus Rentsch joins Mausmi Ambastha on The Scale Tale Podcast this week to discuss how onboarding can make or break the value of your product for each customer, the pitfalls of bad fit customers, and the societal shift towards unsustainable business growth models, bridging the gap between what customers need and what they get, and how tracking actual outcomes, rather than usage metrics, can reveal the true state of customer retention.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Preview
1:27 - Meet Markus Rentsch
5:00 - Mistake #1 Why does Customer Success fail or get neglected?
11:00 - Mistake #2 - Not understanding the needs of the customer
15:21 - Mistake #3 - Not tracking customer outcomes
19:50 - Mistake #4 - Failing to do Feature-based onboarding
33:08 - Mistake #5 - Superficial churn analysis
39:40 - Closing

About Markus
Markus is the CEO of Remark-able - a consulting company that helps SaaS companies to turn churn into profitable growth. He has spent the last many years developing a new business framework called Customer-Value-Led-Growth. Before starting his own business, he worked in various roles in controlling and corporate development.


Follow Markus on LinkedIn 👉https://at.linkedin.com/in/markus-rentsch-customer-value-led-growth-for-saas

Follow the Podcast Host Mausmi Ambastha on LinkedIn 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mausmiambastha/