From Customer Service to Success... What’s the Secret?

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Hey CS Pro,

Tired of being the “feel-good” manager who fixes passwords but never moves the needle? In this episode recap, I unpack how Lena Zimmerman took a hyper-reactive support team and turned it into a strategic, expansion-driven CS engine.

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Kill the Check-In and Own NRR

Lena walked into Do Instruct and saw a team praised for going the extra mile, yet net revenue stayed flat.

Her first move was ruthless clarity: success would now be measured on Net Revenue Retention, not smiles.

That single metric forced new habits, mapping stakeholders early, tying every task to an outcome, and shelving vanity scores like NPS unless they pointed to money left on the table.

Lena’s mantra:

The line re-oriented one-to-ones, team dashboards, and even hiring profiles around commercial impact rather than making customers happy.

Align the Whole Org Before You Teach Customers

Lena met with leadership first, agreeing that AEs would loop CSMs into late-stage deals and share expansion targets.

Compensation plans and Slack channels were tweaked so both teams win together. What was the result? Land-and-expand motions spanning months, not frantic quarter-end bargains.

With internal buy-in locked, Lena reframed the kickoff call.

Instead of a tool tour, customers now hear, “Our job is to help you hit X, Y, Z business goals.

Coach Through Fear, Say No, Then Deliver Delight

Do Instruct sells to traditional German Mittelstand firms, family-run giants where frontline teams may be moving from paper checklists to SaaS for the first time.

Lena noticed procrastination with customers wasn’t laziness; it was fear. So her CSMs adopted a teacher mindset: break onboarding into digestible homework, celebrate quick wins, and send nudge Looms rather than piling on meetings.

Yet coaching isn’t coddling. When a customer demanded bug-free beta features for two straight weeks, Lena drew the line: “That’s not how software works… here’s why.”

Takeaways

1. Happiness ≠ Growth

   Track NRR first, CSAT second. Nice conversations don’t pay the bills; expansion does.

2. Set Expectations Early, Repeat Often

   Use the kickoff to outline roles, milestones, and boundaries. Saying no up front is kinder, and cheaper, than apologising later.

3. One Team, One Number

   When sales and CS share targets and incentives, hand-offs become joint plays, customers feel continuity, and upsells become a natural next step.

That’s the playbook… ditch the spa robe, grab the growth goggles, and watch your support squad turn into revenue rockstars.

That’s it for this week!

Have a listen to the latest podcast:

I hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us.

Cheers to your CS success,

Anika

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