Why Value-Led CS Actually Works

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Hey CS Pro,

What does it actually take to build a value-led customer organization?

In this week’s podcast, I sat down with Jim Richmond, Chief Customer Officer at Smartling, to talk about how CS teams need to evolve… especially in a world where AI is moving faster than most teams can keep up.

And one thing became very clear during our conversation.

Most CS teams are still structured around tasks, not outcomes.

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Why Most Customer Organizations Are Still Task-Driven

Many customer success teams say they are “value driven”, but when you look closely at how they actually operate, the work still revolves around tasks.

Running meetings.

Answering tickets.

Sending follow ups.

Tracking product usage metrics.

Sound familiar?

Jim shared that when he first looked at Smartling’s customer conversations, the focus was largely on internal metrics. Things like translation volume, feature usage, or cost per word.

But customers didn’t actually care about those metrics.

What they cared about were business outcomes.

Entering a new market.

Reducing regulatory risk.

Launching products faster in new regions.

So the team made a major shift. Instead of talking about product usage, they reframed conversations around what customers were able to accomplish because of the product.

In other words…they moved from software metrics to business outcomes.

And that single shift completely changed the dynamic of their customer conversations.

The Problem With Traditional QBRs

Jim shared something that I absolutely loved.

He decided to completely redesign their QBR structure.

Not eliminate them… but rethink what they were actually for.

Because let’s be honest. Traditional QBRs often feel repetitive and product focused. Slide after slide about features, usage metrics, and roadmap updates.

That’s not valuable for most customers.

So instead, his team introduced themed business reviews throughout the year.

The first review focuses on defining what success actually looks like for the customer. What metrics matter to them? What business outcomes are they trying to achieve?

The second review focuses on proactive recommendations. What should the customer do next to hit those goals?

The third review becomes a mid year progress check.

And the final review focuses on planning the next year together.

The key difference is this: every review centers around the customer’s metrics… not the product’s metrics.

That shift forces the CSM to think differently.

Instead of asking “How are they using our software?” the better question becomes:

“What are they trying to accomplish in their business?”

Why Specialized Roles Are The Future of CS

Another major insight from our conversation was how Smartling redesigned their customer organization.

For years, many CS teams relied on the generalist CSM model.

One person handled everything.

• Onboarding.

• Adoption.

• Reporting.

• Renewals.

• Expansion.

But as companies grow and products become more complex, that model starts to break.

Jim’s approach was to specialize roles.

They created a dedicated onboarding team responsible only for implementation and setup.

They built specialized resources for reporting and analytics.

And they created different engagement models for smaller accounts versus strategic enterprise customers.

Why?

Because a single CSM simply cannot master every function at a high level.

Specialization allows teams to scale faster and deliver better outcomes for customers.

But most importantly…it frees the CSM to focus on the most valuable part of the role.

Building relationships.

Jim put it perfectly.

Not trying to do every task themselves.

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