Your activation rates are stalling and you're fighting churn. Before you blame the product, have you asked if your Customer Success team truly understands your customer's world?
What's the difference between a CSM who just manages an account and one who drives deep adoption and makes your product indispensable?
In this episode of Counting on Change, I talk to someone who has sat on both sides of the table: Katie Hawking, Head of Customer Success at Dext and a former accountant of 13 years. Katie shares an insider's perspective on building a world-class CS function that's built on deep industry empathy and a proactive approach to partner success.
✅ In this episode, we define what 'good' CSM looks like, including:
Why your CSMs must train the client's middle managers to prevent project failure and churn.
The critical difference between selling "practice benefits" and "client benefits"—and why your team must know it.
The leading indicators of churn (like low feature adoption) and how to spot them in the first 90 days.
A proven "workflow mapping" framework to unstick a stalled implementation and accelerate time-to-value.
How to build a scalable, one-to-many CS motion with webinars and on-demand content when one-to-one isn't possible.
This one’s especially useful for:
👉 SaaS Founders & CEOs defining their post-sale strategy to drive retention.
👉 GTM & Customer Success Leaders building and scaling effective, proactive teams.
👉 Onboarding & Implementation Specialists looking for new frameworks to increase activation.
👉 Sales Leaders who want to understand the customer journey post-sale to reduce churn.
👉Accountants and bookkeepers who aren't sure what to expect from post-sale support.
🔗 Connect with Katie: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-hawking-fmaat-baa6a071/
🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes on SaaS onboarding, tech strategy, and client success.
Timestamps:
00:00 Coming Up
01:34 From Accountant to Head of CS: An Insider's Perspective
02:54 Why Your Customers Really Struggle with New Tech
04:52 The 'Middle Manager' Blind Spot in Your Onboarding Process
06:31 Defining 'Good' CSM: Key Implementation Strategies
10:44 Leading Indicators of Churn (And How to Track Them)
13:24 The Workflow Mapping Framework to Unstick Customers
18:42 Building a Scalable CS Motion (Even Without a Big Team)
23:16 Understanding the 'Why' Behind Customer Resistance to Change
25:31 How to Connect with Katie