Speaker: Kimberly Ayala, Director of Customer Success , Akeneo
Kimberly Ayala: My name is Kimberly Ayala. I'm director of customer success for North and South America at Akeneo and I've been working in the realm of customer success, slash account management, for over 15 years.
Kimberly Ayala: I'm excited to be talking about a bit of a controversial topic in the realm of customer success, which is what it takes to actually commercialize customer success. The challenges that it creates, but also the benefits that happen when your customer success team is directly tied to a revenue target. So really excited to take on this, topic and talk a little bit about our experience at Akeneo, the impact that it's had, which I feel is mostly positive.
Kimberly Ayala: One of the biggest challenges I think customer success organizations are having right now across the globe is really being able to demonstrate the value that we bring to the table. Obviously, relationship building retention, those are tied mainly to the work that we do. But when we add this additional piece that includes dollars and cents tied to revenue, it really makes it easy to not only get a seat at the table but keep it. And that's been one of the positive impacts that commercializing customer success has had at my organization. I also think it's helped us get additional resources. So, you know, the business is more willing to invest back into customer success either in people or software, et cetera, because we've got this additional value that we're bringing to the business. So it's, it's been invaluable.
Kimberly Ayala: I love attending conferences like this. Uh It really opens your eyes to how different organizations work. you know, what they're doing differently. It's a great way to brainstorm or think. Huh? I wonder what would happen if we tried that, you know? No man is an island. So, hearing from my colleagues and you know, peers from across the globe, it's really invaluable. And so I really try to attend a bunch of these conferences every year. And, this was one of my favorites last year. So, really looking forward to it.
Kimberly Ayala: If I had to choose one tip on customer success, I think it would be know your audience and make sure that everything that you do, everything you say is directly linked to the goals that they have. because your customer could love you or hate you, but that's not going to determine whether or not they stay with you. It all comes down to the value you're bringing and you need to be able to articulate that well to the people who are in the room and the peoples whose attention you have.
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