Krishna Reddy

🚨 CS Leaders: Are We Ready to Be the Next Salesforce? 🚨 Marc Benioff just made headlines, as Salesforce is laying off 4,000 customer support roles, nearly half its support staff, citing AI’s ability to handle routine tasks and clean up a massive backlog. That’s not just a headline. It’s a wake-up call. If Salesforce, practically the birthplace of Customer Success,can overhaul its support model, what does that say about the rest of us? The real debate shaking up Customer Success today: 1️⃣ AI is ripping up the rulebook. Expectations for leveraging AI-driven automation, predictive insights, and personalization are no longer optional; they’re critical. But we must integrate AI in ways that keep the human connection alive. This isn’t about replacing humans, it’s about empowering them. 2️⃣ Cross-functional teaming must win over silos. Customers don’t care how we’re structured internally. They want simplicity and consistent outcomes. That means Sales, CS, Product, Marketing, Support, and Implementation must show up as one seamless team — not a collection of disconnected priorities. 3️⃣ Identity crisis is real. Is CS just post-sales support? Or is it a revenue engine, a strategic function, a guardian of customer value? Few roles are as misunderstood across executive suites — and that lack of definition is holding us back. 💡 CS Leaders: It’s time to act. 🤖 Embrace AI, but don’t let it become an excuse for a weak strategy. Use tech to unlock a smarter human connection. 🌍 Build for cross-functional simplicity. Customers should experience one team, one voice, one outcome, no matter how complex we are behind the scenes. 👓 Clarify your purpose. Decide: Are you a support lane or a growth engine? Because if you don’t define it, someone else will. 🔥 Fuel for debate: Are support roles truly becoming obsolete? Or are we missing the greater opportunity to finally deliver on what customers have always wanted: clarity, simplicity, and outcomes that matter? 👀 How are you building cross-functional alignment to ensure your customers experience “one company” instead of internal silos? #CustomerSuccess #Leadership #AI #PostSales #Collaboration #CreateTheFuture

181

39 Comments

In enterprise sales, multi-stakeholder deals can feel like herding cats. 6 people. 6 different priorities. 6 different calendars. The traditional playbook says: Book 12 meetings. Convince each one individually. Try to maintain momentum. The problem is, By the time you’ve spoken to everyone, the energy is gone. Urgency disappears. The deal stalls. This is how I do it differently: I build one page (a digital deal room) that works for me 24/7. On that page, every stakeholder gets exactly what they need to move forward: • Their ROI spelled out in plain numbers • The risks they care about addressed head-on • Their next steps clearly assigned • The context to see how it all ties to the company’s big objectives When they can see their wins and their risks in one place, they don’t need another meeting to “align internally.” They already have everything they need. The result: deals keep progressing while I’m working on the next one.

51

60 Comments

The hidden reason outbound fails Most GTM teams think their outbound problem is copy. “Maybe if we rework subject lines…” “Maybe a new opener will help…” “Maybe if we change the CTA…” But the hidden reason most outbound fails? Deliverability. You can’t fix response rates if 40% of your emails never even show up. That’s why Smartlead built SmartServers. A dedicated infrastructure layer that protects domains and keeps campaigns alive at scale. Here’s what you unlock: ▪️Server Rotation ▪️Blacklist Detection ▪️Granular Control ▪️Zero Downtime Without it: ▪️Shared IPs → Spam ▪️Scaling too fast → Burned domains ▪️Blacklist → Pipeline destroyed With it: ▪️Resilient infrastructure ▪️Safe scaling from 5K → 100K emails ▪️Inbox placement that actually sticks Outbound doesn’t fail because of copy. It fails because the infrastructure wasn’t ready to deliver. Future-proof your campaigns. Explore SmartServers by Smartlead today.

48

19 Comments