Emily Endsley Brackman

Being a CSM means wearing a lot of hats. But no one really prepares you for just how many. On any given day, you’re a: → Project manager → Relationship builder → Data translator → Renewal strategist → Customer advocate → Product educator → Escalation navigator → Feedback collector → Cross-functional connector → Cheerleader for both your client and your team It’s a dynamic role that requires presence, clarity, and a whole lot of context switching. And while it’s deeply rewarding to support your clients and drive outcomes, it can also feel overwhelming at times. If you read this and think: “I already do half of that in my clinical role” or “This sounds like the kind of impact I want to make in my next career move” Customer Success might be the right path for you. If you’re a clinician thinking about transitioning into a non-clinical role or you’re already working outside of patient care and looking for your next opportunity consider exploring CSM roles. I offer coaching for career pivoters who want to break into Customer Success. Send me a message if you want help figuring out if it’s the right fit for you.

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The Hard Truth About Customer Success 💥💰 Most Customer Success teams are leaving money on the table. For their companies, for themselves, and even for their customers. And it’s not because they don’t care. It’s because they’re still playing defense, taking on the role of the corporate "goalie". Too many CS team are stuck in relationship mode. Putting out fires. Sending recaps. Checking boxes. All while someone else defines the growth strategy. Here’s the reality 👇 🚫 CS is not the department that keeps customers happy. 💰 CS is the department and drives the organizational mindset that drives revenue impact from existing customers. 🚀 Which of course means CS is an essential new component of the companies' growth engine. But that only happens when leaders make bold moves. 💥 Here are the 5 bold moves I encourage every CS leader to consider (as I shared at the amazing #CS100 event) 1️⃣ Be the Voice of the Customer 🎙️ Don’t wait to be asked, be heard. Tell everyone the good and bad truths about how we are (or are not) helping our customers win. You are the closest connection between your company and the people it serves. 2️⃣ Know Your Revenue Math 📊 Customer Success without financial fluency is just a component of OpEx. Know your NRR, GRR, and expansion cold. Understand where you fit in the company's P&L statement, and how new account growth (and CAC) compares to existing client growth. 3️⃣ Push Product, Don’t Just Partner ⚙️ Partnership is good, but impact requires pressure. Push Product with purpose. Bring insights about how product can impact TAM/SAM/SOM and measurable growth, versus feature requests that impact experience only. 4️⃣ Lead Sideways & Up 🤝 Leadership isn’t vertical, it's in every direction. Build influence across peers and executives by knowing their KPIs, not just yours. Align your work to what drives the business forward and help others accomplish their KPIs too. Great CS leaders don’t wait for alignment, they create it. 5️⃣ Share the Wins 🏆 Don’t keep success quiet. Shine a light on your team, your customers, and your company. Tell the stories that inspire belief and show impact. Because when people see the wins, they believe in the mission. At DISQO, we’re not waiting for permission. We’re building CS as a revenue force, one that partners across Product, Sales, and Marketing to deliver measurable impact customers feel and the business can see. And here’s the truth 💡 You don’t need permission to lead this way. You just need courage. 🔥 Your Challenge This Week 💥 Which Bold Move will you double down on? 💥 Where can you stop playing defense and start driving growth? Stop waiting for your seat at the table. Build one. 💪 #Leadership #CustomerSuccess #BoldMoves #Revenue #Growth #CreateTheFuture #DISQO

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Your CSM Tip of the Day isn't actually a tip for CSMs, it's a tip for customer success leadership: Your CSMs (and your support reps, implementation, sales...anyone who speaks directly with customers on a regular basis) are an invaluable resource. They're the ones who see the patterns in what customers actually want. They see the frustrations, the concerns, the missing features that could vastly improve adoption. They know the real world your customers live in, because they live it every day with them. A good CSM knows what your customers want. If you're a customer success leader, I challenge you to ask any CSM on your team what the top three priorities are for their segment when it comes to your product. Trust me, they have that list in their head already. The trick is to not let it stay in their head, where it might only benefit that CSM's book. If you don't have a clear, accessible way to track feature requests, communicate progress to customers, ask for feedback, find beta testers, all those things involved in deciding what features go into your product and how, you're wasting that resource, and no amount of customer surveys will bridge that gap. Most CSM job descriptions include "customer advocate" or "voice of the customer", but that only works if you're listening to that voice and including it in your decision making process.

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If you’re a CX leader looking for your next role stop pitching like an insights manager. You’re not being ignored because you don’t have the skills. You’re being ignored because you’re still selling activity instead of impact. 🧽 “We increased NPS by 12 points.” 📊 “We led the rollout of a new VoC platform.” 🗓️ “We held monthly insight readouts with leadership.” All that says is: I did the job I was hired for. But here’s the truth no one’s telling you: That’s not what gets you hired. The C-suite doesn’t want an insights manager. They want a business operator who can spot friction, rally teams, and drive results. If you want to stand out, say this instead: ✅ “We identified a 3-day delivery comms gap that was driving up WISMO calls. We fixed it with Ops, dropped call volume 18%, and increased CLTV by 22%.” ✅ “We removed receipt requirements for in-store returns, leading to a 12% drop in churn and a 5X increase in return satisfaction.” ✅ “We rewrote 2 onboarding emails that caused support calls and cut early-stage churn by 17%.” These aren’t “CX wins.” These are business wins made possible by a CX leader who knows how to move the org. Want more credibility? ✅ “We reduced checkout time by 27 seconds and increased conversion by 8.4% after fixing 4 top frictions.” ✅ “We restructured promo cadence with marketing to drive a 6.5% lift in ATV.” ✅ “We redesigned signage and training to drop 1-star reviews by 37%.” ✅ “We fixed a password reset bug and recovered 19% of lapsed users in 30 days.” Every statement above answers the question your next exec is silently asking: 👉 “Will this person make us more money, save us from risk, or accelerate our growth?” So if you’re walking into interviews flexing dashboards, RFPs, and vendor launches? You’re selling the wrong version of yourself. Sell the version that speaks friction, moves people, and shows up with P&L impact. Be the CX leader who says: “This is the friction I found. Here’s how I rallied the org to solve it. And here’s what it delivered for the business.” That’s not fluff. That’s fire. That’s how you land your next seat and thrive in it!

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Hot take: you can be an amazing remote CSM but in-person adds a layer you'll never replicate on Zoom. I've been visiting some of our customers lately for workshops, strategy sessions, and product deep dives, and it reminded me how different things feel when you're in the same room. When you're in-person: - People give you more time. - Workshops flow better. - You catch insights you'd never hear in a 30-minute call. Yes, it's not always scalable. But sometimes, impact beats scale. For some customers, that one visit can unlock months of alignment. For others, it's better to stay async and lean on automation. The trick? Knowing when to go. If the customer's success depends on deep process change → go. The future of Customer Success isn't remote vs in-person: it's knowing how to blend both. --- 📸 Working from the Notary Hotel in Philadelphia during a customer on-site visit.

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