How To Gain Buy-In With The C-Suite? Vol. 2
During our second season of CX Chats, we conducted in-depth interviews with 17 leading industry experts to discuss how they get buy-in from the C-suite. Here are their enlightening perspectives.
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Samantha Conyers – CXO – First Retail Group
Gaining buy-in from the C-suite is vital for any CX initiative. Samantha has been fortunate to work with supportive CEOs who understand the value of CX. However, she acknowledges that change is a complex process, and building trust and demonstrating the strategic impact of CX initiatives are ongoing efforts.
Watch Samantha Conyers’ entire interview
Julie Fox – Global Director of Customer Success – Cin7
Julie emphasizes the importance of aligning the customer success strategy with broader business objectives when partnering with the C-suite. By understanding the overall business goals, she can tailor CS initiatives to support those metrics, making it easier to gain buy-in from senior leaders. As a data-driven executive, she speaks business metrics language, helping the leadership team see how customer success can drive growth and profitability.
Watch Julie Fox’s entire interview
Sumitra Narayanan – Manager, Customer Success, Scale – Braze
Sumitra explains that building relationships with the C-suite requires aligning CS efforts with high-level company goals. It’s crucial to communicate the value of customer success initiatives in terms of how they drive the company’s top-level metrics, like revenue growth and retention.
Watch Sumitra Narayanan’s entire interview
Jim Iyoob – Chief Customer Officer – Etech Global Services
In his role at Etech Global Services, Jim Iyoob excels in establishing partnerships and securing C-suite buy-in for customer experience (CX) initiatives by aligning them with the company’s core values and ensuring data accessibility across all organizational levels. Recognizing the challenge of skepticism, especially against data-driven changes, Jim focuses on educating stakeholders about the value of these insights, emphasizing gradual improvement over immediate perfection. He advocates for transparent communication, ensuring that insights derived from comprehensive data analyses are shared and supported across different departments. This approach not only garners the necessary support from top-level executives but also fosters a cohesive movement within the organization toward enhancing customer experiences.
Watch Jim Iyoob’s entire interview
Angeline Gavino – Vice President of Customer Success – Katalon
Angeline believes in speaking the language of the C-suite, which is numbers. Aligning her CS team’s goals with company revenue goals and presenting data-driven insights helps secure buy-in from top executives. This approach demonstrates the direct impact of CS efforts on the company’s bottom line.
Watch Angeline Gavino’s entire interview
Anika Zubair – Head of Customer Success – Griffin
In her leadership role, Anika regularly collaborates with Griffin’s C-suite, directly bringing the customer’s voice into executive meetings. Whether discussing revenue blockers or celebrating new customer launches, she ensures that customer success remains a central focus at the highest levels of the organization.
Her approach to the C-suite is similar to working with multi-threaded stakeholders within a customer organization. Anika believes in the importance of building relationships with executives like the CFO or CPO and ensuring regular communication and collaboration. This strengthens cross-functional alignment and drives company-wide initiatives that enhance customer success.
Watch Anika Zubair’s entire interview
Alex Farmer – Chief Revenue Officer – Nezasa
Collaboration with the C-suite is crucial for CX leaders. Alex stresses the importance of understanding each executive’s KPIs and aligning your initiatives with their goals. For instance, when working with product and engineering teams, it’s essential to follow established processes for reporting bugs and escalating issues, even if it’s more cumbersome. This fosters goodwill and ensures that the company’s objectives are met more efficiently.
Watch Alex Farmer’s entire interview
Debra Squyres – Chief Customer Officer – Bonusly
Debra stresses the importance of collaboration and data-driven decision-making within the C-suite. Helping her peers succeed and advocating for constructive conflict ensures that different perspectives lead to more robust business strategies, enhancing overall company performance.
Watch Debra Squyres’ entire interview
Alex Mead – Chief Customer Service Experience Officer – Total CX
Alex leverages his deep understanding of CX to align departmental goals with broader business objectives in dealing with the C-suite and board members. His approach involves translating CX initiatives into tangible business benefits that resonate with stakeholders, ensuring customer-centric strategies are also business-savvy.
Watch Alex Mead’s entire interview
Sally Roberts – Head of Customer – Legatics
Influencing C-suite decisions is easier at Legatics, given the CEO’s deep involvement in product development. Sally highlights the importance of building business cases for new technologies and ensuring investments align with organizational goals. She shares insights on how customer feedback, gathered through various channels, is crucial in shaping the product development roadmap.
Watch Sally Roberts’ entire interview.
Jeremy Watkin – Director of Customer Experience and Support – NumberBarn
Jeremy highlights the importance of communication and demonstrates the impact of CX initiatives on revenue and resource allocation. Understanding the financial implications and working closely with the C-suite to align priorities is essential. Jeremy views his role as a mediator who effectively translates the needs and insights of the CX team to the executive level.
Watch Jeremy Watkin’s entire interview
Caroline Quinlan – CX Design Manager – AIB
Caroline has successfully gained buy-in from the C-suite by presenting precise, evidence-based results. Using data to demonstrate the impact of CX initiatives on business outcomes is essential. She believes linking CX improvements to tangible metrics like return on investment helps convey the value of CX to senior leaders, ensuring their support and commitment.
Watch Caroline Quinlan’s entire interview
Arjun Menon – Sr. Manager, Customer Success Management – Salesforce
Establishing meaningful partnerships with the C-suite necessitates proactive engagement, problem-solving, and a deep understanding of stakeholders’ challenges and aspirations. Arjun underscores the importance of becoming a trusted advisor by offering innovative solutions and driving tangible value across the organization.
Watch Arjun Menon’s entire interview
Lynn Hunsaker – Chief Customer Officer – ClearAction Continuum
Gaining executive buy-in is crucial for CX’s success. Lynn achieves this by linking CX initiatives to financial outcomes and strategic goals. She uses data to demonstrate how CX improvements can lead to revenue growth, cost savings, and enhanced customer loyalty.
Watch Lynn Hunsaker’s entire interview
Eddie Christian – VP, Customer Success & Customer Experience
Eddie Christian emphasizes that gaining buy-in from the C-suite for post-sale initiatives like customer success and customer experience hinges on demonstrating strong retention outcomes. He explains that retention is the key metric that leadership consistently values because it directly correlates to revenue—each retained customer has a clear dollar value. By presenting data that shows how tactics are effectively keeping customers on the platform, Christian finds it easier to capture executive attention. He notes that while churn spikes can draw negative scrutiny, maintaining strong retention metrics is the most effective way to secure ongoing support from leadership.
Watch Eddie Christian’s entire interview
Jill Crimm
Jill’s approach to gaining C-suite buy-in was multi-faceted. She built a coalition of believers at all levels, presented a compelling vision with measurable outcomes, and maintained transparency throughout the implementation process. This ensured trust and alignment with organizational goals.
Watch Jill Crimm’s entire interview
Donna Drehmann – Director Customer Experience – Eargo
Gaining buy-in from the C-suite is crucial for the success of any CX initiative. Donna’s data-driven approach presents clear evidence of what customers want and where improvements can be made. She has found that sharing customer insights, particularly regarding product feedback, resonates well with Eargo’s R&D and manufacturing teams, facilitating a collaborative environment for CX enhancements.
Watch Donna Drehmann’s entire interview
