In our new episode of the Mastering CS, Candid Leader Insights podcast, Irina Cismas, Head of Marketing at Custify, sat down with Anton Lagochniak, the Customer Success Manager at SupplyHive.
Anton discusses his journey in CS, the challenges he overcame, and the strategies he implemented.
What You’ll Learn:
- How to help customers with their challenges
- How to structure the CS customer success team
- Key metrics for customer success
- The importance of the right tool stack for CS
- How sales and customer success should collaborate
Key insights and takeaways for CSMs based on the interview:
Customer Success in Complex Industries: Anton highlights the unique challenges of customer success in high-stakes industries like aerospace and federal sectors. The need for in-person interactions, stakeholder buy-in, and slower-moving projects due to government protocols are key differentiators in these fields.
Importance of Multi-threading and Stakeholder Engagement: Anton emphasizes that customer success in large enterprises often involves navigating multiple stakeholders and gaining buy-in at various levels. Complex projects in industries like aerospace and government require multi-threading and regular interactions to move forward effectively.
Role Variety in a Startup: Anton’s role at SupplyHive involves wearing multiple hats, including implementation, onboarding, customer support, and even sales collaboration. His position requires him to balance technical expertise, relationship-building, and strategic thinking, particularly in a startup environment.
Sales and Customer Success Collaboration: Anton believes in the importance of early involvement of the customer success team in the sales process. This integration helps provide a smoother transition post-sale, allowing customer success to better understand client needs and objectives, leading to a more effective onboarding process.
Podcast transcript
Intro
Irina 0:02
Welcome to Mastering CS Candid Leader Insights, the podcast where we deep dive into the world of customer success with industry leaders. I’m your host, Irina Cismas, and today’s guest is Anton Lagochniak, Customer Success Manager at SupplyHive. Anton, welcome and thanks for joining us today.
Anton 0:19
Of course, thanks for having me.
Irina 0:22
Your career has spent some demanding fields like aerospace and federal. These industries are known for their complexity and the critical nature of their operations. What does customer success look like in such high stakes environments?
Anton 00:40
Yeah, no, it’s interesting. So I had never worked in aerospace or federal before my most recent role before SupplyHive, and it was definitely an adjustment. So I think the biggest differences are you need buying from more stakeholders to get any big decisions done.
So it’s a lot more multi-threading, working with different groups. And these accounts tend to be involved from a lot of different aspects. So you’re working with a lot of different groups at the same time, they get complex.
And then I think the biggest thing overall is also how important the in-person aspect is, especially now living in a more remote friendly world. That still is not as effective when you’re dealing with large government organizations or clients in the aerospace field. It’s very focused on in-person.
You have to visit them quite often to get things done and have those in-person interactions. So it was definitely a bit different. It moves slower at times, but it is an exciting field to be in just because there’s a lot of great people working in that space and you’re closer to a mission you really care about.
So that’s really what I would say is the big difference between that field and others.
Irina 1:59
So it feels like also in those type of industries, we have the standard QBRs and EBRs, but not virtually, but I would say in-person. And what else is it the same? Now I’m curious.
So what’s the same? Yes, what’s the same, regardless of the industry?
Anton 2:21
I mean, it’s still very much focused on the individuals. My theory always is if I can get the person that I’m working with promoted, that’s my success, right? So you’re still working with a project team.
They’re usually, especially for a bigger enterprise level product, which this was still a lot of developers, integration partners involved. So it’s a lot of moving parts and also solution engineers from my end or that I’m working with on my team. So it’s still very similar.
It’s more, the differences are kind of with the way they work and the parts of the business that need to be involved every step of the way. But overall, it’s the same. Sometimes it can get slowed down based on different factors that are out of control.
The first time I experienced this, it was actually a government shutdown where basically this means that these individuals that work for the government, they can’t access anything. They can’t even have a coffee conversation about work. They’re not allowed to do anything.
So it completely derails projects sometimes. And there are other aspects as well, but it’s a lot of buy-in. It’s a lot of working up and meeting people higher and higher and higher just to get through and get buy-in to different parts of the project, especially when you’re working with a big account that’s doing multiple different projects at the same time with your company.
A typical day in the life of a Customer Success Manager
Irina 3:52
We’re going to talk later on about that buy-in and about the internal stakeholders that you rely on when you are making a CS decision. Now, I want to get back to present, to your current role as Customer Success Manager at SupplyHive. And I want to ask you, what’s a typical day look like for you?
Anton 4:14
Yeah, so I mean, the typical day varies quite a bit. SupplyHive is a smaller company, so we’re a small startup. So I’m doing anything and everything I can, including getting very involved on the sales side as well.
So it’s a lot more implementation focused. So my days can just working with the platform and helping the clients actually accomplish what they need to in the platform. So there’s a lot more actual implementation happening, which is fun.
A lot of client conversations, but it sort of varies. I’m working with fewer accounts, but I’m very involved with those accounts. So it’s the more strategic side.
Of customer success. So it’s very involved. I would say it’s probably 50-50 calls versus just individual work where I’m maybe doing some of the implementations.
We do supplier performance management. We’re a software for that. So maybe it’s setting up different scorecards that need to be sent out and managing that process alongside the people that I’m working with on the project team on the client side.
So it’s a good split. I think that’s probably what I love about customer success the most. It’s that 50-50, you have half of your day where you’re being social and you’re interacting with individuals, but it’s half the day where you’re really just getting things done and working in your own world.
So that’s generally what it is, but it does vary quite a bit just because of the nature of a startup. So it can be, it can pretty much be anything, but it’s mostly, I would say, half day in calls, talking to clients or prospects in this case, and half the day just working on documentation, process documents, workflows, preparing for presentations, business reviews, things like that. So that’s kind of the split that I’m in right now.
Helping customers with their challenges
Irina 6:09
Tell me more about your customers and what kind of challenges do they usually run into and they need your CS support?
Anton 6:20
Yeah. So our customers span across a number of different industries. Anybody that has a lot of suppliers is generally a good fit for us.
So we work with a lot of different industries, whether it be food and beverage, pharmaceutical, banking industry. I mean, there’s a number of clients that I work with across all industries, which is very exciting because it’s not really, in my previous role, it was more focused on the federal and aerospace sector. And here it’s much wider.
So, and these are all always, so we’re all also only working or primarily working with Fortune 1000 companies, because those are the ones that have a need to manage a large amount of suppliers or really get into the performance aspect of what their suppliers are doing. But in terms of what we interact on, so I mean, it depends on the client. So some are much more self-service and they want to do more themselves.
And some want to work directly with somebody from my customer success team. So in the first case, it’s more supporting them on an as needed basis and also being very proactive in creating new process documents, standardizing things, gathering their feedback is a very big thing that we’re focusing on now through focus group and one on one feedback sessions. That’s something I’m constantly going for just to get that feedback back to our product team, especially in a startup environment, that feedback is invaluable because whatever we built the first time, that’s likely something that needs to be iterated on to get closer to what the market is actually looking for.
So I’m constantly on the lookout for any feedback that I can get. And that’s where I’m working with the clients and then any kind of issues that come up or bugs in the platform that also goes through me. And then expansion opportunities, right?
So looking for different places to expand, identifying those opportunities, and then working with our sales team to act on those, but definitely having a big part to play in all of these different aspects. But yeah, it’s really, so it’s working hand in hand, we generally, we’re more involved. So we create the project plans as well to do these projects, right?
So actually to do the initial onboarding and the maintenance after the onboarding is done. But generally, our clients will start with only a few suppliers or only their top tier suppliers. We’ll do a project, we’ll do that.
And then we’ll expand into tier two, tier three, more suppliers, really scaling the program. So the involvement never really ends. And we’re working hand in hand.
So we do a lot of the setup with them. And we do a lot of the management of the platform as well. So it’s very, very involved.
But that’s what I like about it.
Irina 9:15
Whoa, you mentioned so many things that I want to follow up. I felt the need at some point to go and write some things that I want to follow up on. You mentioned at the beginning that you are also, and okay, not sure how you handle with all those hats that you are wearing.
So at some point, I think you are an implementation manager and onboarding manager. Okay, if I can have a customer that renews, okay, I have to handle a renewal conversation, maybe I have to handle a QBR, then I’m gonna put myself in the marketing head and run some customer interviews and get all that feedback and then send it to the product. Oh, my God.
Anton 9:59
Yeah.
Sales and customer success collaboration
Irina 10:00
I want to ask you about sales. Because you said, I wouldn’t call it a handover between you and between the sales and the customer success. But you mentioned that you are involved in the sales process.
What’s that overlap? And how does it facilitate the customer success and the customer journey?
Anton 10:30
Yeah. At times, it’s sort of a separate part of my role, just because of my experience where I will come into opportunities from a solution engineering perspective. So I’m there to demo to answer questions.
So the way our company is set up, and our CS function is set up that apart from the product team, we are the product experts, we know the product inside and out, we know exactly how to work with it, more so than anybody else in the company, including Salesforce. So what we do is we’ll partner with our sales team often. And that’s where I come in to actually demonstrate different parts of the product, whether it’s the front end or the back end, depending on what part of the sales process we’re in.
We’ll work on RFPs, RFIs, we’re really working hand in hand with the sales team. And I think that really pays dividends a lot further down the line, because if I’m involved in the sales process, I have a really good idea of what the client’s needs are, what their objectives are, how our product fits into what they’re looking for. And then I can take that information and not have to worry about, okay, the handover wasn’t great.
So I’m really just trying to find my footing for the first one or two months. It’s really, okay, contract signed, they’re ready to go, they’re excited, let’s do it. So that’s really the overlap, I think.
It’s interesting to see not only what the clients want and need, but getting insight directly from the prospect. And I love demoing our tool and being involved in the sales process from a more solution engineering technical standpoint. So that’s really where my involvement is.
But I think the overlap is really that, the earlier you involve CS, and I’ve seen companies that don’t involve them at all, but I think I’m of the belief that the earlier you involve your CS function, the smoother the handover is, and the better the initial phases of the onboarding will be, which is where, I mean, that first impression is everything. If they sign the contract and then it’s delayed, or there’s one or two months where things aren’t really getting done, then that excitement dies down. But right when that is signed, and they’re ready to go, and they’re excited, that’s when you need to capitalize.
Having CS involved in that sales process earlier, rather than just having a cold handover, that’s where it starts to pay dividends, because then you’re really aware of what’s going on, and you have the notes and the understanding that you need to take it off the right way.
Irina 12:49
I couldn’t not notice the enthusiasm, the fact that you know your product, you like to demo it, you want to be involved every step of the way. I have to ask you, do you think that’s one of your strengths? The fact that you have a technical background, that it’s a mix of skills.
So you understand the product, you understand a bit the industry, you also have some, I would say, sales skills, but I would mention the curiosity that sales requires in order to understand the customer. Are those things that basically help you step up and do a better job in this role?
Anton 13:42
I definitely do think so, and my career progression is, I have a data science degree. So I initially had a technical background, which definitely helps me every step of the way, I think, and I lean on it quite heavily to differentiate myself and really be valuable to my clients. Where I think that comes in, and just being more diverse and not just being, I’m here to take your request or try to be proactive and things like that.
So my theory on customer success has always been, if I can be technical enough or understand the platform enough to answer 90% of your questions, as opposed to maybe 50 to 60%, that only increases my reliability, your trust with me, and then that really kicks off the relationship where they’re like, okay, it’s not another person that I’m just dealing with that is managing the relationship. I can really lean on this individual to help me get to where I need to go. So that’s where it really helps is just understanding that, understanding the product.
And then if you understand the product technically, or just really know how to work with it, which our entire CS team does, I think, number one, that trust is being built the whole way. And number two, you can take these maybe more complex topics and explain them in a more simple way to individuals that aren’t in this world and doing this every single day. So the people you’re working with.
And I think that also helps get them closer to being experts in the platform, let’s say, because that’s very important. That’s the most successful accounts I see, is where it’s not, they’re not leaning as heavily on us, they get comfortable enough and good enough at the platform where they’re able to be that expert internally, and train more people. So it’s kind of a train the trainer approach.
So I think that’s where it, that’s what it comes down to that technical background, I definitely lean on a lot, especially when looking at analytics and different metrics to measure how clients are doing what the health is.
Irina 15:53
I’m guessing KPIs are a big deal in your role.
Anton 15:57
Yes.
The crucial key metrics for customer success
Irina 15:58
What do you what do you what are the key metrics you are always keeping an eye on the current role? And how do you make a difference?
Anton 16:06
It’s usage heavy. And since our platform, a big part of it is scorecarding, we like to scorecard ourselves and kind of drink our own champagne, right and understand how we’re doing. So we do get that feedback directly from our clients, which is fantastic, because we have a good idea of not only NPS score, but how do you feel about the customer service?
How do you feel about the innovation piece, you know, we’re really getting that feedback directly from our clients through that scorecarding aspect. But I think other metrics, it’s really adoption, right? So I want to keep seeing more and more usage in the platform, more users, more suppliers being added, onboarded and being evaluated in our platform.
I want to see Yeah, it’s very, it’s very usage and adoption heavy, I would say. And then also, it’s software things too. So it’s I don’t only only want to look at hard metrics, because that can kind of put give you tunnel vision.
I also want to really pay attention to and keep track of how, how are they sounding in the conversations that we’re having? Right? Are they enthusiastic?
Is the energy dying down? Or do we have any, anybody internally that’s challenging the viability of the project, or the value of the tool? And how do we go about changing their mind or working with them?
Right? So it’s, it’s, it’s both senses where I think the more quantitative hard metric aspect is that usage, especially in a SaaS startup situation. But on on the flip side, it’s really important to pay attention to the softer parts of how to evaluate how a client is feeling.
Are they engaged? Are they are they growing? Are they getting that value from the platform?
So I’ll always have conversations with my clients about like, is this working for you? You know, what do you use the most? What do you not use the most?
What would you improve if you had a if you had a magic wand, and you could change anything about the platform or the processes that we’re doing right now? What would you do? So it’s really constantly working and constantly improving.
And then the usage numbers really help me track that that if the usage is increasing, and they’re happy, and they’re utilizing the data in the platform for more of their maybe business reviews or conversations with their suppliers, then that that’s a that’s a that’s a really good indicator of that the client is happy and, and getting value out of the platform.
Having the right tool stack
Irina 18:28
You do have a lot on your a lot on your plate and a lot of metrics to juggle to juggle with. And I assume that you also rely on technology. How does this look like for the CS departments?
How’s the tech stack looking like for you guys?
Anton 18:48
So our tech stack is very early. So there’s not much of a tech stack to be honest. We pretty much track everything through our own documentation in, in Google Drive and sheets and things like that.
So we primarily use Google Drive for this. But it’s it’s really heavy on the documentation. So I’m I’m a big believer in taking good notes, staying very organized, I will make it a point to spend time on organizing myself just because I want to make sure that nothing’s falling through the cracks.
Because that, again, is how you how you lose that trust with your clients. So it’s it’s really just a couple different points of documentation that were hosts where we’re keeping in, in Google Drive, including sheets on those on those metrics as well. So that it’s not much of a tech stack right now.
I will be honest, we are, you know, early stage startup. But that’s, that’s, that’s where it is right now. And, you know, things like customer success also come into play, right.
But it’s mainly we want to track the data that we need and what we’re doing with each client and make sure that’s always up to date. So that’s something we’re always emphasizing with all the members of the customer success team. That’s the plan.
Irina 20:04
I want to remain on this technology part, but I think indirectly you answer it, I just need a confirmation. Are you relying on AI’s help for in your day to day CS operations?
Anton 20:24
I’m not, not as much as I think we could. AI is a big part of our tool. So, so we, I guess, it’s a part of our tool, but we don’t leverage it as much as we should.
It’s more just simple things. There’s not really any heavy involvement from AI that’s worth mentioning. But it is, it is something that is a big part of our tool when it comes to summarizing and getting those insights out of the data, especially with big programs with a lot of suppliers being evaluated.
You know, if you have a hundred reviews for any supplier, you’re not, nobody has the time to sit there and think through that. And that’s where AI comes in. It’s really extracting those insights so you can act on them and help your suppliers improve.
So it’s, it’s interesting to see it in the platform, but as a customer success function, we don’t use it as often. It’s more, you know, maybe generating dummy data or customized demos or something that we need to prepare for a client, you know? But it’s, that’s, that’s basically the extent of it is, is at least as it relates to us using it for our CS function.
CS challenges
Irina 21:29
You mentioned earlier about having a magic wand. And just by listening to you, even if you are wearing so many hats, it feels where you make it sound so easy. And it seems like in your case, the day has 48 hours and regardless of the task, you will get it, you will get it done.
But let’s assume that you do have a magic wand and you would want to solve that, that challenge that keeps you up at night. I can’t believe that it’s only milk and honey. So there are also moments when you, when you struggle and when, why do you struggle?
What are your current challenges in the, in the role that you have? What are you trying to achieve when you can’t?
Anton 22:20
I think overall, it’s getting to a very, I think naturally any CS function as it grows within a business where we’re still early, but I think we’re in a good place in a much better place. We are now than when I had started at supply high. But it’s becoming more proactive and getting on top of this.
So it’s, it’s about getting crisp on the more repetitive, mundane tasks, getting those done quicker. So we actually have the time as a CS function to be more proactive and start doing these, you know, tell us, tell us how you feel about the product. Is it valuable?
What are you using? What are you not like really trying to understand the value and the processes that they’re going through within the product. So the challenge a lot of the time in my, in my case now at supply hive is, is just juggling the different tasks.
So if there was just like my magic wand would be, if you could just organize everything in priority for me, I’d be happy. Right? Like I, sometimes it’s hard to understand what should be prioritized.
Of course, anything that’s related to the client is first, but there are other things that we want to be working on as well. I mean, we’re trying to move as fast as possible here in product and in how, how we sell, how we support our clients. It’s all moving really, really fast.
And it’s, it’s just about keeping up. And then that has to be balanced with that. Okay.
Can we have enough time, that additional time, right? We can’t just be going from task to task task. We didn’t actually have time to think, sit down, understand, okay, here’s where the client is.
Here’s what I want to accomplish this month. Here’s what I should be having in my account plan. And then work from there.
So I guess, yeah, the magic one would just be something that organized everything. So we’re not constantly having to do it all the time ourselves just because of the different hats that we’re wearing to your point.
Irina 24:17
We are coming to an end to our conversation, but before I want to wrap up all my guests to receive this question, who has had the biggest influence on your career and what’s the best bit of advice they give you that still sticks with you today?
Anton 24:33
Yeah, no, absolutely. I have a mentor. It’s a big part of my career has been to this point.
And I actually met her in, I met her briefly in my first role, but we never really worked together because at that point, I was still, you know, young in college, data science, data science centric. But, and then at the next company, we actually, she was my boss. And that’s, that’s where we got really close.
She’s been my mentor. She’s probably the best at customer success I have ever seen and may ever see. So she is very high level, great on the operations aspect.
She is really where, where I’ve gotten better at speaking, at presenting, at staying organized. That’s, that’s really where her strengths line and making sure that nothing falls through. You’re, you’re well, you, you know, the product inside and out, and you’re truly a partner for the client every step of the way.
And I think, I’m trying to think back to, it’s, it’s hard for me to pick one piece of feedback that she’s given me or, or just advice that I find valuable, because really, I mean, honestly, she shaped so much of what I am today in this role and how I operate. So a lot of, a lot of what I do is for her, right. But I think it would just be slowing down.
So I have this tendency to, to go a little bit too fast sometimes and just, and just go, go, go. And really that’s, that’s where I think that flipped the switch in my brain where I’m like, okay, I need to slow down. Sometimes I need to analyze where the client is.
I need to understand where they are. Just revisit this constantly and then understand, do I need to shift instead of just acting on, on my first instinct? So I think that would really be the best piece of advice I’ve received from her is that whether it’s in speaking or presenting or demoing or working with the clients, it’s just, it’s just slowing down and taking time to actually think about what your next step should be and strategizing around that.
And that also helps me stay a lot more proactive because then I’m not only thinking about, okay, what’s the next task on my long to-do list. I Let me look at this from a view that’s further away and understand where the opportunities are to get the client to a place where they’re, they’re better than they were before in, in how, how much value they’re getting out of the platform.
So I think that would be it, but there, there, there’s a number of pieces of advice I can mention especially from her. I mean, we’re still very connected even though we don’t work as much together. So no, I’m very grateful to have a very strong mentor in my life like her.
Irina 27:20
Thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today and a big thank you to all our listeners. Until next time, stay safe and keep mastering customer success. Bye-bye everyone.
