Designing Success: The Business of Customer Success

About Designing Success: The Business of Customer Success

Customer Success isn’t just about happy customers or renewal metrics—it’s about designing intentional growth that transforms retention, expansion, and advocacy into predictable revenue engines. Join Rob, founder of GrowthPilot Consulting, as he unpacks the strategies, playbooks, and real-world systems powering today’s most effective Customer Success teams. Each episode of Designing Success goes beyond buzzwords and best practices, digging deep into tactical insights and actionable frameworks that you can apply right away. From strategic onboarding and proactive renewal planning, to aligning Sales and CS, defining scalable customer health metrics, and turning friction into momentum—Designing Success covers every critical moment in the customer journey. Rob brings wit, nuance, and an unfiltered view of what it actually takes to scale Customer Success, combining practical wisdom with hard-won lessons from the front lines of SaaS. Whether you’re a CS leader shaping your strategy, a seasoned CSM sharpening your skills, or a SaaS executive ready to unlock customer-led growth, this podcast delivers clarity, frameworks, and powerful conversations to get you there. Because customer outcomes shouldn’t be left to chance—they should be intentionally designed. Presented by GrowthPilot Consulting Follow on LinkedIn, YouTube and Substack for bonus content, tools, and CS community insights.

Publisher

GrowthPilot Consulting

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 Apr 2025

Latest episode

13 May 2025

Latest episodes

7 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 May 2025

   Episode 7: Pre-renewal planning: what to do at 120, 90, 60 days

   If your renewal strategy starts 30 days before the contract ends… That’s not a strategy. That’s a fire drill. In this episode of Designing Success, we break down how world-class CS teams plan for renewals proactively—starting 120 days out, not 12 minutes before the customer ghosts you. Here’s what we cover: Why most renewals fail before they’re ever discussedThe key moves to make at 120, 90, and 60 days—and who should be in the roomHow to turn QBRs into forward momentum—not flashbacksTacti...

2. 

   25 Apr 2025

   Episode 6: CS + Sales: A Love / Hate Relationship

   They close the deal. You keep it alive. They ring the gong. You calm the customer after the dust settles. Welcome to the most complicated relationship in SaaS: Customer Success + Sales. In this episode of Designing Success, we unpack: Why the CS/Sales tension isn’t personal—it’s structural The most common breakdown points (hello, handoffs and overpromises) What real alignment actually looks like—from pipeline to pre-renewal Tactical plays you can run today to build trust, not just sh...

3. 

   24 Apr 2025

   Episode 5: What Hiring Managers Really Look for in a CSM

   Let’s be honest—most job descriptions sound like they were copy-pasted from LinkedIn’s Greatest Hits: “Customer-obsessed.” “Collaborative.” “Strong communicator.” “Team player.” And sure, those things matter… sort of. But if you’re trying to land your next CSM role—or build a CS team that actually moves the needle—those buzzwords won’t cut it. In this episode of Designing Success, we’re pulling back the curtain. We’re talking about: The traits hiring managers actually look for—but rarel...

4. 

   7 Apr 2025

   Episode 4: Getting the executive sponsor back on board

   Your executive sponsor was there at kickoff—excited, engaged, fully aligned. And then, suddenly, silence. They’ve gone quiet, delegated downward, or disappeared altogether. Sound familiar? In this episode of Designing Success, Rob explores why executive sponsors disengage, and more importantly, how to win them back. You’ll learn the strategies and psychology behind re-engaging sponsors who’ve ghosted, how to rebuild alignment when your champion leaves the company, and ways to ensure you never...

5. 

   6 Apr 2025

   Episode 3: Building a CS team from scratch: where to start

   Building your Customer Success team from the ground up sounds exciting—until you’re staring at a blank org chart and wondering who (and how) to hire first. In this episode of Designing Success, Rob walks you step-by-step through what it takes to build a Customer Success team the right way, from defining your mission and making that critical first hire, to designing roles around your customer journey and setting meaningful metrics that drive impact—not just activity. You’ll learn: Why your fir...

6. 

   6 Apr 2025

   Episode 2: The psychology of resistance: why customers push back

   Ever wondered why your perfectly planned onboarding hits a wall, or why customers go quiet when everything seemed on track? In this episode of Designing Success, Rob digs into the psychology behind customer resistance—not as a problem, but as a predictable human behavior. You’ll discover why customers hesitate, stall, or suddenly disengage—and more importantly, how to turn that friction into deeper trust and accelerated value. Tune in to learn: The hidden emotional triggers behind custo...

7. 

   6 Apr 2025

   Episode 1: Onboarding isn’t a phase — it’s the foundation

   Forget onboarding as a checklist—this isn’t about account setups and product tours. It’s about first impressions, momentum, and building the kind of customer relationship that fuels retention from day one. In this episode of Designing Success, Rob dives deep into why most SaaS companies get onboarding wrong, treating it like a phase instead of the critical foundation it truly is. You’ll learn how to design an onboarding experience that not only accelerates customer value but actually pr...

Podcast Authority Score: 9 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

18

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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