Post by Pylon

We've got 🔆 Emma Montgomery 🔆 in the spotlight! Emma has nearly five years of experience in customer success and product. She currently serves as a Client Success Manager at SmartSuite, where she helps enterprise teams design, implement, and scale connected workflows on an AI-native platform. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁/𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀? I am deeply drawn to the feeling of helping someone succeed. It is less about a role or a title and more about a sense of responsibility to serve others and help them move forward in their work and goals. My aim is simple: create experiences that feel "unreasonably hospitable," - the kind people remember and talk about. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁/𝗖𝗦/𝗖𝗫? Develop judgment before you develop process. Learn the product, the business, and the tools, including AI, but prioritize understanding your customers above all else. The most effective CS professionals recognize that every interaction is less about resolving the immediate question and more about understanding the underlying context and what is truly at stake for the person involved. Tools will evolve continuously. Curiosity, clarity of thought, and the ability to build trust will remain constant. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗜? Successful post-sales teams are evolving into more strategic, advisory, and revenue-driving roles. Think about modern CS like a garden being tended with care. AI will not create relationships, but it will clear the noise that obscures them, allowing more focus and clarity on the relationships themselves. It will run quietly in the background, handling work that does not require human judgment. This shift allows CS leaders to spend more time as trusted advisors, connecting product decisions to business strategy, supporting expansion, joining executive conversations, and guiding customers through change. Our value shifts from execution to the quality of thinking we bring. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗢𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀? Am I making my customer “look good?" I start by understanding what success looks like for each customer and what they are accountable for inside their organization. From there, I work backwards to make sure my work is aligned to that reality. Alongside adoption, outcomes, and engagement, I focus on a simpler signal: is this person becoming more effective in their role? Are they clearer in internal conversations, more trusted by stakeholders, and more confident in front of leadership? If the partnership improves how someone shows up at work and how others perceive them, then the ROI is real.