Biggest Challenges Faced By A Customer Success Manager At Gong
Liz's biggest challenge as a Customer Success Manager at a Forbes Cloud 100 company was the constant battle of retaining customers for a "nice to have" product, Gong, during a period of economic uncertainty and budget cuts; this resulted in a stressful experience of watching clients churn even when they didn't want to leave because they "had no choice due to budget cuts".
Technology Sales, Customer Retention, SaaS Industry, Budget Constraints, Economic Factors
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Liz Montgomery
Unemployed - previously Customer Success Manager
2024 Forbes Cloud 100 Technology Company
UC Santa Barbara
N/A
International Relations & Affairs
Technology
Sales and Client Management
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. The challenge of selling a 'nice-to-have' product in a volatile economic climate, where budget cuts and layoffs were common.
2. The constant pressure of retaining customers in a competitive market, especially when facing budget constraints that were beyond their control.
3. The emotional toll of dealing with customer churn, particularly when customers were forced to cancel due to circumstances beyond their preference, impacting the professional's job security and compensation tied to retention rates.
Transcript
What was your biggest challenge in your role?
That's a good question. I would say this might be specific to the type of product and the company I worked for. What was really difficult for me and many on my team was that we sold a product that wasn't a "need to have."
In tech, you'll often hear about "nice to haves" versus "need to haves." A "need to have" is like a CRM, something you literally can't do your job without and no one will get rid of. Gong, on the other hand, is more of a "nice to have."
People might say, "Yeah, we like it, it's cool, but we don't need it." During budget cuts, it becomes vulnerable. For a long part of my role, because Gong was a nice-to-have and considering the economy and how chaotic tech has been, everyone is looking to save money.
Everyone is doing layoffs and trying to save wherever they can. So for the last two years of the role, it was a constant battle. Gong was expensive and always on the chopping block at renewal time.
A big part of my job was retaining customers. When people churned, it was really stressful. For about two years, I was just trying to make sure people wouldn't leave Gong.
Often, there was nothing I could do because people needed to save money and didn't have a choice. Many would even say they didn't want to leave but had to. That was the toughest part: losing customers who didn't want to go but had no choice due to budget cuts.
This was super stressful when retaining customers was a large part of my role and my pay, and people were leaving left and right. Again, this is specific to the company and the time period, but it was definitely the most difficult part.
Advizer Personal Links