#CSH Episode 8:

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:23 - The big question: AI or not to AI

00:02:24 - AI is making us lazy in CS

00:05:26 - Efficiency, not replacement

00:08:24 - Learning how to use the tool properly

00:10:55 - Misguided AI mandates from leadership

00:14:01 - Balancing relationships and automation

00:19:44 - The value of surveys and AI support

00:21:46 - Answering the question thoughtfully

📺 Lifetime Value: Your Destination for GTM content

https://www.lifetimevaluemedia.com

💁‍♀️💁‍♂️ Connect with the hosts:

Kristi Faltorusso's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristiserrano/

Kristi's website: https://www.kristifaltorusso.com/

Stijn "Stino" Smet's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stijn-smet-%F0%9F%90%B3-330435a9/

Key topics: artificial intelligence, personalization, leadership

[Kristi] (0:05 - 0:16)

I've owned it. I've not owned it. I own renewals, not upsells.

I own upsells and cross-sells, but not renewals. I've done every combination. So don't tell me that there's one way to do it, because I was wildly successful in all of those.

[Stino] (0:29 - 0:38)

And we're back! The CS hotline is back in action. I'm so happy to be back.

It's 2025. Happy New Year!

[Kristi] (0:40 - 0:42)

You didn't give me a ring-ring-ring. Where's my ring-ring-ring?

[Stino] (0:44 - 0:48)

Dillon was so pissed. He was like, we're not using that as a New Year's word.

[Kristi] (0:50 - 0:58)

You know, Dillon, because I know you're listening, because you have to, stop censoring us. Stop censoring us.

[Stino] (0:58 - 1:03)

I've put so much effort in the original intro. You can't just be like, ring-ring-hello.

[Kristi] (1:04 - 1:12)

I mean, we literally can, though, Dillon. We can, because we're sitting here on the mics, and if we want to go ring-ring-ring, we're going to ring-ring-ring.

[Stino] (1:12 - 1:14)

Ring-ring-hello, CES hotline here.

[Kristi] (1:17 - 1:23)

All right, so you know, what's on the docket for today? What is going on out there in the CES land? What do people want to know?

[Stino] (1:23 - 1:33)

Well, the first one is a very Shakespearean question, and it's one that I have a lot to say about. Fun fact, I did an entire post on it yesterday.

[VO] (1:33 - 1:34)

I saw it.

[Stino] (1:35 - 2:09)

And I'm not, I didn't post that question, but the question is from an anonymous CES. And in true Shakespearean style, they just asked, AI or not to AI? That's the question.

And I love the fact that it's such a broad question, because it covers not only the ground of customer success, but I think it's just a general topic of AI, of the use of AI within SaaS. And I'm going to let you handle that one first, because the fire inside of me is already riling up. I'm trying to contain it, so you can go first.

[Kristi] (2:09 - 2:24)

No, unleash the beast. Let's go. You have a strong point of view on this one.

Let's have it. I think my take, only because I read your post, I think my take, I've got a couple things that'll go in a different direction, so let's start with you.

[Stino] (2:24 - 3:50)

Okay, awesome. I think, okay, bringing it back to CES, or just in general, AI makes us lazy. We're getting lazy as fuck.

We're getting lazy when we're trying to score an interview for a job opportunity. We're getting lazy reaching out to customers. We're getting lazy reaching out for sales to get people on a demo.

We are getting too freaking lazy with AI. The amount of times that I get emails with the accolades still in there just by simply blindly copy pasting, that is not personalization. I literally vomit if I get those emails, and this is the worst.

Whenever you have that GPT 4.0, because you copied it completely, I'm like, I'm done. I am done. I'm all for AI if you use it to amplify your skills that you already have, but if you don't keep your intuition, or if you don't use your intuition to gather with AI and just solely blindly stare on AI, you're done.

Come back. No, I can't. I literally can't, and then don't get me even started by people posting on LinkedIn, because there are a few that started posts with you're a bad CSM or you're a good CSM.

If?

[Kristi] (3:51 - 4:39)

Yeah, well, I don't like the binary like this or that, right? Because customer success is not black or white. I think we need to get off of this.

You have to do this. You have to do that. You're good if you're this.

You're bad if you're that. It's like the revenue thing too, which I know people want to debate all day long, but I will tell you, having run five different organizations at five different companies, I have done every single combination of the revenue management. I've owned it.

I've not owned it. I owned renewals, not upsells. I own upsells and cross-sells, but not renewals.

I've done every combination. So don't tell me that there's one way to do it, because I was wildly successful in all of those. So I think the whole, it's this or it's that, it's right or it's wrong, it's AI or it's not AI, I think we need to take a step back because that's not how it works.

That's not how customer success works.

[Stino] (4:39 - 5:24)

That's not how anything works. There is no one way to do sales. There is no one way to do marketing.

There is no one way to do anything in SaaS as a profession. We need to stop. We need to stop.

It adds such anxiety and stress levels for people reading your posts to be like, do I need to use AI? Don't I need to use AI? How do I need to use AI?

If you want to do those posts, also send receipts. I hate it when people say, oh, it amplifies my work or it decreases my workload by 80%. How?

Show me. Show me the receipts. I can't be arsed.

[Kristi] (5:26 - 7:51)

Okay. All right. Here's my challenge with the AI or not AI.

So I am pro AI, but hear me out. I am pro AI in efficiency. I am not pro AI in replacement.

I don't think that AI can replace the work that a customer success professional can and should be doing. But we also know in a lot of organizations, they're not doing proper customer success anyway. So I think something is better than nothing, maybe.

But my challenge is that people don't realize AI only works if you have good data. Okay? You cannot use AI on bad data and expect good outcomes.

But yet nobody is prioritizing data hygiene and governance. Let's just use automations, for example. We're automating.

We're doing predictive insights. If you're going to tell me that AI is going to tell me what to do, but it's sitting on old, outdated, inaccurate information, what you do as a result of that will be wrong. So instead of focusing on AI right now, why doesn't everyone take a step back to 2010 and focus on data?

Get your data right and tight and then figure out, how can I weave AI in to drive efficiency? Because here's things. At the end of the day, there's a lot of administrative work that CSMs have to do.

And that is where I see AI coming in really strong. Do not make me rewrite my notes. Do not make me draft a follow-up.

Don't make me close out tasks. If you see that I've done the thing, automatically close out the task. That is where I see AI really, really lending itself well.

I do not see it replacing relationships. I do not see it designing success plans. The output of it, I don't see it contextually driving customer success.

I really see its value in the administrative work. Don't make me do the busy things. Use people for what they're there for.

We have the EQ. AI doesn't. So let it power the kind of backend administrative work, the task, the closing things out, creating things, telling you it's time to go look at this.

Hey, flagging you, alerting, things like that. The internal stuff, all day long. AI for the external stuff, meh.

That's where I kind of feel like, I don't know how I feel about that. Because to your point, the context isn't there.

[Stino] (7:52 - 8:23)

And that is the thing, though. Like how many times did you basically yell at your chachipiti, where you were like, no, I didn't mean it like this. More detailed, more detailed.

No, you're wrong. It should be this. More detail, more detail.

Other best practices. The amount of time that you are spending, learning chachipiti on how you want it to have it done. You could have done it by yourself in that time.

By far.

[Kristi] (8:24 - 9:34)

Yeah. I mean, this goes back to people don't know how to use it. Right.

Because if your prompt is weak, yes, you're going to have to ask it 30,000 follow-up questions. So this also goes back to like, let's educate people on how to use AI. Well, I will tell you there are a billion free courses out there.

Harvard has them. Google has them. I've sent some really killer stuff on YouTube.

I do think that YouTube is the greatest university of all time. There is a lot of content out there that can help educate you on how to use these things. I feel like right now everyone is so hung up on just AI thematically.

And if they're on this, like I got to do it. I have to use it. I have to figure it out, but they're not investing the time to really educate themselves on like what it is, how to use it.

What is the context? How should I apply it? Prompts is like the base, the most basic thing about it, but like learn how to do that and do it well.

But again, it has to sit on good data. So I just think that the world right now is just so caught up. Is this the new cool thing?

Is this a trend? And I have to hop on it. Right.

It's like the demure or cutesy. All of a sudden, everyone wants to be so demure and so cutesy. And we're saying all the things, we're doing all the things, but nobody knows what the hell they're doing.

So can we, can we pause?

[Stino] (9:34 - 9:35)

Can we learn?

[Kristi] (9:35 - 9:40)

Can we just slow it down for a minute? And then we can, we can go faster later.

[Stino] (9:40 - 10:55)

Because if you see those posts on LinkedIn, and again, there are some amazing content creators on there, on LinkedIn. But if you see posts like AI is the next big thing, or you need to use AI this way, don't listen to it. Well, that's my take.

Don't listen to it because again, use AI on how you want to use it. Because I can imagine that it's, sometimes I have the same, I'm like reading a post, you're a bad CSM. If you use AI, not in this, this and this way.

And I'm like, I'm not using it as that, or the way that you prescribed. And it adds that additional level of stress. But I'm like, but my numbers are still slaying.

Does that make me a bad CSM? Because I'm not doing what you're saying, but my numbers are slaying. It adds that additional level of stress.

It's not only with CS. It's, I think also leadership. If I look to my leadership, it's like AI, AI, AI, AI.

Take a step back. I know AI is here. It's here to stay.

And we need to leverage to its full capacity. But we first need to understand how, why, and like you mentioned, go back to the basics. We can't use it efficiently if we don't have an idea on what we want to use it for.

Take a step back.

[Kristi] (10:55 - 12:59)

People haven't, they haven't defined their use cases, but listen, here's the other thing. I, I blame, I blame the middle managers. I blame the senior managers, but hold on.

But before we start actually putting full blame, I had a call with a customer last week, and we're kind of talking through like, what are the top down priorities? Mainly tell me about the business. What's the direction for this year?

We're talking about her board and she has a, one of the larger VCs, and I will not name them by name, is their investor. And I said, okay, well, what is the mandate coming down from X? And she said, they are really pushing AI.

And I said, what does that mean? To do what? To drive what?

And when I tell you that there was this moment where it was like just crickets, right? Like, like we don't know, but it's this top down mandate. And like, and I get it.

You know what? The VCs, they want to drive more efficiency because it might keep costs down. It might get your productivities up.

I can understand the value there. But to your point, we haven't educated ourselves. The data is not good.

There's so much that has to happen beforehand. It's like laying the foundation for a house. You don't just start buying curtains and hanging them on nothing.

So build a foundation there and like take the time to figure out, okay, great, AI, cool. To do what? Why?

Yes. How? We're not asking the right questions.

We're just panicked and just trying to figure out, okay, do all of the tools that I have. What are they doing about AI? I cannot tell you.

As a vendor in this space, working for a CSP, every single customer is like, okay, well, what are you doing around AI? I'm like, what are you doing around your data? What are you doing around change management?

What are you doing to get your team to use this effectively today as is? Then we worry about AI and nobody wants that conversation. Nobody wants me to challenge them and kind of push them in that direction.

I'm like, listen, we're going to innovate all day. We've got really cool stuff planned. But while we're doing that, why don't you get these other things in order?

Get your house in order.

[Stino] (12:59 - 13:22)

I love that. And I really love the analogy of the curtains. I completely related to that because before we bought our house that we're living in right now, we saw these cute curtains and we were like, yeah, they would be able to fit into the new house.

And then you buy them because they're on a discount or whatever. And then you move into the new place. And you're like, no, no, they're not like- No, they don't look.

[Kristi] (13:22 - 13:58)

They don't, they're not the right length. They're not the right color. They're not blackout.

And I need it dark when I sleep. For whatever reason, right? They don't meet your needs.

And I think that's the problem, right? Is that we are so, we want to decorate because we want to do all the things. We want to make it pretty.

We want to make it nice. But you got, you have to slow down and figure out what is your strategy? How is it going to help?

What are the KPIs? How are we even measuring the success of deploying AI? Nobody has figured that out either.

So we can do all the things. How are we measuring it? Do we know if it's effective?

Because I could use AI all day, but what is it doing to drive my business differently?

[Stino] (13:59 - 14:01)

Yes, and that's my point exactly.

[Kristi] (14:01 - 14:44)

A lot of hypotheses out there, but like no real, to your point about like the, where's your receipts? Nobody's really got any proven data. It's all theoretical right now.

And listen, I say that as it relates to customer success, because let me not have somebody come at me on LinkedIn and try to attack me. Let me be very clear. I have seen AI in the customer experience space, call centers.

Yes. I have seen transformative, super cool AI use cases and other things. I am speaking specifically around customer success in the traditional sense in B2B SaaS.

So yes, I have seen AI be super cool and transformative in other spaces. We have not figured out how to embrace it just yet.

[Stino] (14:44 - 15:39)

No, because I do think we are more at, like you mentioned that at a Q perspective, we, I love to think that we're not the only profession, but like one of the top professions within SaaS that gives true meaning of what it means about building a human long-term connection relationship with another human being. And indeed we're not, have figured it out quite yet on how we build that connection without coming across robotic, because that's not how we do it. Like we build a playbook, chat GPT template for a customer that is at risk.

Like you need to think about how you communicate with your customers. And then if they see you jumping on a call, like if you create these dry ass templates that you're going to send out to every customer and they see you on a call and they were like, but this was not the tone of voice that you're using.

[Kristi] (15:39 - 15:41)

Well, that's the other thing.

[Stino] (15:41 - 16:19)

You need to be, and okay, chat GPT is already very, very good at mimicking your tone of voice to some extent. But like I had a customer from someone on my team who is handling this large book of business. So, okay, should be told, use chat GPT, pumped out emails.

But then I saw some calls and that is a guy sitting in front of that person was like, Oh, I thought you were more serious. Like you're super bubbly and super open. Like your email was like kind of dry.

And I was like, my point exactly why we're using AI, not the right way.

[Kristi] (16:20 - 17:42)

Okay. So this is where I have this little identity crisis because when I write to customers, I don't write the way I talk. So when I write, I am more professional.

It is not conversational. It is very formal. So like my written communication, and I did have somebody accused me for using AI and writing.

That's a different story. But my written communication to customers is very professional because it's in writing. I think, first of all, I'm usually communicating with senior executives.

And even if I have a preexisting relationship, my communication, the intention of my communication is to deliver a message, clear, concise. I'm not here to be like, Hey, Stacy, how are you? Like that's not what I'm using that kind of communication for.

But when I get on a call and I'll tell you, like I had a call with a customer the other day, I got to hear all about his son's proposal during the holiday season. We talked about their family and what their plans are and when they're getting married. Like we may have spent 20 minutes talking about that.

And like seven minutes on the renewal. And I think that this is like the relationship aspect that you can't replicate. But the conversation I had doesn't translate to the way that I write.

So I feel like the AI context, the written stuff. I don't know. That's a tough one for me because I do have, I think multiple personalities.

Unrelated. Yeah. That's a whole nother podcast, but yes.

[Stino] (17:44 - 17:50)

Oh, we should call it the 27 personalities. And then I mean, I don't even know if that's enough.

[Kristi] (17:50 - 17:51)

There's definitely.

[Stino] (17:52 - 18:03)

I probably rattled off 27, but yeah, I think my boyfriend says 13. We're at number 13 now because every time he's like, Ooh, I never met this one before. Is this number 14?

[Kristi] (18:04 - 18:12)

but that's good. Keep it spicy. Keep them guessing.

You can't, you can't, can't show them all of your personalities up front. You should like unlock a new personality every year.

[Stino] (18:12 - 18:13)

Every year.

[Kristi] (18:13 - 18:16)

Just so that way you just like, keep them guessing. I like that.

[Stino] (18:16 - 18:25)

Yeah. Yeah. We're four years together now.

And he's like, we're now in number 13. I was like, I'm planning to stay with you for another 40 years. So there are 50 more lined up.

[Kristi] (18:25 - 18:27)

I like that. I like that.

[Stino] (18:29 - 19:42)

The other thing that I want to say though, is like, this is a great, great props to you because it's based on a post that you did a couple of weeks ago. And I really thought it was super obvious that no one came to think about it earlier, but like you just said it out loud, which I really, really loved. And this was what I meant with like using AI to amplify.

And indeed, like you said to do not the administrative stuff was at the beginning of this year, instead of sending out a shit ton of emails to grab a call for that 20, 25 goals, just build in that survey to ask, like, how do you want to communicate in 20, 25? What are your goals? And I use AI to just get me that quick kind of survey and my tone of voice to really make sure that these are the points that I want to hit because I couldn't be thinking about questions.

They got me some very good questions that are also were like, you have your prompt ready where you want to have questions that they want to reply to. You don't want to have to try questions. And I sent that survey out to 516 of my champions.

And I have a reply rate of 42. I checked this morning before this podcast, 42.6%. Wow.

[Kristi] (19:42 - 19:43)

That's impressive.

[Stino] (19:44 - 20:17)

But that I want to thank you for as well, because you came up with maybe not the idea, but you were like, Hey guys, you should be handling this at the beginning of the year. Instead of chasing people for calls because they don't have the time. And that's the thing though.

Like if you read these kinds of things on LinkedIn, like you post, but other people post as well. Use AI on how you can take that idea or take that like proposition on how to handle something. Use AI to amplify it and make it work for you.

[Kristi] (20:18 - 21:08)

With the AI stuff. The best piece of advice I can give you here is slow down. Be thoughtful.

Don't approach it generically because AI should be used. Again, it's like an engine you're feeding it. Give it the context it needs if you're going to use it.

And so whether it's the prompt or just educating your AI engine around who you are, what the use cases are, what is the desired outcome, feed it, feed it. So that way it gives you back what you need. And the last piece I'm just going to say here is set expectations in your organization because I feel like it's unfair to put this pressure on folks to just go and do and use when there isn't any context around how or why or when or how it's being measured.

Give people the appropriate framework to help them embrace it appropriately.

[Stino] (21:08 - 21:46)

Yeah. And I think ask the why question. I really love that you brought that up as well.

We use the why question when we're getting product feedback of our customers. Like, why do you want to do this? Why, why, why keep asking it when it comes to AI?

Like, why and how should I use it for this? But I can use it for that. If anyone is pressuring you about AI, why is the question, why do I want to do this?

Why should I be doing this? All the questions, all the questions yourself. And then you have the answer to the Shakespeareal question, AI or not to AI.

That is the question.

[Kristi] (21:46 - 21:50)

So did we, did we say AI or not to AI?

[Stino] (21:50 - 21:54)

AI. I will say AI, but use it wisely.

[Kristi] (21:55 - 22:28)

Yeah. Okay. We're in the same boat there.

All right. So hopefully that answered the question. Be thoughtful about your approach.

Ask the questions. And if you're an IC, I will say this as individual contributors, it's easy to be a yes person because if something feels like it's coming down, just because your boss tells you to do something doesn't mean you shouldn't feel empowered to get the clarity that you need so that you can move forward effectively. So it's okay to challenge, politely challenge your management, your leader to get the clarity that you need to be the best version of yourself in your role.

[Stino] (22:28 - 22:59)

Yeah. 100%. Thank you so much guys for listening.

And ladies. People. Just people.

So for listening in to watch this episode, greetings from personality number three and four for me. I'm more than happy to bring you more of these unhinged episodes of the customer success hotline throughout 2025. We're super thankful that we can do this, that we have each other to make these.

[Kristi] (22:59 - 23:02)

Wait, should we tell people that we're going to be in person together soon?

[Stino] (23:03 - 23:05)

Yes. A couple of weeks.

[Kristi] (23:05 - 23:06)

What's our countdown now?

[Stino] (23:07 - 23:09)

It's now three more weeks.

[Kristi] (23:10 - 23:14)

Three weeks. We'll have to take some photos together so we can get some new cover art too.

[Stino] (23:15 - 23:18)

Yes, please. I lost like 50 pounds, 60 pounds.

[Kristi] (23:19 - 23:31)

I was, I was building out our podcast page on my site and I was like, this doesn't even look like us anymore. We really need a redo. We've had such glow ups.

I'm here for it for us. We need to get some pretty pictures.

[Stino] (23:31 - 23:45)

Like I mentioned as well, like before I go to New York, one of my clients has a beauty medical spa and they're giving me Botox and a facial for free because just me. Coming from Belgium over there, she will see me nice and tight.

[Kristi] (23:45 - 23:47)

Snatched. I love that for you.

[Stino] (23:47 - 23:48)

Snatched completely to the gods.

[Kristi] (23:48 - 23:55)

Listen, you know, I am, I am pro, pro anything that makes us feel like our best selves, whatever that is.

[Stino] (23:55 - 24:03)

100%. I'm excited for you. And on that note, see you all on the next episode of the Customer Success Hotline.

Bye.

[VO] (24:13 - 24:31)

You've been listening to the Customer Success Hotline produced by Lifetime Value Media and a member of the Lifetime Value Media Network. Visit the show at lifetime value dot link slash CSH for links to each episode, show notes and instructions on how to submit your burning questions.