Archive - The CS Café

Before You Run Your Next Renewal, Fix This First

Five stages, three tools, one timeline you run on every renewal. Risk surfaces at T-120, not T-14.

Jun 21 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

The Reason Your Renewals Turn Last-Minute.

Your best CSM keeps ending up on the email chain. The cause is not who you think, and it is draining your retention.

Jun 14 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

Are you the underpaid one?

Three things decide whether a customer success role pays $85k or $250k, and experience is not one of them. Here is how to find your real number.

Jun 10 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

The renewals you can't see are the ones that blow up

When the account manager gatekeeps the customer, being nicer or escalating both backfire. The move that works: become the one person who can prove…

Jun 7 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

Uber Just Cut Its People Team. CS Could Be Next.

CSAT and health scores don't survive the first finance question. Here's the one number that does, and the method to build it.

Jun 4 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

Before Your Next QBR, Read This.

A warm call is not a moved renewal. A two-week test that shows which kind of CSM you actually are.

Jun 3 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

May 2026

Before You Automate That Follow-Up, Read This.

Automate the wrong follow-up and the customer stops surfacing risk. Quiet reads as healthy, then the renewal slips. Here is the line, and the system to…

May 31 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

Your Renewal Doesn't Need Coding. It Needs Payback Period.

Outcome-based contracts are quietly rewiring Customer Success. The CSM who survives owns the financial layer, not the technical one.

May 27 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

Why the Chief Customer Officer Role Is Fracturing

Apple, Amazon, Meta, Walmart, and JPMorgan don't have a CCO on the executive committee. The pattern matters for every CS leader in 2026.

May 26 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

Meet The Shadow SLA Killing Your Renewals

Your health score scored them green. They still run the old spreadsheet. That gap is where churn lives.

May 24 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

The Completion Signal Your CS Operating System Is Missing

CS work has no natural finish line. That's a leadership design problem. Here's what changes when you define what "covered" means at the account level.

May 20 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

From Content Writing to Customer Success: A Career Transition Guide

Content writers outperform on the two things that protect revenue: exec communication and renewal documentation. Here's how to make the move in 2026.

May 18 • Hakan Ozturk | The CS Café

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