The Customer Success Café Newsletter

The Customer Success Café Newsletter

Share this post

The Customer Success Café Newsletter
The Customer Success Café Newsletter
🚨Turn Budget Cuts Into Career Growth [+ Templates]
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
GUIDES

🚨Turn Budget Cuts Into Career Growth [+ Templates]

Hakan @ The CS Café Newsletter's avatar
Hakan @ The CS Café Newsletter
Feb 11, 2025
∙ Paid

Share this post

The Customer Success Café Newsletter
The Customer Success Café Newsletter
🚨Turn Budget Cuts Into Career Growth [+ Templates]
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

Budget axes are falling, in particular across government and education sectors where I’m focusing in today’s edition.

But here’s your career paradox:

This crisis is your golden ticket to become indispensable.

💡 Ed Tech Industry Expert Take:

"It's very short-sighted and the opposite of what companies should do in this economy. Keeping existing customers is extremely important when it's so challenging to acquire new customers." - from my interview with Jill Favro Sawatzky, Chief Customer Officer, Thought Industries—The Customer Learning Platform

While 68% of institutions plan spending cuts this fiscal year (particularly in Gov/Edu), top CS pros across all industries are using these three strategies to reduce churn and boost retention:

✅ Turn compliance data into promotion fuel

✅ Position themselves as funding experts

✅ Bulletproof their book of business

The Impact:

  • Teams using targeted value metrics see 40% higher feature adoption

  • Conversion rates improve from 17% to 25% with proper value documentation

  • Effective consulting increases average order size by 15%

1. The Skill That Gets You Promoted During Cuts

Why It Matters:

Budget committees are axing "nice-to-have" tools.

Your survival depends on mastering value quantification—the #1 skill gap in CS (2024 TSIA data).

Takeaway:

→ Transform operational metrics into career currency:

"Our platform saved 200 hours/year" → "I recover 10 FTE weekly for strategic initiatives"

"Our compliance automation saved $250,000/year" → "We prevented $1.2M in potential fines last fiscal year”

Real Impact Story:

A CSM implemented quarterly validation sessions and turned around a struggling account—which led to a promotion to VP role. (This approach works in any industry facing budget pressure)

The account renewed and increased their deal from one year to two years with $100K in additional value.

2. Become the "Funding Interpreter" Teams Fight to Keep

Real Career Win:

A CSM got promoted to Director after creating this alignment guide for budget-conscious environments:

[District]'s FY25 Funding Alignment

  • ✅ Allowable Use: "Staff Retention"

  • 🔗 $82k expiring 9/30/25

  • 📈 Our Impact: 74% faster compliance → 31% more funds secured

💡 Expert Insight:

"Customer Success is not just about keeping customers happy. It's about ensuring that they are getting the most value from a product or service, which in turn drives retention and growth." - Jill Favro Sawatzky, CCO, Thought Industries

Want more insights on protecting revenue during budget cuts? Check out my in-depth interview with Ed-Tech industry expert Jill where she shares:

  • How to secure CS's seat at the board level

  • Strategies for demonstrating bottom-line impact

  • Tips for turning metrics into strategic value

Also explore my in-depth guide to demonstrating bottom-line impact, featuring actionable frameworks used by top CS leaders.


Get The Complete Revenue Protection Kit

Easy to adapt to any industry

Upgrade Now & Get Instant Access To:

🚀 11 Funding Playbook Templates

🚀 17 Battle-Tested Scripts

+ Implementation Guides & Examples

Teams using these tools report:

✓ 73% faster response to budget cuts

✓ 82% success rate in finding alternative funding

✓ 91% stakeholder alignment on value

Upgrade To Premium Now →

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Hakan Ozturk
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More