The Customer Success Pro
Anika Zubair
This is The Customer Success Pro Podcast, hosted by Anika Zubair. Customer Success is not a destination, but a a journey. Join me on this crazy CS journey as I chat to leaders, strategists and experts in customer success about their experiences and definitions of customer success and share with your their best practices on how to build and scale world class CS organization. Each interview will unlock tips, tricks and best practices to help scale your customer success career and company. I will…
Recent Episodes
Why Your Team Is Missing NRR Targets (It’s Not What You Think)
Sep 16, 2026Anika Zubair, a CS executive and strategist, argues that missing net revenue retention (NRR) targets is almost never a talent problem but rather a systemic design failure. She breaks down four critical mistakes SaaS organizations make—treating NRR as an outcome rather than a process, giving teams targets without authority or training, building renewal processes backwards, and confusing activity with coverage—and explains why these gaps require skills training and process redesign, not personnel changes.
Scaling Digital Customer Success with AI with Joe Di Grande
Sep 9, 2026Joe De Grande, Director of Digital Revenue Architecture at Gong, discusses the evolution of digital customer success in an AI-driven environment. He explains how AI functions as a collaborator rather than a replacement, the critical role of data and customer journey mapping as foundations for any automation initiative, and how to measure success through deflection metrics and revenue impact rather than vanity metrics.
Stop Reporting Churn. Start Forecasting NRR.
Sep 2, 2026Anika Zubair, CS executive and strategist, argues that customer success leaders should stop reporting historical churn metrics and instead forecast Net Revenue Retention (NRR) to become strategic business leaders. She explains why NRR has become the market's most important SaaS metric, provides a three-bucket forecasting framework for segmenting accounts, and demonstrates how forward-looking revenue conversations elevate CS from a cost center to a growth engine.
Your First 90 Days Owning an NRR Number: The VP of Customer Success Operating Plan
Aug 26, 2026Anika Zubair, a seasoned VP of Customer Success with three tenure experiences in the role, delivers a comprehensive operating plan for new and aspiring customer success leaders taking ownership of net revenue retention (NRR) targets. The episode covers the critical first 90 days in a revenue-driven CS role, emphasizing the importance of rebuilding NRR calculations, establishing structured forecasting systems, and avoiding common pitfalls like boiling the ocean, operating as a super CSM, and letting others define your narrative. Zubair shares lived experience mistakes and actionable frameworks including weekly renewal/risk/expansion review meetings, building an ARR bridge, and focusing on two key revenue levers rather than scattered initiatives.
The CS Playbook Is Broken: Change Management in the AI Era with Tom Ronen
Aug 19, 2026Tom Ronen, VP of Customer Success at Harvey, discusses how AI is transforming customer success and why the traditional CS playbook is broken. Coming from 9 years at Monday.com, Tom shares insights on change management in the AI era, emphasizing that the human element is more critical than ever despite AI advancements. He outlines systematic approaches to renewals, deep discovery practices, and how CS teams must evolve to guide customers through fundamental shifts in how they work.
AI For QBR Prep and How To Build A Board Ready Value Story
Aug 12, 2026Anika Zubair, host of Customer Success Pro, explores how CS professionals can leverage AI to streamline quarterly business review prep and build board-ready value stories. She introduces the BOARD framework (Baseline, Outcome, Attribution, Revenue, Direction) to transform QBRs from retrospective status updates into strategic revenue conversations, and demonstrates how AI can automate data assembly while humans focus on storytelling and closing arguments.
Handling Price Increase Conversations Without Losing Customer Trust
Aug 5, 2026Anika Zubair, a CS executive and strategist, delivers a masterclass on handling price increase conversations with customers without damaging trust. The episode covers five common mistakes CSMs make, introduces the FRAME method (Frame value first, Reveal early, Anchor with context, Meet objections, Earn the yes), and shares a personal case study of successfully defending a six-figure enterprise renewal with a double-digit price increase.
AI Adoption in Customer Success: What ServiceNow Is Actually Doing with Neil Sparkes
Jul 29, 2026Neil Sparkes, AVP of Customer Excellence Group at ServiceNow for UK and Ireland, discusses how to drive real AI adoption in enterprise environments. With 15 years in SaaS (Microsoft Azure, Access Group) and prior financial services experience, Neil shares ServiceNow's approach to moving agentic AI from experimental phases into live production with heavily regulated customers, including benchmarking methodologies to demonstrate ROI and the importance of control frameworks around AI agents.
Revenue Storytelling For Every Post Sale Role
Jul 15, 2026The Framework Top Performers Use to Get Promoted
Jul 8, 2026
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