When working in AppDynamics, Firaas and his team spent over $1M on data scientists to find out what user behaviours influence retention. Many SaaS companies rely on customer feedback to measure the likelihood of churn, but the data showed that this is a mistake. Why? Customers who actively provide feedback are usually very engaged. But what about the quiet, disengaged customers? According to Firaas, those are the ones SaaS companies need to focus on to secure renewals and to grow.

On your podcast, Firaas can talk about what to avoid when measuring Customer Success, and what to focus on to cut churn. He’ll explore why sentiment metrics such as NPS are way less important than product usage and engagement when it comes to renewal and upsell rates, and much more.

The SaaS industry is booming, and Customer Success is playing an increasingly important role in growth and fundraising. Given the rapid growth of the sector, finding an experienced CS talent is almost an impossible task. Yet it is an essential role to fill for any SaaS company wanting to retain their users long term. Firaas has years of experience hiring for Customer Success, and will talk about the key factors in hiring the best CS team possible (hint – it’s not about having previous CS experience!)

Even if you manage to recruit well, measuring how well your CS team is doing is a huge challenge. Company leaders often fail to set the right metrics and, as a result, CS teams don’t work effectively and struggle to improve.

On your podcast, Firaas can talk about how to build and scale CS teams even during this global talent shortage. He’ll share where to find the right talent and why experience often doesn’t matter. On top of that, he’ll expand on how to train your new CS staff and what metrics to set, so they focus only on the right things.

Customer Success teams are often seen as a drain of resources because they don’t link their work directly to revenue. This means they are overlooked and underfunded. This is an error, as CS teams are essential in influencing whether the customers renew. Firaas argues that the key metric to focus on for CS teams and SaaS companies as a whole – Net Dollar Retention. A shift in perspective is needed to give NDR as much (or more) attention as new revenue, given its vital role in SaaS growth.

On your podcast, Firaas can talk about how much it’s worth when customers stay. He’ll share why Net Dollar Retention should be the North Star metric of any SaaS company and how he successfully implemented this during his career. This is a must-listen topic for any B2B SaaS founder that wants to grow quickly and fundraise effectively.

No one likes pointless meetings. The last two years, with its overload of online calls, have proved more than ever that no customer likes having meetings just to “see how they’re doing.” Yet many SaaS CS teams still schedule quarterly reviews with their customers as a matter of course. Yes, spending time with customers can be important, but done the wrong way it can ultimately harm relationships and brand perception.

On your podcast, Firaas can talk about how to switch from boring quarterly meetings to dynamic, mutually useful opportunities to deepen customer relationships. He’ll talk about the best ways to know if a customer is happy without time-consuming calls, and the more effective ways to run meetings to achieve your goals.