Recent Posts by Steve Olenski

According to biography.com, "Albert Einstein was a German-born physicist who developed the general theory of relativity, among other feats. He is considered the most influential physicist of the 20th century." But something tells me you probably have heard of him once or twice before. However, you may not have looked at him and more importantly, in the context of his words and how they apply to what you, as a CMO, do every day.   Allow me to translate some of his famous...

You ever come across something, a stat or fact and then wonder aloud "What year is it?" I do that all the time when I come across stats like I am about to share: A recent survey of 200 B2B sales and marketing professionals showed that over half (54%) consider it easier to get personalization right in B2C than it is in their world of B2B.  I came across my most recent "What year is it?" stat after reading a piece on MarketingCharts.com entitled B2B Marketers Say Personalization...

These are, of course, very different times we all find ourselves in. And while I continue to struggle with what to write at this moment, I am not a loss for what to read, for there are some truly fantastic pieces being written about topics such as crisis management and leadership. Here are excerpts linking to five recent articles I think CMOs (and anyone else for that matter) will find useful right now: Crisis Management: The Overlooked Leadership Skill The following is an excerpt...

In my career, I have had the pleasure of interviewing an incredible variety of people. From CMOs of the biggest brands in the world to world-class athletes to award-winning entertainers and a whole host of folks from many, many other areas of life. However, I had never interviewed a former Navy Seal. So, when the opportunity arose to speak to one – one who has become incredibly successful in the business world in his post-Seal life, I jumped at the chance. His name is Alden...

I realize this blog is all about Customer Success but hey, success is success, right? Doesn't matter if we're talking about SaaS,  or rice, or in this case... life. I realize lists like these can be highly subjective and that's perfectly fine. These happen to be my favorite quotes on the subject of success along with some editorial commentary thrown in for fun.  Enjoy.  Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts. — Winston S. Churchill Th...

When it comes to customer success or ANY profession in ANY industry there are 6 words, that when used together can be the difference between success and failure, literally. Before I get to MY personal 6 Most Dangerous Words Anyone Can Use, let's take a trip back in time, shall we? 1864 - Some guy named Louie tells his buddies and anyone else who will listen that he's discovered a a way of preserving food by heating it to kill off bacteria. 1880 - Tommy Edison says enough is...

There is most assuredly a reason this post includes "part 1" for there will most assuredly be more; more such posts that tie in pop culture and what customer success pros can learn from it. I say that so decisively because I am the world's self-proclaimed biggest proponent of infusing and incorporating pop culture into, well, pretty much every aspect of my life.  I've been known to ask thought leaders to assign a pop culture reference to a marketing/advertising prediction for...

“…a cumulative effect produced when one event initiates a succession of similar events.” Yes, I know we all know what the term ‘domino effect’ means. I did not mean to insult anyone’s intelligence. Just consider it a friendly reminder and leave it at that. So why do I use this particular phrase with this particular post? Well, it’s rather simple when you look at the chart below, which is an excerpt from the most recent CMO Survey, which according to its site: “collects and...

Customer Success is about getting the right information in front of customers who need it, at the right time. We believe customers benefit when the steady diet of technical guidance they receive from vendors is augmented with information that helps them think in a bigger way about challenges and opportunities in front of them. We believe our blog posts are doing just that. Here are the top 5 posts from the last quarter all ready for you to read and digest in 5 minutes! 1....