Julie Fox, Global Director of Customer Success at Cin7, has a fascinating career path marked by continuous growth and evolution. From her initial years in a different field to leading customer success at a company that serves over 8,500 clients, her journey into tech was anything but linear. She has since rapidly ascended from individual contributor roles to overseeing an entire global team at Cin7. This journey reflects a combination of adaptability, passion for customer satisfaction, and a drive to lead teams that create long-term value for customers.
What advice do you have for someone's first 100 days as head of CS?
For anyone stepping into a customer success (CS) leadership role, Julie offers critical advice based on her recent experience at Cin7. While spreadsheets and plans can be helpful, much of the learning happens in real-time. In her first 100 days, Julie focused on understanding existing processes, customer pain points, team dynamics, and the organization’s overall metrics. She prioritized meeting with key customers and cross-functional teams to gather feedback and understand how various departments aligned toward shared goals.
One of her key strategies was dedicating time to her own team members. Julie ensured she met with each individual in her organization, learning their strengths, goals, and areas for growth. This personal approach helped her quickly identify talent and leverage team members in specialized roles. "It’s about asking the right questions—where do you think we should focus?" she says, underscoring the importance of involving her team in decision-making.
What does your CS strategy focus on currently and in the future?
Julie’s current CS strategy heavily focuses on data-driven insights and product adoption. With Cin7's expansive customer base, understanding data is critical to improving customer outcomes. By focusing on product adoption and ensuring customers derive value from the company’s solutions, her team is helping drive retention and long-term growth.
To manage the vast number of customers, Julie has worked on scaling her team’s efforts through digital and self-service strategies. By implementing robust digital resources and predictive models, Cin7 can anticipate customer needs before they arise. This proactive approach allows her relatively small team to maintain high customer engagement and satisfaction levels while freeing them to focus on more significant strategic initiatives.
How Do You Measure Success With CS?
Customer success is measured in various ways, depending on the initiative. For Julie, metrics like customer engagement, product adoption, and upsell performance are critical. While some metrics, like churn, can be challenging to measure in the short term, her team focuses on leading indicators to proactively address potential issues.
What pain points do you have leading a CS team?
One of Julie's biggest challenges is balancing the business's immediate, tactical needs with long-term strategic goals. It's easy to fall into a cycle of reactive work, constantly responding to customer needs. To combat this, Julie makes time for big-picture thinking and encourages her team to think creatively about scaling their efforts, using technology and automation to serve customers better.
How do you establish partnerships and gain buy-in with the C-suite?
Julie emphasizes the importance of aligning the customer success strategy with broader business objectives when partnering with the C-suite. By understanding the overall business goals, she can tailor CS initiatives to support those metrics, making it easier to gain buy-in from senior leaders. As a data-driven executive, she speaks business metrics language, helping the leadership team see how customer success can drive growth and profitability.
Do you have an example of utilizing customer feedback to improve your company?
Customer feedback has been pivotal in shaping Cin7’s product and service offerings. From surveys and NPS scores to more qualitative feedback gathered through advisory boards and in-person summits, Julie’s team actively listens to customers. One recent initiative born out of customer feedback is relaunching a more robust community platform. This initiative was driven by customer demand for a place to connect, learn, and share ideas outside the scope of Cin7’s products. The company also launched Cin7 Capital, a financing solution inspired by customer requests for more integrated financial services.
What is the future of CS?
In Julie's view, the future of customer success lies in digital strategies and scaled approaches. As the role of customer success evolves, the focus will shift toward using AI, automation, and predictive analytics to create more efficient, self-service experiences for customers of all sizes. Julie sees customer success moving from the traditional one-on-one CSM model toward a more holistic, scalable approach that offers customers resources and support on their terms. By democratizing access to expertise, companies can create deeper relationships with a broader base of customers, delivering more value with fewer resources.
About Julie Fox
Julie is a leader who believes in sharing her journey with the broader customer success community. She is an active voice on LinkedIn, sharing her experiences, challenges, and insights with others in the field. Connecting with Julie on LinkedIn is the best way to stay informed about her work and thought leadership for those looking to follow her career or gain insights into customer success leadership.
About CX Chats
CX chats is an interview series with Ben Holland, where we talk to industry leaders in the field of customer experience and customer success. Each interview dives deep into the insights from each leader and highlights how they became successful, tips for aspiring CX professionals, and their thoughts on the future of CX.