Daphne Costa Lopes

What started as me sharing what I was learning in a new career, has now grown into a community of over 56,000 people.

And today, that same community recognised me once again as one of the Top 25 Voices in Customer Success.

It’s an incredible feeling.

Because this isn’t one of those awards where the company that buys the biggest table at the dinner wins.

This is voted for by you, the community.

And THAT is what makes it truly special.

This past year hasn’t been easy as a creator.

💔LinkedIn has made discoverability harder.
💔AI-generated content has flooded the feed.
💔Misleading advice for CSMs gained traction.

There were many moments I thought to myself, “What’s the point?”

But then… I open my DMs.

Every month, there are hundreds of messages.

People sharing that a post helped them change a process, influence their boss, or lead their team differently.

That’s what I choose to focus on.

I’ve stayed obsessed with adding value.

I keep a running list of questions people ask, challenges I see in the field, things that worked and things that didn’t.

I’ve tried hard to stay true to my north star: don’t post for likes, post for impact.

Yes, I’ve added more photos to improve reach (and yes, I’ve taken plenty of jokes for it 😄)

But if it helps the message reach more people, it’s worth it.

Recognition has never been my goal.

For me, it’s a consequence, not a reason.

Because when the reason is to add value, the rest tends to fall into place. A lot like Customer Success. 😉

But I’d be lying if I said this recognition doesn’t mean the world to me.

I pour myself into this because I believe in democratising learning. I want to give people with as much generosity as those who helped me when I was starting off.

So to everyone who voted: Thank you. ❤️

To SuccessHacker that creates this awesome people’s choice awards, a huge heartfelt thank you.

You have no idea how much it means.

🙏

Huge congrats to all the top 25 voices and the top 100 strategists. Too many to tag, but I will leave the link in the comments for you to find their voices.

My advice is: follow every single one of them!

#csm #customersuccess #cx #awards #leadership

When I started posting on LinkedIn, I had around 500 connections.

I worried that people would find me cringey.

I wasn’t an expert.

I was just passionate about Customer Success and sharing what I was learning.

And I was wrong many times.

At the start, I got very little traction.

No viral posts.
No hype.

Just me, my thoughts, and a handful of people who cared deeply about Customer Success too.

I learned a LOT from people.

Each comment made me think. Each conversation helped me sharpen my perspectives.

I took this feedback and applied into my content.

Then, when I reached 5K followers, the mockery began.

People at work or in my wider circle would ask if I wanted to be an “influencer”.

I would be lying if I said it didn’t affect me.

It sucked.

But I stayed connected to my why.

The thing that mattered most to me was: helping companies deliver value to their customers.

So I kept posting.

And slowly, my audience grew.

I found a crew of deeply supportive people.

I started to get dozens of DMs from strangers saying my content helped them.

At 20K followers, I launched a newsletter.

Then a podcast.

Soon after:

❤️Leaders reached out to talk strategy 1:1.
🚀Founders messaged asking for advice.
🎙️Invites to speak started coming in.

And years later…

The same people who once mocked me started asking for tips. 😂

Telling me how “amazing” I was doing.

But by then, I didn’t need validation from them.

I had built my brand.
Crafted my path.

So, it actually didn’t matter anymore.

Today, people often ask me: “How did you get over the embarrassment of posting at the start?”

Here’s the truth: you don’t need to get over it. You just need to care about something more.

Do it for the community.
Do it for the learning.
Do it for the growth.

And tune out the noise.

Because when people criticise you, they’re revealing how they feel about themselves.

They wish they had the courage.
They wish they had the conviction.

But instead of building, they mock.

If they were real friends or positive influences, they’d cheer you on and offer feedback with love.

So my advice is: Post anyway.

You’ll find your voice.
You’ll find your crew.

And the ones who mocked you?

Whether the come around or no, it won’t matter. You’ll have left them behind.

#growth #leadership #mindset #development

Customer Success propaganda I’m not falling for:

🚫 “We don’t need to track activity.”
Ah yes... Because gut feeling is how we scale what works, right?

🚫 “Managers don’t need to listen to CSM calls.”
Of course not. Coaching by osmosis… what could go wrong?

🚫 “CSMs shouldn’t sell.”
Because apparently helping a customer grow with you is manipulative now?

🚫 “Retention is everyone’s job.”
Which in most cases means… it’s no one’s job.

🚫 “AI will replace CSMs.”
No. AI will replace average CSMs. The best CSMs will become even better with AI.

🚫 “Relationships don’t matter.”
Sure… Now go out there to get anything meaningful done without establishing a trusted relationship with your customer.

Let’s be honest…

These are headlines people use to get well meaning CS professionals to think their companies or bosses are doing them a disservice and stir a reaction.

But they are lies.

The truth is:

1️⃣ Great leaders get close to the work
2️⃣ Great CSMs drive value, build relationships and help customers grow.

Don’t fall for the propaganda.

When you look closely, the people saying these things are in it for the likes.

And most of them have never led and scaled a CS team to record breaking retention levels. They’ve never achieved mastery in their craft.

So why are you listening to them?

Because it validates your feelings.

But validation doesn’t move you forward.

It holds you back.

📧
Want to learn what the real CS pros are doing? Join 17.5k subscribers to Unconventional Growth and get a super piece of content every Friday in your inbox!

#csm #cx #revops #gtm #customersuccess

I'll renew, if I can take you out for dinner.

That's what a customer told a CSM "off the record" last week.

Not as a (bad) joke.
Not as a honest invite.

It was posed as a condition, "I will renew if...".

She reached out to me for advice because she didn't know what to do.

🏆 Top 5 account.
🤝 He is a decision-maker.
🐣 Only 3 months in this job.

On the call, she smiled politely and said she had a boyfriend (she doesn’t).

I was shocked, I've experienced and heard my fair share of unhinged customer stories, but this is a first.

Honestly, I think she handled it with grace.

But after the call, the fear kicked in:

❓ Will he retaliate and not renew?
❓ Will he try this again?
❓ What if I tell my boss and he doesn’t believe me? Or worse, thinks I’m bringing “drama” during probation?

She asked me: What should I do?

I told her to tell her boss.

Work together on an exit plan that protects both you and the business.

There’s no one-size-fits-all playbook for this.

Every situation carries nuance.

But here’s what I’d do if I were her manager:

✅ Start with pattern recognition
Has this customer shown similar behaviour before?

✅ Loop in People + Legal
For their perspective and to document the incident.

✅ Shift customer ownership immediately
I’d step in and say, “As a top account, I’ll be working more closely with you on renewal”.

No team member should have to navigate this alone.

And if leadership did choose to terminate her for speaking up?

That’s not a company worth staying at.

#CSM #CustomerSuccess #CX

You know what my biggest worry with AI in Customer Success is?

It’s not that AI will replace CSMs.

It’s that it will create visible work that isn’t valuable work.

Here’s what I fear might start happening:

1️⃣ Annie uses AI to create a Business Review
2️⃣ Mike uses AI to take notes from the presentation
3️⃣ Mike uses AI to write questions about the EBR
4️⃣ Annie uses AI to respond to the questions
5️⃣ Mike uses AI to create an email about the EBR
6️⃣ Clara uses AI to summarise the points Mike made
7️⃣ Clara’s team uses AI to send “insightful” comments

And in the end?

📉 No one created the Business Review.
📉 No one understood it.
📉 No one got value.

What’s the point?

I’m already seeing this play out.

Everyone’s busy, so it starts as a shortcut. But after a few weeks, it becomes a crutch.

People stop reading, stop thinking.

They plug things into ChatGPT or Claude with a quick prompt, and plough through their inbox on autopilot.

👉 AI should collapse the distance between insight and impact.

Not multiply the noise in between.

The winning teams won’t be the ones who hit customers with MORE.

💡 They’ll be the ones who think deeper
⚡ Who use AI to sharpen their judgment
🌩️ And who take action

Everyone else?

They’ll drown in busywork and content.

That’s why leveraging AI responsibly and measuring the impact of AI will be so critical.

📬

I’m diving into this exact topic in this week’s newsletter. If you’re not subscribed to Unconventional Growth, now’s the time. A fresh edition hits inboxes Friday morning.

#CSM #CX #RevOps #GTM #AI

Years ago, my CS team told me repeatedly they wanted higher variable pay.

So, I partnered with Finance to redesign the model:

📈 Increased OTE by 25%
💸 Dropped base by 10%
🎯 Added 35% variable tied to performance

After a year of hearing how much they wanted this, I expected excitement.

Instead?
Every single person turned it down.

Because even though the upside was significantly higher, the risk was too.

They were used to high base pay.

Predictable.
Comfortable.
Safe.

And when it came time to bet on themselves, they didn’t want to.

Meanwhile, our Sales team operated on a much more aggressive model:

📊 50% base (lower than CSM)
🎯 50% variable for OTE, but uncapped.

That's the model the team kept referencing.

And before you ask:Yes, the goals we set were ambitious but achievable. 80% of the team were hitting them.

But it didn’t matter.

Because the moment earnings became less predictable, most CSMs opted out.

Everyone says they want to be rewarded like Sales.

But very few are willing to accept the same level of risk.

💡 So here’s my question to you, CS pro:

Would you actually trade comfort for upside?
Or do you just like the idea of being paid like Sales?

#customersuccess #CSM #Compensation #careergrowth #revops

Customer Success isn’t about fighting churn.

By the time you're defending against cancellations, you've already lost (and likely burned out your CS team in the process).

Every experienced CS professional knows:

Customer Success should be a growth engine, not a rescue squad.

Earlier this year, I joined the GTM Insider Podcast by trumpet 🎺 to unpack how CS can shift from reactive to revenue-driving.

Here's what we covered:

🔹 Retention is the floor. Revenue growth is the ceiling.
🔹 Customers are won (or lost) in the first 30–60 days.
🔹 Minimum viable data > waiting for perfect data.
🔹 Sales + CS must feel like one continuous journey.
🔹 Scaling = digital + human. Not just more headcount.
🔹 AI won’t replace CSMs. It’ll expose who’s truly adding value.

This mindset shift is exactly why my team and I are excited about leveraging trumpet for our Success Plans.

Their Pods provide a single shared space for onboarding, success plans, and customer outcomes. It makes collaboration feel natural, not fragmented.

And because trumpet integrates directly with HubSpot, every customer interaction is automatically synced.

✅ No repeated stories. The Sales-to-CS handoff is seamless
✅ CSMs see real-time engagement inside HubSpot
✅ Customers enjoy a connected, consistent experience
✅ CS leaders scale with insight and precision

It’s how we turn Customer Success into a real growth engine, not just a buzzword.

If you're still treating CS as “support after the sale”, or organising your startegic activities on a spreadsheet and email threads, you're leaving serious growth on the table.

🎧 Full episode link in the comments.

#CSM #RevOps #GTM #CustomerSuccess #Retention

Decision makers and decision influencers rarely engage with CSMs.

They don’t open every email.
They don’t watch every video.
They don’t attend every meeting.

It’s a struggle to build a relationship with them.

But you know where they are every day?

👉 LinkedIn.

And while you’re waiting for the next call to “add value”, they’re scrolling and learning from other people.

Building trust with voices that aren’t yours.

Those people are shaping how your customers think about their challenges.

You?

You stay invisible.

Begging to have a seat at the table. But never invited to the party.

When you start posting, everything changes.

Take me for example…

I post about B2B Customer Success everyday.

Every week, screenshots of my posts and newsletters get shared in private channels I’d never be invited to.

Executives I’ve never met reach out because something I wrote made them stop and think.

They want to talk 1:1.
They ask for my opinion.
They invite me to their offsites.

Founders reach out asking for advice on what they are building. Investors and analysts want to hear what I have to say.

Without me ever needing to send an email or pitch myself.

That’s pull, not push.

And it’s only possible if you build influence.

Now imagine how valuable it can be for a CSM to build authority in their industry and have their customers executives reaching out, instead of begging for their attention.

It’s not far fetched.

In fact, it’s easier than you think. Only 1% of all LinkedIn users are creators vs. consumers.

There’s significantly more demand than supply.

If you want to build influence, then you need to start with a simple mindset shift:

👉 Stop treating LinkedIn like a job search platform.

👉 Start treating it as a customer engagement channel.

Post solutions for your customers most pressing challenges 3-5 times a week.

Do it consistently.
Develop a voice.
Master the craft.

In the beginning it will feel like shouting at the void. But everyday, you’ll see more and more people joining the conversation.

And slowly but surely, it starts paying off.

It’s incredible how you can stand out, just by being helpful and having no hidden agenda, other than helping people.

Most CSMs will never take that step.

The ones that do have an advantage.

📩

Want to build a modern CS team? Sign up to Unconventional Growth and join 17.5k people learning about the future of CS, every Friday.

#csm #cx #revops #customersuccess #gtm

This is your quarterly reminder to take time off.

Not when you’ve “earned it.”

Not when things finally slow down.

But because rest fuels everything else.

✅ It’s good for your mind.
✅ It’s good for your relationships.
✅ It’s good for your performance.

Nobody does ther best work when they are tired and uninspired.

I try to take one week off every quarter.

I learned that from a manager who really gave a damn about high performance.

He taught me that rest and results are connected.

Right now, I just wrapped time off in Italy. 🇮🇹

Eating my way through Tuscany and Umbria, taking afternoon naps, and reading Hemingway for a full week.

It was such a welcome break after many weeks of pushing hard and traveling a lot.

I needed it more than I realised.

Which is why the trick is to always book the book the next break, the day you return from the current one (also a tip from that boss)

That way, there’s always something to look forward to.

It works super well for me because each quarter becomes a clear 10 week sprint intense and focused.

But knowing I have that time off at the end.

Every high-performance coach knows this: sustainable high-performance isn’t about constant grind and burning yourself out. It’s about knowing when to push and when to pause for optimal outcomes.

So consider this your nudge:

Check your calendar.

When is your next break? 🌴

#customersuccess #csm #revops #leadership #cx

Increasing retention by just 5% can improve profits by up to 95%.

Wild, right?

But it’s true.

Retention compounds.

Every renewed customer adds momentum to your growth engine. It makes your margins healthier, your base more solid, and your profitability higher.

It's the beauty of SaaS.

And yet, most teams still obsess over acquisition while quietly leaking revenue from the back door.

I've seen teams lose $0.90 for every $1 they acquire every quarter.

The definition of a spinning wheel.

If you want durable growth, getting retention right is not a choice. It's a requirement.

In this week’s Growth Pill, I share 5 simple but powerful ways to boost retention and make your finance team your biggest fans.

🎥 Watch it below [link in comments]

#CustomerSuccess #CX #Retention #Leadership #RevOps