How to Create a Customer-Centric Culture Across Your Company

Most SaaS companies love to say they are customer first. But if you’re a Customer Success professional, you probably know better. It’s one thing to write it on the values page. It’s another thing entirely to live it across teams. In this solo episode of the Customer Success Pro Podcast, I break down exactly what it takes to shift from lip service to a truly customer-centric culture.

Whether you’re a CSM who feels like the only one advocating for customers in the room, or you’re a CS leader trying to influence change from the middle, this episode is your playbook.

Why Customer Success Can’t Be the Only Team That Cares

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is assuming Customer Success owns the entire customer experience. While CS plays a key role, the truth is that every team touches the customer journey — even the ones that never speak to customers.

Sales sets expectations. Product delivers value. Marketing shapes perception. Support solves pain points. If any of those handoffs break down, the entire experience suffers, and so does your retention rate.

Customer-centricity cannot live in a silo. It has to be a company-wide movement. That means getting buy-in from:

• Product teams who prioritize user needs in the roadmap

• Marketing teams who align messaging with the real customer experience

• Sales teams who promise what can actually be delivered

• Finance teams who understand the value of retention

• And of course, CS teams who champion the customer across the lifecycle

The Top 3 Mistakes That Undermine Customer Centricity

Before you build a better culture, you need to understand what’s breaking it today. Here are the most common pitfalls:

1. Thinking CS Owns Everything 

   Customer experience is not a single department’s responsibility. Making CS the sole owner leads to burnout and broken processes. Everyone must be accountable.

2. Treating Surveys as a Checkbox 

   Sending out NPS or CSAT surveys isn’t enough. Too often, data gets collected, dropped into a spreadsheet, and never followed up on. Feedback should start conversations, not sit in silence.

3. Rewarding Internal KPIs Over Customer Outcomes 

   If your teams are measured only on speed or volume, you’ll never prioritize true customer value. Instead, align performance metrics with shared outcomes like Net Revenue Retention (NRR), Time to Value (TTV), and product adoption.

How to Operationalize Customer Centricity

So how do you actually embed customer-first thinking across your company? It starts with five key steps:

1. Make Customer Outcomes Everyone’s Job 

   Get CS involved in go-to-market planning, product roadmap reviews, and strategic initiatives. Create shared KPIs across departments that tie directly to customer success.

2. Turn Voice of the Customer Into Action 

   A solid Voice of Customer (VoC) program is not just about collecting feedback. Build feedback loops that capture insights, drive internal discussions, and close the loop with customers so they know their input mattered.

3. Build Empathy at Scale 

   Invite product managers, engineers, and other non-customer-facing roles to join calls. Share customer stories and feedback at all-hands meetings. Create real-time Slack channels where survey responses and testimonials are visible to the whole company.

4. Reward Customer-Centric Behavior 

   Recognition matters. Celebrate the sales rep who set clear expectations. Shout out the product manager who fixed a long-standing issue. When you reward the right behavior, you reinforce the right culture.

5. Empower CS to Lead (With or Without a Seat at the Table) 

   You don’t need to be on the exec team to lead. Speak up in meetings, share data, and advocate fiercely. Leadership is a mindset, not just a title. Start influencing now and the seat will follow.

Your Challenge of the Week

Culture shift doesn’t happen with one presentation. It happens with one action at a time.

So here’s your challenge:

Schedule one 30-minute sync with a cross-functional partner you don’t usually work with. It could be someone in marketing, product, or engineering. Ask them:

What’s one way we can collaborate to improve the customer experience? 

Then pick one idea and follow through. That is how culture gets built — one conversation, one action, one result at a time.

Listen Now & Build Data-Driven CS Strategies

This episode with Anika Zubair is a must-listen for CSMs, CS leaders, and anyone looking to embed customer-centricity across the business.

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