Spotlight: Allie Obanion @ SeekOut

How did you get into customer success?

I had been a Recruiter for 7 years & really enjoyed recruiting but was looking for my next challenge. As a Recruiter & Talent Advisor I leveraged my tools a lot & I leaned into technology to optimize my workflows. This signaled a very intentional next step for me to pursue Customer Success. I wasn’t running away from recruiting, I was walking toward new experiences. CS was a great match for my interpersonal relationship building skills paired with technology & training. It’s been an exciting & fun journey for me, I love it!

Are there any customer success trends in 2025 you are keeping an eye on?

ROE vs ROI, Return on expectations vs Return on Investment. A theme that is extremely impactful is to move beyond churn reduction & focus on measurable customer outcomes. These metrics can be internal & external. Internal metrics such as customer health scores, product adoption rates, success plan completion, & also external metrics that are tied directly to customer’s initiatives, KPIs, & goals. I am a huge advocate for “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” & this means gathering the data but more importantly defining what good looks like.

What's a mistake you made early in your career, and what did you learn from it?

Reactive behavior. I made a mistake earlier in my career by responding immediately to a not-so-nice email/conflict. I’ve learned to sit with thoughts & reactions for a minute & to step away to process or escalate & be thoughtful in a response rather than a gut reaction that may not be the best representation of the situation. Pause & process when conflict arises.

What do most people get wrong about customer success?

Scalability. When supporting Enterprise level customers who are larger scale, more strategic, & expect a personalized service, it is key to consider scalability when creating & maintaining these processes. This could mean open office hours or webinars rather than 1:1s or automating reporting communication. Scaling is absolutely strategic & it is necessary to be successful in CS.