Discover how to hire a COO in 8 steps to drive your business forward. Learn key hiring strategies and red flags to avoid to ensure a perfect fit.
Sofia Maravich
Customer Experience Leader & Revenue Driver
I'm a results-driven leader in customer experience, dedicated to revenue growth and retention. Drawing from my background in advertising, I understand the significance of crafting a comprehensive brand experiences from the beginning.
For the past 12 years, I've focused on scaling B2B technology start-ups. I've built, scaled and grown the following teams/functions: Customer Success/Account Management, Content Studios, Sales Planning, Customer Support, Customer Training, Business Analytics and Proj…
Work
Measured - Implementing Strategic Plans for Scale
https://www.measured.com/Problem: Measured was in an early growth stage and wanted to ensure they were ready for rapid growth.
Goal: Establish and execute a plan for growth, scaling the company from 80 clients to 250+.
Solution: Developed strategic plans that involved new teams/functions, tools and processes for scale. Executed the plans via hiring, building and implementing new tools & processes.
Result: Built a Customer Support function. Implemented ChurnZero (CRM for SaaS companies). Built a Customer Content & Edu function. Implemented LearnUpon (LMS). Built a Business Analytics function responsible for tracking companywide KPIs and populated monthly reporting for the C-Suite and Leadership team. Oversaw a Project Manager who worked with Product and Engineering to help streamline product operations.
Nativo - Turning Customer Success Into a Revenue Driver
https://www.nativo.com/Problem: Nativo was growing rapidly, but found it difficult to retain customers, despite strong performance results. Revenue continued to grow, but mainly from new business that captured revenue lost to churn.
Goal: Significantly increase customer retention & incremental revenue.
Solution: I first worked to move the Account Management under the CRO from the CFO/COO. At the time, the team was too focused on project managing accounts versus strategically managing accounts. There was misalignment & resentment between AMs & Sales, which made for poor relationships.
Once the re-org occurred, I renamed the Account Management Team to Customer Success. I set clear expectations for Sales & CS team members on how they needed to work together and service our clients. I trained the CS team on how to think strategically about their accounts, teaching upsell tactics and revamped our post-campaign reports to show the value generated. I also changed the CS team's compensation structure and tied it to renewals, upsells and revenue delivery.
Results: Increased renewal rate from 38% to 53%, grew incremental revenue by 216% and generated an 80 NPS score (global benchmark is 32).
Experience
Rethink Labs
Cofounder
Aug 2023 - Present
Rethink Labs is consultancy that works with founders to help them take their business to the next stage of growth. Whether it's bringing an idea to life by building a product from scratch or working with a Series-A company to revamp their entire customer experience, we use human-centric design, solid framework, and proven methodologies to help teams align around their customer.
- Increased initial appointment bookings for an Executive Coaching company through updated UX/UI of website
- Created a main metrics dashboard for a luxury e-comm and retail jewelry company to help them better understand the health of their business on a weekly basis, resulting in better prioritization of company initiatives
- Completed Customer Journey Mapping for multiple B2B & B2C companies, providing actionable gameplans to execute the journey through people, process and products
- Recommended and implementing a new Support and CRM tool for a retailer who has been running into several issues with their current tool
- Building the V1 version of an online site & community for travel nurses
- Partnering with a major University to build the V1 version of an application that will provide therapy to women with postpartum depression
Measured
Head of Customer Success Operations
Jul 2021 - Aug 2023
Measured is the leading data measurement and optimization platform for connecting media to business outcomes. It measures ad spend value, allocate efficiently, and unlocks opportunities for incremental growth. I was hired during the seed-stage as the first female in leadership to help scale the company from 80 clients to 250+. I developed strategic 1-3 year plans for how the company should evolve via people, process and products (tools) to deliver an exceptional customer experience at each stage of growth. I also built & ran the entire Customer Support function and operation (1 Manager, 12 ICs in India), Customer Content & Education program (1 Manager) , Business Analytics (1 IC) function and had a Project Manager (1 IC) who helped support overall company operations.
- Built Business Analytics, Customer Training, Project Management, and Support teams, consisting of 4 direct reports and 12 in India
- Developed and executed strategic plans and companywide OKR’s to meet business objectives for renewal rates, market positioning, and product enhancements
- Shortened product adoption time by 50+% and reduced hours spent servicing technical needs for Customer Success team
- Implemented and managed ChurnZero (post-sale CRM) tracking customer product usage, journey progress, surveys, and health
- Led the development of the Customer Journey and lifecycle
- Developed Customer Health Scores and populated them on a monthly basis for revenue forecasting
- Built QBR & Kickoff Call Templates
Nativo
Head of Client Experience
Jul 2014 - Jun 2021
Nativo makes it easy to use content—stories, videos, articles & more—at scale to drive 3X more engagement and up to 2X more efficient outcomes. All without cookies. I was hired as the 4th Account Manager and 38th employee after Series A funding. During my tenure, I grew quickly into leadership roles, eventually becoming the Head of Client Experience. The teams I managed included: Customer Success (3 Managers, 20+ ICs ), Sales Planning (1 Manager, 5 ICs) & the Content Studio (2 Managers, 5 ICs). I was responsible for renewal rate, incremental revenue, win rate and customer satisfaction scores (NPS).
- Scaled growth from $15M to $109M across 400 clients
- Generated an 80 Net Promoter Score (NPS) client score (above the global benchmark of 32)
- Increased incremental revenue by 216% by training and coaching CS team members on effective upsell tactics
- Increased client renewal rate from 39% to 53% (above the industry average of 40%)
- Won Sales Excellence Award (peer nominated) for effective leadership of Customer Success org
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