Sales

From retention to revenue: 6 CS Lessons from Daphne Costa Lopes

7 Key takeaways from our latest GTM Insider podcast, we sat down with Daphne Costa Lopes, Head of Customer Success for Strategic Accounts at HubSpot.

Amy Davis
September 1, 2025
September 1, 2025
Try for free
7 Key takeaways from our latest GTM Insider podcast, we sat down with Daphne Costa Lopes, Head of Customer Success for Strategic Accounts at HubSpot.
Amy Davis
On this page

In our latest GTM Insider podcast, we sat down with Daphne Costa Lopes, Head of Customer Success for Strategic Accounts at HubSpot, to unpack how CS has evolved into a serious revenue engine. With a background scaling CS at startups and enterprise orgs, Daphne shared hard-earned insights on building teams that reduce churn, drive expansion, and work smarter 0 not harder.

Here's our top 6 takeaways.

1. CS is no longer just about retention

Today, Customer Success isn’t a support function. It’s a revenue driver. When CS teams focus on value delivery and strategic engagement, expansion becomes a natural next step, not an awkward handoff.

2. High usage doesn’t equal high value

Just because someone’s logging in doesn’t mean they’re getting value. But if no one’s using your product, you definitely have a problem. Monitor usage, connect it to outcomes, and push customers toward additional use cases that unlock ROI.

3. Forget perfect data – start with what matters

You don’t need spotless dashboards to build a scalable CS strategy. Define the minimum viable data required to run your CS org, and build up from there. Combine structured and unstructured data to personalise engagement, even at scale.

4. Onboarding is everything

The first 30–60 days make or break a relationship. Nail onboarding and you’ll win hearts early. AI plays a huge role here, the faster you can drive customers to their “aha” moment, the stronger your foundation for long-term success.

5. Sales and CS should be one continuous journey

No more silos. Joint Evaluation Plans in Sales should feed directly into CS Success Plans. A seamless handover avoids repetition, maintains momentum, and builds trust from day one.

6. The future of CS is AI-powered

AI will handle the repeatable, low-value work. What’s left? Strategic CSMs who build relationships and technical CSMs who go deep. Skills like prompting, curiosity, and adaptability will define the next wave of CS talent.

Quick Links

📺 Catch the full episode here on YouTube or Spotify

🔗 Read more insights in our full GTM Insider blog

📰 Sign up for Daphne’s newsletter, This is Growth! A must-read head here

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Get under the hood of G2's leading Digital Sales Room and explore some of our features without having to speak to any salesperson!

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Sales

From retention to revenue: 6 CS Lessons from Daphne Costa Lopes

7 Key takeaways from our latest GTM Insider podcast, we sat down with Daphne Costa Lopes, Head of Customer Success for Strategic Accounts at HubSpot.

Amy Davis
September 1, 2025
September 1, 2025
Try for free
7 Key takeaways from our latest GTM Insider podcast, we sat down with Daphne Costa Lopes, Head of Customer Success for Strategic Accounts at HubSpot.
On this page

In our latest GTM Insider podcast, we sat down with Daphne Costa Lopes, Head of Customer Success for Strategic Accounts at HubSpot, to unpack how CS has evolved into a serious revenue engine. With a background scaling CS at startups and enterprise orgs, Daphne shared hard-earned insights on building teams that reduce churn, drive expansion, and work smarter 0 not harder.

Here's our top 6 takeaways.

1. CS is no longer just about retention

Today, Customer Success isn’t a support function. It’s a revenue driver. When CS teams focus on value delivery and strategic engagement, expansion becomes a natural next step, not an awkward handoff.

2. High usage doesn’t equal high value

Just because someone’s logging in doesn’t mean they’re getting value. But if no one’s using your product, you definitely have a problem. Monitor usage, connect it to outcomes, and push customers toward additional use cases that unlock ROI.

3. Forget perfect data – start with what matters

You don’t need spotless dashboards to build a scalable CS strategy. Define the minimum viable data required to run your CS org, and build up from there. Combine structured and unstructured data to personalise engagement, even at scale.

4. Onboarding is everything

The first 30–60 days make or break a relationship. Nail onboarding and you’ll win hearts early. AI plays a huge role here, the faster you can drive customers to their “aha” moment, the stronger your foundation for long-term success.

5. Sales and CS should be one continuous journey

No more silos. Joint Evaluation Plans in Sales should feed directly into CS Success Plans. A seamless handover avoids repetition, maintains momentum, and builds trust from day one.

6. The future of CS is AI-powered

AI will handle the repeatable, low-value work. What’s left? Strategic CSMs who build relationships and technical CSMs who go deep. Skills like prompting, curiosity, and adaptability will define the next wave of CS talent.

Quick Links

📺 Catch the full episode here on YouTube or Spotify

🔗 Read more insights in our full GTM Insider blog

📰 Sign up for Daphne’s newsletter, This is Growth! A must-read head here

See trumpet in action

Get under the hood of G2's leading Digital Sales Room and explore some of our features without having to speak to any salesperson!

Start your tour

Get started with trumpet for free!

No credit card required.

Related Articles

More posts

Drive faster deals  in one collaborative space

check-arrow

Everything your buyer needs in one digital space.

check-arrow

Move deals along faster with async collaboration

check-arrow

Make smarter decisions with buyer engagement data

Powering the world's best revenue teams.

hubspotpersoniogongstripe

By creating an account,  you acknowledge and agree to our Terms & conditions and Privacy policy

close