How Jamie Levy Built CS at Shopify Plus and Why She's Allergic to Playbooks - Jamie Levy

In episode 6 of Customer Success from the Ground Up, Mike Marshall and Deborah Knight sit down with Jamie Levy, a customer experience leader and consultant based in Los Angeles, who has built and led CS programs at Shopify Plus, Magento (pre-Adobe acquisition) and Simpro Group. Jamie is what she calls a retention whisperer — someone who runs toward the fire, loves the uncomfortable conversations, and has never once relied on a playbook to get results. In this episode we cover: Why Jamie thinks QBRs should be outlawed and what to do instead How she built the Embassy team at Shopify Plus — including having a physical desk inside her customers' offices The Unboxed event she created to get Shopify's biggest customers talking to each other Why saying less is one of the most powerful tools a CSM has The Alter Ego concept and how it helps CSMs project confidence under pressure Why AI will never be able to replicate what a great CSM does in a room Plus our regular Reddit segment — this week featuring a team who ditched QBRs entirely and saw renewals jump from 87% to 91%. Whether you are a first CS hire figuring it out as you go, or a CS leader building a team from scratch, Jamie's approach to curiosity, observation and human connection will give you a lot to think about. 👍 Like and follow so you never miss an episode. (00:00) Introductions (03:20) Reddit: We stopped running QBRs and renewals went up (05:17) Why QBRs should be outlawed (09:28) Why playbooks are a dirty word (11:08) The "this meeting will be successful if..." tip (12:32) Icebreaker (14:12) Jamie's accidental career into CS (16:04) 350 accounts on day two — sink or swim (17:32) What makes a great CSM (18:20) Why unhappy customers are the best conversations (20:30) Building the Embassy team at Shopify Plus (22:10) Creating Unboxed — customers talking to customers (25:09) The power of saying less (26:38) Keeping the customer hat on across your org (30:00) The Alter Ego concept (32:33) Jamie's mini formula for CS (34:41) Why AI will never replace great CS (35:34) Wrap up Customer Success from the Ground Up is hosted by Mike Marshall , Global CS Programme Lead, and Deborah Knight from KaptivCX. Find us on Spotify, subscribe on your favourite podcast app, and join the community. LinkedIn Community -   / customer-success-from-the-ground-up   Customer Success from the Ground Up Programme: https://www.skool.com/cs-from-the-gro... KaptiveCX Customer Success Consultancy: www.kaptivecx.com