From Global to Local: How to Expand CS in EMEA

From Global to Local: How to Expand CS in EMEA

From Global to Local: How to Expand CS in EMEA

From Global to Local: How to Expand CS in EMEA

Marija Skobe-Pilley discusses leading a CS team in EMEA and working with EMEA customers.

Marija Skobe-Pilley discusses leading a CS team in EMEA and working with EMEA customers.

May 17, 2022

5/17/22

5/17/22

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Leading a CS team in EMEA and working with EMEA customers can be quite different from other parts of the world. So, how does local culture play into expanding your CS operations? How do you strategize globally but execute locally? And what sort of CS strategy works best in EMEA?

In this episode, our host Anika Zubair chats with Marija Skobe-Pilley, Head of Customer Success (EMEA) at ClickUp about leading a CS team in EMEA and working with EMEA customers.

Marija Skobe-Pilley is leading the European Customer Success team at the productivity platform ClickUp. She's building and scaling a high-performing and productive success team with an emphasis on culture, personal and professional wellbeing.

Marija is also a founder of the Women in Customer Success Podcast, a platform she created during the pandemic to provide a space for women to connect, inspire and champion each other. She is committed to bringing remarkable ladies to the show, from all career stages and backgrounds, to share their inspirational story and practical tools to help others succeed and make an impact.

Like many other SaaS companies, ClickUp was expanding outside of the US and needed people on the ground. Marija joined as one of the first CS team members in EMEA so they could start offering tailored support.

“Our customers were so thrilled to have someone in the region. Finally they had someone they can speak with in their own language and in their time zone.”

Marija Skobe-Pilley

Director & Co-Founder

Fractional SaaS

“Our customers were so thrilled to have someone in the region. Finally they had someone they can speak with in their own language and in their time zone.”

Marija Skobe-Pilley

Director & Co-Founder

Fractional SaaS

“Our customers were so thrilled to have someone in the region. Finally they had someone they can speak with in their own language and in their time zone.”

Marija Skobe-Pilley

Director & Co-Founder

Fractional SaaS

Leading a Customer Success team in EMEA but having the head office in the US definitely comes with a couple of challenges including global alignment. So, how do you lead the EMEA team while still aligning to the global initiatives and the global strategy for customer success?

“We have weekly leadership meetings where we align on our goals and strategies. We also do regular enablement sessions.”

Marija Skobe-Pilley

Director & Co-Founder

Fractional SaaS

“We have weekly leadership meetings where we align on our goals and strategies. We also do regular enablement sessions.”

Marija Skobe-Pilley

Director & Co-Founder

Fractional SaaS

“We have weekly leadership meetings where we align on our goals and strategies. We also do regular enablement sessions.”

Marija Skobe-Pilley

Director & Co-Founder

Fractional SaaS

Listen now to the full conversation with Marija and Anika to learn more about leading a CS team in EMEA and working with EMEA customers.

Director & Co-Founder

Fractional SaaS

Marija is Director & Co-Founder at Fractional SaaS, where she partners with early-stage companies to embed world-class customer success leadership at the right moment for growth. Previously, she led EMEA Customer Success at ClickUp, where she built a team that drove over $50M in ARR and consistently exceeded net retention targets. With over a decade of B2B SaaS experience across CS, solution architecture, and implementation, Marija brings a sharp operational lens and deep empathy to every challenge.

Founder & CEO

The Customer Success Pro

Anika is a customer success executive and founder with over 10 years of experience helping SaaS teams drive retention, revenue, and confidence at scale. She is the Founder & CEO of The Customer Success Pro, a coaching consultancy for CS professionals, and most recently served as Head of Customer Success at Griffin. Anika has held CS leadership roles at Karbon, inSided, and ZAP, and is known for her practical approach to commercial impact, strategic storytelling, and community-driven growth.

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An abstract render of a Planhat customer profile, including timeseries data and interaction records from Jira and Salesforce.

Thought-leading customer-centric content, direct to your inbox every month.

Thought-leading customer-centric content, direct to your inbox every month.

Thought-leading customer-centric content, direct to your inbox every month.