The Customer Success Playbook

Customer Success Playbook S3 E48 - Mary Schmid - AI, Empathy and the Future!

• Kevin Metzger • Season 3 • Episode 48

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In the final chapter of a compelling three-part series on the Customer Success Playbook, hosts Kevin Metzger and Roman Trebon sit down once more with communication strategist Mary Schmid to explore whether artificial intelligence can play a meaningful role in building trust. With AI Fridays in full swing, the conversation veers into uncharted territory: can AI actually help us become better listeners, or are we outsourcing our empathy to machines?

Detailed Analysis: AI in customer success is no longer theoretical; it's operational. From onboarding workflows to meeting recaps, AI is here to streamline. But the question Mary Schmid challenges us with is not can AI help, but how and where should it be used? With characteristic wit and wisdom, she makes it clear: AI can emulate empathy, but it can't feel it. The result? AI may simulate care, but it can’t substitute human connection.

The group reflects on how AI, while useful for efficiency and summarization, may inadvertently encourage disengagement. Roman candidly shares how AI-generated transcripts have made him a lazier listener—a relatable confession for many knowledge workers navigating tech overload. Mary counters with a powerful reminder: presence is a choice. No matter how smart your tools, nothing replaces being fully in the conversation.

This episode offers a practical and philosophical blueprint for integrating AI responsibly. Use it for insights, yes. Use it for speed, definitely. But never let it replace your human instinct to connect. Mary leaves us with a challenge: show up with your eyes, ears, and heart—because no algorithm can replicate that.

Bonus treat: Mary created a downloadable resource exclusively for Customer Success Playbook listeners. Grab it at maryschmid.com/csb — it includes free resources and even complimentary access to her book.

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Kevin metzger:

Customer success.

Roman Trebon:

Welcome back to the Customer Success Playbook podcast. I'm your host, Roman Reon. Join with me as always as my co-host Kevin Metzker. We're wrapping up our terrific three-part series with communication expert Mary Schmidt. So far we've covered the art of truly listening to clients and the power of empathy and cultivating trust. It's been a great week. If you've missed any of our episodes, go back and make sure you check'em out today. It's all about technology, Kevin. It's AI Friday. We made it through the week and we're gonna talk about whether AI is, is gonna help or hinder these trust building conversations. Kev, you excited to, uh, for AI Friday?

Kevin metzger:

I'm always excited for AI Friday. I am fascinated by AI and think it's such an interesting tool, but conversations from this week, I think just play in human versus machine and, and empathy. And can these LLMs really develop, emulate empathy? And so Mary, I'm excited to talk to you about this. So, uh, AI is impacting everything from client onboarding to portfolio management. But can these tools actually deepen relationships and improve communication or basically. Is there a risk, um, of basically becoming too automated? What do you think?

Mary Schmid:

I think it's a yes. And first of all, I think the l, the LM LS will never, they can stimulate human learning problem solving, but they can ne but they can't feel, I. Not yet anyway. So they cannot feel, there will always be the room for the professional to use AI to understand maybe some data insights, make your workflow better, but it will never replace the points at times if people wanna reach out, talked, will a real human being. Feel the empathy, feel the emotion, and connect as a human being to another human being. Now, I think the AI and many of the, um. Technological enhancements that are happening are absolutely fabulous, and we can't live without'em. Well, we can, but if we're moving into the future, we're not gonna be as effective or efficient as we can. And so everyone says, you know, you need to be effective using it so that you can spend more time with the clients. Well, that's true, and I think there's a whole set of tasks that we can give to it that we can automate and streamline, but when it comes down to it, we need, we can automate and streamline tasks. We can get insights and information and analysis from. Different products, different technological advances, but what happens with that? At the end of the day, at the end of all of this, you and I need to take that data and the insights and translate that into a way that our clients, our staff, our vendors understand.

Roman Trebon:

I agree. Have, you're gonna, I know you have a, an ai, you usually have a fire off our first AI question, so I'm, uh, I'll, I'll defer to you on this first one. Before I jump in?

Kevin metzger:

Yeah, no, I think it's an interesting question because this to me is, we're starting to get into philosophically. Mm-hmm. Where does it make sense to use ai? It, it can do a lot of things, and while it cannot be empathetic, it can emulate empathy. Um, as, as they're advancing, they're getting better at it.

Roman Trebon:

Mm-hmm.

Kevin metzger:

Correct. But that, but you're right, right. They're not feeling, at least as far as we know, they're not, they're emulating neuro networks, which is what our brain is. Mm-hmm. But they still are programmatic and they're still looking at all the information in their brain and how the ideas are related to each other in their, their, their artificial brain. I don't think, although they're even starting to talk about, uh, I was reading an article this weekend about AI boyfriends and girlfriends, which blows my mind. Um, apparently in Japan it's starting to become actually somewhat happening. Oh my gosh. Like people, wow, that's insane. That means people are somehow feeling as though they're being related to, as we drive into this, where's it going to be appropriate to use the. Ai, AI emulated empathy and solutioning because a lot of the solutioning is going to be good, and the empathy is okay, it's emulated, but if it makes you feel comfortable, then should you move forward using it? Or where do you, as a business, and let alone as a business, as a person, where do you say this is okay? And that this isn't, and I, I realize this is. This is beyond, this is probably beyond, you know, what, what we came in to talk about, but, but there's, there's neuroscience behind it and I, you, you're, you're more of an expert on it than I am, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Mary Schmid:

Think ai, and I've tried it. I mean, I play with it because I find it utterly fascinating. And what it helps me to do is not to be so long-winded and get to the point. Yeah.

Roman Trebon:

Yeah. Because

Mary Schmid:

I can write and write and talk and talk, but I simply say, what's the main theme? Here's what I'm writing, here's what I'm saying. What's the main theme? But help me to hone in and. Construct something that makes sense in a few words. So it helps me that way. When I, um, also played with it in terms of like, what do I say if I wanna build trust, I find it to be very prescriptive and very rote. Empathy is the ability to feel other people's feelings. Okay, how do I demonstrate it? You must, and it just gives me prescriptions based on what it, what it researches from the internet. And so I don't find anything really quite new or exciting about that. Um. That in that way, and I don't quite know. I think it's something we will grapple with, um, as a society is will it really replace Yeah. That human connection.'cause I think in conversations in human connection, there are so many nuances. It's the way you look at me, it's the way you tilt your head. It's the way that you position your body. It's that grimace. There's so many nonverbal things that cue me into what you might be thinking that help me to lead the conversation that I'm not sure AI can do that.

Roman Trebon:

It's gonna be interesting. I, you know, in, in the short term, I think AI at times makes me a, a worse listener. And, and here's why, because I, I, I have a transcript of the conversation. Mm-hmm. Like when I, I have a summary of what was said. So before ai, I'm completely locked into the conversation. I'm writing notes. You know, I'm, I'm trying to connect as I listen nowadays, it's, it's like, well, I have three things to do. I'm gonna get a summary. Like, do I need to be as locked into the car? I'll be honest, I'll, there's times where probably in the short term erodes my listening skills because it's, uh, it's too much of a crutch for me at times because. I will have the recap. I will have all the notes. I don't have to be as engaged, so that, that's something for me as ai. I think in the short term, while there is efficiencies where I can have mm-hmm. Double the meetings I can than before because I, you know, because I don't have to do all the notes summary, I don't have to summarize them. It's, that's all that efficiency's. Great. So I can double the meetings. Does it make me a better listener in the short term? I don't know. It's interesting there. It's, it's probably a lot of pros and cons, right? Some, some positives. Yeah, some, some trade offs as, as technology, uh, evolves.

Mary Schmid:

I appreciate that perspective because that's what AI and many of the technology enhancements our build is doing. We will free you up so that you can connect better, listen better, engage better with the people that you're doing business with. And so I think that's an interesting perspective. Does it really help us to connect better by freeing us up from the tasks that we would normally have to do by writing our summaries and writing our notes and doing all that? Or do we get a little lazy.

Roman Trebon:

That's exactly the right word. It, it, it's, it definitely creates efficiencies. It, it, it definitely opens up bandwidth. But does it, does it help me connect any better? I don't know about that. I don't know about that. It's interesting.

Kevin metzger:

Yeah. It's almost like you've got a, if you're using it properly to connect than you've got it there. It's recording. You choose to be fully engaged if you don't choose to be fully engaged because, well, it's recording and now I can multitask and let my brain skip to the 30,000 other things that happen. Now it's, it's actually taking away from that engagement as a person, which is even worse. Yeah.

Roman Trebon:

Yeah, and this is definitely me calling out myself, right? Like this is, if you are recording and using ai, you can still be a great listener. This is, this is me using AI almost as like, again, it's like a crutch, right? Because it's there and it will, it will provide some of the stuff that allows me to multitask, which then loses my focus from the actual conversation trying to connect what Mary has been talking to us about all week.

Mary Schmid:

You got lazy, easy, got lazy and that, and I think, but I think you, um, Kevin, I think you identified a really key piece of it, and that is how present do I choose to be? You see, without presence, none of this works. And, and it could be because I, I don't have to be present because I've got AI or even without a y, how ai, how. Present do I choose to be? And how do I get me and my brain ready to be present? Because that's the key. That's the key. Am I present to listen to the other person? Am I be present to use my eyes, my ears, my heart to understand what they're saying? Am I present to think about how I'm coming across and how I want them to feel as a result of talking with me?

Roman Trebon:

Yeah, yeah. That presence is key, even outside of the ai, right? Like you take AI outta the equation. I can be completely not present even without ai, right? I'm worried about the meeting that just happened. I'm thinking about the soccer practice carpool I need to go to, right? So I'm, um, my brain is drifting in different places instead of being completely present. Um, and, and really locked into creating that connection, which is what again, what, what we've been talking about all week. Yes. So this has been great. I, Mary, I can't thank you enough for coming on the show. I've learned a ton. Kevin, I'm, I'll speak, I don't wanna speak for you, but I know you enjoyed the conversation as well. Course. Yeah, absolutely.

Kevin metzger:

Yeah, no, it was fantastic. Thank you, Mary. Oh, my pleasure.

Roman Trebon:

So I know who I'm gonna call when next time I go scuba diving. Mary, I'm gonna call you for some tips on, on scuba. So this is, this is great. I learned that. Alright, uh, Mary, um, for our audience, where can they find, uh, find more about your conversational edge strategy where, what you're up to? Uh, you can find you on LinkedIn, right? Anywhere else? Yeah, they

Mary Schmid:

find me on LinkedIn. For your listeners and only for your listeners, I've created a, a document that really captures what we've talked about today, and they can get that@maryschmid.com slash. CSB.

Roman Trebon:

Ah, love it. Thank you. Me. Audience, special treat. Yes, we'll promote that as well. So we'll promote that. It'll be in our show notes. So Mary, thank you for that. Our audience, reach out to Mary, check her out on LinkedIn. And definitely if you've, if you've liked what you heard this week, lean in more. I know I'm going to after this conversation. This has been, this has been terrific. Uh, and that's a wrap for our mini series with Mary Schmidt. If these insights resonate with you, please subscribe to the show, rate it, share the show with your friends or colleagues. Mm-hmm. It really helps Kevin and I spread these valuable conversations to others in the customer success field. Uh, we'll be back next week with more tips and strategies for your customer success playbook. Kevin's been a great week. Until next time, keep on playing.

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Kevin Metzger

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Roman Trebon

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Mary Schmid

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