Customer Success Playbook Podcast S3 E60 - Kristen Nolan - How AI Can Strengthen Client Relationships

The Customer Success Playbook podcast wraps up its enlightening three-part series with Kristen Nolan of Interview Valet by exploring the delicate balance between technology and human connection. In this forward-thinking discussion, Kristen reveals how she leverages AI as a strategic tool while maintaining authentic relationships. From using AI to identify unique client differentiators to employing dictation for efficiency, this episode offers practical ways to harness technology without sacrificing the personal touch. Hosts Roman Trebon and Kevin Metzger guide a conversation that demonstrates how AI can enhance rather than replace meaningful connections in customer success.

Detailed Analysis

As AI continues to transform business operations, customer success professionals face a critical question: Can technology actually strengthen human relationships rather than diminish them? This episode provides a refreshingly balanced perspective that avoids both technological evangelism and fearful resistance.

Kristen Nolan's approach to integrating AI into client relationships stands out for its pragmatism and strategic focus. Working at Interview Valet, where "relationships are the ultimate currency" serves as a core value, Kristen has developed a methodology that leverages AI as a starting point rather than an end solution. Her process of using tools like ChatGPT to identify a client's unique differentiators demonstrates how AI can enhance relationship-building by providing deeper insights that might otherwise remain undiscovered.

What makes this discussion particularly valuable for the customer success playbook is the emphasis on maintaining authenticity while embracing technological efficiency. Kristen's guidance on viewing AI outputs as "a baseline" that requires human refinement offers a practical middle path for CS professionals concerned about sounding robotic or inauthentic in client communications. As she notes, "AI can't make up personal stories for you," highlighting the irreplaceable value of human experience in building genuine connections.

The hosts share equally practical applications, with Roman revealing how he uses AI to improve the tone and client-centricity of his communications—not by blindly copying AI outputs, but by using them as a mirror to recognize when his natural communication style might come across as too abrupt. This application addresses one of the most common challenges in customer success: ensuring that necessary direct communications don't damage valuable relationships.

For customer success teams looking to scale their operations without sacrificing quality, this episode provides a framework for thoughtful AI integration. The discussion moves beyond theoretical benefits to share tangible techniques like using ChatGPT projects to maintain context, leveraging dictation for efficiency, and using AI to help craft more concise communications. These practical tips demonstrate how technology can free up time for meaningful relationship-building rather than replacing it.

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Transcript

Kevin Metzger: 0:05

Customer success.

Roman Trebon: 0:10

Welcome back to the Customer Success Playbook podcast. I'm your host, Roman Trevon here with me as always as my co-host, Kevin Metzker. We're wrapping up our amazing and insightful three-part series with Kristen Nolan from Interview Valet. Kev AI Friday. I know you're excited for Friday. We got through the entire week. Here we are. The weekend is on the horizon. You ready to go?

Kevin Metzger: 0:33

I'm ready to go. Excited about the weekend, but always excited about AI. Friday and Kristen, she shared some tips on time management, building confidence, and now we're exploring something new. Whether AI and automation can actually help us strengthen human relationships and business. Kristen, your work at Interview of Valet puts you at the intersection of technology and relationships. How do you see AI and automation helping or hurting our ability to connect with people? Authentic.

Kristen Nolan: 1:02

So one thing that I will typically do, um, that I really love about my role is that I really lean into strategy, right? And so, um, I will utilize AI in a way that helps me, um. Strategize with my clients. So oftentimes I will ask, um, cha, GPT what makes this particular client different? What is it that they do that no one else does? If you haven't done that already, I would encourage you to do that. Um, that will give you insights on kind of what sets you apart. Right. Once you can identify what sets you apart, that can then become a baseline for how you brand yourself, both on podcasts and just in general. And then you can lean into that more. What is it that you do differently than other people, and how do you make yourself the category king of whatever, whatever business you're in. In addition to that, one of our core values at Interview Valet is that relationships are the ultimate currency. So one of the other things that I think is so important, and I always encourage my clients on, is that we want to give that human touch, right? So it's not that we're going into chat, GPT, we're getting a response. We're copying and pasting it and saying, here, have a good day. Um, I always look at AI and chat GPT as more of a baseline, right? So. Maybe sometimes you have, um, a writer's block, you have to sit down. I'll have, um, some hosts and they'll ask questions. And so what I will do for my clients is I will, um, answer those questions on their behalf, um, with specific prompts. Um, and I will use one, like make this sound most like. X, y, Z client. And then I will send that to my client for them to have a baseline to start those answers, um, where I can then present those to the host on their behalf. Um, so I think there is definitely, like, I use AI all day, every day, but I think it's the human touch where you're able to then kind of connect the dots and make it personalized, um, as well. And I think the other thing that I always encourage my clients to do is, is personal stories, right? AI can't make up personal stories for you, and so that's really an opportunity to kind of put that personal spin on it as well. Um, I've tried to put together stories for my clients or put together prompts, um, but it just doesn't, it doesn't have that human touch. So there are limitations in that regard with it.

Kevin Metzger: 3:19

So, Kristen, you gave some some great concepts and tips there. Do you mind if we dive into a couple of those? Sure. Or yeah, quickly. So when you were talking about having Jet CPT talk, uh, tell you about their client, your client, are you having it making a request and letting it do like a search and give you feedback? Or are you asking the client to tell you that information and have it? Because if, if you have chat, GPT, talk about yourself. It can get to look at all of its memories and give you information about itself. Right. Is that kind of where you were going with it or were you talking about having like do a search and give information? So

Kristen Nolan: 3:56

I will do, um, a project. So I will set it up as a project and then I will input all of the information that I have on my particular client. So I will put their target audience. Their goals for their campaign. I will put in, um, their website. Just any information I have, I will put it in kind of as a dump, and then I will then go in and it'll pull from that. So, from my understanding, and I may be wrong, if you do a project that's only gonna pull the information from that project, it's not gonna pull elsewhere. I do sometimes, like, especially as I'm starting before I have some of that information, like as I'm getting a new client, I will ask and have it search the, you know, search like the internet or wherever it. Searches and do that information to get that just sort of as a baseline, to have an idea on the initial research.

Roman Trebon: 4:40

I love the projects. That was a game changer for me. Like I, I was doing a bunch of random chats, nothing, kind of spoke to it. Now I have like my, my folders and like I said, I don't know if it's true or not, Kristin, but it seemed like it's only looking at that information. It's doing it. Kevin could probably go. Confirm or deny that, but I, in my little bubble, I think that it does, and it, it's great, right?'cause you're building off of it. And it's, it's specific to that. I find it, like, in terms of, uh, relationships in ai, there's times where I'll wanna respond back. My initial response back to a client or something isn't as customer centric as maybe I, I'd like to perceive, right? So a lot of times I will not send it right. I will not send my initial email. I will run it through chat, GPT. Mm-hmm. And I will ask it to, uh, soften the email or make it more client-centric. And again, I don't copy and paste it, but then I can kind of, it gives me another perspective and I'm like, oh, the language I'm using is coming up very, uh, um, abrupt maybe, or it's not as, the tone isn't how I want it. And it can gimme those ideas and it really changes it. Right. Like, I can then say, oh, okay. Here's the email I wanna send. It still conveys the core message, but the delivery of it, again, it's not damaging relationships. My initial email may have. My chat. GPT revised email is much better. Right? And so I, I love that aspect of it because before I would park it, it would take me way long to get back. And now the system's saying, Roman, not your initial thought, not your initial email. Try this better customer centric approach. And it, it seems to work, right? Which is a, it's a game changer for me.

Kristen Nolan: 6:13

I do the same in, you know, school. I used to get on my report cards, Kristen talks too much. So in my emails I will write them and ask Chachi PT to make them more concise so that my, I wanna make sure that I'm like getting to the point because I will, I will give you a full background because I'm like, oh, if I give you a full background, it'll, it'll land more softly or something. So I am right there with you. But mine is make it more concise or more direct.

Kevin Metzger: 6:38

I think it's great for, especially if you're the type of person that likes to do a brain dump, which my process for editing prior to chat GPT was always get it all down, push it all out, make sure you've got everything, and then you can go back and edit it and clean it up and make it nicer. Well, now it's like, okay, that's better. It's actually a great process with chat GPT, because if you can get it all out and then you say, okay. Clean this up and then go back and look at it and say, oh, I forgot this, this, and this. It's, that process is, is fantastic for giving all the context and detail that you want in there. But then extrapolating it up and, and bullet pointing it out, which chat GPT needs, otherwise it's gonna make stuff up and you don't want that. So,

Kristen Nolan: 7:28

and one other cool thing that I found, um, working with chat GPT lately is the dictation, right? So if you hate sitting here and like typing Yes. The dictation is a game changer. I did it with my son the other day. He's 12 and he was doing, um, like a report. We weren't doing this in chat GPT, but we were doing this in Google Docs where like, he's like a h and peck. They, they don't do as much with computers as they did when I was a kid and it would've taken him three and a half days to type up a one page paper. So I literally set him up at my desk with my microphone and I'm like, read your paper.'cause he had written it out and I'm like, read it. And it's, he was like, this is amazing. And it was just, I think we often don't think sometimes that we can just speak into the computer and it, it helps us that way too. And

Roman Trebon: 8:10

these are, I love these tips, Kristen.'cause these are so, everyone should be doing this, right? And like, again, like I, I just started using dictation. I'm like, why was I not using dictation the entire time? Like, I'm the slowest typer and especially on my phone, it's off my thumbs or just speak. It's great. The project folders are great. So Kristin, you've given us so many in our audience, so many amazing practical tips this week, so I really appreciate it. I'm so glad that you overcame your inner fear and came on the show and started doing these things'cause I, it's been a wealth of information. So thank you for, thank you for coming on the show this week.

Kristen Nolan: 8:44

Thank you guys so much for having me. I really enjoyed the conversations.

Roman Trebon: 8:47

This concludes our three part series with Kristen Nolan. Now you can connect with her on LinkedIn, right? Kristen, you're on LinkedIn? Mm-hmm. Yep. And you can find more about her work at Interview Valet. So check out, uh, www.interviewvalet.com/kristen, K-R-I-S-T-E-N, right, so check her out. Go to Interview Valet. Great organization. Uh, we hope that these episodes brought you value to your week. If they did, please subscribe. Rate the show, share it with your friends and colleagues. Again, there's tons of practical tips here. I know you can take away and start incorporating in your day-to-day. Uh, right now, Kev, we'll be back next week with more conversations to help our audience level up their customer success game. Anything else before we conclude for the week, Kevin? Just keep on.