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Jim Richmond is the Chief Customer Officer at Smartling, an AI-powered translation company doing AI "before it was cool" since 2009. Leading 50 professionals across support, services, and customer success, Jim shares his 2026 playbook: why GRR is his North Star, how he's building systems to scale 4x, and why role specialization beats generalization in the AI era.
Jim reveals how AI bots eliminated single-touch support tickets at Smartling, why he still carries his own book of business as a CCO, and his career advice for aspiring leaders to build the professional empathy that makes them an authentic partner.
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Timestamps
0:00 - Preview & Introduction
1:25 - Meet Jim Richmond
1:50 - Smartling Overview
4:33 - 2026 Priorities: GRR as the North Star metric
6:30 - Building a four-quarter forecast
9:40 - Building systems for 4x growth
12:24 - Forecasting to eliminate surprises
14:55 - Will AI make CSMs more generalized or specialized?
18:32 - How AI bots eliminated single-touch support tickets
21:42 - What it's like being a first-time Chief Customer Officer
23:38 - The rule of thirds: How a CCO allocates time
25:10 - Why this CCO still carries his own book of business
25:52 - Seek out a diversity of experiences
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What You’ll Learn
* How to build a four-quarter forecast that eliminates revenue surprises
* Why role specialization creates more operational leverage than generalization
* How AI bots eliminated single-touch support tickets at Smartling
* Why leading from the front means carrying your own book of business
* How to build professional empathy by seeking diverse experiences across sales, CS, and services
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Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at unchurned.substack.com.
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Where to Find Jim Richmond
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimrichmondatl/
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Where to Find Josh:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/
Unchurned Substack: https://unchurned.substack.com/
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