Monday Guest Bamise Olowookere-Y3-W49
Get to know Bamise Olowookere
By: Mohammed Alqaq | December 2, 2024 | Year 3 – Week 49/2024
My name is Bamise Olowookere. I am a Customer Success Manager and mentor based out of Lagos, Nigeria. I’ve worked in tech for over 10 years, with about 6 years specifically in customer success. I enjoy working on high-impact projects that drive organizational growth with a key focus on customer retention and revenue growth.
Outside of my 9-to-5, I like to write about my thoughts on how Customer Success Managers can improve their work and grow their careers. I also enjoy spending time with family and friends, as well as writing poems and songs about events around me and how I feel about them.
We asked Bamise to take us through a journey telling us about his career path, how he spends his workday, what advice he can share with someone starting as a customer success manager, and many other questions.
Enjoy reading this interview
Table of Contents
Tell us about your career path?
My career journey has taken me through sales, data analytics, ad operations, and eventually landed me in customer success. I’ve had the chance to work across several industries, including real estate, consulting, e-commerce, transportation-as-a-service, FMCGs, and data marketing technology.
My first step into the tech world was through e-commerce, and since then, I’ve always aimed to work with tech companies. It can be challenging and fast-paced, but there’s a unique satisfaction in seeing how the technology you work on impacts both society and your customers.
How did you join Customer Success?
I didn’t set out to work in customer success or even applied for a role in the field. Back when I was working as an Ad Operations Specialist, one of the senior leaders at my company approached me. He shared the company’s vision of shifting to a subscription model and mentioned that I had shown the skills and attributes to thrive in customer success.
He recommended a book titled Customer Success: How Innovative Companies Are Reducing Churn and Growing Recurring Revenue by Nick Mehta, Dan Steinman and Lincoln Murphy. After reading it, I was completely hooked. I joined the customer success team as one of its founding members.
A few months into the role, my line manager left the company, and I was entrusted with leading the team. I went from being a beginner to a team leader in a very short time. Since then, I’ve been fully immersed in customer success—and I’ve enjoyed every step of the journey! During my time as a Customer Success Manager, I’ve had the privilege of achieving both personal and organizational recognition from esteemed platforms like Financial Times, Statista, CS Africa, and SuccessHacker. Looking back, I’m truly glad I made the decision to pursue this career path.
How would you describe the ideal CSM candidate?
I’d say the ideal CSM candidate is someone who’s genuinely passionate about customers and making sure they’re satisfied. They should also have solid data analytics skills to help understand customer needs and predict what they might want.
On top of that, having an entrepreneurial mindset is super important—it helps you create value for your customers, secure recurring revenue for the company, and drive overall business growth. A mix of these three qualities—customer focus, analytical skills, and an entrepreneurial spirit—really sets someone up for success in customer success.
What one piece of advice would you give to someone just starting out as a Customer Success Manager?
My advice to someone just starting in customer success is not to let themselves feel overwhelmed, no matter how daunting it may seem at the beginning. If they keep showing up, keep learning, and stay consistent, they will definitely see improvement in their outcomes and growth in their career.
I remember when I first started in customer success, and it felt very overwhelming at the beginning. But by putting in the work, staying consistent, focusing on learning, and reaching out to mentors around me, I was able to push through that phase, build my confidence, and grow. Today, I’m proud of how far I’ve come.
Keep showing up, keep learning, and stay consistent.
Can you take us on a journey describing what your workday looks like?
My workday typically starts quite early. I like to begin by listing all the tasks I aim to accomplish for the day, prioritizing them in the morning. Once I get to the office, I usually start by reviewing the team’s performance metrics—checking how far we are from our goals and targets. I examine these metrics both on a team-wide basis and on an individual level.
I also spend time analyzing how each cluster or customer segment is performing and identifying areas for improvement. This helps me determine what adjustments or strategies we can implement to provide more value to our customers.
Part of my role involves creating marketing strategies tailored to customer goals and objectives, leveraging in-house tools. I also focus on optimizing customer journeys, making recommendations to enhance the experience, and finding ways to increase customer satisfaction. Additionally, I explore opportunities for upselling and cross-selling across various customer segments to boost revenue.
Throughout the day, I respond to emails, review data to make future projections, and identify potential future customer actions based on trends. This helps us proactively plan and ensure we’re not just reacting but staying ahead of customer needs. Usually I end my day by looking at the list of tasks I aimed to accomplish.
What makes you feel inspired or motivated?
I am usually inspired by other people’s success. I’m very motivated—once I see something has been done or achieved around me, I get really excited and tell myself that the person who did it doesn’t have two heads. I’m smart enough, strong enough, and good enough to be able to achieve the same or even more.
So, I make sure to expose myself to those kinds of things, as they help me stay inspired and energized for the work I have to do. It doesn’t have to be related to my field; it could come from any area at all. Success from others really excites me and inspires me to keep pushing forward.
What’s one thing that people are generally surprised to find out about you?
People are generally surprised to find out that I actually studied as a librarian for my bachelor’s degree.
Who do you look up to the most?
I don’t think there’s one person I look up to the most. I typically draw inspiration from multiple sources, so I don’t really have a ranking of who I admire the most. I just try to gather insights from as many places as possible.
What are your top 3 priorities now?
These are my top 3 priorities:
Growing and learning
Connecting more with Customer Success professionals around the world
Helping the growing population of new Customer Success professionals in Africa achieve better outcomes in their roles
What advice would you give to Customer Success Managers to grow and develop their careers?
My advice to a Customer Success Manager looking to grow and develop their career would be to not run away from the hard things. They should face difficult problems head-on and use all the resources available to them at the time to solve them. Often, we learn on the journey, not before, so they shouldn’t be discouraged by tough times or challenges within their company or personal journey. Recognition and growth often comes from overcoming those hard goals, so they shouldn’t avoid them.
Additionally, they should be very disciplined about learning—not just from books and articles, but also by networking and connecting with people to learn from their experiences. Often, the solution they seek is simply someone else’s experience.
What’s your favorite book, and why?
My favorite book right now is Blue Ocean Strategy because it helps you think outside of all the boxes that you have put yourself in or society has put you in.
» Check out the 10 Books a CSM should read to advance and improve their skills.
Have you had your “I’ve made it” moment yet?
No, I haven’t had my “I’ve made it” moment yet. Honestly, I still feel like the new guy. There’s still so much I need to do and achieve before I start feeling that way. Right now, I feel like I’m still learning and growing.
What should I have asked you but didn’t?
You didn’t ask me about any item on my bucket list!
I’m quite claustrophobic, so I really enjoy open spaces. One of the things on my bucket list is to go skydiving because I feel like that would just be the ultimate definition of free space — being surrounded by the sky. Yeah, so that’s one question you should have asked.
Where can people go to find out more about you?
I’d be happy to connect on Linkedin, feel free to reach out:
Thank you, Bamise, for sharing your knowledge and for the opportunity to know you more.
Do you have a Customer Success Leader, Expert, or Influencer you would like to know more about?
