Victorious Lacks Leadership, Strategy, and Culture - Customer Success Victorious Employee Review

The biggest issue at Victorious stems from leadership. However, having worked closely with almost every department, I can confidently say that issues exist across nearly all teams—but they are all fixable. Recently, Victorious laid off one-third of the Customer Success department, including many top performers, just a week before a company retreat. This was not only a significant blow to the department but also a major morale killer for the entire company. Leadership failed to handle the layoffs professionally, deactivating computers and accounts before even speaking to the individuals affected. In many cases, employees—some of whom had been with the company for over three years—were let go via phone calls rather than being given the courtesy of a face-to-face conversation. Company Culture: At this point, it’s nearly nonexistent. In 2021 and 2022, there was a genuine effort to foster company culture through weekly stand-ups, Friday update emails with fun trivia questions, and dedicated Slack channels for special interests. However, in 2023, stand-ups gradually decreased from weekly to biweekly, then to monthly, quarterly, and eventually to almost never. These meetings, even when company updates were minimal, provided a crucial opportunity for employees to connect with colleagues from different departments, fostering a sense of community and appreciation. Each stand-up concluded with a round of praise, a simple but valuable morale booster. Unfortunately, leadership didn’t seem to see the value in this. Concerns about culture and morale had been raised before, but no changes were made. Sales Methodology: This is one of the company’s biggest areas for improvement. While the sales team excels at closing deals, they often bring in customers who have little opportunity for SEO success. The department has an extremely high turnover rate, which suggests a clear lack of valuable training. It’s expected that individuals may miss the mark occasionally, but when an entire department struggles to close effective sales, the issue goes beyond individual performance—it points to failures in training, lead quality, the product itself, or a combination of all three. This ultimately falls on leadership, not the employees. SEO: This team is responsible for a significant portion of customer turnover, but none of this is properly tracked. Instead, blame is routinely placed on Customer Success Managers. Leadership in this department consistently fails to meet promises and deadlines, leaving both customers and CSMs to deal with the fallout. Team members frequently ask for guidance but receive little to no support. They are often left in the dark about company changes or updates, creating further confusion. The workload for this team is unmanageable, which results in ongoing quality issues. While there have been skilled SEOs at the company, they often burn out within a year and begin looking for opportunities elsewhere. Leadership: Leadership consistently shifts blame onto employees who are no longer at the company rather than taking accountability for poor decision-making. It’s evident that Victorious lacks a strategic plan, frequently pivoting from one failed initiative to the next within a matter of months. When staff struggle to keep up with these abrupt changes, they are dismissed as “lacking common sense” rather than given the necessary support and direction. Instead of building upon what works and refining processes, leadership continues to implement reactive, short-sighted changes that ultimately harm the company.