Moving from Usage Metrics to Trust Loops

You can move fast with AI. But are your people still following you? In one org we recently studied, the leadership team rolled out 5 new AI tools in 3 months. → Engineers were told to use AI copilots → HR was told to launch AI onboarding → Sales got AI content tools → Ops got AI automation dashboards → Legal got...nothing On paper, it looked like transformation. In practice, it looked like chaos. Teams didn’t know who owned what Adoption was uneven or quietly resisted Data risks were flagged and ignored Managers were guessing what success looked like This is what happens when speed becomes the KPI. And trust becomes the cost. People stop asking questions. They start avoiding eye contact in reviews. They nod in meetings. Then go back to old ways of working. That’s how AI fatigue sets in. Not because the tech failed. But because the rollout forgot the people. If you're a CXO, ask yourself: → Do your teams know why each AI tool was chosen? → Do they trust the data flowing through it? → Do they feel like part of the process or just a use case? You can’t scale what people don’t trust. And you can’t build trust through memos. At PeopleAtom (now rebranding), we’ve seen organizations reverse this. → CXOs slowing down to bring teams into the “why” → Clear role-based guidelines that reduce fear → Adoption metrics that include trust, not just usage → Peer feedback loops across functions before public rollout That’s what makes AI stick. Not another tool. Not another slide deck. But clear, people-first implementation that earns buy-in. If you're leading fast and feeling friction — you're not alone. DM me ‘CXO’ I’ll show you how other CXOs are handling this without stalling out. Fast is good. Trusted is better.

🕸️ Your Referral Strategy Isn’t Linear—It’s Organic Hospice liaisons aren’t just “doing sales.” They’re building trust ecosystems—one quiet endorsement, one connection, one belief transfer at a time. But here’s where we go wrong: We track calls and visits like they’re fuel. (They are.) But we forget to ask—how far did the car actually go? 📉 “How many calls?” 📉 “How many drop-ins?” 📉 “How many referrals?” These matter. But they only tell part of the story. Because in hospice, access isn’t just activity—it’s: ⚡ Trust velocity 🌐 Network depth 💬 How fast belief spreads—and how deep it roots. Let me show you: 🔗 Referral Chaining → Wellness Director → NP → Palliative MD → Case Manager → Weekly Referrals Each door opens the next. Because trust travels. 🌱 Network Seeding → Weekly in-services or grief groups at ALFs → You support staff—no pitch, just wt. clinics → You’re already trusted when decline comes Because you were already there. 🔄 Trust Cascade Prospecting → SNF night nurse → weekend charge → DON → IDT invite This isn’t cold access. It’s trust-based acceleration. 🕸️ Web Expansion via Nodes → MA + NP + office manager → “Who do you know across the street?” → MA group texts dialysis center Your reputation hops facilities. That’s lateral growth through shared credibility. 📣 Access Through Advocacy → You guide a daughter through crisis → She introduces you to her mom’s PCP → That physician becomes a referrer You didn’t pitch. You earned it. 📏 How Do You Measure This? ✅ Still track: calls, drop-ins, referrals, conversions. But layer in the metrics that map trust flow: 🔄 Trust Velocity (TV) 📊 • # of unsolicited intros/week • Time: first contact → 2nd-degree intro • % of referrals from downstream staff (e.g., MA → NP) 🌐 Network Depth (ND) 📊 • Avg. # of distinct roles per source • # of departments touched (SW, MD, CM, DON) • Tier 1 = 4+ nodes | Tier 2 = 2–3 | Tier 3 = shallow access 📈 Tie to Conversions • Which roles convert most consistently? • Which access points have highest ROI? • Where does trust depth = sustainable admissions? 🎯 What Does This Mean? If you’re a liaison: You’re not chasing referrals. You’re cultivating networks. You’re planting trust that blooms when the time is right. If you’re a sales leader: 📌 Stop tracking surface metrics alone. 📌 Start measuring influence density and credibility transfer. Your territory map shouldn’t look like a funnel. It should look like a living mycelial network—rooted, expanding, and nourished by relationships. Because in hospice: We don’t sell services. We transfer belief. And belief spreads faster than any script ever could. #Hospice #LiaisonLeadership #TrustBasedOutreach #ReferralChaining #NetworkSeeding #SalesPsychology #AccessThroughAdvocacy #CompassionateSales #HospiceGrowth #PolarisSupportGlobal

A friend recently told me: “Our product is heavily used, but we still have churn issues.” I asked him: “Do your customers care about usage—or ROI?” In B2B SaaS, usage isn’t the metric that matters. ROI is. Saving time. Making money. Achieving outcomes. We say this all the time. In our sales decks. On our websites. During onboarding. But the moment users get into the product, we start measuring weird things: → Logins → Clicks → CSAT → NPS Meanwhile, the real value—the why behind the usage—is ignored. Historically, this gap was filled by Success teams. They’d set goals with customers, build plans, and follow up during onboarding or (occasionally) a QBR. But here’s the thing: QBRs are lagging. They’re generic. And they usually come too late. By the time a CSM sits down with a customer to talk about “value,” the customer has already made up their mind. Now, something is shifting. The best teams are moving beyond reactive success and toward real-time ROI. Here’s how we got there: 1. Shared plans: we stopped hiding docs. Asana, Notion, Monday made roadmaps visible. 2. Live collaboration: Slack channels replaced email. Sync got faster. Feedback loops closed. 3. Real-time ROI: Now, the best products show value as it happens. → Hours saved → Workflows automated → Revenue unlocked It’s not about usage anymore. It’s about outcomes. And it’s visible directly in the product. Or maybe inside a dashboard you share. This isn’t just better reporting. It’s how you build trust. It’s how you retain customers. It’s how you turn success into part of the product experience. Quarterly reviews can’t do that. Real-time ROI can!

📉 Most churn doesn’t start on a dashboard. It starts in a meeting you weren’t invited to. It starts when someone new joins the customer’s team. It starts when they look at your product and ask: “Do we really need this?” And suddenly all your NPS, usage, and health scores don’t mean a thing. Because those numbers only show you what happened. They don’t tell you how belief was built—or lost; that’s the blind spot. We obsess over Net Revenue Retention, but ignore Net Relationship Confidence. Here’s what I've been testing instead: A new motion called the Customer Confidence Engine. It’s built around 4 key questions every customer is silently asking: “Is this the right choice?” (Signal → Certainty) “Will this work for us?” (Onboarding → Belief Formation) “Is this making us better?” (Adoption → Trust Loops) “Is this part of our future?” (Expansion → Story Ownership) Here’s how this shows up for a CSM in practice: 🤩 They log the moment the buyer relaxed on the kickoff call and said “This is what we needed.” 🤠 They track Time-to-Confidence: the day the champion forwarded a report to their boss. 🫡 They save belief quotes like: “Honestly, this saved us hours last week.” 🤯 They capture story ownership when the customer asks, unprompted, “Could we roll this out to another team?” That’s not a support interaction; That’s a confidence signal. And when you stack those moments across an account—that’s your new renewal forecast. You’ll be hearing more soon. But for now, I’ll leave you with this: 📊 Metrics are the scoreboard. 🔍 Confidence is the game tape. If you would like a preview of the full playbook of the Customer Confidence Engine, simple say "I'm Confident!" in the comments and I'll send you a preview of what is happening in the background.