Ariel Benzakein

Commander
DISC Type : D

Founder & Principal Consultant at RetentionForge

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States

Overview

Ariel Benzakein is a Customer Success executive with over 25 years of experience transforming post-sale organizations into profit centers. As the Founder of RetentionForge, he helps SaaS companies scale their CS functions to achieve high retention. People he has worked with often describe him as strategic, visionary, and an excellent leader.

Personality Overview

Risk-Taker

Decisive

Candid & Clear

They put a lot of effort into ensuring personal success.  They prefer to move quickly, and expect the same from others. They respond better to strong and respectful interactions.

Topics They Care About

CS as a Profit Center
Believes Customer Success is a revenue-generating engine, not a cost center, a core philosophy he applies in his consulting work at RetentionForge.
Actionable Health Metrics
Emphasizes measuring customer health based on value and outcomes, not just user activity, to proactively prevent churn.
Purposeful Meetings
Advocates for eliminating generic "check-in" meetings in favor of structured business meetings with clear agendas and value drivers.

Media Appearances

Ariel has no verified media appearances

Work History

12-2025
Founder & Principal Consultant at RetentionForge
5-2024 - 9-2025
Vice President of Customer Experience at Pharos
10-2023 - 3-2024
Vice President of Customer Success at Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN)
4-2022 - 12-2022
Vice President of Customer Success & Account Management at Flosum
10-2020 - 3-2022
Senior Director, Customer Success & Support at CentralReach

Education

1-2026 - 6-2031
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD from Gonzaga University
Master of Science - MS from The Johns Hopkins University

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 24 Location : Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States Job Level : Leadership Designation : Founder & Principal Consultant at RetentionForge
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Insights For Selling To Ariel

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Use phrases like ‘it’s your decision’, ‘strategic impact’ etc.
  • Hold your ground without indulging in one-upmanship
  • Get to the point quickly instead of spending time doing small talk

DONT's

  • Don’t be in a rush to invite them for a social meet and greet
  • Do not back off when challenged, respond with a confident, objective answer instead
  • Avoid being a storyteller and don’t try to oversell

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Ariel is

  • Conviction around the impact matters the most to them, followed by a sense of achievement and ROI.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Ariel

  • If they are not convinced, they will say no without any hesitation.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Ariel move?

  • If convinced, they can reach decisions quite fast.
  • Can Ariel take some risk or not?

  • They do not shy away from taking risks, but can be quite binary about them.

You And Ariel

Personality Compatibility


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