We all want to be strategic, but this requires a change of mindset and attention when you are busy with daily matters.
How about zooming out and having a chance to look differently at our challenges?
Then, being able to make a longer-term and meaningful impact
In this article, I offer a few tips for CSMs to develop their strategic thinking and “throw away” the “I am too busy” excuse.
The reality of CSMs is challenging, and acting strategically is easier said than done. Often, CSMs are in the “tranches” busy all day, prioritizing and balancing multiple tasks under pressure and tight timelines.
Being strategic does not mean that CSMs immediately get a promotion. However, it is an essential ingredient, a particular “muscle” CSM should develop for two primary reasons.
Being strategic in front of the customer is instrumental in maintaining a trusted advisor position and increasing one’s chances to engage strategic stakeholders.
It is a building block for professional growth and the ability to be more influential in your role.
What are the crucial steps you can follow to develop your strategic thinking?
Let’s split it into three categories:
Planning, Execution, and Learning.
Planning
Your actions and success should contribute to your organization. This guideline seems straightforward; however, it is natural to lose track of the bigger picture while being dragged into day-to-day activities. You can start by improving your planning and taking a broader view of the situations you manage and the priorities you set for yourself.
Here are a few guidelines to consider:
📝 Be familiar with the strategy of your organization. This usually comes from your CEO and the management. If you are unsure, make an effort to find out what your organization's top priorities are. The Customer Success team objectives and KPIs will then be derived from these priorities and drive your targets.
📝 Your KPIs should govern your schedule and planning. When prioritizing your effort, consider the impact of your action. Will it drive product adoption? Will it drive customer engagement? Will it positively impact the next renewal? This mindset should counter your CSM's tendency to “Solve problems,” which is a great asset but can also divert your attention from the more prominent (AKA: the strategic) objectives.
Example: Solving customer escalation supposedly triggered by a product defect is important. However, it might be the minor part of a more significant customer complaint related to expectations from your product, which will require a more profound response plan. You may need to wait to solve a “short-term” issue and instead collect information and consult with others before approaching the client to address the longer-term challenge.
📝 Assemble the required tools and resources. Being strategic in this context means learning to collaborate with colleagues who can augment your strengths. It means effectively leveraging the tools and processes to perform your job and have high-quality deliverables and outcomes. You can assess your needs on a three-dimensional angle:
-> Mental (and personal): Use memories and recollections of your previous successes and develop your sense of purpose to encourage positive thinking.\
->Relational (and collaborative): Surround yourself with people who amplify and complement your contribution. Those who will “push” you to be a better version of yourself
-> Environmental (and relationship): Create a positive environment that empowers people
around you and allows you and others to trust each other. Whether you manage a team or are an individual contributor, you will not win alone. Supporting others and allowing others to help you will help you achieve your objectives and contribute to the success of your team and organization.
Execution
You don’t need to be “strategic” in your everyday professional interactions, but you can follow a few simple principles to instill a strategic mindset in your role.
🔑 When prioritizing your schedule, pay attention to those challenges (and opportunities) that have a more significant impact on strategy. This is closely related to the previous section, which is about being mindful of your KPIs and their contribution to executing the organization's strategy.
Example: Reduce the 1-1 ad-hoc calls in which you chase or “follow up” colleagues to perform their jobs. This can be managed via messaging applications (Teams, Slack, etc.). Schedule these calls when you can combine high-impact follow-up items with the need to coordinate between multiple teams. You will also be the acting leader who drives the teams to complete high-priority activities.
🔑 Align your team and colleagues. Sometimes, the situation requires reframing to keep everyone on the same page and find innovative ways to drive decisions that will impact your customers and your organization’s performance.
Example: Internal Account plans are effective measures for cross-team alignment. CSM can promote decisions that should secure customer engagement and create new opportunities for growth (in adoption as well as in commercial aspects)
🔑 Your added value. A strategic mindset is about leveraging your unique capabilities and strengths to make an impact that others cannot make, given the situation. This is how you prove your value to customers and internally in your team and organization.
Example: CSMs can be trusted advisors to their customers. This is a unique position. You are the “Go-to” person to consult with regarding customer engagement. Sales, Marketing, Product, and senior executives should approach you seeking your perspectives before deciding or taking action that will affect your customers.
The customer trusts you and no one else. This opens new opportunities for CSMs to be more strategic. It allows them to demonstrate forward-thinking and sound judgment to benefit the customer and their organization.
🔑 Your Impact. The principle is simple: Ask yourself what you want people to feel, think, and subsequently perform because of your actions and interventions. This requires self-assessment and an understanding of which domain you can most impact.
Ten years ago, my manager articulated this concept very well. He interviewed me on my first day on the job and said: “Your colleagues and other teams should know that you are the CEO of your book of business. Make them follow your lead.”
Learning
We are not born “strategists,” but we can learn to develop this mindset.
We will follow the principles of strategic planning and execution; sometimes, we will be successful, and other times, we will fail.
The challenge is not only to understand the root cause and subsequently improve but also to focus efforts in the right direction.
Here are a few ideas to consider:
💡Define the expected learning. We can easily get lost in the “data lake” or the “data ocean.” Professional learning can span across multiple domains, and it will never end. Even learning requires some planning, priorities, and milestones to help you monitor the progress and realize the improvements you make as part of your professional growth.
Examples:
The balance you make between improving domain expertise and improving soft skills.
The lessons learned from customer churn and the specific improvement items applied to you as an individual, your team, and other teams in your organization. That will be one way to split the learning items. Another approach will prioritize the high-impact learning actions that will improve future retention rates.
💡Ask for feedback. Self-reflection is super beneficial, but the feedback we receive from others also enables part of our learning. They can be customers, partners, direct managers, and colleagues.
Other meaningful learning can be achieved by working with a mentor who can provide a different perspective and highlight new aspects of your performance that you can strengthen. A mentor can also view your performance and provide a mirror reflection of your strategic mindset.
💡Lead lessons learned. CSMs have a priceless opportunity to learn while conducting lessons learned. These should be instilled as part of the CS team methodology and not necessarily in the context of bad customer feedback. The lessons learned should also highlight what we can keep that positively impacts customers. CSMs, being on the front line of customer engagements, position themselves as instrumental promoters of lessons-learned exercises. This can drive conclusions and actions impacting both their performance and company strategy.
A strategic mindset is essential for Customer Success Managers (CSMs) as it empowers them to look beyond day-to-day interactions and focus on long-term goals that drive business growth and customer satisfaction. This mindset enables CSMs to align their efforts with the broader business objectives, ensuring that customer success initiatives contribute to the company's overall strategy. Moreover, a strategic mindset fosters innovation, allowing CSMs to implement creative solutions and continuously improve the customer experience.
Adopting a strategic mindset will improve your performance and align your added value with the organization's goals. Don’t wait anymore. Now is the time to take control of your professional growth and think strategically
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