The customer success landscape has massively evolved in recent years, and the role of Customer Success Manager (CSM) has been the focus of various webinars and professional forums. While there is a common agreement on the “MUST-HAVE” characteristics, the CSM role gradually becomes more demanding and multifaceted.
As such, CSMs are expected to integrate various skills such as project management, task prioritization, time management, domain expertise, data analytics, relationship building, stakeholder management, and more.
With these challenges, there is a need for a different approach, which is based on hiring talented candidates who may not have solid CS experience but have sufficient “mileage” in other customer-facing roles.
With that in mind, I created a framework that simplifies the recruiting process and helps me develop multiple competencies in CS teams. The framework's underlying assumption is that anyone stepping into CS should have customer-facing experience, communication skills, empathy, and the desire to make customers successful.
I implemented this framework in my teams and changed my approach to recruiting. I did not insist on searching for candidates with explicit CSM experience.
Instead, I identified core CSM profiles that require more specific expertise and focused on these profiles. My view was that I could increase the knowledge level within the team and allow CSMs with one profile to expand their capabilities to match other desired profiles.
The CSM profiles
As a CS leader, I analyzed and mapped the skill sets my team should be proficient at. I used this analysis to create 4 CSM profiles applicable to my team. I listed the relevant experience and characteristics expected from the candidates for each profile.
The “Project Manager”
● Experience in creating and maintaining Project and Onboarding plans
● Defining Roles and Responsibilities with customers
● Scope management
● Task Prioritization
● Task Execution and monitoring
● Risk management
The “Data analytics”
● Analytical person with attention to details
● Natural curiosity about numbers and metrics
● Experienced in driving usage and adoption based on data analysis.
● Comfortable presenting data trends and conclusions.
● Nice to have – coding experience to develop ad-hoc and customized scripts.
The “Domain Expert/Trusted Advisor”
● Ability to conduct proactive questioning and unveil customer challenges.
● Domain Expertise
● Consultative approach
● Value articulation – can translate product features to business value.
● Relationship “builder”
● Comfortable presenting Industry and product best practices.
The "Negotiator"
● Demonstrable experience managing difficult conversations with customers
● Driving the conversation and conflicts to resolution
● Thrives under pressure.
● Problem solver
● Stakeholder management
What are the benefits of creating CSM profiles?
✔️ CS leaders can better define the roles and skills needed in their team (It is an effective exercise to conduct as part of the team planning).
✔️ Expanding the search and recruitment of CSMs to match one or more profiles, thus creating more hiring options.
✔️ CS Leaders can identify the domains of knowledge and expertise that their team should improve and plan to close the professional gaps.
✔️ In the mid-to-long term, the framework supports skills diversity across the team and reduces the “single point of failure” scenario.
✔️ Align recruitment, onboarding, training, and mentoring efforts in the team.
The Playbook (How to implement the framework):
📌 Look for the inherent skills needed in your team and define the relevant CSM profiles.
📌 The profiles are not “set in stone.” The ones I listed above worked well for me. However, other profiles could depend on the target markets, customer touch model, product
complexity, and other factors.
📌 Map the team members' capabilities to the CSM profiles and highlight core skills and
strengths.
📌 Implement a plan to improve the team members' skill sets. The last section of the article
lists additional examples and recommendations.
📌 Use the team’s strengths and experience to perform a joint collaborative
learning experience. The leader is not necessarily the sole mentor in the team. Other
CSMs can leverage their expertise and experience to support and mentor other team
members. In this regard, CSMs who spread their knowledge across the team will sharpen
their own mentoring and training skills to develop their career further
Training and skill development examples:
The theory is good, but now it is time to put it into practice.
I am sharing more hands-on experience and examples to develop additional competencies across the team. The goal is for the CSMs to become multi-faceted and eventually match more than one CSM profile.
Activities to develop “Project Manager” skill
Analyze the onboarding process and suggest efficiencies. For example, optimizing existing processes to shorten time-to-value
Ask the CSMs to shadow others proficient in project management and ask them to flag risks and suggest mitigations.
Ask the CSM to be the focal point of the product team and manage feature request prioritization.
Activities to develop a “Data Analytics” skillset
Ask the CSM to review existing internal and external reports/dashboards and suggest improvements.
Review existing metrics and their effectiveness. In addition, new metrics should be proposed and presented internally to the team.
Propose automation of manual CSM workflows.
Work with Product/Engineering to capture user behaviors, automate notifications and alerts, and improve internal monitoring.
Activities to develop “Domain expert/Trusted Advisor” skillset.
Ask the CSM to review existing Playbooks and suggest improvements.
Ask the CSM to research specific topics and obstacles customers face in their market, then present it internally as part of the exercise.
Review and Improve QBR /EBR Templates based on customer feedback and new product features and capabilities.
Activities to develop The “Negotiator” skillset
Perform various simulations within the team.
Simulate a call with the customer to explain the product defect and its impact on the customer.
Update customer following service interruption, including lessons learned
Update customers about a delay in delivering essential product features.
Summary:
I recommend mapping the skills in your team. You will create the CSM profiles and, as such, expand the search for talented candidates. You will know what their strengths are and plan their professional development accordingly. You will benefit from having a more skill-diversified team ready for their new challenges. At the same time, your team will appreciate your efforts to develop their profession and boost their career.
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