This is a great question! As the first Customer Success hire, I would start by getting a lay of the land of the business -- what is the customer sentiment, how are renewal rates, how often do customers expand their usage with new products, etc. You don't want to immediately tie yourself to KPIs that are major problems because it's unlikely that you can, singlehandedly, change them in your first few months. Instead, find the areas where you can deliver a quick impact -- are cross-sells being left on the table? Are customers not having value-based QBRs? Go out and do those at the outset and then come back to some of the broader business metrics later.

My focus is on learning, optimising, and driving impact. Here’s my structured 30-60-90 day approach: 30 Days – Learn & Align Deep dive into company goals, customers, and key metrics (ARR, GRR, NRR). Meet stakeholders (CS, Sales, Product, Support) & assess CS playbooks. Know your team - Listen & Learn Identify quick wins—engage with top accounts & address renewal risks. 60 Days – Optimise & Engage Strengthen customer health monitoring & playbooks for onboarding, adoption, outcomes and renewals. Build alignment with Sales & Product for expansion and feedback loops. Empower the CS team with training & automation to improve efficiency. Carve out initiatives and boost morale in the team. 90 Days – Execute & Scale Implement data-driven engagement strategies to boost retention & expansion. Establish a Customer Advisory Board (CAB) & enhance VoC programs - leverage Community Present a long-term CS roadmap with measurable business impact. Evaluate and Recognise. Success in CS isn’t a one-time plan/change...it’s an ongoing cycle of learning, improving, and evolving with customers!

I'd recommend starting with these key areas when creating a CS function: * Defining customer success - what does successful use of your product or platform look like? When a customer in successful in your platform, what are the outcomes? What is considered optimal use of your product, gathered from a variety of perspectives (product, leadership, marketing, beta customers)? * Defining the customer journey - considering how customer success is defined and what outcomes successful customers should strive for, what are the key touchpoints in the customer journey to promote that success? Examples include the onboarding experience, product adoption at certain time intervals, objective setting, progress check-ins, value-based discussions, renewal/commercial milestones. How does each customer-facing role engage in this journey? * Consider the overall team structure and the roles and responsibilities of CS - Based on the customer journey, what role will CS play in promoting customer success? Will CS train/enable customers on the platform or will this be done digitally/self-service? How will CS onboard/implement customers? What customer engagements/moments will CS own? * Establish team onboarding/training/upskilling - How will you ramp your CS team members? How will you ensure they maintain skills necessary for the job? * Consider necessary tools - What tools/internal platforms will be needed for the success of the CS function? How will customer outcomes be tracked? How will CS manage day to day responsibilities? How will CS stay connected to internal functions such as engineering and support? * Define measurements, reporting, and accountability metrics - Which customer metrics (adoption, health, sentiment) will best predict outcomes (churn, retention, renewal growth)? Which inputs (activities, customer engagements) promote those customer outcomes? How will your report on customer wins and risks? How will you hold the CS team accountable to these inputs/outputs?

This is going to depend heavily on your product. In our case, customers use our product to improve the way they work, so we have dozens or hundreds of users in a given account with high consistency role to role, and we have centralized administrator(s). That means we can talk to a few people to move the needle on the many. We do a few things: * Talk to someone! Start with the champion or the exec who purchased the product to understand if their needs are changing, if we should push on a different use case, or what makes the "good" users different from the "not so good" users. Refresh your success plan and move forward. * Roadmap as Bait: Many disengaged customers will show up for an exclusive peek at the roadmap. Offer a roadmap preview as a way to get the customer on the phone to check in on their priorities, and to get them excited for what's to come. If you don't have a customer-facing roadmap slide, insist on having one made. * Benchmark: Show your customers how they stack up against their peers. Our best customers are achieving X, you are way below... let's talk about how to get you there. You can do this at scale or in a conversation. * Engage users directly: You have to get the content right. Personalize according to roles and use cases that are likely important to them and push content directly through in-app, webinars/events, emails <- whatever works for your users. Always give them 2-3 easy things they can start doing in your app immediately and have big payoff. * The bold move: Send an adoption report to your exec buyer or champion. This highlights top users, what parts of the product they are/aren't using, and who is not using (Note: this is risky if you have a renewal coming up so experiment before going big.)

I love that you’re looking to break into tech as a CSM, here are a few strategies I would recommend: 1. Internal Promotion - Some of the best CSMs I have worked with have moved up internally from other roles in the company. Customer Support and Sales Development are two internal roles that I frequently recruit from. If you’re early in your career, look for entry-level roles in Customer Success-adjacent roles at a company that prioritizes internal mobility. A benefit to both you and your employer is you’ll already have a good understanding of the product. 2. Adjacent Industries - If you have experience elsewhere and are looking to make the switch, I recommend being strategic: Focus on companies where your previous experience would give you a unique advantage in understanding the customer. (eg: if you’re an accountant today, look at companies that make software for accountants). Don’t “spray and pray” - you’re better off focusing on a smaller set of companies that you think will be a great fit. 3. Entry Level CS Roles - I think this will be the hardest path for you, but it’s possible. I frequently receive hundreds or even thousands of applicants for entry level CS positions, so it’s important to stand out from the crowd. Network and attend CS meetups or events (meetup.org is a great resource) where you can. You’ll learn a lot and you’ll also start to meet people in your local CS community who can help you.

Based on my experience, here are the most important soft and hard skills CSMs can build to be successful: Soft Skills 1. Empathy: Building trust through understanding of customer challenges. 2. Communication: Clearly articulating solutions and guiding customers. 3. Problem-Solving: Proactively addressing issues and driving positive outcomes. 4. Adaptability: Thriving in dynamic environments and adjusting to customer needs. Hard Skills 1. Technical Literacy: Understanding product functionality to better support customers and guide them on adoption. 2. CRM Proficiency: Managing customer engagements through platforms like Salesforce or Gainsight. 3. Project Management: Ensuring smooth onboarding and execution of a Customer Success Plan. 4. Data Analysis: Using insights to track a customer’s success with your product and to also predict churn. While there are other skills like negotiating, time management, and conflict resolution that are important, the ones above are what I feel are the most important. If you are able to master the ones above, you will deliver lasting value and drive your customer’s success in any industry.

It's better to have the right soft skills, always! In fact, I'd go one step further than that and say it's even more important to have the right attitude/mindset first. Because if someone has the right mindset, and they're hungry to learn and take feedback on board (we call that Growth Mindset) then the soft skills and the hard skills can always be taught.

To scale a Customer Success function effectively, it's crucial to demonstrate its financial impact and how additional headcount can amplify this effect. A simple method is to analyze renewal and expansion rates for accounts managed by Customer Success. By applying this financial model, you can determine the potential growth and retention value that an additional CSM could bring when engaging with currently uncovered accounts. This approach provides a clear rationale for expanding the team while showcasing the function's tangible contribution to the organization's bottom line.

I've found two KPIs to be difficult to commit to: 1. Customer Health. If you have a robust algorithm to measure customer health (influenced by a number of inputs ), it can be hard commit to a certain outcome. To frame this another way, I've often observed customer health scores as being a bit of a black box where it's hard to tie the actions you take to specific outcomes when there could be a number of variables outside of your control that influence the ultimate score. I much prefer to commit to lead measures that are directly within the control of the team. KPIs related to customer engagement are a good example of things that are more directly within the team's control. 2. Upgrade rate. Many CSM teams are measured on Net Revenue Retention. As part of this, your CSMs may be responsible for identifying growth opportunities within the install base of customers. I find it's effective to measure the team on how many growth opportunities the team identifies but not the close rate or upgrade rate, especially if the Sales or Account Management team owns the closing motion. 

Almost did not want to answer this question because it would give it away. Haha! I ask: Has it ever happened to you that a very red customer is moved to your portfolio? What's your first reaction when that happens? How do you solve for it? The answer to the first question tells me whether the CSM's current leadership trusts them enough to give a red-hot customer. Only the best CSMs get really risky customers because the leadership believes in the capability of the CSM to save the customer. The answer to the second question tells me about the attitude of the CSM. Did they like the challenge or did it seem overwhelming? What are the words they are using to describe their state of mind? The answer to the third question tells me about their rigor and the playbook they use to solve for tricky customer situations. People can fib in the first two questions, but the third question is what gives most people away. The best answer that I received was the following: 'I felt a sense of pride when my leadership gave me a customer who was about to churn. I know that I have earned the trust of my leaders and I was determined to rise up the occasion. Then the person described in detail the situation, tasks, blockers, how they circumvented objections, etc and finally the results. She completed turned this customer around. Best interview ever!