The best KPIs that I have seen include: * Net Revenue Retention * Gross Revenue Retention * QBRs completed * Health score impacted (e.g., number of customers who move from red to green) * Number of Account Plans created * Customer Success Qualified Leads generated * Multi-year contracts secured (if CSMs own renewal) * Price increases generated within contracts (again if CSM owns renewal) * NPS

Setting KPIs can indeed feel arbitrary, especially in new or uncertain markets. However, there are strategies to overcome this uncertainty and set realistic goals: 1. Market Research and Analysis: this shall help set goals for the organization's fiscal year. 2. Benchmarking: Compare yourself to industry standards and competitors to gain perspective on what success looks like in the new market. Analyze the performance of similar companies or products to set realistic benchmarks for your own goals. 3. Start with Baseline Data: Establish baseline data for key metrics such as market penetration, customer acquisition costs, and revenue targets. Use this data as a reference point for setting incremental goals and tracking progress over time. 4. Break Goals Down into Milestones: Break down overarching goals into smaller, achievable milestones. This makes goals more manageable and allows for more frequent monitoring and adjustment based on market feedback and performance. 5. Utilize Pilot Programs: Consider launching pilot programs or initiatives to test the waters in the new market before committing to larger-scale goals. Pilot programs can provide valuable insights and feedback that inform goal-setting decisions. 6. Set SMART Goals: Ensure that goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART). This framework helps ensure that goals are well-defined, realistic, and actionable. 7. Iterate Based on Feedback: Be prepared to iterate and adjust goals based on feedback and performance data. Stay agile and responsive to changes in the market environment, customer needs, and competitive landscape. 8. Involve Cross-Functional Teams: Involve cross-functional teams, including sales, marketing, product development, and customer success, in the goal-setting process. Collaboration ensures alignment across departments and increases buy-in for the goals. By following these strategies, you can navigate the uncertainty of entering new markets and set realistic goals that align with your company's objectives and growth aspirations.

It depends on the level, but the main ones for us are retention (making renewal a non-event), increased customer usage and adoption/engagement, connection to the company values, strong, multi-threaded relationships with customers, and upsells/account expansion which increases product stickiness.

I think the most frustrating thing about Customer Success is that without agreement across the organization about the importance and role of Customer Success, it can become a catch-all. As the quarterback of the customer relationship, that means all things can fall to the CSM. If there are not very clear swim lanes, paths of escalation and role definition, this means the CSM may soon find themselves as; * Customer Support * Collections Specialist * Renewal/Contract Manager * IB seller * Product Specialist * Escalations Manager While a great CSM possesses skills that can help in each of those categories, they cant be all of those things without burning out quickly.

Some of the things I would focus on to up level my CS career: Sales Skills - Developing your sales skills will really elevate you as a CSM. Your ability to influence and strategically drive a conversation to mutually beneficial outcomes is the key to your effectiveness as a CSM. Understand How You Are Measured - You need to fundamentally understand how your individual performance is measured and be able to effectively tie that into your day-to-day activities. Leadership Skills - Leadership skills are not just for formal managers! Your ability to lead others through your influence and expertise is key to your advancement in your career. Product Expertise - This goes beyond just understanding how the product works, but you should fully understand how the product solves your customer's problems. The better you understand both of these, the better you can advocate to the product team about the features or product changes you need. 

Breaking into the Customer Success straight from college is possible but there are things that you should focus on if you would like to go this route. My advice is to focus on developing transferable skills and building a strong foundation of knowledge for any industry or company that you’d like to work for. Even if you don’t have direct experience, emphasize internships, academic projects, or extracurricular activities that demonstrate teamwork, empathy, and a customer-centric mindset. Start working on these soft skills as these are essential in Customer Success: * Communication * Problem-solving * Relationship-building abilities As a bonus, I typically love seeing adaptability and a growth mindset from a candidate, so show you’re eager to learn and willing to embrace challenges. Networking is also crucial. Connect with Customer Success professionals on LinkedIn, attend industry events, and ask for informational interviews to learn more about the field. This will not only deepen your understanding but may open doors to opportunities. Lastly, consider taking courses or earning certifications in areas like Customer Success, project management, or data analysis to stand out as a candidate.

I think that Enterprise Customer Success means different things to different companies. This term Enterprise is used very freely and generally means CS for your larger organisations. But you must first determine for your business size, what is a large organisation to you? And why do you think they need a different level of service? What's the feedback you've been getting or what are the difficulties you've been facing with your current model for these customers? That should tell you everything you need to know.

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. 

Unlike a lot of Customer Success departments, we’ve chosen to align our team to customer KPIs rather than commercial/upsell targets. As such, we have less overlap in goals between CS and Sales. Of course, we’re both targeting Gross Renewal Rate and ensuring we maintain the customer base, but we don’t extend that to upsell targets in the same way as commission-based CS teams. Currently, we’re focused on exploring how we can share “time spent” efficiency and reach KPIs to help keep us accountable for spending as much face time with our customers, tech, and agency partners as we can over the course of many key city hubs whilst being mindful of the cost of trips.

Here are a few mistakes I see most often: 1. Not doing their research on the company/role they are interviewing for. It is surprising how many interviews I have participated in where the candidate had clearly not reviewed our company's product offering or job description. One of the keys to interviewing is to showcase why you are the best fit for the role. The best way to do this is to fully understand what the company does and what they are looking for, and to articulate how you meet those needs. 2. Not asking enough and/or not asking the right questions. I tell candidates all the time it is just as important that we interview them, as it is they interview me (the hiring manager) and our company. Accepting a role at a huge company is a huge commitment, and as a candidate, you want to make sure you know exactly what the role is, the expectations and what you are walking into. 3. Talking for too long and over-explaining. While I want to make sure a candidate has sufficient time to answer questions, it becomes concerning if they tend to ramble on for a long period and have trouble directly answering the question. When I am interviewing a candidate I am always picturing myself as one of our customers and what the zoom experience would be like for our customer, if we hired this candidate. Our customers are looking for CSMs who can provide clear and concise answers to their questions and candidates must showcase that skill during the interview process.