Get answers from customer success leaders
Stephen O'Keefe
HubSpot Senior Director, Customer Success • February 21
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.
...Read More19663 Views
Upcoming AMAs
Manil Vasantha
Information Technology Consultant • January 17
Some essential hard skills that are considered must-haves for a customer success leader include: (must have does not necessarily mean now - you can and should be trained on the job) • Analytical skills: the ability to analyze customer data and metrics to identify trends and opportunities for improvement, as well as a deep understanding of customer behavior and the ability to create actionable insights from that data. • Project management skills: managing customer projects and initiatives effectively to ensure timely delivery and customer satisfaction. • Technical skills: navigating technical tools and software used in customer support and engagement. • Product knowledge: a deep understanding of the product or service can help customer success leaders effectively troubleshoot and provide solutions to customer issues. • Problem-solving skills: the ability to quickly and effectively identify and resolve customer issues is crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. • Knowledge of Tools (soft and hard skills): CRM (Jira/SFDC/HubSpot/Zoho etc.), CSM (Gainsight, Einstein, Totango, ChurnZero), and Analytical Tools like (Tableau, SAS/ PowerBI, and Google Analytics). You should get some training as part of your onboarding; however, self-help is the best help. As for nice-to-haves skills: • Industry knowledge: the ability to stay current on industry developments and trends, as well as an understanding of best practices in customer success management. • Financial analysis skills: the ability to evaluate and analyze financial data, such as customer revenue, churn rate, and lifetime value, to identify opportunities for growth and improvement. • Business Acumen: the ability to understand the company's goals and align customer success strategies. • Leadership skills: the ability to inspire, motivate and lead a team of customer success managers and associates to achieve their goals. • Communication skills: the ability to clearly and effectively communicate and collaborate with customers and other stakeholders/inter-department and intra-department are essential for building and maintaining positive relationships.
...Read More6192 Views
Brett Milstein
Narvar Director, Customer Success • February 7
Rather than just asking a candidate about their background, I prefer to ask about real situational questions. Here are a few of my favorites: * Tell me about a time you had an unhappy customer. What was the issue and how did you resolve it? * Take me through a time when a customer provided a churn notice and you were able to save them. What was your process and how did you turn things around? * Walk me through one of your recent renewals. When did you start the renewal conversation and what did the entire process look like? Also, in my opinion, all candidates need to do some type of live presentation for the hiring manager/team before an offer is sent out. Keep in mind, presenting to customers is a major part of a CSM's job and is not a skill I recommend you judge based on an interview and/or resume. While a candidate can tell you all about their communication style and experience, I believe the only way to truly judge their presentation skills is to see it live.
...Read More4241 Views
Georgia Glanville Harrison
Braze VP Customer Success, EMEA • January 26
Technical Support response targets! We’ve all been there, and being the first Success Hire is super exciting. You get to wear many hats, get involved all the way through the customer lifecycle and be scrappy to get customers what they need. For us at the beginning, that meant taking on a lot of Technical Support tickets for our EMEA customers, especially in the morning before our then US-based tech support team was online. On the one hand, this gives you a lot of valuable product knowledge that can help you be an impactful CSM, but on the other hand, it can mask the business need to expand technical support teams and can hurt your focus in the long term. If you can, explain early the difference between CS and Tech support KPIs and ensure that anything you take on is temporary!
...Read More8687 Views
Natasha Evans
Hook Head of Customer • January 25
When it comes to maintaining positive relationships with customers – especially if your champion has changed and you need to restate your value proposition – I always think about three things as related to customer touchpoints: 1. You have to be intentional about building out a level of service that ensures every customer feels heard. It’s important to be as accessible as possible to your customers, especially as we navigate an uncertain market. At Salesloft, for example, we host live office hours every weekday, giving customers a guaranteed opportunity to speak live with someone on the CS team if they need to troubleshoot or discuss best practices, and receive answers in real-time. Additionally, something as small as ensuring your webcam is on when meeting with customers is another way to elevate their CS experience. 2. Create high-value, high-impact touchpoints. All your customers will have different needs, and if your champion changes, you likely need to adjust. Talk to your customers directly about their potential problems and specific needs and create touchpoints that provide them with the value they care about. There is nothing better than building out a success plan with your customer and then showing them how you’re going to get to the value that they care about. 3. Expand your definition of memorable experiences. People emerged from a pandemic era ready to connect and network once more. Whether in-person, or virtually, there are plenty of opportunities to create networking opportunities between you and your customers. As remote work continues to become the standard for many, the teams and partners we work with are more distributed than ever – sometimes even across continents – but there is plenty of opportunity to nourish these relationships from afar.
...Read More3004 Views
Rebecca Warren
Eightfold Director, Customer Success • January 17
As with any time you join a new company, listen, listen, listen, and THEN ask, ask, ask! I highly suggest driving those 1:1s if they aren’t already scheduled for you, and then spend time understanding the internal processes (and why they were built the way they are). I would stay away from “well, in my former company we did xxx and xxx and it worked great” – instead ask “do you know why this is done this way?”. Get all the info on interactions with clients that you can as well – your internal folks, especially implementation teams, usually have quite a bit of “behind the scenes” information that can help you as you start interacting with clients!
...Read More2852 Views
What are the best ways to get ahead of potential churn, to see the signs and stop it from happening?
Jessica Broderick
Asana Head of Vertical Solutions Engineering • April 12
The first step to knowing if a client is at risk of churning is to identify the potential warning signs: * Lack of Engagement * Client Turnover * Service/Support Issues * Economic Climate * Poor Performance * Low CSAT/NPS Scores Once you understand what to look for you can better assess risk within any given account and create an action plan to get things back on track. I've found the most impactful element to avoiding churn from the onset is to create strong executive relationships with clients. This allows for a feedback loop to prevent frustrations and address issues quickly.
...Read More1110 Views
Nicole Alrubaiy
Jellyfish Senior Vice President, Customer Success • February 28
Whenever there are customers you need to retain (psst... that's pretty early!). I've found that we in the industry are quite liberal in what we call Customer Success, particularly in early-stage companies. You'd likely start with a CSM as the person who helps onboard/implement the new customers, answers how-to questions for them, and does whatever it takes to make their product dreams come true. The role is broad and a catchall for post-sale needs. Who would do it otherwise? You probably don't want your sales rep taking time away from growing the company, nor do you want every customer question and complaint hitting the founders. Over time, you'll mature and specialize the CS function as you introduce other specialists in Implementation, Technical Support, etc. and beef up customer resources like in your knowledge base and community. For that first hire, consider someone who is a product expert, customer-obsessed, and a pro at getting things done cross-functionally. A high-potential hire could go on to lead a team of CSMs as you grow.
...Read More1283 Views
Christine Vienna Knific
mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • May 2
It's really important to be prepared for any interview you take the time to do, both out of respect for the hiring manager's time and your own. That said, I view an interview as a conversation and opportunity for both parties to learn about each other. Here are two tips for being prepared and showcasing yourself in the best way: * Any presentation or demonstration project should be done explicitly for the hiring company. Many Customer Success roles will require candidates who advance multiple rounds to prepare a presentation, written project, or sample QBR. Though interviewing multiple rounds for multiple roles is time consuming and often downright exhausting, it's critical that you make sure what you put forward shows preparation and willingness to do the role. I often give candidates a prompt with sample scenarios that are unique to the skill sets the job requires or situations we're experiencing and trying to solve for. The interviewees who stand out most are those who take the time to prepare as the prompt requests. We often get candidates who say "oh, this is a QBR I did at my old company, does that work?" While I totally understand that doing presentations for multiple roles in an interview process takes a lot of time, those who prepare specifically for us send the message that they will do the work and want the job. * Do your research... but don't make it weird. It may sound silly, but it's true! Candidates should be as versed as possible with what the company does, their target market, ideal customers, etc. Likewise, candidates should have looked at the hiring manager's LinkedIn to be familiar with their basic background and any known mutual connections. The critical part, however, is that the candidate uses the background information they've researched as part of their answers to questions. Resist the urge to say something like "Hey, Go Eagles! ... I saw you went to North Olmsted High School." Fun fact: a candidate really said that to me. The awkward conversation that followed highlighted that no, we didn't go to school together, nor did we have mutual acquaintances, but they found it on social media and thought it would be a cool fact to share.
...Read More634 Views
Michael Maday
Gainsight Senior Director, Customer Success • February 15
As a Customer Success leader, there are a handful of alignments that I have prioritized. Sales - Aligning CS & Sales is the most important thing an organization can do and if you be the tie that binds these groups, it will pay significant dividends. Support - Bugs happen, tickets and escalations are part of our day-to-day but if you do not have a strong relationship with Support you will not have a lifeline when you need something prioritized, or eyes on an issue impacting your customer. Services - Most SaaS companies are dependent on Services to stand up the instance and make incremental improvements through the lifecycle. Building relationships with the team will make tricky situations easier to work through and will also you to offer procedural improvements that they would otherwise not appreciate. Getting in the trenches with Support and Services is something a great CSM / CS Leader does but you also need to know when to get out of the way! Product teams - No one knows the way your product is used and the gaps that exist like Customer Success and Product teams thirst for this knowledge. Either through technology or a spreadsheet, find a way to aggregate feedback and get it to Product. Also, invite them to meet with your customers! Most Product teammates love seeing their work in the hands of customers, but do not have the relationships, make it happen for them! Once this relationship is built, then you can introduce a little scope creep into their backlog :)
...Read More1684 Views