AMA: Sitecore Senior Director, Head of Customer Success APJ, John Brunkard on Developing Your Customer Success Career

I have many different questions and always include some scenario based questions to see how they would handle those. Often I start with a very fundamental question along the lines of; "Tell my why you want to be a Customer Success Manager? What motivates you for this type of role? A good answer to the question would be one that demonstrates a genuine passion for helping customers achieve their outcomes and a desire to be part of a dynamic collaborative team that strives to make a positive impact on our customers (and internal stakeholders). The candidate should explain how they enjoy working with customers, learning about their needs, and developing solutions to help them overcome challenges / pain points / needs / business objectives...by working across internal and external stakeholder. They should also be able to highlight their ability to build strong relationships with clients and be empathetic towards their concerns. Furthermore, the candidate should talk about how they enjoy working in a fast-paced environment and that they are driven by the challenge of meeting and exceeding customer expectations. The answer should also highlight how the candidate's skills and experience make them an excellent fit for the CSM role. They should be able to show how their previous experience in customer success or even a non-customer success role such as customer service, account management, or sales has prepared them for the challenges of being a CSM at my company.

There are many possible paths for a Customer Success Manager. Some examples are; Individual Contributor (IC) Path * Associate Customer Success Manager => * Customer Success Manager => * Senior Customer Success Manager (Enterprise Accounts) => * Principal Customer Success Manager (Large Strategic Accounts) => * Senior Principal CSM or CSM Director As a CSM progressing through the IC path, the more senior you become the larger and more strategic the accounts that you are assigned to. People Manager / Leadership Path * Senior CSM => * Team Lead, Customer Success * Manager, Customer Success * Senior Manager, Customer Success * Director, Customer Success Some Possible Career Paths Outside of Customer Success * Account Executive * Product Management / Product Marketing * Business Development * Renewals Manager * Technical Path: Technical Account Manager, Solution Consulting

Here are some suggestions that come to mind? 1. Gain relevant experience in other customer facing roles to build up the skills that can be reapplied and are relevant to the role of a CSM. Also be prepared to start at a lower level and work your way up. 2. Develop a strong understanding of the Subscriptions business model, SaaS and Cloud computing.There’s a wealth of online courses available including with LinkedIn Learning as an example. Read up on Customer Success. There are many great books available. Consider doing Customer Success Training and Certification such as those provided by SuccessCoaching. 3. Build up your network of Customer Success Professionals. This can be accomplished via LinkedIn, attending online and in person seminars, events and conferences. Participate in online Customer Success forums and user groups. 4. Create a LinkedIn profile and build a professional brand online to showcase your skills and experience to potential employers. 5. If you are a student, then look for internships at companies that have an established customer success function.

Here are a few areas to consider. 1. Financial Factors: Is the overall economy healthy. A salary increase may be dependant on how the company is performing; Are the financial objectives at or above target and can the company therefore allocate budget for salary adjustments 2. Performance Assessment: An employee's performance is evaluated based on their ability to meet or exceed their set objectives (OKRs), their productivity, the quality of their work and the value they bring to the company. Does the employee consistently perform and contribute to the success of the organization. 3. Market Rates: How does the employee salary compare to similar roles in the same industry and at the same grade level. If they are below market rates then their salary increase may be warranted to bring them in line with the market, otherwise the employee could seek a role elsewhere. 4. Increased responsibilities: If the employee has taken on more responsibilities or has had an increase in scope of their core work (from the job description) then this could make them eligible for a salary increase. 5. Relevant Experience: Does the employee have relevant experience, valuable knowledge and skills that are hard to replace. Have new and important skills been obtained via training and certification?

I am assuming this is while maintaining an individual contributor role. * Consistently meet and exceed your KPIs. * Be the go to person for Customer Success within your organization. Mentor and Coach other CSM team members globally. Be the subject matter expert within your department for all matters related to customer success. Proactively share best practices and learnings across the department. * Leadership skills - motivate and inspire others in the team. Support management in driving continuous improvement for the organization. Be a champion for process enhancement and organizational development. * Strategic Thinking: Understand the market, identifying trends, and anticipating future challenges and opportunities. Be at the forefront of industry best practices and knowledge for customer success. Introduce these as appropriate into your organization. Be proactive in identifying opportunities for improvement in your company and take ownership in driving these changes. * Business Acumen - consistently take on larger, more complex and demanding accounts. Develop in depth relationships and engage effectively with top management and C-Suite executives within your company and also your assigned accounts. Have high credibility with these leaders and be the ambassador for your company.

Here are some of the things that can frustrate CSMs from time to time. * When the role is misunderstood or confused with that of Customer Service or a single point of contact for everything. When everything related to the Customer is dumped on Customer Success. * When internal teams are unresponsive or uncooperative. This can hinder the CSMs ability to provide high-quality engagement with the customer and be the trusted advisor. * When sales teams fail to do a proper handover when the booking is completed * When there is poor responsiveness from the customer key stakeholders or the stakeholders keep changing. Or when the customers' priorities keep changing. * When the partner responsible for the solution implementation does a poor job and throws it over the wall for the CSM to take care of.

Business Model. For me the company should be a SaaS based company. I.e. selling cloud-based software for a subscription fee. If the company is hybrid i.e. has some older products that are still perpetual / on prem but mostly moving to SaaS then that is for the most part acceptable. Is the company's philosophy and strategy of Customer Success aligned with my own. I would also assess the maturity level of the Customer Success Organization and where it reports into. Ideally Customer Success reports to the Chief Customer Officer who in turn reports to the CEO Business Performance and Potential. Is it a high growth company? Is the NRR in lines with industry expectations? Does the company have low churn? Are they the market leader in their field (Gartner Magic Quadrant, Forrester Wave). Is it Customer Led Growth? Are they #1 or #2 is their chosen market(s). Is the company profitable? Are they hiring & retaining staff (in particular in customer success). I also weigh up the pros and cons of the company being publicly traded versus privately owned. The role: Is the role both a challenging one and one where I can add value. Is there opportunity for growth and development? Will I be enabled for success? Is it clear what success looks like for the role. Company Values: Are the company values aligned with my own? Can I add to the company culture? How is the company perceived an an employer (feedback from connection, reviews on indeed and glassdoor) Management & Leadership: Is the hiring manager (& next level manager) someone that I can connect with and have strong rapport. Can we work effectively together? Can I potentially work well with my Team One (Peers)? I examine the leadership and look at their past track records. Are they successful in building and growing companies? 

Great question. Customer Success is continuing to grow & mature. I see more of a focus on customer value and actual quantifiable outcomes and how these drive the customers company financial performance. Customers are looking to customer success to help them articulate and measure value. Leveraging customer advocacy to drive expansion and new logos is also becoming more important. Scale continues to be a challenge and focus area. How to segment the customer base and appropriately assign CSMs for human interaction. High / Mid Touch versus pooled CSMs and Digital / Automated Touch. We need to have channels of engagement for all customers but doing it cost effectively. I see Customer Success becoming more company wide rather than a stand alone function. It is operationalized across the whole company and becomes a company-wide team effort with CSMs at the forefront. Customer Success is reporting into the C-Suite at the Chief Customer (Success) Officer level who in turn reports to the CEO. There is increasing use of technology. The use of telemetry will be critical to track product usage, feature adoption and user consumption. And of course the use of AI will be critical to increase efficiency and scale. AI will work alongside customer success, not replace it. I would also like to share a few articles that I believe cover many of the areas I would consider. https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/10-trends-that-will-shape-customer-success-in-2023/ https://successcoaching.co/blog/12-predictions-for-customer-success-in-2023 https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/consulting/articles/trends-in-customer-success-strategy.html 

What makes a great Customer Success Manager? * Comfortable in a customer-facing role – Customer First Mindset, a passion for Customer Success * Has a Growth Mindset and excellent aptitude - looks to continuously learn, develop and improve * Excellent Communicators – spoken and written, also when presenting and facilitating meetings * Relationship management and interpersonal skills * Teamwork & Collaboration * Strong business acumen – strategic thinking * Empathy – active listeners * Ability to work autonomously when needed. Can take ownership, be accountable and get things done * Curious, self-starter and not afraid to tackle issues. Has initiative => Pro-active – Desire to help * Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving & Decision Making * Attention to Detail * Positive attitude - resilient * Expectations Management * ++ Industry knowledge, technical skills and project management

Let me answer this from the perspective of some of the things that frustrate me and my team. 1. When the role is misunderstood or confused with that of Customer Service or Single point of contact for everything. 2. When internal teams are unresponsive or uncooperative. This can can hinder their ability to provide high-quality engagement with the customer and be the trusted advisor. 3. When the partner responsible for the solution implementation does a poor job and throws it over the wall for the CSM to take care of.

Here are some of my favourite links. Web Sites * Customer Success Box – Top 50 resources for customer success * Customer Success Network * Customer Success Association * Gain Grow Retain * Gainsight - The Ultimate List of Customer Success Resources for 2023 * Remark-able * Hubspot Customer Success Resources Training & Certification * Success Coaching * Practical CSM (Available in LinkedIn Learning) Mentoring & Coaching * https://catalyst.io/community/coaching-corner * https://customersuccess.network/mentoring

I am assuming this question is about career progression and movement to the next grade level. You should have a growth mindset and a desire to continuously improve, develop and learn. Here are some areas to consider focussing on. 1. Focus on results that matter for your current role (OKRs / MBOs) and look to exceed expectations on KPIs. Demonstrate the positive impact you are having for your company in what you do. 2. Develop a deep understanding of your customers, understand their goals and pain points and articulate how your company is helping them to achieve outcomes and obtain value. Be highly engaged with the right stakeholders in your customer base and be advocating on their behalf 3. Develop your leadership skills: To move to a higher level, your leadership skills will become more important. Take the initiative to lead projects (the more visible and impactful the better). Be available to mentor / coach others on your team. Have a clear understanding of your team's strengths and weaknesses and work to improve their performance. Step up to own areas that need improvement and drive change. 4. Expand your knowledge and skills: As the customer success function evolves, so must your knowledge and skills. Keep up to date with industry trends and best practices, and seek out opportunities to learn new skills. Apply what you have learned to improve your team / department / function.

This somewhat depends on the company and its products. In general I would say that having technical skills can be helpful for a CSM…an additional plus in the trusted advisor role. The CSM's primary responsibility is to develop strong relationships with the customers key stakeholders, understand their business objectives and requirements, and ensure they are achieving their desired outcomes and obtaining value from the company's products or services. Having some technical knowledge can be an advantage if the company's products are very technical and / or complex. If the CSM has some technical proficiency then this can enable the CSM to better understand the customer's challenges / problems and provide more effective solutions. This elevates the CSM as the trusted advisor in the eyes of the customer. These skill can be particularly useful when looking for expansion opportunities within their existing assigned accounts The technical skills should be secondary to the softskills required of a CSM as I described elsewhere. I believe the technical skill should be more broad and solution oriented rather than in-depth knowledge on a product or technology. The CSM should be mindful that they don’t get pulled into areas that are out of scope for the CSM such as technical support and sales engineering.