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For customer success interviews, what are helpful resources you'd recommend and types of questions to prepare for from both hiring managers and cross-functional partners?

Brett Milstein
Brett Milstein
Narvar Director, Customer SuccessFebruary 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. 

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Wynne Brown
Wynne Brown
RocketReach VP of Sales & Customer SuccessMay 16

The best resources are research on the folks interviewing you and the company itself. If someone shows up without understanding our history as people and as a company, that is a huge red flag for me.

As far as general interview resources, practice with yourself out loud or with a friend. Only by practicing out loud will you know if you're giving good answers. The answer in your head isn't always the best to say! Practice!

Redundant with another question, here is my list of questions I will cover:

What is the best customer relationship you built?

What is the worst customer relationship you built?

How do you think about measuring customer success?

What is your favorite thing you’ve taught somebody?

When have you innovated a solution for a customer?

What is your proudest achievement with a customer?

What was your worst failure with a customer?

What is the are you need to work on most to be a world class CSM?

What are your questions for me?

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