What is your advice for creating and/or improving the customer success process when joining a small but growing team?

Working from personal experience here (I can't speak for everyone), what I've seen in small Customer Success teams is that they're scrappy. They've started as the "do anything to help" team and have had success in that. So much success, the org wants much more Customer Success. The downside, there's very little consistency or boundaries in their role.

I recommend you start with taking an audit of the various roles/responsibilities that the CS team is owning or getting involved in. Chances are, you will find some opportunities to standardize and get the CSMs out of certain tasks/workflows through better internal partnerships and tooling.

A great way to plan for what CSMs should be doing is to seek tons of feedback (internally and from customers) and build a Customer Journey from it. Clearly spell out the CSM role and expectations through that journey, and add tools where required.

Also- consider the segments of your business. Should all customers be treated the same? Or would you want different CS motions for large vs. small customers, customers in different regions, industries, product lines or other? With very small teams it may not make sense to segment immediately, but having some thoughts on this early on can make the growing process smoother.

All of the above helps you grow the team thoughtfully. As we're learning in today's market, we can't afford to overinflate headcount.

When joining a small but growing team to improve customer success processes, focus on strategic implementation that balances immediate impact with scalable foundations:

Prioritize High-Impact Quick Wins

• Customer journey mapping: Document the current experience to identify immediate friction points

• Basic health scoring: Start with simple red/yellow/green classifications using available data (engagement, support tickets, renewals)

• Standardize onboarding: Create repeatable templates even if basic; consistency drives efficiency

• Regular customer touchpoints: Implement structured check-ins at critical moments (post-onboarding, pre-renewal)

Build for Scale While Staying Lean

• Choose versatile tech: Select CS platforms that can grow with you—avoid over-engineering early

• Design tiered service models: Create different engagement levels (high/medium/tech-touch) to efficiently allocate resources

• Templatize everything: Build playbooks for common scenarios that anyone can follow

• Cross-train team members: Develop versatile CSMs who can handle multiple customer segments

Establish Measurement Foundation

• Define leading indicators: Identify early warning signs of churn before they become critical

• Track time-to-value: Measure how quickly customers achieve their first meaningful outcome

• Set engagement benchmarks: Establish healthy usage patterns by customer segment

• Connect CS metrics to revenue: Show direct impact on retention and expansion to secure resources

Build Cross-Functional Alignment

• Create feedback loops with Product: Establish regular channels to share customer insights

• Clear handoffs with Sales: Define exactly when and how customers transition to CS

• Support escalation paths: Design clear protocols for when issues need specialized attention

• Executive visibility: Regular reporting to leadership on customer health and CS impact

Focus on Proactive Engagement

• Develop early warning system: Simple alerts for at-risk behaviors

• Success planning: Work with customers to document their goals and milestones

• Value reviews: Regular check-ins showing ROI customers have achieved

• Expansion identification: Process for flagging accounts ready for additional products/service

• Interview the existing team and relevant stakeholders. Do a SWOT analysis and look for the top themes to emerge
• Review existing customer data - support data, adoption data, VOC data etc...
• Interview customers
• Create a plan on what you'll do and communicate this to the exec team, your team and across the relevant departments. Make sure you have SMART goals as part of your plan.
• Execute your plan. This will mostly involve a revised customer journey, people (structure and hiring), technology and process. 
• Measure your results.

Check what customer touchpoints have been identified and if there are more missing

Once the touchpoints with the most impact on long-term success have been identified setup clear processes and guidelines

As an example, the Onboarding of new customers can be one of the most important touch points ensuring long-term success. A customer who knows how to quickly use your offering and with this receiving first positive outputs will most likely be successful compared to someone struggling from the beginning