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Christine Vienna Knific

Senior Director, Customer Success - North America, mParticle

Content

What is your favorite customer success interview question and the best answer you've heard?

mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • January 18

Question: What does customer success mean to you? What is it, what is it not? Why it's good: It's open-ended, and gives the candidate a big opportunity to talk about CS as a field, the success of a customer on an individual basis, and more. Example of a great answer: "To me, Customer Su......Read More

2638 Views

What metrics do you use to justify a pay raise?

Christine Vienna Knific

mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • January 18

The best metrics to use to justify a pay raise are those that tie to revenue and direct value impact (internally and customer-facing). I like to keep a private list (for example, Asana) of the projects I've worked on and my contributions to them so I can refer to it during performance reviews, pr......Read More

2223 Views

What's a typical career path for a customer success manager?

Christine Vienna Knific

mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • January 18

There are so many career paths for a Customer Success Manager! I don't view the CSM's path as necessarily linear, but a "typical" one might be: 1. Customer Success Associate 2. Customer Success Manager 3. Senior or Enterprise Customer Success Manager 4. Strategic Customer Success Manager 5......Read More

2054 Views

What are the biggest frustrations you have as a customer success manager?

Christine Vienna Knific

mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • January 18

As a customer success manager, one of the most important skills someone can develop is setting the right expectations and getting alignment between internal and external stakeholders. The biggest frustrations I've exeperienced come from when we haven't reached alignment. The best CSMs do this......Read More

2041 Views

What framework do you use when assessing a new opportunity at a different company?

Christine Vienna Knific

mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • January 18

The most important things to consider when assessing a new opportunity with a different company are: * The company's trajectory. Is there a viable path to success for the organization, and are you comfortable with that path? (i.e. are they profitable? If not, what level of ambiguity works......Read More

1573 Views

What are the most important skills (both tactical and intangible) that are must-have for customer success managers?

Christine Vienna Knific

mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • January 18

The most important skills for a Customer Success Manager are: * Ability to conduct discovery with a customer. In sales, we've heard the phrase "Always be closing." In Customer Success, we should Always be Discovering. This means that every conversation a CSM has with a customer is an o......Read More

1277 Views

What are some of the most common red flags you've come across either on a candidate's resume or initial interview that you'd advise future customer success managers to avoid?

Christine Vienna Knific

mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • May 3

* Show that you're a team player! It's a huge red flag when a candidate demonstrates a lack of willingness to work as a team. The ability to work cross-functionally to drive customer results is critical. If a candidate conveys the message "that's not my job," they aren't a good fit for ......Read More

596 Views

How does one gauge autonomy in a customer success interview?

Christine Vienna Knific

mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • May 3

To gauge autonomy of Customer Success Manager candidates, I like to ask: * Describe what role the CSM plays with the customer, in your experience? This helps me see the candidate's willingness to be strategic or tactical (hopefully both, when necessary!), how they work with internal cr......Read More

560 Views

What are the key questions you like to ask and why?

Christine Vienna Knific

mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • May 3

* What does "Customer Success" mean to you? Customer Success as a field and profession is relatively new, and the term can mean different things to different people. A candidate's answer helps me assess their whether their experience is aligned to a proactive vs reactive approach, wh......Read More

449 Views

Do you generally recommend that candidates go 'above and beyond' in preparing for interviews?

Christine Vienna Knific

mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America • May 3

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 sho......Read More