John Brunkard

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 strategies that I use to inspire and motivate my Customer Success team: Set Clear and Achievable Goals: It is important to set clear, specific, and achievable goals for your team. At Sitecore we use the Objectives - Key Results (OKRs) approach. These OKRs align with the company's mission and are mostly customer-centric objectives. When goals are SMART - specific, strategic, measurable, motivating, achievable (yet ambitious), agreed to, realistic, relevant, resourced, results based, trackable, timely and tested then it's easier to motivate the team to achieve them. We pay a bi-annual bonus based on performance achieved against the set objectives. The OKRs are reviewed quarterly. Ideally I would prefer to pay a bonus quarterly. We also have a SPIFF program where CSMs are rewarded for CSQL that become Closed Booked. The contribution the CSMs are making to Expansion revenue is now widely recognized within the company. Celebrate and Recognize Individual and Team Achievements: Regularly acknowledge and reward team members who excel in their roles and / or make key accomplishments. Public, company and / or department recognition awards can mean a lot. Even small incentives can be effective in boosting morale. We have quarterly individual performance awards where time off is provided as well as other incentives. The winners are shared at the Cxx level in the CCO QBRs. Celebrate their customers' success stories and help to get published internally and even externally. Remind the team of the positive impact they have on customers' business outcomesand the value they bring to the organization. Ongoing feedback, praise and coaching: Offer constructive criticism when necessary and highlight areas where team members are excelling. Provide timely praise for a job well done. Ensure you provide regular and timely feedback to help team members understand their strengths and areas for development. Identify coaching opportunities for performance improvement and development as well as reinforcing positive behaviors. Individual Development Plans (IDP): Invest in the career development and growth of your team members. Provide opportunities for continuous learning and development for team members. This can be Customer Success specific training, soft skills and / or complementary skills training. Ensure CSMs are updated regularly on your company’s product and solution. Have clear career paths for your team members to grow and advance into not just as CSMs but other roles within the company. Team Building and Collaboration: Foster a collaborative environment where team members support and learn from each other, “Iron sharpens iron”, where they build up and encourage each other. Team members should proactively seek hope from one another - a problem shared is a problem halved. Effective Leadership: Try to be an effective and inspiring leader yourself. Adjust your leadership style to what is most appropriate - situational leadership. Be a conduit to remove any barriers to your teams success. Be transparent and cascade down information from the executive leadership on company direction, mission, objectives and performance. Be a great listener then a great communicator. Maintain open and transparent communication. Keep the team informed about company updates, changes in strategy, and customer feedback. When team members understand the bigger picture, they're more likely to stay motivated.

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.

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.

Here are some of the ways that we use to foster collaboration and communication between customer success, sales, marketing, and other departments within the organization. Conduct Regular Sessions with Internal Stakeholders: Customer Success Leaders schedule routine cross-functional sessions with internal stakeholders. During these sessions, we share insights on the role of Customer Success and how it contributes to the organization's success. These sessions are an opportunity to communicate successes, challenges, and align priorities. We provide opportunity to answer questions and collect feedback. Sales QBR Sessions: Customer Success Leaders actively participate in Sales Quarterly Business Review (QBR) sessions. These meetings allow for the exchange of valuable insights and ensure that customer success is integrated into the sales strategy, enhancing alignment between both departments. Virtual Account Teams: We promote a unified approach by integrating Customer Success Managers (CSMs) into the Virtual Account Team, which typically includes Sales, Pre-Sales Engineering, and Professional Services. This integration fosters close collaboration and ensures that each team member understands their role in delivering a seamless customer experience forcussed on the customer objectives. Joint Meetings with Sales: We have regular joint meetings between Customer Success and Sales teams. These meetings help to identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities, align on account strategies, and address any customer issues collectively. Key Role in Expansion Selling with CSQL Process: Customer Success plays a key role in the expansion selling process from the Customer Success Qualified Lead (CSQL) process. This process identifies customers with the potential for expansion and ensures that the Customer Success team is actively engaged in nurturing these opportunities. It is the best source of leads from existing customers with a high win rate. Customer Success Stories: CSMs collaborate with the marketing team to create and promote Customer Success stories as part of our Customer Advocacy OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). These stories showcase the success of our customers, which can be used for marketing and sales efforts, ultimately benefiting all teams involved. Mutual Goal Alignment for OKRs: When possible we establish mutual goal alignment for our Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) between Customer Success, Sales, Marketing, and other relevant departments. This ensures that all teams are working towards shared objectives, which may include customer retention, expansion revenue, and customer advocacy. Prioritizing and Coordinating Support Issues: Customer Success can collaborate closely with the Technical Support team to ensure the impact of support issues is clearly understood. For customers with multiple issues, Customer Success Managers (CSMs) can play a critical role in prioritizing these concerns. By working with the customer to identify which issues are most critical to their success and relaying this information to the Technical Support team, CSMs help ensure that support resources are allocated to address the most important and impactful issues first

I previously answered this type question for CSMs however this time I will put in some resources that are more focussed on Customer Success Leaders. Here is the link to the previous answer. These are some books I would recommend specifically for Customer Success Leaders...in no particular order. 1. The Seven Pillars of Customer Success: A Proven Framework to Drive Impactful Client Outcomes for Your Company 2. Chief Customer Officer 2.0: How to Build Your Customer-Driven Growth Engine 3. The Chief Customer Officer Playbook: 8 Strategies that Will Accelerate Your Career and Win You a Seat at the Executive Table 4. The Customer Success Economy: Why Every Aspect of Your Business Model Needs A Paradigm Shift 5. Customer Success Mindset: Building Customer-Centricity into the DNA of your Growth Strategy 6. Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers 7. The Growth Leader: Strategies to Drive the Top and Bottom Lines 8. Reimagine Customer Success: Designing Organizations Around Customer Value 9. Zone to Win

* Churn: Retaining existing customers, ensuring they achieve their desired outcomes, and receive value. * Proactively engage with customers to identify potential issues. * Regularly assess customer health and usage patterns. * Provide personalized recommendations and resources to address customer needs. * Implement a customer success plan with clear goals and milestones. * Downsell in Tough Economic Environments: * Highlight the cost-effectiveness of your product or service. * Emphasize the long-term value and ROI of your offering. * Collaborate with finance and sales teams to structure customized solutions. * Scaling Customer Success Operations:Expanding and optimizing your Customer Success team and resources. * Implement customer segmentation to allocate resources effectively. * Frequently review and tweak CSM assignments to customers. Focus on strategic growth accounts that are expanding or have potential to do so. * Use customer success management platforms for automation. * Develop clear customer journey maps with defined touchpoints. Focus on handover from sales and customer onboarding. * Managing Customer Expectations: Ensuring that CSMs can meet the promises made by the sales team. * Establish clear communication channels between Sales and Customer Success. * Sales handover process is critical. Conduct thorough handoff meetings from Sales to Customer Success where customer outcomes are clearly established. * Develop a customer playbook that aligns sales and success strategies. * Working with Other Customer-Facing Organizations: Collaborating effectively with Sales, Marketing, and Sales Development. * Establish clear communication channels and shared goals. Create a RA(S)CI responsibility matrix with swim lanes. * Collaborate on customer segmentation and targeting. Review quarterly and ensure alignment. * Share customer insights and feedback to enhance product offerings and messaging. * Conduct regular interdepartmental meetings and training. * Team Member Retention: Attracting and retaining top talent, fostering growth, and providing career paths * Offer continuous learning opportunities and professional development. * Recognize and reward top performers with promotions and bonuses. * Foster a positive work culture with a focus on well-being and work-life balance. * Partner Enablement:Ensuring that partners are fully trained and enabled to deliver successful implementations. * Ensure our partner team provide comprehensive training and certification programs for partners. * Ensure Partner Team offer ongoing support and resources for partners. * Ensure Partner Team establish quality standards and conduct regular partner performance assessments. * Create a clear communication and escalation process for partner-related issues. * Being More Proactive Than Reactive: Focusing on proactive customer success work rather than constantly firefighting issues. * Implement regular customer health checks and early warning systems. * Collaborate closely with product teams to prevent issues before they occur. * Adhere to established escalation procedures and ensure accountability for issue resolution.Let Escalation management take the lead and next step action on customer escalations. * Develop playbooks and resources (KB artilcles) to proactively address common customer challenges. Adapt Product Support KCS to Customer Success * Prioritize continuous improvement based on root cause analysis. Work with support teams and engineering to ensure this is an embedded best practice. * Collaborate with cross-functional teams to address customer issues and drive product improvements.

1. Know where you are - Data Analysis - Assess the current performance of your team. Review your active customer list - How many accounts per CSM, Total Portfolio ARR per CSM, active customers, customer health. Look at churn / retention and expansion rates. Looks at CSat or NPS 2. Customer Segmentation - Look into customer segmentation based on the value customers bring to your business. Often customers are segmented in High, Mid and Low Touch. High-value customers may require more focussed CSM attention, while lower-value customers may be served well a more automated or self-service approach. 3. Customer Life Cycle Mapping - map out the entire customer journey for Sales Hand Over, Customer Orientation, Customer Onboarding, Implementation, Go-Live and Renewal. Are you assigning CSMs to the key Moments That Matter at the Right time 4. Utilization - examine if your CSMs are spending too much time on tasks that are really out of scope or low value for Customer Success. Are CSMs being pulled into too many escalations or being asked to perform Customer Service type reactive tasks. 5. Cost Analysis - evaluate the cost of maintaining your current Customer Success Team. Consider salaries, benefits, software, and other associated expenses for their location. Keep High Touch CSMs close to customers however look to put pooled Many to Many CSMs in a cost effective location. 6. Digital Touch Automation - assess what tasks can be automated with tools and technology. Can you become more efficient by automating administrative tasks? 7. RA(S)CI - Map out a RACI Swimlane Responsibility Matrix that could include Sales, Solutions Engineering, Marketing, Sales Development Reps and Renewals Team. Look to minimize duplication of effort on tasks. Ensure clear ownership of tasks (Accountability). 8. OKRs, KPIs and Metrics - ensure you have clear Objectives - Key Results, Key performance indicators and Metrics in place. You can’t manage what you don’t measure. 9. Training and Skills Development: Invest in training and skills development for your existing team members. This will lead to improvements in their efficiency and effectiveness and productivity. Ensure IDPs are in place for your team. This will help with staff retention.

Setting realistic goals for customer success teams and regularly reviewing and adjusting these goals is essential to ensure alignment with company objectives and adapt to changing market conditions. Here's how we approach goal setting and the frequency of review and adjustment: Goal Alignment: Our customer success goals are derived directly from the overarching company goals and objectives. We ensure that the objectives of the Customer Success team are closely aligned with the higher-level OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) of our Chief Customer Success Officer. This alignment helps maintain a clear focus on the company's strategic priorities. Super S.M.A.R.T. Goals and Objectives: We adhere to the S.M.A.R.T. criteria when setting goals: Specific: Goals are well-defined and clear, leaving no room for ambiguity. Strategic: They are in direct alignment with our long-term strategic direction. Measurable: We establish concrete metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress and measure success. Motivating: Goals are designed to inspire and motivate the team to achieve them. Achievable (yet ambitious): We set goals that challenge the team but are still attainable. Agreed to: Goals are discussed and agreed upon collaboratively to ensure buy-in from team members. Realistic: We ensure that goals are grounded in reality and can be achieved with the available resources and within the given timeframe. Relevant: Goals are directly relevant to the Customer Success team's role and responsibilities. Resourced: We allocate the necessary resources, both human and technological, to support goal attainment. Results-based: Goals are focused on achieving specific outcomes. Trackable: We establish clear tracking mechanisms to monitor progress. Timely: Goals are time-bound with set deadlines for achievement. Tested: We validate the feasibility and appropriateness of the goals. Regular Review and Adjustment: Recognizing the volatility of the market, we understand the importance of flexibility and adaptability. As a result, we undertake at a minimum a quarterly review of our OKRs. This allows us to assess our progress, identify any shifts in market conditions, and adjust our goals as needed. By conducting these regular reviews, we ensure that our goals remain relevant and achievable in the ever-changing landscape.

Handling team challenges and conflicts in a customer success department is a critical aspect of maintaining a high-performing and harmonious team. It's important to foster an environment where healthy conflict can be harnessed for growth and innovation, while also adhering to company values, objectives, and mutual respect. Here's are some steps to consider as an approach to addressing conflicts within your team: Promote a Culture of Healthy Conflict: Encourage open and constructive dialogue within the team. Make it clear that disagreements and different perspectives are welcome, as they can lead to better solutions. Emphasize that healthy conflict can be a catalyst for innovation and improvement. Set Clear Expectations and Values: Ensure that the team understands the company's values and objectives. These should serve as a compass for resolving conflicts. When conflicts arise, remind team members to align their actions and decisions with these values. Focus on the Problem, Not the Person: Emphasize that conflicts should be directed toward the issue or problem at hand, not personal attacks. Encourage team members to discuss observable behaviors and specific concerns rather than making it about individuals. Active Listening: Train your team to actively listen to each other. This means giving everyone a chance to express their views and ensuring that their perspectives are genuinely heard and understood. Mediate and Facilitate: As a leader, be prepared to mediate conflicts when necessary. Ensure that discussions remain constructive and respectful. You can facilitate the conversation by asking open-ended questions and guiding the team toward a resolution. Brainstorm Solutions: Encourage the team to brainstorm potential solutions to the conflict. This collaborative approach can lead to innovative ideas and compromises that benefit everyone. Agree on Next Action Steps: Once a resolution is reached, have the team agree on specific action steps to address the conflict. Ensure that these steps align with the company's objectives and values. As the Leader you may need to make a Consultative Decision where there will be some Disagree and Commit required from team members. Follow Up and Accountability: Monitor progress on the agreed-upon action steps and hold team members accountable for their commitments. This demonstrates that conflict resolution is taken seriously and that outcomes matter. Document and Learn: Keep records of conflicts and their resolutions. This can help identify recurring issues and patterns, allowing the team to learn and grow from past experiences. Maintain Mutual Respect: Remind the team that even in the midst of conflicts, mutual respect should always be preserved. Treat one another with professionalism and courtesy. Continuous Improvement: Encourage the team to use conflicts as opportunities for continuous improvement. What can be learned from the conflict, and how can it lead to better processes or relationships in the future? Feedback Loop: Establish a feedback loop to discuss the team's conflict resolution efforts and make adjustments as needed. This ensures that the team is continuously evolving and improving in handling conflicts. In summary, conflicts within a customer success department should be viewed as opportunities for growth and improvement when managed effectively. Encourage your team to embrace healthy conflict as a means of fostering creativity and better solutions, all while adhering to company values, mutual respect, and a focus on shared objectives.