Customer Success
Geoff's exposure to both academic and enterprise settings over the past 10 years has taught him to think strategically, pragmatically, and empathetically, positioning him as someone able to imagine the possibilities, connect the dots, and direct multi-faceted efforts towards tangible objectives and strategic targets.
Customer Success Managers, what are they?
Job Description: Customer Success Manager
Given any business model, where customers pay over time, Customer Success is absolutely vital to long-term profitability. Companies will not be successful unless their customers are receiving value from their service. As such, they need a senior leader to own driving success for customers. This role includes responsibilities for Customer Success activities (e.g., on-boarding, support, services, adoption, advocacy, retention, etc.) and outcomes (e.g., renewals, up-sell, etc.).
Responsibilities:
- Drive Customer Success Outcomes
- Increase renewal rates and reduce churn
- Expand our revenue in accounts through cross-sell and up-sell
- Influence future lifetime value through higher product adoption, customer satisfaction and overall health scores
- Drive new business growth through greater advocacy and reference-ability
- Top Skillsets needed / Recommended reading:
- Sales - Carson V. Heady
- Financial Analysis - Corporate Finance Institute
- Business Acumen - Business Acumen Institute
- Mindset(s) needed / Recommended reading:
- Serendipity, aka "Connecting the dots" - Strategy Business
- Define and Optimize Customer Lifecycle
- Map customer journey
- Develop listening points in the journey (e.g., usage, satisfaction, etc.)
- Standardize interventions for each point in the journey
- Define segmentation of customer base and varying strategies
- Identify opportunities for continuous improvement
- Learn from best practices in the industry
- Top Skillsets needed / Recommended reading:
- Relationship management - Customer Success Collective
- Change Management - Prosci
- Mindset(s) needed / Recommended reading:
- Sense Making - Gartner
- Manage Customer Success Activities
- Onboarding
- Training
- Professional Services
- Customer Support
- Customer Success Management
- Renewals
- Cross-sell / Up-sell
- Advocacy
- Top Skillsets needed / Recommended reading:
- IT Service Management - Axelos
- Communication - Skill Success
- Negotiation - The Black Swan Group
- Measure Effectiveness of Customer Success
- Define operational metrics for team
- Establish a system for tracking metrics
- Create cadence for review within the team
- Expose subset of metrics to the executive team and company
- Mindset(s) needed / Recommended reading:
- Agile - Atlassian
- Lead World-class Customer Success Team
- Recruit experienced leaders for each functional role
- Attract high potential individual contributors into the team
- Create a rapid onboarding process for new team members
- Foster collaboration within the team and across the customer lifecycle
- Encourage continuous learning within the team
- Enhance Effectiveness and Efficiency Through Technology
- Support systems
- Customer marketing software
- Reference and advocacy solutions
- Customer Success Management platform
- Inspire Customer Success Across Company
- Create company-wide culture of Customer Success
- Align with Marketing around marketing to existing clients
- Align with Product around driving product roadmap
- Align with Sales around cross-sell and up-sell and focus on selling with a retention focus
- Align with Finance around measurement and forecasting
- Align with Executive Team around key metrics and objectives
- Drive company-wide definition of ideal customer
- Create company-wide customer feedback loop
- Top Skillsets needed / Recommended reading:
- Vision - Leading Today
- Delegation - Forbes
- Integrity - Project Management Institute
- Mindset(s) needed / Recommended reading:
- Growth, learning, and Deliberative - Harvard Business Review
Required Experience/Skills:
- 2-5+ years experience in leading customer-facing teams
- Ability to manage influence through persuasion, negotiation, and consensus-building
- Ideally combined background of post-sale and sales experience
- Strong empathy for customers AND passion for revenue and growth
- Deep understanding of value drivers in recurring revenue business models
- Analytical and process-oriented mindset
- Demonstrated desire for continuous learning and improvement
- Enthusiastic and creative leader with the ability to inspire others
- Excellent communication and presentation skills
- Relevant Bachelor’s degree; preference for computer science or related degrees
It all starts with knowing your product, then understanding how your solutions can be "embedded."