Customer Success

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

• 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