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A CSM’s perspective on how to help CSMs succeed in 2024 and beyond
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In early 2024, ChurnZero and SuccessCOACHING launched a confidential survey asking customer success managers (CSMs) to give in-depth insights on their roles and how they feel supported on a daily basis. This report was geared to help CS leaders understand what their teams are struggling with, and how to help CSMs succeed.
You can view the 2024 CSM Confidential Report and its findings here.
I wanted to give my perspective on this report. I have been in customer success since 2018 and have seen the profession mature and evolve in a relatively short amount of time. What was once a more reactive and transactional profession has grown to be more revenue-driven and strategic.
At least, that’s how it should be.
Out of the nearly 300 CSMs that took the survey, only 33% say they enjoy being busy and working under pressure, while 31% feel their company has invested in their career path. I believe these two stats go hand-in-hand. The CSM role is evolving and if we want to ensure CSMs are prepared for these new responsibilities and to help our customers thrive, we need to ensure they are well-equipped to thrive in their roles.
From my perspective, as a front-line CSM, I suggest three significant ways that CS leaders can prepare and equip their CSMs with the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in 2024 and beyond.
1: Equip your CSMs to sell.
Let me first come clean and say that my first job out of college was a sales role. I didn’t have a very good experience. If the experience would’ve been better, maybe I would have stayed longer and had a thriving sales career. But that just wasn’t the case for me.
Because of that experience, I found customer success and never looked back.
I feel I’m not the only one who left the sales profession for customer success to escape the hustle and grind of sales. Not that there is anything wrong with hustling and grinding, but many CSMs enjoy the leisure of not having monthly quotas and the constant expectation to prospect.
However, CS is becoming a more revenue-driven profession, with retention, upselling, and renewals being key factors in retaining and growing revenue. Most CS departments currently own at least one of these metrics. Currently, 93.7% of companies that measure the impact of Customer Success are using a revenue target (GRR, NRR, or both).
What does this mean for CSMs? It means we need to have a more sales-driven mindset when dealing with our day-to-day responsibilities.
Investing in your CSM’s career growth by helping them build their sales acumen will be vital, and will have a huge payoff going into 2025. With layoffs still happening throughout the tech space and showing little signs of slowing down, the faster your CS team can own a revenue number (and grow that revenue number) the more likely they will be to avoid layoffs.
You can invest in your CSMs’ sales training in two ways:
- Internal sources
- External sources
Internal sources are you and/or your organization’s sales leaders. External sources are coaches or consulting firms like Growth Molecules, SuccessCOACHING, The Success League and others, who will take your CS team through multiple sessions of training. All of this is geared towards helping them be more strategic in their customer relationship building and guiding their customers to growth.
2: Create a sustainable environment.
Creating a sustainable work environment for CSMs is a win-win scenario since it will make your job as a CS leader much easier. It all starts with setting clear expectations. Doing this will help CSMs understand their roles better and prioritize their tasks effectively. Clear communication around their job responsibilities and performance metrics reduces confusion and helps set realistic goals that align with your company’s overall vision.
Like I said, it’s a win-win scenario! The CSMs know what they need to do to be successful, which in turn will make your customers successful. When that happens, your company thrives.
Creating a more manageable workload is also a great way to create a more sustainable environment for CSMs. This can be done by leveraging automation processes and tools to handle routine tasks and customer inquiries. Automation tools can take over repetitive activities, allowing CSMs to focus on more strategic and value-driven tasks. Implementing these solutions can make their day-to-day work more manageable and improve their job satisfaction.
Sure, it may take some trial and error with different tools and processes, but the payoff will be worth it.
When I was a CSM at Electric, we used tools like ChurnZero to proactively manage our books of business, Asana to streamline our client projects and collaborate with internal teams throughout the lifecycle of those projects, and TheySaid to keep all of our internal and external conversations organized in one place.
It made life easier for the CSMs and ultimately helped us deliver a better customer experience.
3: Invest, invest, invest.
In the CSM Confidential Survey, only 31% of respondents said they felt their companies are invested in their career paths.
But investing in your CSMs’ career is how you keep your A-players and train your B and C-players to perform at a higher level, and there are many ways to do it. In my six years as a CSM, my employers have invested in my growth through:
Event attendance: This can be limited based on budget and accessibility, but consider sending some of your individual contributors to events alongside your leaders. These events can help your CSMs see a new side of the industry and meet current and potential customers.
Project leadership: The opportunity to lead in team projects is a great way to delegate and allow your CSMs to expand their leadership and project management expertise. Even if they’re not looking to advance into a leadership role, it’s an opportunity to gain a fresh perspective on certain projects.
In-person customer meetings: Not everyone enjoys travel, but asking CSMs to travel every now and then to visit clients presents a great opportunity for growth. Getting out of the office (whether it’s onsite or remote) and having face-to-face interaction with clients shouldn’t be reserved for just leadership. Send your CSMs out, regardless of experience level, as often as time and budget permit.
A Gallup study found that companies with highly engaged workforces outperform their peers by 147% in earnings per share. Investing in your employees, similar to creating a sustainable work environment, is a win-win scenario!
Trust, adapt, and thrive.
As a leader, one of the best investments you can make is in your own team. Trust in your CSM’s abilities while also giving them opportunities to grow and step out of their comfort zone. We’re all learning how to adapt to this new economy and era of AI. Make sure your CSMs are adapting at a pace that will help your customers thrive and your organization succeed.
Jared Orr is a Senior CSM at vCom Solutions. He became a CSM in 2018 and has worked in social media management, B2B SaaS, and managed services. He lives in Arizona with his wife and daughter and loves lifting weights, reading history books, and working on his copywriting business when he’s not helping his clients succeed.
Want to know more about the CSM Confidential Report and how to help CSMs succeed as their leader? Join us on July 17 as we dig into the findings, and share actionable advice on the most effective ways to steer your CSMs to success.