Quick Summary: The top CSMs don’t rely on personality—they practice high-impact habits that drive measurable outcomes. From ruthless prioritization and repeatable systems to respectful pushback and time ownership, these habits help CSMs scale their impact and stand out as strategic leaders.
It’s not personality that makes a top-performing CSM, says Ryan Johansen. Nor is it EQ, customer-centricity, or luck. Instead, it’s the daily practice of super-effective habits. What are the top CSM habits that separate the best from the rest—and how can you practice them?
In our latest ChurnZero webinar, productivity expert Ryan shared the five habits he’s consistently observed in the most effective CSMs—habits that drive the biggest outcomes, earn seats at leadership tables, and provide the balance you need to succeed consistently.
The most exciting thing? Anyone can apply them with some dedication and practice.
You can watch Ryan’s webinar in full here, or keep scrolling to our breakdown of the top CSM habits.
1. Focus on outcomes first, then relationships.
“People buy software for specific outcomes,” Ryan says. “Your tool or platform is very much a means to the end for that customer.”
Hence, the top one percent of CSMs aren’t relationship managers, he says. Rather, they tie their work to business results and outcomes their customers care about.
Rather than just making customers happy, dig into how your product contributes to tangible value. Sending a renewal contract to a customer’s procurement team? Take what they achieved with the product that year, translate it into dollars and cents, and include those details.
In SaaS, measurable impact beats being nice every single time. “Imagine having a personal trainer who you really like,” says Ryan. “However, you’ve gained 30 pounds since working with them. You might not hire that personal trainer again.”
Related: What is outcomes-based customer success?
2. Prioritize your work ruthlessly.
Yes, everything feels urgent in customer success. However, not all work is created equal, and the top CSMs know it.
Simple but effective tools like the Eisenhower Matrix will help you distinguish the urgent from the important, and allocate your time based on value. In a twist on the matrix, Ryan also recommends a four-box exercise to sort customers based on profitability and loyalty, and determine what indicates a strong customer versus a customer who’s unlikely to thrive.
Ultimately, it’s about reserving time and energy for what matters most.
“You have to be okay with little things potentially breaking,” Ryan says. “Think of yourself as a chef. You want to make sure you’re cooking the steak perfectly. If that means burning one piece of asparagus, you’ll be able to live with it.”
Related: How to go from overwhelmed to over quota as a CSM.
3. Look for repeatability and design your own systems.
“You don’t ever—in life or in business—want to solve the same problem repeatedly,” says Ryan. “If you can do something once, and just keep applying that answer, it’s infinitely less of a headache for you.”
The top-performing CSMs build systems to scale their work, reduce chaos, and save time, he says, using tools like AI-generated follow-up email drafts to maximum effect.
“Those follow-up emails used to take me anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour to write,” he says. “If I had five calls a day, we’re talking about two hours. With this process, I’m able to do them in five to ten minutes.”
If you have reservations about cutting corners, consider that consistency is just as important in building trust as heroic, one-off efforts—if not more so.
“If you deliver this knockout awesome first report for a customer, but after that you’re just not helpful or you’re not consistent… that erodes trust,” Ryan says.
4. Learn how to push back respectfully.
“Avoiding hard conversations might feel like temporary comfort, but down the line it can lead to very difficult things,” Ryan says.
That’s why learning how to set boundaries, then push back without damaging a relationship, is a top CSM habit.
If you’re unsure how to do that, try this structured framework: first, validate the customer’s concern. Next, explain your rationale, then offer an alternative that keeps things on track to deliver the outcome or value promised. Instead of thinking of it as conflict, says Ryan, think of yourself as the guide.
“They’re the expert in their business,” he says, “but you should be the expert on getting to the outcomes they are looking for. When you’re good at pushing back in this way, you can build more trust and respect.”
Related: How to handle conflict and tough talks in customer success.
5. Guard your time like your CEO guards theirs.
Which moments of your day yield the highest leverage? If you’re unsure, Ryan recommends Peter Drucker’s concept of a time audit, in which you track your time to identify the 90 minutes a day that create the most value.
Then, block off that time to focus on strategic work without distraction, and don’t let it get hijacked.
“You’re only as effective as the things you do,” says Ryan. “Do a little less email and Slack, and create 30-minute windows to actually do work. It makes a huge difference.”
“It’s not just your results that will get better.”
Building these top CSM habits will affect more than your day-to-day results, Ryan points out.
“It’s not just your results that get better,” he says. “You’ll have more control of your time. Maybe you’ll get more opportunities; if you’re looking to get promoted and you become the person who really stands out as doing great work, you tend to get noticed a little more. Maybe your confidence grows because you’re able to execute on high-value tasks.”
“In a way,” he says, “you can almost get addicted to achievement.”
