The most generic and quick answer to this query would be – Right after when the customer signs up. Now, let’s consider a case where you are selling a complex product. A mission-critical application that involves technology with a lot of moving parts and hence requires a lot of integrations. This is where we recommend to introduce your Customer Success Manager. As, In such a situation, you’ll have to find a better way of delivering success to your customers.
We recommend you be introduced as a customer success manager, early in the sales cycle. In fact, much before, the customer signs up to your platform.
Check out –For the best way of handoff between Customer Success and Sales.
Benefits of Introducing Customer Success Manager, early in the sales cycle.
Introducing a CSM pretty much early in the Sales cycle will enable you as a customer success manager to validate the exact value that you want to deliver to your customer. Along with that, you’ll be able to make sure that you watch out for overcommitment by the sales team. And of course, this is exactly what is expected of a customer success manager to deliver.
Another important practice of delivering success is by wearing the right hat, by participating in the solution that is being proposed to your customer. So that once the deal is sealed, you’re not really taking the handoff from the sales manager, but rather, are going to be leading the customers to their onboarding journey.
This will help you to continue pretty much the natural journey where the sales sort of unplugs once the deal and the contract are signed. So you would be taking the customer to Onboard —-> Success—- >Live.
Conclusion
The perfect time for a CSM to be introduced to the customer has to be a lot sooner in the sales cycle, especially if your product is slightly complex or is providing a mission-critical application to your customers and requires a lot more hand-holding. Thus helping the customer to make sure that you understand the entire piece before they actually sign up for the deal.
Additional Resources:– Responsibilities of Customer Success Manager (CSM)? How many do you need?
Where to look for a Customer Success Manager
P.S. – The main image has been taken from pexels.com
