Timothy Ferris says that “What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do”. This statement is imperative when viewed from a customer success perspective, especially, in the B2B SaaS industry.
Losing customers isn’t an event that a company can afford to witness again and again, and that too unpredictably. Hence, that is exactly (avoiding the loss of customers) what the firm should focus upon.
How do companies do that? Why is “customer success” or even a “customer success manager” required for a company? Let’s try to understand the concept of customer success first.
According to The Customer Success Association, customer success (CS) is, “a long-term, scientifically engineered, and professionally directed business strategy for maximizing customer and company sustainable proven profitability”.
In simple words, customer success is the process by which you ensure that your customers are successful while using your product/service. This way you’ll be able to retain them, and thus avoid their churn.
Customer Success Manager (CSM) is a customer-facing role whose goal is to ensure value delivery to their customers.
The CSM is on his/her toes constantly to provide an extraordinary customer experience. It’s his/her primary responsibility of improving client retention. Identifying and improving expansion revenue through upsells and cross-sells to grow customer portfolio is another one.
Now, let’s understand who is a customer success manager. A CSM is someone responsible for ensuring that customers achieve their “desired outcomes” while using your product/service.
In a subscription economy, companies usually face the issue of losing customers unexpectedly. More often than not, it is because the existing teams/managers are not able to focus on the customers’ goals and objectives. This is where a customer success manager comes into the picture.
Pro tip: Know more about the importance of a customer success manager.
The customer success manager role started on a simple promise of transforming customer engagement from a traditional ‘reactive’ to a ‘proactive’ mindset. The Customer Success Manager (CSM) is, ideally, a bridge that closes the gap between sales and support. The following are the roles/responsibilities which a CSM carries out and proudly form one of the main pillars of ‘growth’ within a SaaS organization.
Know more about the responsibilities of customer success managers and how many would you need for your organization here!
Now that you have understood why SaaS companies require a customer success manager, it’s vital to understand the characteristics which create the difference between a good and a great CSM.
Success managers play different roles at different places. Nevertheless, there are some key traits that they need to master!
A few examples of different fields that a CSM can grow in the future are as follows:
The average base salary of a customer success manager, in the US, is around $69,685/year. The pay scale may vary depending on the location, company, experience, and skills of a particular individual.
Tip: You can compare the customer success manager salary details based on location, experience, etc., and determine what skills you need to possess to be a successful CSM.
Customer Success is where the battle for growth is being fought for every SaaS company and Customer Success Manager or CSM is the foundation for any successful customer success team.
You can check out this write-up if you’re confused as to where you should be looking to find CSM.
Different roles succeed as customer success managers. You should actively lookout for these and check out if people from these backgrounds fit your requirements of a CSM.
Bonus tip: If you’re planning to hire a new CSM for your company, then check out the ten interview questions to hire the best customer success manager.
The life of a Customer Success Manager is loaded with responsibilities. Customer renewal, onboarding, expansions and upselling, advocacy, building relationships, and nurturing champions are some of the items competing for bandwidth. To have better control of your planning, you need to bifurcate your tasks into scheduled and unscheduled work. Start your day by looking at all the unscheduled items and start scheduling them.
To know more : How to organize and plan your day as a Customer Success manager
In a nutshell, customer success managers are responsible for customer retention and reducing customer churn. They do whatever they can to ensure that a company’s customers achieve their desired outcomes and are happy using your product/services. SaaS companies need to be customer-focused (instead of sales as is the case generally in other industries and firms) because the majority of the revenue comes from renewals and upgrades. Thus customer success managers and teams have a vital role to play in their respective profiles. The Customer Success Managers need to use CSM software to be effective as it helps them to grow a multi-million dollar portfolio with hundreds of accounts efficiently.
Timothy Ferris says that “What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do”. This statement is imperative when viewed from a customer success perspective, especially, in the B2B SaaS industry.
Losing customers isn’t an event that a company can afford to witness again and again, and that too unpredictably. Hence, that is exactly (avoiding the loss of customers) what the firm should focus upon.
How do companies do that? Why is “customer success” or even a “customer success manager” required for a company? Let’s try to understand the concept of customer success first.
According to The Customer Success Association, customer success (CS) is, “a long-term, scientifically engineered, and professionally directed business strategy for maximizing customer and company sustainable proven profitability”.
In simple words, customer success is the process by which you ensure that your customers are successful while using your product/service. This way you’ll be able to retain them, and thus avoid their churn.
Customer Success Manager (CSM) is a customer-facing role whose goal is to ensure value delivery to their customers.
The CSM is on his/her toes constantly to provide an extraordinary customer experience. It’s his/her primary responsibility of improving client retention. Identifying and improving expansion revenue through upsells and cross-sells to grow customer portfolio is another one.
Now, let’s understand who is a customer success manager. A CSM is someone responsible for ensuring that customers achieve their “desired outcomes” while using your product/service.
In a subscription economy, companies usually face the issue of losing customers unexpectedly. More often than not, it is because the existing teams/managers are not able to focus on the customers’ goals and objectives. This is where a customer success manager comes into the picture.
Pro tip: Know more about the importance of a customer success manager.
The customer success manager role started on a simple promise of transforming customer engagement from a traditional ‘reactive’ to a ‘proactive’ mindset. The Customer Success Manager (CSM) is, ideally, a bridge that closes the gap between sales and support. The following are the roles/responsibilities which a CSM carries out and proudly form one of the main pillars of ‘growth’ within a SaaS organization.
Know more about the responsibilities of customer success managers and how many would you need for your organization here!
Now that you have understood why SaaS companies require a customer success manager, it’s vital to understand the characteristics which create the difference between a good and a great CSM.
Success managers play different roles at different places. Nevertheless, there are some key traits that they need to master!
A few examples of different fields that a CSM can grow in the future are as follows:
The average base salary of a customer success manager, in the US, is around $69,685/year. The pay scale may vary depending on the location, company, experience, and skills of a particular individual.
Tip: You can compare the customer success manager salary details based on location, experience, etc., and determine what skills you need to possess to be a successful CSM.
Customer Success is where the battle for growth is being fought for every SaaS company and Customer Success Manager or CSM is the foundation for any successful customer success team.
You can check out this write-up if you’re confused as to where you should be looking to find CSM.
Different roles succeed as customer success managers. You should actively lookout for these and check out if people from these backgrounds fit your requirements of a CSM.
Bonus tip: If you’re planning to hire a new CSM for your company, then check out the ten interview questions to hire the best customer success manager.
The life of a Customer Success Manager is loaded with responsibilities. Customer renewal, onboarding, expansions and upselling, advocacy, building relationships, and nurturing champions are some of the items competing for bandwidth. To have better control of your planning, you need to bifurcate your tasks into scheduled and unscheduled work. Start your day by looking at all the unscheduled items and start scheduling them.
To know more : How to organize and plan your day as a Customer Success manager
In a nutshell, customer success managers are responsible for customer retention and reducing customer churn. They do whatever they can to ensure that a company’s customers achieve their desired outcomes and are happy using your product/services. SaaS companies need to be customer-focused (instead of sales as is the case generally in other industries and firms) because the majority of the revenue comes from renewals and upgrades. Thus customer success managers and teams have a vital role to play in their respective profiles. The Customer Success Managers need to use CSM software to be effective as it helps them to grow a multi-million dollar portfolio with hundreds of accounts efficiently.