3Cs of Customer Success

By the end of this Article you learn about Customer Success from Client, Company and CSM Point of View. As per my understanding a Customer Success Manager ( CSM ) should be clear of these basic things before starting to jump into CSM or as a working CSM as well.

Note -: Please assume your self as CSM while reading this Article to understand and relate in a better way

Customer Success for Clients: The First “C”

Your customer always looks for the value while using your company’s product for their subscribed need. They will focus more on results rather than verbal points committed from our end. So Always ready with numbers and record them over email.

Summarising the Points below -

1. Return on Investment ( ROI) : Based on your product, You should help your customers with some numbers so that they can understand if they are getting the ROI or not.

2. Value Addition : We need to show them how our product is adding value to them. Perform QBR, MBR and various activities with the client for the same. This is must and as a CSM you can not take it for-granted it can cost you with Churn as well going further.

3. Brand Building : You need to find some ways to prove that using your product can be a brand building opportunity for their company. You should take testimonial from the customer and post on your various social media houses of you company and can also figure our some other ways to do the same.

4. Scalability : Your customer at all the time should be confident of your tech capability as they scale. If there is doubt in their mind they might look for some other vendors out there in the market for scalability.

5. Customer Support : Your client should easily get in touch with your support team for their issues and queries. First Response time should be as minimum as possible.

Above are some of the points which as Customer/Client I will look into a product.

Customer Success for Company:- The Second “C”

You company wants you to be pro-active and look for the opportunity to win the client’s confidence in your company’s product for a long term commitment.

In short company wants to have at least 3-5 times of value of LTV ( Life Time Value ) as per their CAC ( Customer Acquisition Cost) from each customer in bad case scenario.

Growth :- You should bring growth to the company by retaining most of your customers along with Upsell and cross-sell offerings your company is providing.

However few companies focus more on the growth (Revenue) side from their CSMs and some have less focus. It varies but it is always a good practice to be ready for this as this is one of the factor your financial and organisational growth lies in the company.

Customer Success for CSM :- The Third “C”

As a CSM you need to align yourself with Company’s Goal and Client’s Expectation at the same time.

1. OKRs:- You will be responsible for the retention, contract renewal, upsell, QBR, MBR, Cross- sell and other KRAs as per your firm’s internal policys are.

Retention is a key for success and failure of any business in SaaS Industry and affects Company’s Financial status in a great way.

2. Ownership:- It is always advised to head some new initiatives at your firm and add value to current process. You should ready to take the responsibility given to you or you can ask for few things from your end.

3. Team Player :- You should be team player for your team and firm. You should open to help your teammate where you can help and should take help where you required.

Most individual are very good at performance but in the same team if your other teammates are below average and as per your understanding if you can help then you should not wait for anyone else such as your Manager or Head of CS or anyone to step up, you should guide and help your team mate.

Above are few of the important points which can help you become a good CSM in your company if you follow. In case you need help in a detailed manner — Feel free to get in touch with me on LinkedIn, probably we can connect over a quick online session for the same.

Thank you so much for your time. I would love your thoughts in comment section.