THE CUSTOMER SUCCESS LEADER’S JOURNEY

In the Fall of 2020, Method Garage began an ongoing, independent project to map the customer success leader’s journey. We followed the same process we use when mapping customer journeys for our clients. We interviewed 25 customer success leaders (and counting). Sure enough, a set of common stories, themes and challenges emerged. We call these “moments that matter,” and we are sharing them in the journey map below.

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Created with Sketch. Finding yourself in customer success Trying out CS as a profession Often by accident, leaders stumble into a CSM role or a position that later evolves into customer success. Doing the roadshow With their eye on the prize (buy-in), leaders hit the road to socialize and incorporate feedback from their peers. Leaders find themselves educating and changing the perception of CS. Establishing success planning The idea of success planning is straightforward but executing on it consistently is another story. Leaders work through obstacle after obstacle to truly operationalize the vision. Driving efficiency through tech, partners and staffing models With a CS playbook in place, leaders can turn their attention to optimizing those plays, tweaking delivery models and leveraging technology and data more effectively. Delivering a great low-touch experience at scale Almost all CS leaders are eventually challenged to scale customer success beyond the white-glove model. "At scale" is the easy part compared to "great CX." Taking the job and assessing company commitment Through 1on1s with peers and senior staff, CS leaders develop a gut feel for how much (or little) culture change is required to be successful. Digging into the data Remarkably, CS leaders are often the first to ask and uncover basic metrics like retention, adoption, lifetime value, etc. Data helps leaders figure out where to focus first. Segmenting and prioritizing customers Segmenting is an must and provides a mechanism to align priorities with other senior leaders. Most focus on the top segments first with a high touch strategy then work their way down. Making the resource pitch Making the resource pitch is often when leaders realize there is a mismatch between desired results and willingness to invest. Establishing the CS charter, vision and plan With an understanding of business metrics and a prioritized segment, leaders build their master plan Aligning on CS measures and customer health Working through the correct metrics that properly measure customer value and health is often a source of great debate. Getting wins and repeating with new segments Most CS leaders can point to wins that they were able to "hang their hat on." When this happens, the grand prize is often... more work! Rinse and repeat with another segment. Outside-in journey mapping & Voice of Customer Strategic customer experience transformation is the next frontier. CS leaders find themselves becoming the messenger and the catalyst for major CX improvements. Channel enabled customer success Scaling or adapting your customer success strategy for partners is uncharted territory but essential to cover all customers. Digital is not the only way to scale. Sought after for expertise by peers and vendors Speaking engagements, networking events and job opportunities become plentiful Taking on the next big thing Curiosity and a growth mindset motivate transformational CS leaders to stretch into new companies, jobs or leadership opportunities. Meaningful challenges are almost irresistable. Achieving confidence in leadership playbook After a few loops through the journey, CS leaders have a recipe for success. They can see around corners before others and their jouney through new challenges is no longer serial. Implementing bespoke, cross-functional plays CS leaders recognize the need to break down silos and move beyond the cookie-cutter best practices everyone else is doing. Considering a CS leadership position It's often the promise of building a CS function from the ground up that attracts both established CS leaders and aspiring CS leaders. Getting a taste of helping customers Whether from Support, Marketing, Product Management, Engineering, Sales or Consulting all CS leaders remember early customer interactions that set the CS wheels in motion. This is a bunch of pop up text. I hope this shows up nicely... Focusing on fundamentals Gaining buy-in Operationalizing Customer Success Reframing around customer experience Leading transformationally Evaluating the current state for customers, peers and staff In their first 30 days on the job, leaders typically meet with all key stakeholders, including customers, to wrap their heads around the current state. Addressing team mindsets and skillsets Rarely do leaders have an opportunity to build/hire their team from scratch. Development of skills and mindsets are always required. This is when some employees decide to move on. Earning credibility with customers, peers and staff By focusing on the fundamentals and getting early wins, leaders begin to earn credibility with their team, their peers and with customers which allows CSMs to start upleveling the conversation. Introducing basic tracking of CSM activity To drive consistency and scale, you have to measure CSM activity and to measure activity, there has to be buy-in around logging of activity. Addressing burning customer pain Almost like a game of whack-a-mole, leaders are pulled in all directions to address anything and everything on behalf of frustrated customers. [When interviewing] CEO said building a CS function was an imperative. Show the path - Lay the first brick. This was an awesome challenge for me. People don’t talk about success unless tech support is working. You have to fix this first. We didn’t know what our CSMs were doing. We knew they were having conversations, but no idea how often or what the conversations were about. Honestly, I can't wait till Monday. I've finally found my calling. In my first 30 days, I wanted to get some small wins with the team. So I put structure around career pathing and laddering which was completely missing. One of our cloud products was inexpensive and bundled in. People didn’t even know they had it. So they churned it. We ignored metrics for a while because we couldn't agree on a good customer value measure. But now we are back. “ “ Relying on amazing CSMs isn't a way to scale. Success engagement process needs to be built for the masses (and partners/ resellers) to follow. “ “ I recruited marketers to help drive the email and nurture strategy for our low-touch segment. “ “ “ “ “ “ Moving the articuation of "value received" into the product combats sponsor turnover. In my first 90 days, I explained what we are going to run into 1yr out over and over to my team. That is why we are making these changes today. Because we demonstrated value in customer success, there's a huge spotlight on me and my team. Now my role is evolving into the Chief Digital Officer for Services. “ “ We have the “touchpoint map” but it doesn’t work. I tell my colleagues not to look at that. We don't have a journey map, yet. Documenting everything from segmentation approach to plays and storing centrally keeps everyone on the same page and protects in case of employee churn. “ “ Churn is a company problem, not a CS problem. I get it, we own it, but we need to tell the BUSINESS why we’re losing customers. I need to bring them quantifiable data to show them and get them to act. Changing the perception of CS with our customers and within my company requires a CONSTANT CAMPAIGN. A CONSTANT ROADSHOW! My execs get it, but we’re 1300 people… “ “ Implementing the standard plays Leaders quickly look to operationalize the standard plays often documented by 3rd parties like Gainsight and TSIA. They also learn from what their best CSMs are doing to scale to the rest of the team. The Loop back I wasn't completely sure about CS, so I kept my PM responsibilities for a year. 1/2 CS, 1/2 PM. I liked CS so much, I decided to do CS full time. “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “

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