“I’ve got so much free time on my hands and don’t know how to spend it”

Do you know a single CSM who has ever said that? Me neither.

The reality for many customer success managers is the exact opposite.

They are buried in a million tasks struggling to get everything done.

If you are one of them, here’s how to get out of this hamster wheel:

1. Start saying no

Let me start this with a bold claim: There are fewer CSMs that have NOT experienced the feeling of working in the do-everything department.

They are running product demos, handling support tickets, etc. on top of “traditional” customer success activities.

The lack of focus is hurting their performance. The constant overload is burning them out. It can only lead to disaster.

If you find yourself in that kind of situation you need to start saying no. I get it, it’s hard because as a CSMs it’s in your DNA to help.

But that’s definitely not how your talent and skills are used best.

How can you stand your ground and defend it? Don’t say that you are too busy and talk about the costs of opportunity instead.

Doing things that don’t belong in customer success comes at a price.

If you are working on support tickets you obviously can’t educate, train or consult customers to help them achieve their goals.

2. Optimize your resource distribution

In a perfect world, there would be only highly profitable customers that are easy to work with in your portfolio.

But the reality is often very far away. Far, far away to be more precise. Some customers are nothing are painful to work with.

They are true energy drainers that don’t follow advice, don’t show up for scheduled meetings with no excuse, etc.

At the same time, these are often the ones that keep complaining. And their spending doesn’t justify anything of it.

You should fire them in an instant but that’s not always possible.

Let’s hope their number is (close to) zero in your portfolio. But there will certainly be customers that are more profitable than others.

Some have more potential than their peers. Some are avid learners and others are lagging behind.

Should you treat them the same way? Should you put more effort into helping the “laggers” to help them catch up?

I don’t think so and here’s why: Investing into strengths always delivers a way higher ROI than working on your weaknesses. And the same is true when it comes to your customers.

3. Eliminate redundant activities

Most organizations still use internal statistics like NPS, health scores, or product usage to measure customer success.

It’s a pity because the customer cares about neither of them. They are just advanced guessing.

You need to measure customer success by the metrics your customers use. Because they are calling the shots.

They’ve bought your product because they want to

increase revenue
reduce costs
save time
improve productivity
build a better brand
etc.

and they will measure how your product and services contribute.

But it’s not the best idea to wait until the end whether your customers succeeded or failed. Because you don’t know what worked, what did not and why.

That means you need to measure the effectiveness of as many inputs as possible.

Don’t measure webinars, training sessions, tutorials, etc. by the number of participants or views.

The only thing that matters is whether it helped customers complete important tasks or solve complex problems. Everything that does not has to be either overhauled or dumped.

4. Understand your customers’ needs

Have you ever heard of the old saying “If you don’t know where you are going, there’s no right way”?

I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere as true as in customer success but it’s definitely a strong fit.

If you are guessing and assuming your customers' needs you’ll put yourself in a defensive position.

Where you are firefighting, band-aiding and quick fixing BY DESIGN every time your “bets” turned out to be wrong.

There’s no alternative to putting in the effort to get the insights you need to provide customers with the right mix of education, training, and consulting services.

Whether you are using a no-touch, low-touch, high-touch, or whatever-touch approach does not change a thing.

If you are pointing customers to a dead end, you may not be able to turn them around, especially during their onboarding.

There’s no badge of honor for being busy.

Now more than ever, you need to create results.

Eliminate everything that keeps you from getting there.

Customer-Value-Led-Growth

How to create more results as a CSM