March 8, 2024

S2E02: A Day in the Life of a Customer Success Manager

What does a CSM do each day? The guests debate.

How many of you have been asked, perhaps while trying to explain your career choice to a family member over a beautifully cooked holiday dinner, what it is exactly that you do all day? (If your hand's not up, you are an abject liar and you know it)

Product people think of problems to solve and stuff to build.  Engineers then build that stuff.  Salespeople SELL that stuff.  And accountants count the MONEY from that stuff!

 

But, as Rachel Provan says so eloquently in this episode, “What the hell do we [in CS] do all day?”

In this episode, we try to answer that.

Classic CCO behavior: Kristi breaks it down academically.

With some aphorisms tossed in, Dan Ennis begins to describe what it might take to get there.

Anita Toth, meanwhile, explains CS’ unique position in the feedback loop.

Rachel points out what we shouldn’t be doing.

Mohammed Alqaq gives the playbook for challenging your customer along the way.

Greg Daines builds the bridge to expansion.

Stijn Smet shares how this all gets turned on its ear depending on your company’s size and maturity.

 

It can be a tough question to answer. Maybe this episode makes it just a little bit easier.

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This season of Lifetime Value is sponsored by The Segment, a new kind of Customer Success newsletter bringing you the latest news, analysis, and references only true Lifers will know.  Subscribe today by clicking lifetimevalue.link/subscribe or send us an email at subscribe@lifetimevaluemedia.com.

Season 2 Guests: Kristi Faltorusso, Greg Daines, Dan Ennis, Alex Turkovic, Jeff Kushmerek, David Epperly, Mohammed Alqaq, Rachel Provan, & Stijn Smet