Clarify responsibilities to reduce role confusion
Everybody’s trying to help the customer succeed.
From AE to Implementation Consultant,
Project Manager to CSM,
Support reps to Renewal Specialists—
These roles blend into each other because they all share this same goal, and work directly with the customer.
If you’re just starting up, your CSMs might be in charge of nearly everything. As you grow, you stand to benefit greatly from specialization.
Divide and clearly define the responsibilities as you add roles, or this benefit will be lost to confusion and redundancy.
There are many ways to structure Customer Experience teams. and lots of very specific kind of roles. To simplify, think about three broad categories in Client Success: Implementation, Sales, and Operations:
Implementation. This is your technical expertise. These roles are well connected with Product and very familiar with the ins and outs of each feature—what they were designed for, why they were designed that way, and all the workarounds and customizations. They are typically the consultants (and sometimes project managers) for customer onboarding, and they often serve as Subject Matter Experts for customers and CSMs alike.
Sales. Your primary customer relationship manager—usually CSM—is a sales role. Yes, whether CSMs “own” the renewal or not, you need to look at them as sellers. Teach them sales skills. Remove the burden of unnecessary technical tasks and knowledge, and enable them to prioritize their customer’s goals, relationship, and trust. And make a portion of their comp reflective of their retention!
Operations. For new businesses, these roles may seem like a luxury, but I recommend hiring a stellar operations expert to lead out on structure and systems as soon as possible.
Bucket each responsibility into one of these, and further specialize from there.
This is Step 2 in 10 Steps to a High Performing Client Success Team