Customer Success Manager - your opinion

UnixGuy

So what does a Customer Success Manager working for a vendor actually do? It does seem like an account manager job but I'm trying to understand it better

TheFORCE

They are in a nutshell the single point of contact for whatever problem you have.  They get your emails, schedule the meetings with their internal engineers so its something along the area of project management but on a client scale.

UnixGuy

Does anyone have more insights into Customer Success Manager career paths? It seem to suit my personality...but where does this kind of job lead?

Any personal experiences?

Azt7

I had some interest into that kind of position. My only issue was that I didn't know where it led. It is usually a customer sales position (customer retention) so I can't see where it would bring technical people like us. It would be similar to a post-sales engineer position I would assume. 

Maybe down the line, you can go towards a Partner Sales Engineer (dealing with Value Added Resellers or direct customers) or some type of Solution Architect related position. 

Just my 2 cents !

JDMurray

Sounds like a good career opportunity for older workers who want to move from a technical team to a more people-oriented role.

UnixGuy

Good points about where does this role lead to. I did some research (and asked those in the position...). Well, this role is huge now with vendors, and it is here to stay. The title can mean slightly different things depending on the organisation, but you help customers with post sales/activation/escalation/up selling/features...you teach them about the product, you connect them with support teams and organise demos/trainings.

As to where it leads, you can just do the role forever...or be a lead to other CSMs, or you can do things within sales, partners/resellers etc. It's a great role if you land with the right vendor (i.e. if the product is good).

This is as far as I know.

 

Infosec_Sam

Hey there, @UnixGuy! It sounds like you've already got a pretty good handle of what a CSM is, but I figured I'd throw my two cents in. You're absolutely right, you certainly do have a lot of career paths that start with a CSM role - I've seen CSMs get promoted into implementation, sales and management roles on a pretty regular basis, so job prospects are great if you perform well. I would say that, in general, they may be a bit less technical and involve a lot more relationship building than you may see in your standard IT job. 

I have a lot of respect for good CSMs - they really make or break the relationship I have with the vendors I work with. 

UnixGuy

Well, I learned more about this role by talking to people who are in this role and by asking more about it.

There is a shift from traditional account management to customer success, it seems to be a growing area.

Career progression is dependent on the organisation but I've seen the following: CSM, Senior CSM, Customer Success Director, Executive Director, Head of Customer Success...etc. It's a growing field for sure.

The negatives/cons so far:

 - Starting out as a Customer Success Manager the salaries are lower IF you're moving from a technical role or a managerial role.

- In some organisation (surprisngly some are big vendors), the role is consider a junior role. i.e. you're just the first point of escalation, so be careful what role you're going into.

I'm thinking hard and deep, but this is an area of interest to me. As JD said, it's a more people oriented role and away from technical. It open doors to careers in account management, potentially sales and marketing (but it's going to be another transition).