Auctor purus, aliquet risus tincidunt erat nulla sed quam blandit mattis id gravida elementum, amet id libero nibh urna nisi sit sed. Velit enim at purus arcu sed ac. Viverra maecenas id netus euismod phasellus et tempus rutrum tellus nisi, amet porttitor facilisis aenean faucibus eu nec pellentesque id. Volutpat, pellentesque cursus sit at ut a imperdiet duis turpis duis ultrices gravida at aenean amet mattis sed aliquam augue nisl cras suscipit.
At elit elementum consectetur interdum venenatis et id vestibulum id imperdiet elit urna sed vulputate bibendum aliquam. Tristique lectus tellus amet, mauris lorem venenatis vulputate morbi condimentum felis et lobortis urna amet odio leo tincidunt semper sed bibendum metus, malesuada scelerisque laoreet risus duis.
Ullamcorper pellentesque a ultrices maecenas fermentum neque eget. Habitant cum esat ornare sed. Tristique semper est diam mattis elit. Viverra adipiscing vulputate nibh neque at. Adipiscing tempus id sed arcu accumsan ullamcorper dignissim pulvinar ullamcorper urna, habitasse. Lectus scelerisque euismod risus tristique nullam elementum diam libero sit sed diam rhoncus, accumsan proin amet eu nunc vel turpis eu orci sit fames.
“Sit enim porttitor vehicula consequat urna, eleifend tincidunt vulputate turpis, dignissim pulvinar ullamcorper”
Nisi in sem ipsum fermentum massa quisque cursus risus sociis sit massa suspendisse. Neque vulputate sed purus, dui sit diam praesent ullamcorper at in non dignissim iaculis velit nibh eu vitae. Bibendum euismod ipsum euismod urna vestibulum ut ligula. In faucibus egestas dui integer tempor feugiat lorem venenatis sollicitudin quis ultrices cras feugiat iaculis eget.
Id ac imperdiet est eget justo viverra nunc faucibus tempus tempus porttitor commodo sodales sed tellus eu donec enim. Lectus eu viverra ullamcorper ultricies et lacinia nisl ut at aliquet lacus blandit dui arcu at in id amet orci egestas commodo sagittis in. Vel risus magna nibh elementum pellentesque feugiat netus sit donec tellus nunc gravida feugiat nullam dignissim rutrum lacus felis morbi nisi interdum tincidunt. Vestibulum pellentesque cursus magna pulvinar est at quis nisi nam et sed in hac quis vulputate vitae in et sit. Interdum etiam nulla lorem lorem feugiat cursus etiam massa facilisi ut.
Welcome to our blog series CSM from the Trenches, a community for frontline Customer Success Managers (CSMs) that discusses trends, best practices, and advice for the frontline.
Being on the CSM frontline allows us to directly influence the success of our clients. I love that; as our clients are successful, we’re successful. Each day we learn from the trenches what it takes to make clients happy and successful.
This segment of the series focuses on 7 mentor questions for the frontline. The goal is that by sharing our experiences we’ll be able to learn and apply more practical advice / practices to our careers.
Let’s get started with this week’s post!
Focusing on value with the customer; understanding what value means to the customer and why they bought our solution. This perspective has been essential in steering away from day-to-day conversations to more strategic ones where the customer is brought back to focusing on value first.
I always start my day by planning on what I want to accomplish in my work day. It’s kind of like a mini-burndown list on what I need to accomplish. I prioritize the important tasks first and cross them off as I progress down the list. I find that setting out this daily plan keeps me focused as I deal with the chaos and unpredictability of managing a large customer base.
One failure that has stuck with me was around hiring without proper due diligence. I had just moved into a management role at Nulogy and I was excited about getting my first hire on the team. My manager at the time and I said yes to a candidate very quickly and failed to do the necessary checks and balances in our interview process. The candidate ended up not being a strong fit and had trouble performing to the standards we had established for the role. Ultimately, I had to make a tough decision of letting them go during their probationary period.
This experience taught me not to rush the process, which in this case happened to be recruiting new hires; the impact of a mis-hire is just a lot of wasted effort and unnecessary stress for both parties.
I would have to say the privilege of being able to help people every day. Whether it is trying to help a customer find to solve an operational problem or helping a team member solve a tough customer problem, it is very fulfilling to help someone in a positive way every day.
Do not let the bad days get to you. Being a CSM is all about the long-term benefit to your organization and customers. You might have a bad day but there are more good days than bad ones. Focus on the long-term goals with the customer and you will eventually find success.
Putting the customer first. What I mean by this is when I prioritize my day, I do it from the perspective of my customers. That means customer tasks get immediate attention and the remaining work is prioritized against customer value. This way I know that my customers' needs are being met first and it sets our team’s North Star firmly on the customer.
——————————————————————————————————–
Join the conversation on our LinkedIn CSM from the Trenches group page.
——————————————————————————————————–
Here are other customer success resources:
Customer Success eBooks:
Customer Success as a Culture: Customer Success Leaders Edition
Ultimate Guide to SaaS Customer Success Metrics
Other CSM from the Trenches Posts:
Sam Feil, ClientSuccess – 11 Books Frontline Customer Success Managers Should Read Right Now
Cole Sanders, ClientSuccess – 3 Principles I Learned in My First Year as a CSM
Mieke Maes – 5 Keys to an Effective Customer Apology
Learn more about how ClientSuccess can help your company develop a strong customer success methodology and strategy with easy-to-use customer success software by requesting a 30-minute demo.
