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.
As the growth of your business accelerates, you may face a difficult decision: when and how to scale up your customer success team. Scaling up at the right time with the right approach ensures that customers get the support they need while reducing burnout in your organization. This blog post will discuss three metrics to consider when evaluating your customer success team size.
Annual Contract Value (ACV) is the sum of all customer revenue throughout their contract period. As a general industry rule of thumb, each CSM should be able to manage about $2 million in ACV (some may base it on ARR). Generally speaking, the more ACV per CSM, the fewer customers they will be able to manage effectively over the course of a year. Setting realistic ACV targets to ensure each CSM can devote enough time and attention to their accounts is essential.
The complexity of your product also affects the number of customers each CSM can manage effectively. The simpler the product is to set up, learn, and use, the more customer accounts the CSM can manage.
For example, suppose you have an enterprise-level product that requires extensive onboarding and training for new customers. In that case, your CSMs will need to spend considerable time on each account. On the other hand, if your product is designed for a user to use with little or no instruction, then the time requirements for CSMs by a client are significantly reduced.
The third element to consider is the volume of customers each CSM can manage effectively. This will depend on the experience of your CSM, the stage of your SaaS business, etc. But a good rule of thumb is to not assign over 50 accounts. Even more ideal is to set 25-30 accounts per CSM.
The volume of customers per CSM can be increased through helpful technology and automation. Building software (technology) that makes this easy to do is our passion at ClientSuccess.
Below is a visual representation of how these three factors interact.
Combining ARR, complexity, and volume will help you identify the triggers when it is time to hire additional CSMs. A best practice is to define each of the three factors in your organization clearly. Depending on where you are in your growth trajectory and what growth channels you are pursuing, you may need to consider different scaling scenarios that prioritize growth differently. Natural indicators that your model needs refinement include shallow customer relationships, overworked CSMs, lack of insights and knowing the true pulse of your customer base, and an increase in customer churn.
Now that you understand the three factors, you can set thresholds or review points for each. For example, you'll see that you're trending towards 75 customer accounts for a single CSM by the end of the next quarter. Then, it's time to start interviewing and budgeting for a new hire immediately – or have a few strong candidates in the pipeline.
Check out our resources below for more customer success best practices and insights for how your organization can build strong customer relationships:
eBooks:
5 Ways to Surprise & Delight Your Customers
3 Steps to Putting Customers First
Blog Posts:
6 Listening Techniques of Great Customer Success Leaders
3 Simple Strategies to Build Strong Customer Relationship ROI
