Customer Success Manager

Customer Success Manager for a Project Management Company

Q: Where are you located?

A: I am based in Atlanta, Georgia USA.

Q: What is your role title?

A: My role title is Customer Success Manager.

Q: In your words, describe what you actually do?

A: As a CSM, I ensure customers are getting value from our product. I onboard new customers, provide training and support, and serve as the main point of contact when issues arise. I collaborate cross-functionally to align teams around customer needs.

Q: How long have you been doing this role for?

A: I've been a CSM for 3 years.

Q: How did you get to this point in your career?

A: I started in sales but moved to customer success because I enjoyed building relationships with customers. I worked hard, took on new responsibilities, and advocated for the CSM role.

Q: When it comes to remuneration, what are your three B’s? (Base, Bonus, Benefits?)

A: My base salary is $80k. I have an annual bonus up to 10% based on customer retention. Benefits include health insurance, 401k matching, and unlimited PTO.

Q: I’m not going to ask you who you work for, but, what industry is your company in?

A: I work at a SaaS company in the project management space.

Q: When it comes to work flexibility, is your work primarily office-based, fully remote, or a mix of both? Which do you prefer? Does your company allow you to be flexible?

A: My role is fully remote. I appreciate the flexibility to balance work and personal life. Our company is fully distributed.

Q: What does an average week or a typical day look like for you? Can you walk me through your day? What time do you arrive and start at work, what are your main tasks/responsibilities, who do you interact with, what meetings do you attend, etc.?

A: I start my day checking emails and triaging any urgent customer issues. I spend mornings onboarding new customers or providing training via video calls. Afternoons are focused on proactive outreach to check in on customers and address concerns. I collaborate closely with sales, support, product, and engineering teams.

Q: What does a typical day look like when things are going well vs a more challenging/stressful day?

A: On good days I can complete training sessions and prepare helpful resources. Challenging days involve handling escalated issues and dissatisfied customers. I have to troubleshoot problems across teams.

Q: What skills or knowledge are most important for your day-to-day work?

A: Communication skills, project management, and product knowledge are essential. I need to understand customers' needs and the product capabilities.

Q: What are some examples of recent accomplishments or contributions you've made in this role?

A: I created a new onboarding framework that increased retention. I regularly receive positive feedback from customers.

Q: Do you have a supportive manager and do you feel valued?

A: My manager trusts me to manage my accounts independently but is supportive when needed. I feel valued for my contributions.

Q: How much time do you spend collaborating with colleagues vs working independently?

A: It's a mix - I collaborate closely with other teams but have autonomy over my accounts.

Q: Is there anything you wish you would have known before starting this role?

A: I wish I had known how much influence CSMs have over the product roadmap. I can now align it to customer needs.

Q: What do you hate most about your role?

A: I dislike having to handle angry customers. But it's an opportunity to turn them into advocates.

Q: What do you love most about your role?

A: I love building relationships with customers and ensuring their success with our product. It's very rewarding.

Q: What’s the next role for you and when do you hope to achieve this?

A: In 2 years I hope to be a Customer Success Director managing a team of CSMs.

Q: Is your next role going to be with the same company or a different one?

A: I plan to grow into leadership roles at my current company.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you could give to someone who aspires to reach your position?

A: Build trust with customers and become their advocate across the org. Focus on their long-term success.

Q: It’s Day 1 for someone in your role. What one piece of advice would you give them to succeed?

Here are a few tips I would give someone on their first day as a CSM to set them up for success:

Thoroughly study the product – Become an expert on the product’s capabilities, limitations, ideal use cases, and roadmap. This will make you a trusted advisor to customers.
Shadow other CSMs – Sit in on calls and meetings to learn best practices for onboarding, training, account management, and communicating with customers.
Review your accounts Get familiar with each customer’s use case, goals, contacts, and history. Prioritize onboarding for new accounts.
Set expectations – Make sure customers know your role and when/how you’ll be communicating. Set a cadence for check ins.
Build relationships – Learn about your contacts as people. Know their goals and challenges. Build rapport and trust.
Communicate proactively – Don’t wait for customers to come to you. Reach out early and often to advise and check satisfaction.
Collaborate cross functionally – Develop connections with sales, support, product teams to align on customer needs.
Develop processes – Create templates and document best practices for onboarding, training, account reviews, expansion, and more.
Analyze metrics – Understand and track customer health scores, retention, expansion, surveys. Surface insights.
Stay organized – Keep CRM updated. Log all communications. Create project plans and task lists to stay on top of accounts.
Ask for feedback – Check in with manager and customers on how you’re doing and where you can improve.

The key is being proactive, delivering value, and building strong relationships, especially
early on.

My Actual Job

Customer Success Manager for a Project Management Company

Q: Where are you located?

A: I am based in Atlanta, Georgia USA.

Q: What is your role title?

A: My role title is Customer Success Manager.

Q: In your words, describe what you actually do?

A: As a CSM, I ensure customers are getting value from our product. I onboard new customers, provide training and support, and serve as the main point of contact when issues arise. I collaborate cross-functionally to align teams around customer needs.

Q: How long have you been doing this role for?

A: I've been a CSM for 3 years.

Q: How did you get to this point in your career?

A: I started in sales but moved to customer success because I enjoyed building relationships with customers. I worked hard, took on new responsibilities, and advocated for the CSM role.

Q: When it comes to remuneration, what are your three B’s? (Base, Bonus, Benefits?)

A: My base salary is $80k. I have an annual bonus up to 10% based on customer retention. Benefits include health insurance, 401k matching, and unlimited PTO.

Q: I’m not going to ask you who you work for, but, what industry is your company in?

A: I work at a SaaS company in the project management space.

Q: When it comes to work flexibility, is your work primarily office-based, fully remote, or a mix of both? Which do you prefer? Does your company allow you to be flexible?

A: My role is fully remote. I appreciate the flexibility to balance work and personal life. Our company is fully distributed.

Q: What does an average week or a typical day look like for you? Can you walk me through your day? What time do you arrive and start at work, what are your main tasks/responsibilities, who do you interact with, what meetings do you attend, etc.?

Q: What does a typical day look like when things are going well vs a more challenging/stressful day?

A: On good days I can complete training sessions and prepare helpful resources. Challenging days involve handling escalated issues and dissatisfied customers. I have to troubleshoot problems across teams.

Q: What skills or knowledge are most important for your day-to-day work?

A: Communication skills, project management, and product knowledge are essential. I need to understand customers' needs and the product capabilities.

Q: What are some examples of recent accomplishments or contributions you've made in this role?

A: I created a new onboarding framework that increased retention. I regularly receive positive feedback from customers.

Q: Do you have a supportive manager and do you feel valued?

A: My manager trusts me to manage my accounts independently but is supportive when needed. I feel valued for my contributions.

Q: How much time do you spend collaborating with colleagues vs working independently?

A: It's a mix - I collaborate closely with other teams but have autonomy over my accounts.

Q: Is there anything you wish you would have known before starting this role?

A: I wish I had known how much influence CSMs have over the product roadmap. I can now align it to customer needs.

Q: What do you hate most about your role?

A: I dislike having to handle angry customers. But it's an opportunity to turn them into advocates.

Q: What do you love most about your role?

A: I love building relationships with customers and ensuring their success with our product. It's very rewarding.

Q: What’s the next role for you and when do you hope to achieve this?

A: In 2 years I hope to be a Customer Success Director managing a team of CSMs.

Q: Is your next role going to be with the same company or a different one?

A: I plan to grow into leadership roles at my current company.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you could give to someone who aspires to reach your position?

A: Build trust with customers and become their advocate across the org. Focus on their long-term success.

Q: It’s Day 1 for someone in your role. What one piece of advice would you give them to succeed?

MyActualJob.com

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