Full transcript
0:00I'm going to talk about the 25 most
0:02common customer success manager
0:03interview questions and give you the
0:05answers so you can crush your next
0:07interview let's Jump Right In so how
0:09would you define customer success so
0:12customer success is essentially like
0:13having a personal trainer for product or
0:15service I'm here to proactively diagnose
0:17problems before they happen guide you
0:19towards those goals and be your
0:21dedicated Champion when things go off
0:22the rails or I need to bring you back
0:24onto the train tracks also having a
0:27proactive partnership not just reactive
0:30but proactivity understanding right from
0:32the start what it is that you need for
0:34your business to be successful by
0:35leveraging our tool or our platform what
0:38experience do you have in managing
0:40customer
0:41relationships so for me as a CSM I used
0:44to actually manage 100 midmarket clients
0:46for a SAS company and what I actually
0:48had to do from a whole was segmentation
0:51so categorize these accounts by AR
0:53growth usage patterns which actually
0:55helped me understand who needed High
0:57touch monthly calls versus automation or
0:59who needed webinars and resources then
1:02I'd have structured engagement so VIP
1:04accounts I would do on-site qbrs for
1:06smaller accounts I would do Group
1:07Training sessions or even office hours
1:09on the week and then listening and
1:11relationship building like taking the
1:13time to understand who your customer is
1:15what their pains are what their specific
1:17use case is goes a super long way to
1:19understand them as well what that
1:22brought for churn so we droing churn 25%
1:24NPS scores climbing and having deeper
1:27bonds with these customers to trust you
1:28and ultimately renew
1:31so can you describe yourself or your
1:33approach can you describe your approach
1:35to building strong customer
1:37relationships so I actually once walked
1:39into a client and they said we've been
1:40burned show us how you're different and
1:42so they've had experiences where account
1:43managers or csns essentially vanished
1:45after the E contract was signed so I had
1:47to earn the trust and not just claim to
1:49be reliable but actually demonstrate it
1:51through every single interaction so
1:53discover and empathy right understanding
1:55their genuine business pain points even
1:57personal motivations where they trying
1:59to impress their boss where they're
2:00trying to hit a certain Financial goal
2:01where they're trying to go for a
2:03promotion and then co-creation of
2:05success metrics something I always like
2:07to ask is in 6 months how will you
2:09determine that this has been an
2:11effective use of your time resource and
2:13investment then you're going to have
2:15touch points weekly calls bi-weekly
2:17calls monthly calls sometimes it's
2:19quarterly calls that all depends on the
2:21customer and the type of service that
2:22you're providing and then celebration in
2:24transparency like if they hit a big
2:26milestone celebrate it hey I saw you
2:28guys just did this congratulations or
2:30transparency hey you know what we're
2:32having an incident right now just wants
2:33to keep you in the loop like while you
2:35actually depicting what they are wanting
2:37to see and being their trusted adviser
2:39they're going to have a lot more
2:40confidence in you and because you're
2:41trusting every steple because they're
2:43going to be trusting you every step of
2:44the process they're going to be able to
2:46show up a lot more so how do you measure
2:48customer success so data can obviously
2:51be crucial but it is daunting so it's
2:54easy to go through dashboards and not
2:56really looking at real insights and so
2:58for me I always look for for search of
3:01usage and adoption metrics so logins
3:04utilization rate time spend on platform
3:06that can actually understand how they're
3:07doing things and then you have health
3:09scoring so product usage open support
3:11tickets NPS C stat all combined into a
3:14health score that can be colorcoded but
3:15there is also the qualitative component
3:17to this right so you might have Roi and
3:20business outcomes like if a company
3:22wants to go from A to B you have to
3:23Showcase hey we've made 8% movement
3:26towards that extra outcome or if a
3:29business outcome has has to be hey we're
3:30trying to become profitable well
3:32sometimes you have to understand from
3:33their insights from their information
3:35how are they training in that direction
3:37and then customer sentiment NPS and CET
3:39sure that's fine we can also ask your
3:41customer directly like hey how are you
3:44feeling about this partnership and
3:45relationship right now is there anything
3:46do you like us to change is there any
3:47Improvement like you'd like to see by
3:49correlating the actual outcomes Plus
3:51data you're going to have a really good
3:52sense of what the customer is looking
3:54for and how they're measuring you on a
3:55day-to-day basis can you share an
3:58example of a challenging customer
4:00situation you successfully
4:02resolved so I'll never forget meltdown
4:04Monday um I opened my account to a major
4:06Enterprise client and it was all caps
4:08and said we're canceling this is a
4:09disaster so um there was a gap that was
4:12critical to their CFO and I had to
4:14obviously calm that fire figure out the
4:16root cause and Salvage that relationship
4:18so immediate response I jumped on a call
4:20with them within the hour obviously no
4:22time for coffee you got to actually
4:23solve the issue right then and there and
4:25then deep listening people always talk
4:26about like active listening and I think
4:28that's kind of like a buzz word you you
4:29have to sit there and understand with
4:32empathy what is their problem and
4:34understand that this is a huge deal to
4:36them so it might be a disaster to them
4:38and you have to think as a CSM how can I
4:41understand their concerns what is the
4:42business impact who is this affecting
4:44and what are the consequences of this
4:46incident and then I did a solution
4:48Sprint so I actually involved my data
4:50team right away we built a customized
4:51dashboard that mapped their cost savings
4:53and Reven metrics and then we scheduled
4:55weekly updates for the transparency of
4:56the roll out keeping them informed of
4:58our progress and then follow through so
5:00over the next two weeks I made sure
5:02every glitch was addressed sing daily
5:04progression emails and ultimately
5:05solving their pain points so not only
5:08redacted their cancellation threat but
5:10they also thanked us for jumping on the
5:12call with urgency showcasing
5:14transparency keeping them up to date and
5:16building their own dashboard for them so
5:18by going the extra mile by being open
5:20and honest and having that transparency
5:22that line of communication that's how I
5:24was able to turn around this customer
5:26how do you handle difficult or demanding
5:28customers
5:30so I once had the email again from the
5:32CFO uh 2 a.m. demanding that they had to
5:35have immediate reports and they were
5:36known as the Meltdown guy and people
5:38actually dreaded his messages so I took
5:40it upon myself to show that we could
5:41have a healthier Dynamic and I want him
5:43to feel heard but I also had to depict
5:45that hey I'm not going to be on call
5:4624/7 that just not realistic so empathy
5:49and acknowledgement first hey I
5:51understand this is a problem and then I
5:53asked them what keeps you up at night
5:55and then I understand their response and
5:57then you have a Cadence cool I
5:59understand that this this is really
6:00critical for you you want to know the
6:01details inside and out we set up a
6:02weekly call reviewed any of the data
6:04that needed and then we had a 24-hour
6:06turnaround time cuz a lot of times what
6:08people will turn into is waiters and
6:10waitresses where somebody ask you a
6:11question and you want to get off right
6:13away but you can actually be too
6:16accessible and too serviceable so you
6:18actually have to tone that down and set
6:19those boundaries or else you're always
6:21just going to be expected to respond you
6:22know within minutes as well what I would
6:25do is proactively I would send the
6:27actual report ahead of time so didn't
6:29have to wait for that Monday morning I'd
6:31send them off on a Sunday here's a
6:32report let me know if you have any
6:33questions so that way they were sleeping
6:35better at night I was not getting any
6:37urgent messages and we fail into this
6:39Cadence where a report would be sent
6:40every Monday or Sunday night and then
6:41they would get it so that's how you can
6:43turn things around by having that open
6:44conversation being proactive and setting
6:47that Cadence for
6:48communication what strategies do you use
6:50to prevent customer
6:52churn so at a previous startup uh turn
6:54was really high at 5% so like it was
6:56really a leaky bucket and we' get a lot
6:58of customers and lose them so we had to
7:01plug this so early warning system so we
7:03developed a health score that flag usage
7:04tips um there's a lot of support tickets
7:06or negative sentiment from feedbacks and
7:09then we had regular check-ins so if you
7:11have an atrisk account you have to
7:12schedule those monthly calls or even
7:13weekly calls if a meltdown was happening
7:15or if things were getting a little bit
7:17spicy and then sometimes you actually
7:18have to do an onboarding overhaul so
7:20what I actually noticed was a lot of the
7:22onboarding was poor in the customers
7:24experience so we had a new 30 60 90day
7:28plan so customers would actually see the
7:30valuable features and they would
7:31actually be seeing tons of value earlier
7:34as opposed to going down the line it's
7:35been 4 months not seeing any value
7:37they're going to be canceling and then
7:38lastly the feedback loops like a lot of
7:40people think NPS is good or bad I think
7:42it is just another tool and a toolkit
7:44for the CSA to understand as a pulse
7:46check how are we doing how are you
7:48feeling and so we were actually able to
7:49get turn from 5% down to 2% within half
7:51a year and then actually down to 1% over
7:53the course of 12 to 14 months I think it
7:55was and so when you actually have a lot
7:57of turn you have to go upstream and
7:59understand why are people canceling what
8:01is it that is causing them to turn are
8:02they not seeing value do they feel lost
8:05to do they feel like they've abandoned
8:06you there's all these different
8:08compounding factors that can go into
8:09turn and just actually understanding
8:11what it is that you're seeing can change
8:13all those
8:16things how do identify cross sell or
8:18upsell opportunities with
8:20customers so uh my last company I was
8:23Healthcare client and they were only
8:24using two modules at of The Suite of
8:26five and essentially like they had a
8:28Swiss army knife but they were only
8:29using the cors in the knife but we still
8:30had the other things to use right we had
8:32the filing blade we had the smaller
8:34knife we had little scissors but they
8:35didn't really want to use that so what I
8:37did was I sent them an analysis of what
8:39they could be using for them they
8:41actually had some data challenges so I
8:43sent this over I'm like hey this feature
8:44set on this tool Suite can be super
8:47effective but I didn't want to be a
8:48pushy salesperson I want to be
8:50consultative which I always think about
8:52do you think that this product will
8:54actually help somebody and if not do not
8:56push it I do not care what your kpis are
8:58I do not care care what your manager
9:00thinks if a customer will not see any
9:02Roi from this product do not push it on
9:05them because that is what we call
9:07commission breath and everybody can
9:08smell that a mile away so for this
9:10customer data usage I notic that they
9:13had tasks that could be massively
9:14Amplified with their Advanced features I
9:16like qbr I showed them the extra modules
9:18of what they could do and then I
9:19actually offered them a pilot program
9:21for 3 months just to try it right almost
9:23a trial period and it was a huge hit
9:25they loved the product they wanted to
9:26adopt it they ended up upselling to that
9:28but it's because I showed the value I
9:29wasn't pushy I was consult tap to
9:31understand they needed an improved data
9:34module so I showcased what we had and
9:36they went forward it's all about having
9:37the true alignment and so when I think
9:39about upsells and cross sales it's
9:40having a true alignment of what the
9:42customer actually needs not what your
9:43kpi say can you give me an example of
9:46the time when you turned a dissatisfied
9:47customer into a happy loyal one so I had
9:51midmark client of mine they said like
9:52your product are performing we're going
9:53to shop around and obviously that's like
9:54the worst thing that you could see as a
9:56CSM so I actually have to figure out
9:58like what is this satisfaction is it
10:00real product graphs is it that somebody
10:02on their team wanted to go to a
10:03competitor or they not trained like
10:05what's actually happening here so I
10:08listened right like you have to be
10:09listening and it actually just revealed
10:11to me that they were only using a
10:12fraction of the features they thought
10:14that the rest really didn't apply to
10:15them they had no usage of them and they
10:16just didn't turn it on so what then I
10:18did was I had a customized workshop for
10:21their company and different features
10:23showcasing the advanced cases how they
10:25can use it in different ways that they
10:26probably didn't think about I then
10:27actually set up an ongoing support ch
10:29channel so a slack channel for their
10:30entire team answering questions in real
10:32time that is a really big Roi and a
10:34really big lift for a lot of customers
10:35just to have that back and forth as
10:37opposed to sending so many emails per
10:38day and then immediate wins so I created
10:41a win channel that showcased all the
10:43adoption from their product which
10:45actually boosted them 15% showcasing the
10:47platform's worth so they renewed had a
10:50great testimonial and they unlocked the
10:51platform's full potential and for me
10:53it's like understanding when a customer
10:54wants to turn you really have to dig dig
10:57dig dig dig why is it product is it
10:59price is it training is it buyin is it
11:02that they understand how this applies to
11:04their business case so really that
11:05digging in is going to be your ultimate
11:07goal as a CSM when you're trying to turn
11:08around ATT turning or potentially
11:10turning
11:16client so how do you prioritize your
11:18customer
11:19portfolio so when I had 100 accounts I
11:21think I actually had up 200 Accounts at
11:23one time I realized obviously I could
11:25not service all of them so I had to have
11:27a different segmentation of my clients
11:29up so what I did was I segmented by AR
11:32and growth potential so large Enterprise
11:34Deals they got the most frequent calls
11:36and so all their accounts they could
11:37thrive on group trainings or they could
11:39do uh webinars or office hours that I
11:40held unless they showed some red flags
11:43then I would Jump Right In you also have
11:45health score Trion so an SNB account had
11:47a sudden usage drop or an open
11:49escalation i' bump them up in a priority
11:51list right it's all about as a need to
11:53know basis so of course always going to
11:54be your Enterprise accounts that you're
11:56going to have you know first set
11:57priority and then there's going to be
11:58your smaller accounts
11:59but priorities can change if an S&B
12:01account is going to cancel or going to
12:02turn well then you have to jump on that
12:04right away I also have something called
12:06quarterly calibration which would be
12:08evaluating the different segments
12:10because some smaller clients would
12:11actually grow into higher tiers and that
12:13would actually adjust how it would
12:14interact with them so for me it's like
12:16understanding these high accounts they
12:18have to stay engage and those high risk
12:20accounts also have to be touched upon
12:21depending on where they are at that time
12:24so for me it's like how much are they
12:25worth when are they renewing what type
12:28of prioritization do they need are they
12:29a lot more autonomous or they need a lot
12:31more handholding so understanding your
12:33accounts at a really in-depth level is
12:34critical to actually understanding how
12:36you can then segment them for your book
12:37of business and then how you can
12:38actually treat them how do you stay up
12:41to date with Trends and best practices
12:42and customer success so for me I think
12:45it's really important to actually
12:46understand like having the Poli of
12:47customer success as a whole as a
12:49changing EV ever evolving industry so
12:52for me I'm really interested in
12:53professional communities and newsletters
12:55so I follow uh Greg danses I follow
12:57Daffy Lopez and I also you know check
12:59out some slack channels where I'm seeing
13:01some CS professionals drop some
13:02knowledge and then conferences and
13:03webinars like because I'm in the
13:05e-commerce space today I want to
13:07understand e-commerce how it's evolving
13:08how it's changing so whatever space
13:10you're in whether it's crypto or
13:12Healthcare and insurance you should be
13:14involved in that and also peer
13:15mentorship like working with other csms
13:17to understand what's working what are
13:20they seeing what's not working and when
13:22you can actually reminisce and
13:23understand what is going on in other
13:25people what's their point of view then
13:27you can actually collaborate and skill
13:28up as a whole whole can you explain how
13:31you manage customer
13:33expectations so I learned early on that
13:35unmet and unclear expectations is like a
13:38disasterous scenario so you actually
13:40have to be transparent have realistic
13:42goals and true timelines so kickoff
13:44calls I always clarify here's what we
13:46can deliver here's what's out of scope
13:48and here's the timeline we're targeting
13:50be very very honest like a lot of CSM
13:52they want to promise the world and it
13:54just makes customers angry like it's
13:55better to give people bad news than to
13:58overpromise and have bad and like and
14:00have fake news so always under deliver
14:03overd deliver under promise works
14:06wonders and then we also have Milestone
14:07mapping so make a big goal if a customer
14:10wants to hit a million dollars in a year
14:12make those small steps so how can we
14:13look for q1 how can we look for Q2 how
14:15can you look for Q3 and then lastly is
14:17honest communication if a feature
14:19release is delayed or kpi falls short
14:23tell them say hey this product feature
14:25that we related to create in q1 has now
14:27been pushed to Q3 just want to let you
14:29know how do you think that we can
14:31approach us as a team to rectify the
14:33situation so that way they're not going
14:35to be caught off guard and if something
14:37does go AR ride there might be an
14:38incident there might be something
14:40dropping a ball you might miss a meeting
14:41accidentally you're not going to
14:42actually erode that trust they're still
14:44going to trust you because the entire
14:46time as you've been working with them
14:47you've been truthful and you've been
14:50honest what steps do you take to ensure
14:52customer onboarding is successful this
14:53is super critical onboarding is the
14:56first impression you set the tone for
14:57the entire relationship about onboarding
15:00is typical of bad experience a great
15:01onboarding is typical of a good
15:03experience so first things first kickoff
15:05align and success metrics timelines each
15:07stakeholder responsibilities which party
15:09is responsible for what that we're going
15:11to have implementation guides like a
15:12step-by-step blueprint essentially like
15:14a treasure map to understand what
15:16exactly are they headed to do what tasks
15:19must they complete in order to get to
15:21the next steps and then training and
15:22resources like a lot of these platforms
15:24these s tools are very very complex and
15:27you have a lot of people working on it
15:28sometimes you have 4 50 seats or 40 to
15:3050 licenses and not everybody is
15:32necessarily familiar with your product
15:34so you have to have these live training
15:35sessions you might have recorded videos
15:37you might have knowledge based articles
15:39but like people have different learning
15:40styles it's okay to have a webinar with
15:42an entire company every week for a few
15:44months because if you put that effort in
15:46at the beginning well you're going to
15:48have an entire company that's fully
15:49trained on your product and your
15:51platform and you can feel confident that
15:52they know what to do then I think it's
15:54really important to have 30 60 90day
15:56checkin points so you can look at early
15:59data celebrate quick wins like if
16:00they're configuring a key feature and
16:02you can also adjust something's off or
16:04you can actually dive deeper onto an
16:06educational Gap that people are not
16:08understanding or not quite grasping and
16:09you can dive in when it's not too far
16:11down the road 6 months in hey it's only
16:13week six let's adjust that let's tweak
16:15let's improve how do you handle customer
16:17feedback both positive and negative so
16:21feedback is like a combination of yel
16:22reviews in a personal diary customers
16:24might either Crush you or they might
16:25gripe you but either way you have to
16:27take it in so listen and document it so
16:30I log every comment through calls
16:32through surveys through random slack
16:33messages into my own feedback system
16:35because if the customer says hey Noah I
16:37wish you were more ABC or hey do I
16:39really appreciated your XYZ that's
16:41really understandable and actionable
16:43feedback for me to understand what can I
16:45do and take that feedback into other
16:46calls and then acknowledge and
16:48appreciation positive feedback obviously
16:51makes it feel good with the team but
16:52negative feedback is really good to take
16:54for yourself but also for the company so
16:56if a if a customer says hey you know
16:58what we think that your product road map
17:00is over promising and under delivery
17:02well great I can bring that back to my
17:03manager I can bring that back to my
17:05product team and then we can actually
17:06decipher and improve action and followup
17:09if a feature is lacking I will escalate
17:11it's a product once it's resolved and
17:13circling back hey remember your
17:15suggestion we took it seriously we
17:17implemented like customers love to feel
17:19heard just like every other human being
17:20in the world they want to see is my
17:22voice being heard is there a tangible
17:24result in outcome and that will create a
17:26sense of loyalty and essentially
17:27co-creation with a prodct Evolution and
17:29your relationship as a whole can you
17:32describe a time when you went above and
17:33beyond to deliver exceptional customer
17:35service so there was a client there's a
17:37super essentially um they wanted
17:40realtime support on the Super Bowl on
17:41Super Bowl Sunday and obviously there's
17:43no 9 to-5 constraints there's no phone
17:45trees so I volunteered to lead a war
17:47room approach where they'd be having
17:48immediate escalation pathways on Super
17:50Bowl Sunday so we had our Engineers
17:53product managers and a small support
17:54team for Super Bowl Sunday for them uh
17:57we had a dashboard for real time time
17:58monitoring we had usage metrics we had
18:01error logs and we also had transaction
18:02flows minute by minute as well because
18:04we had all those people at the ready if
18:07something broke we jumped on it if we
18:08had to have a real time fix to be
18:10deployed we could do so but launching
18:12super bow Sunday went off without a
18:14hitch it was incredible they had up red
18:15for two more years but because I was so
18:17prepared on Super Bowl Sunday I was able
18:20to think ahead okay what if this goes
18:21wrong who would I need to escalate to
18:23that's why I had Engineers that's why I
18:24had support that's why I had logs that's
18:26why I had a dashboard so being mindful
18:28of what are you going into is super
18:30critical and again the customer feels
18:32that you're going above and beyond they
18:33know it's a Sunday they know you're
18:35working with seven other people on a
18:36Sunday they are aware of this and that
18:38really goes a long way to building that
18:40partnership and ultimately securing a
18:42renewal how do you handle customer
18:44escalations so customer escalations can
18:46definitely feel unexpected um sometimes
18:50urgent sometimes pretty messy and you
18:51have to obviously handle it really
18:53swiftly contain the situation first and
18:55foremost contain the situation ensure
18:57that the customer feels heard supported
18:59rather than ignored and frustrated you
19:01never ever want to feel or give off the
19:02feeling that somebody is being ignored
19:04because everybody's points are valid
19:06even though you might not feel as a CSM
19:08that it makes sense or they're blowing
19:10things out of proportion their
19:11perspective is critical here right so
19:14don't think of your own point of view
19:15think of the customer perspective of
19:17what's going wrong so first things first
19:19immediate Tri acknowledge the escalation
19:21gather the facts what happened when what
19:23did it cause then you have to assemble
19:25the right team if it's technical you
19:26bring Engineers if it's bailing I Loop
19:28in Finance if it's um you know support
19:31I'll bring in support if it's sales I'll
19:32bring in sales right understanding what
19:34team you need to go to to solve that
19:36problem critically as well as swiftly
19:38and then transparent communication like
19:40provide that realtime update even if it
19:42fix isn't ready we are aware of it we
19:44are working on it they'll be ready in
19:45six hours and I think like escalations
19:48are actually a really fine point or
19:51really like critical point rather of
19:53trust building events because customers
19:55could see that we sprung into action we
19:57took their um we took their issue
19:59seriously and if attention's cool we
20:01resolve the issue and the relationship
20:02actually emerges stronger I know it
20:03sounds crazy but think of any big
20:06escalation or big incident with the
20:07customer obviously it was really spicy
20:09and messy during the time but depending
20:11on how you resolved and how you
20:12responded often times I've seen it
20:14really turn out positive if you can
20:16approach this and solve it rationally
20:19can you give me an example of a time
20:20when you had to manage multiple
20:21customers with competing
20:23priorities so I had two interpress
20:25clients they both demanded urgent
20:27customer Integrations with ASAP
20:29timelines right everything's always ASAP
20:30and they're both super high value and so
20:32you essentially felt like being a parent
20:33with twins who are playing at the same
20:35time so you have to jugle resources
20:37without making either feel neglected so
20:39clear project plans each client got a
20:41published timeline with phase
20:42deliverables so nobody's in the dark we
20:44also had dedicated teams for integration
20:46tasks so I I assigned specialized squads
20:49to minimize the context ping between the
20:51two clients and then I also had
20:52frequently s frequent syncs so I had
20:54daily stand-ups internally with my team
20:57to track the progress and then escalate
20:59any blockages both project landed
21:01successfully within a week of each other
21:03Nei they felt overshadowed and they
21:04praise the transparent communication so
21:06this is often happening at the
21:07Enterprise level where you have three or
21:09four customers that have three or four
21:11intens requests that all product is
21:12working on you have to be able to manage
21:14things they want timelines they want
21:16visibility and most importantly they
21:18want
21:18communication how do you communicate
21:20value to customers and demonstrate the
21:22impact of your product or
21:23service so a qbr often feels like being
21:26on a cooking show you're just giving
21:27metrics a bunch of slides and
21:29transparently they're boring I wish qbrs
21:30were actually you know um abolished but
21:33that's another that's another video you
21:35have to prove that we're delivering Roi
21:37and tangible results not just fluff so
21:39data dashboards visual charts showing
21:42usage Trends performance improvements
21:43cost Savings Time Savings if they can
21:46that they saved 50k over the last
21:48quarter that is hard proof if you can
21:50say I saved you 6 hours every single
21:52week for the past year that is proof and
21:55then you can also have a narrative
21:56storytelling and you can connect the
21:57dots with the anecdotes so do you
21:58remember your compliance headache here's
22:00the workflow that we reduced Errors By
22:0230% as well I always talk about the
22:04future road map so next quarter we can
22:06integrate your CRM with even better lead
22:08tracking because that's going to plant
22:10the seeds of continued collaboration and
22:12when that product is ready remember when
22:13I told you about it here it is go try it
22:15out let me know your product feedback
22:17when they can realize that you're not
22:18just a vendor but a true Ally and
22:20partner helping their bottom line and
22:21their operational excellence that's
22:23going to give you a renewal that's going
22:25to give you an expansion and just a
22:26better overall experience day-to-day as
22:28a CSM
22:30can you share a successful customer
22:32expansion or renewal story so I had a
22:35healthcare client they were super small
22:36they're using our platform in a single
22:37department and their leadership was very
22:39cautious they wanted proof before
22:40scaling across the other um departments
22:43so I encourage them to try additional
22:44modules just so that they could see the
22:46broader Roi but do it methodically right
22:47through sales and finance and CS orgs
22:50Etc so we did a pilot program we rolled
22:52out Advanced analytics in just one
22:54clinic and we had measure document so we
22:56tracked how staff would use a new
22:57features we focused on decrease admin
23:00time and the error rates from their
23:01staff and we did a show and sell so we
23:03presented the results to the for and
23:04said hey here's how we were able to
23:06reduce your time to process claims by
23:0825% so then they actually gave the green
23:10light for companywide adoption and then
23:12a renewal came with a 40% upsell thanks
23:14to the data driven approach so sometimes
23:16you have to go slow in order to go fast
23:18and in this case it's a very new
23:20Healthcare company they want one Clinic
23:22to be the guinea pig or the pilot
23:23program and once you can able show proof
23:26of Competency and actual Roi there happy
23:28to do it across the board but you have
23:30to understand that an expansion deal
23:32whether it's a product whether that it's
23:34an additional location or just into the
23:36actual organization itself you must go
23:38slowly in order to showcase the ROI of
23:41product as a whole how do you
23:43collaborate with other departments to
23:44ensure customer success so CS does not
23:47happen in the vacuum at one company each
23:49department was Silo so sales really talk
23:50to support and product only heard from
23:52customers through a really messy
23:53pipeline so once you tear down these
23:54silos you make sure the entire or is
23:56merging towards certain customer goals
23:58magic happens so we had weekly cross
24:00functional meeting so we'd share top
24:02escalations upcoming free to requests
24:04and customer sentiment data with teams
24:06we also had slack channels so a customer
24:07success channel for cross function teams
24:09like a real chat about an urgent issue
24:11or feature request so everybody could be
24:13aligned and understanding hey yeah my
24:15customer wanted this and product can say
24:17oh yeah that's going to be ready at the
24:18end of the month you can understand
24:19what's happening in the org with via a
24:21collaboration tool and then we have
24:23shared kpis so align on metrics like
24:25turn NPS and usage so we can celebrate
24:27but also TR you collectively so then
24:29customers will actually experience a
24:31seamless Journey from sales handoff to
24:33onboarding to ongoing success and
24:35internally people felt more connected as
24:37well as informed so really important to
24:39collaborate can you explain the role of
24:41data in analytics in customer success
24:43management so imagine if you're trying
24:45to predict the weather without a
24:46forecast impossible right so data and
24:49analytics gave us the forecast for
24:51customer health and you can leverage
24:52that data to see who's thriving who's
24:53drifting who's ready for expansion who's
24:55going to turn so first and foremost is
24:57uses metrics so there's frequency
24:59there's depth of feature usage there's a
25:00pulse check of the relationship and then
25:02we have more quantitative measures
25:03Health scores which is typically a
25:05weighted formula of adoption sentiment
25:07and support data to give us numeric or
25:10uh to give us numerous health status
25:12then we also have predictive models so
25:14you can use historical data to
25:15anticipate turn or upside likelihood so
25:17if you see a big usage drop that's
25:19probably going to be a turn risk
25:22intervene immediately if you're seeing a
25:24lot of product feature requests well
25:25this is a really healthy account because
25:26nobody who hates your product is going
25:27to be asking for a lot of product
25:29feature requests because that means that
25:31they are pushing the product to the nth
25:32degree and so something that I'm really
25:35happy about and proud of is you come off
25:37as a mind reader hey you seem to be
25:39using feature X less lately are there
25:42any issues right because they say huh
25:45Noah keeping watching my account yeah
25:47you know what we actually have been
25:48using that that feature we've had a new
25:49a bunch of new staff start they're not
25:51really sure about it can you come in and
25:53do a training session perfect or hey I
25:56se that product feature has really
25:57decreased again with this usage what's
25:59going on it's like yeah you know we
26:01actually changed our business model
26:02nothing to worry about we just no longer
26:03need to use that cool so you thought it
26:05was a turn risk but in actuality the
26:07business changed their approach as a
26:08whole and that red Health score can
26:10actually be a green as a whole how do
26:12you ensure a smooth handoff between the
26:14sales and customer success teams so
26:17we've all heard the horror stories of
26:18customers repeating their goals post
26:20sales cycle it's super annoying because
26:22they already that the entire time with
26:23the sales cycle and they're killing um
26:25and there's you know nobody likes it and
26:27that kills trust super super fast so
26:30what you need to do is create a
26:31bulletproof baton or a CS to sales a
26:33sales to CS handoff the the momentum
26:35carries seamlessly first and foremost
26:37have a joint kickoff call so sales and
26:39Cs and the new customer in one meeting
26:41confirm the goals confir confirm the
26:42timelines any special promises from the
26:45deal make sure that that is put out into
26:47the open handoff documentation a
26:49document that shares everything from the
26:51customer's pain points that they did in
26:52implementation that they did in sales in
26:55the sales ccle itself and key
26:57stakeholders um person personas and
26:59personalities and then you also have to
27:01have that immediate connection like
27:02introduce yourself early maybe even
27:04before the contract is fully signed
27:06maybe when they're in implementation
27:07just to show continuity of who you are
27:09and when customers see a united front
27:11they know who you are and why have to
27:13re-explain anything they're actually
27:14going to be a lot more bought in so
27:16implementation will improve the speed
27:18trust remains high and familiarity
27:20ultimately goes the long
27:22way can you describe your approach to
27:24developing and executing customer
27:26success plans so so IC success plans
27:29like a treasure map and if we don't
27:30sketch out the path to Mark the big X
27:32we're going to just drift into the water
27:33and drown so by co-creating a living
27:36breathing success plan that arrives or
27:38aligns rather with the customer unique
27:40needs that's Mak super helpful with
27:41their objectives with the resources and
27:43the timelines so first you want have a
27:45discovery session like what is their
27:46strategic goals is it increase
27:48efficiency by 25% is it expanding to New
27:50Markets you have to find that out then
27:52you're going to have Milestone setting
27:54so break goals into concrete steps
27:55implementation of a new module by Q2
27:57training have use by key3 understand
28:00what those Milestones are just to help
28:01you along then you're going to have
28:03progress truning so using a project
28:04management tool for task like monday.com
28:06or ass or whatever have you so nobody's
28:08in the dark everybody knows how we're
28:10tracking towards the goals and then
28:12periodic reviews it could be at qbrs it
28:14could be on your bi-weekly check-ins it
28:15might be your monthly check-ins like are
28:17we on track are there any new goals are
28:19there new goals that have been dropped
28:20has business um motives changed and
28:22business goals adjusted understanding
28:24that is going to be critical when having
28:26those weekly or bi-weekly calls because
28:28when the customer remains engaged
28:29because they've actually co-authored the
28:31plan they see themselves hitting these
28:32mini goals which is reinforcement as why
28:34they chose us as the SAS tool or the
28:36platform provider how do you manage
28:38customer success in a remote or a
28:40distributed team environment so my team
28:43um has multiple members multiple
28:45continents and actually we felt isolated
28:47due to time zone differences so remote
28:49setups can breed miscommunication if not
28:51not handled carefully so maintain High
28:55touch engagement Synergy across
28:56different time zones and consistency
28:58standards no matter where we sit so
28:59communication tool so I created a slack
29:02tool Channel rather for instant
29:03messaging Zoom for face to face and
29:05obviously a shared knowledge base and we
29:07also had coverage rotation so we rotate
29:08on call schedules to handle urgent
29:11issues across different time zones and
29:13for team culture right virtual call Fee
29:15breaks daily standups occasional
29:17informal chats so you have Rapport
29:19across the or and then customers in Asia
29:22Europe or americaas they're all going to
29:23feel equally supported if they have the
29:25right communication tools if they know
29:26that they have coverage and if they have
29:28that team culture that they know oh yeah
29:30I just talked to knowah last week I'm
29:31really familiar with your account let's
29:32dive in right that familiarity so a
29:34customer doesn't have to start from
29:35scratch every single conversation is
29:37huge can you give us an example of a
29:39time where you have to handle a
29:41dissatisfied customer
29:43remotely so I had a European based
29:46client they send a really intense email
29:47we feel ignored we're 6 hours ahead of
29:49you we never sync with us properly we're
29:50going to switch providers obviously that
29:52sucked now it's pretty new my career in
29:54Toronto so I had to rebuild that bridge
29:56and prove that remote doesn't mean
29:58invisible so I was time zone sensitive
30:00so I started scheduling my calls at 7:00
30:01a.m. so it was my time early but midday
30:04for them I also had real- time
30:06dashboards so we created an always on
30:08view of open issues progress and use
30:10metrics so we were not guessing at what
30:12was going on and we also did mini
30:13updates so weekly recap emails
30:15summarizing all the action items we did
30:17so that they knew that we were on the
30:18ball even if we were offline and the
30:20ultimate outcome here was like they
30:22stopped feeling that they were brushed
30:24aside and within a couple months they
30:25reported huge Improvement satisfaction
30:27they decided to new and Christ was
30:29averted cool so it's about 31 minutes of
30:33T Mercy T manic questions hope this gave
30:35you some insight as to what you can
30:38expect some Frameworks and talk talks
30:40that I've used hope this helps let me
30:41know in the comments below take care