Very often, we see CSMs taking on the role of Project Manager and managing the onboarding of new customers. While this may be essential, due to reduced resources early-stage and in start-up mode, it is however important to plan for the evolution of the model.
Indeed, onboarding and project management do not take place over a long period of time and can confine your CSM to tactical and functional management of customer relations once the implementation is complete. As a result, 1) you deprive your CSM of a more strategic impact on the value provided to the customer by your solution or service and 2) you risk transforming it into a “support” agent and reducing it to a reactive service to the customer. Either way, you risk impacting customer retention and revenue growth as well as creating attrition among your CSMs.
This is why we advise you: 1) to formalise beforehand the types of customer engagement and their objectives – this way you ensure that this onboarding phase is only the 1st step in the maturity of the customer and that the function of the CSM is to support the customer in the long run 2) to educate your clients on the different stages and moments of truth – you thus prepare them to better understand the evolution of the interactions with their CSM and to follow the different objectives and measures to be achieved on a maturity curve 3) to establish a clear distribution of roles and responsibilities within your teams (eg Client Success vs. Client Care) – thus ensuring differentiation of the type of service provided, setting customer expectations and ensuring an optimal experience 4) to clarify these steps, these objectives and these responsibilities upstream – by doing this, you prepare your CS organisation for a gradual and natural evolution towards a model of more specialised roles and responsibilities according to the moments of life and customer needs: Onboarding and training vs. Run and optimisation vs. Support and technical solution En savoir plus sur ce texte sourceVous devez indiquer le texte source pour obtenir des informations supplémentaires Envoyer des commentaires Panneaux latéraux
Be reassured! We have supported several of our clients in redefining the role of the CSM and other CS functions (Engagement mgr, Onboarding consultant, Customer care associate, etc.) as well as their evolution. If you are facing this type of situation, if you have scaling issues and if you are looking for solutions, I invite you to contact us