Customer Success is a Selfish Game: Here’s How to Play
By Michael Su
As Customer Success Managers, we are all wired to say "yes" whenever assigned a task or asked a favor. We have that "just do it" mindset ingrained in our DNA, which is what makes us amazing at helping our customers achieve the most value from our solution. However, this same mindset can also be the cause for customer neglect. I'll explain.
Years ago I was a Customer Success Manager covering all Midwest accounts. I worked closely with 4 different Account Executives and was responsible for the success of over 100 enterprise customers. Yes, we were understaffed, and I was stretched severely thin. However, with grit and my "just do it" mindset I accepted the challenge and traded in my social life for satisfied customers. I said "yes" to every meeting and racked up enough frequent flier miles to do all my holiday shopping with my United Airlines points. I recall days taking the 5am flight to Detroit for a 9am quarterly business review and immediately jet sailing to Chicago for an afternoon customer meeting. And of course I was on Zoom meetings at the airport and taking calls in my Uber. This was not sustainable nor healthy. The worst part is that the customers ended up suffering and dealing with my poor judgment. My response times were slipping. My availability was scarce. I was not there for my customers when they needed me.
Business-related meetings initiated by me or my customers weren’t the only types of meetings showing up on my schedule. As a Customer Success Manager for a software company, it was easy to get sucked into a technical vortex of endless cycles of troubleshooting and coordination with the technical support folks. Soon enough customers saw me as Support 2.0 rather than their trusted advisor. That was the opposite of what I was going for.
On the verge of burning out, I learned the hard way that it's ok to say no. It's ok to push back on meeting requests and favors. I learned that time is my most valuable asset, and it was up to me to protect it at all costs. As another example, instead of immediately responding "yes" when an Account Executive invited me to a meeting, I followed up with a series of questions to qualify my time. Why are we meeting? What's the agenda? Who will be there? Will I be contributing to the meeting or am I just a seat filler? It seemed cynical, but at the end of the day the questions were "what's in it for me" and "what's the upside for my customer?" Sure enough, there were quite a few meetings that did not require my attendance.
To my surprise, I was able to regain some valuable time without sacrificing the customer experience. In fact, it elevated my credibility and created a separation of roles. For Support requests, by stepping back and syncing up with the Support Engineer after an engagement, customers saw me in a new light and made the time we actually spent together much more effective. We had more compelling conversations and discussed strategy and growth, versus touching base on that lingering support ticket.
Being "selfish" was a more sustainable model that made me a more efficient and effective Customer Success Manager while improving the customer experience. Remember that it's ok to say no and push back on time-consuming meetings and activities. Also remember that you're the CSM, and it's up to you to coordinate internally to gather and deliver any important and relevant updates.
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Michael Su - Michael Su is a Customer Success innovator with over 15 years of working experience. While leading the team, he has designed, built, and successfully implemented Customer Success departments at various companies spanning from early stage tech start ups to publicly traded enterprises. He is passionate about improving processes and streamlining workflows. As a leader he loves working with people to help nurture and grow their professional careers. When Michael is not helping companies fight churn, he enjoys spending time with his wife, 3 kids, 2 turtles, and 1 dog.
