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Hiring Customer Success Managers in the USA

Hey everyone,

I'm based in New Zealand. Our company is looking to expand internationally (out of Australasia) soon and is starting to learn about hiring strategies in different countries.

We are most likely looking at North America, California, or Canada to begin with.

I'd love to hear how other companies:

Handle Internationalisation - do you go boots on the ground and set up an office or do you hire remote workers to work in international timezones.
If you've gone with the remote model, have you found this successful? What are the additional costs or processes we need to implement to ensure this is successful?
We aren't massive in New Zealand on commission for Customer Success teams. Is this an expectation in the US/Canada?
What is your standard base salary and standard perks that are expected?

Any insights from anyone who has done the same or understands the process would be super helpful.

Thanks in advance!

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Comments

Michelle Wideman

@Sophie Quinn I agree with the comments above on remote work. In regards to comp I'm more familiar with an 80/20 or 85/15 model and the lower number being based on retention and incremental numbers. I have definitely put accelerators in place so we if we over achieve on the incremental number we are rewarding everyone. While CS is not closing the deal, if we are asking the right questions and creating more CSQL it should drive more revenue. Given I grew up in sales and later found my home in Success(wasn't a thing when I started my career), I do believe comp drives behavior.

jaime chambron

Remote model will work fine as long as you have someone who owns engaging/growing your NA staff (i.e. someone in Australia who will be available NA times or id a lead for NA in NA). I would not add the overhead costs of an office with early expansion efforts. Do agree to re-imbursing home office expenses like internet/cell. WeWork and Common Desk are good but are starting to get more expensive.

I very rarely see commission in customer success - it sets the wrong objectives/expectation of what Success is doing IMHO. Bonus on CSQL (CS generated qualified leads) but CS is typically not closing the deals but handing back to sales.

Sophie Quinn

Thanks Chitra that's really insightful.

Chitra Madhwacharyula

I have hired remote CS team members in India and Europe when we had our base in U.S (CA) and were expanding in those regions to work with both local customers and customers in nearby regions. We have followed both hiring models, i.e. hired a few people locally to work with top customers in the region while also using remote CS, managed services and support teams to service those regions more broadly.

We did find the remote model successful as long the remote team is available to work in the local times of the regions they support. That expectation has to be set upfront. Also, if there are any specific language requirements or expertise that's needed, that have to be addressed as well.

The base pay and perks vary widely based on location, required technical competency, complexity of your products, the demands and nature of the job, what kind of hours the team members have to maintain etc. Some good perks that people appreciate are remote office setup stipend, some common office space for team members in that region to meet (like WeWork), a phone subscription, commute stipend etc.

Hope this info is helpful.