Here’s my favorite question I ask people at Customer Success networking events.

I tried that same idea. @Scott Smith 

I said, my goal as a CSM is to get you to keep buying our product monthly like spotify that you pay monthly for. I need to make sure you like it enough by recommending music, curating a playlist for you, introducing you to more music you might like, getting you to share your spotify stuff in your social media, By helping you consume more, you are likely to come back.

The response I got: Oh you are in marketing.

Love the question and made me laugh at bit as I don't think I have ever been successful in the person not asking me if it was one of the listed roles. 

Sometimes I will use common household names such as Netflix and Amazon Prime to explain the shift to the subscription economy and that seems to make sense to most. However, If I start discussing the SaaS business model then I start to see confusion set in and its usually down hill from there. So I will typically delineate success from support and explain that the role is essentially to ensure the customer receives the most value from their purchase. 

I use that and I get a, oh so you are a software consultant. yea in a sense. Maybe explaining to people outside of SaaS is a losing battle. 

I tell my friends that I help customers after they buy a product to set it up, use it, and get the most value out of it to solve their companies problems. 

@Melissa Logothetis @Shane Correa @Scott Smith how do you usually explain your job to your friends and family?