[CS Leadership Office Hours] CSM Territory Planning

Great discussion today, @Jeff Breunsbach!  Thank you for the opportunity to facilitate with @Emily Campos. 

We had some good dialogue about strategies for customer segmentation and whether or not teams have adjusted assignments based on geography, times zones, etc during Covid.  Most felt that remote-work has lent itself to a more even approach to customer segmentation since travel is not happening. Others have tried to ensure the customer doesn't experience changes during this time of uncertainty, while some people have had to create a more low-touch/ tech-touch model due to resource constraints. 

Here are some other key takeaways that stood out to me:

• @Joe Mitchell brought up a great point around the incentivization structure for their CSMs. The model used to be 1 AE to 3 CSMs but this was not as effective. Now, he switched the model to "The wolfpack" where it's 1 AE and 1 CSM incentivized to work together and meet customer needs in pre-sales and expansion.
  • Additionally, he removed the 90-day renewal strategy and started focusing on this immediately. CSMs became advisors with a point of view on how to approach renewals for each of their accounts. @Scott Morgan also employed a strategy to align more closely with sales and evaluate renewals at 180 days. instead of 90. 

• @Parker Chase-Corwin mentioned that consistency was key at his company and they resisted the urge to mix things up when covid hit, making sure their customers felt stability from them. He also focused on removing non-critical tasks from CSMs plates so they could focus more on customer conversations – recognizing that the shift to remote has increased meetings for everyone. 

• @Jeffrey Nadeau suggested checking out Intercom to meet customers where they are from within the application. At this time, his CS team is managing both support and proactive CS activity so this model may not work for all. 

• Others were looking into creating new playbooks and plans like @Amanda Wachendorf who overhauled her tech-touch strategy. She also stressed the importance of adjusting client communication to consider "how do we help you now?" vs an expansion oriented focus. 

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Kelly Hook
Head of Customer Success | Orderful
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-06-2020 12:10
From: Jeff Breunsbach
Subject: [CS Leadership Office Hours] CSM Territory Planning

Starting a thread for CS Leadership Office Hours on August 6. 

Topic: CSM Territory Planning


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Jeff Breunsbach
Director, Customer Experience | Higher Logic
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