Average BoB size per CSM?

Thomas Fortier

I expect this to be a very subjective discussion, but I am curious what you consider to be a manageable BoB/client portfolio? For the purposes of this conversation, let's limit this to high-touch clients, as tech touch clients can be more easily scaled and included in a larger BoB. As I think about it, these are some of the most important elements (in no particular order) that I would consider when assigning BoB's for high-touch accounts:

• Total spend by client
• # of contracts to be renewed
• # of users per client

What else would you consider? I'd love to hear all your thoughts on this important aspect of not only making client's successful, but also in setting up CSM's for success with their clients.

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

Hey Tom, forgive me I have never seen the acronym BoB before.

I typically advocate based on bandwidth and level of effort similar to managing a project manager's time.

I'll tell you what typically happens with my high-touch customers:

45 min weekly cadence call

30 min (on average, they email me with two questions a week that usually takes 15 min from reception, research, resolution, and update.)

30 min research and followup of items discussed in the cadence call

30 min support case review and followup

So on average my high touch customers require about 2.5 hours (rounded up) give or take per week.

 

Consider that there are 40 work hours in a week and eliminate internal work hours such as

5 hours of internal meetings.

5 hours of company initiative projects

 

This leaves me with 30 hours. Leave 3 hours that are flexible and I have 27 hours. At this rate, I could take on 11 high touch customers

I currently have 6 high touch customers and 24 low touch customers who get a biweekly 30 min or monthly 45 min cadence call with less than half of the lead time on other CSM activities.

Thomas Fortier

Thanks for the reply Kevin, apologies for the acronym - BoB was standard with my last role because we talked about book-of-business regularly as CSM's fell under the revenue team. I appreciate the thoughtful input, that seems like a healthy expectation and process for developing a schedule. Were your "high touch" customers categorized as such based on ARR or growth potential? 

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

ok that makes sense. I was racking my brain trying to figure out what BoB was. I kept focusing on Bring own Bottle and derivatives of that. Haha

They are not based on ARR. We vet our customers to understand what their overall goals are and determine a long term level of effort with the customer. Or if we feel that it would be strategic for us to manufacture value programs with this customer, then we label it a high touch. For example: one of my accounts is below the minimum ARR threshold for a CSM to manage it. But because of their company size, we understand that there are opportunities for expansion. We also recognize that they are a subsidiary of a larger company that we would like to do business in the future.

Thomas Fortier

It is the last day before a long holiday weekend for most in the US, so if you want to bring your own bottle to this discussion, I highly encourage it :-)

Ronni Gaun

Thanks for the detailed information @Kevin Mitchell Leonor I think that the opportunity for expansion is a good one to include when designating a customer as high touch (or not). It is a longer play and the risk is on the business doling out high touch resources but with a few strong case studies of success, this could be a scalable strategy leveraging shared experiences. 

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

indeed Ronni, the decision to give such a strategic account must be done selectively and conservatively to protect the time and resources of the CSM and the company. By doing so, we can mitigate some of the risks for this high reward opportunity.