Support and CSM dynamic PRIOR to joining the company

Anastasia Magnitskaia

Hi All,

Great discussion on the leadership call today! I wanted to pose a question for the group here-

I am currently looking to transition into a CSM role. What is the best way to figure out how support and CSM functions interact prior to joining the company? Is CSM role an actual support function? It is absolutely a question that I have been asking on interviews, but wondering if there are any other signs or clues that are good to watch out for.

Thank you!

Anastasia

Brian Hartley

Hi, @Anastasia Magnitskaia - I would keep an eye on the job description.  I suspect that support should be explicitly (or not) called out as a responsibility of the role. As far as figuring out prior to joining the company, wonder if you could do reconnaissance on LinkedIn to see what other titles exist in that org. to extrapolate if support is a function of CSM or not.  Good luck!

Ido Barnoam

Hi @Anastasia Magnitskaia - I think that asking directly is the best way to go.

On top of that, you could explore the company's Linkedin profile. Specifically, you could look for CSM roles and support roles. If the two different roles exist, I would guess that they are different and have different areas of impact.

Most likely, in companies that don't have the distinction between Support and CSM, there would be no need for another position description so either one or the other position won't exist.

Hope that helps.

Scott Hopper

@Anastasia Magnitskaia,  as @Brian Hartley said the JD will be telling.  But, a well-targeted search will have you talking to IC's and leadership in both Support and Success.   But, job search is messy.   So target in interviews with Success people.  What things they do to help their support colleagues.  Are they spending a lot of time on escalations?  Are they fighting with dev/product to fix bugs all the time?  Good support systems will bubble up occurrences,   This will help understand how much time they are getting to be proactive and where they/ their company is in the stage of evolution in terms of customer success.

Nicholas Ayala

It's going to depend on the maturity of the company. In smaller organizations where the Customer Sucess team is young, the team may be responsible for Customer Success (proactive), Support (reactive), and Implementation. 

@Ido Barnoam's advice to ask directly to understand the structure of the organization is probably the fastest way to find clarity with regards to that specific company.

Anastasia Magnitskaia

Excellent advice Scott, thank you!

Anastasia Magnitskaia

Thanks Brian! Great point- if not in the job description, it is always a fair question to ask in interviews!

Anastasia Magnitskaia

Great advice on utilizing LinkedIn for getting answers to those questions. Thank you!

Anastasia Magnitskaia

Thank you for that advice- I agree direct question is key!