Manager of Customer Success Interview Process

Ross Reitman

Hi Community!

I am about to start hiring my first Manager of CS to manage the CSM team here. I am opening a few other functions and am growing the CSM team so I will need someone to manage them directly to ensure they have the proper support and have someone to focus on their KPIs, growth and to keep improving processes as we are a new and fast growing team.

Do you have any traits and interview questions/processes that you love?

Thanks,

Ross

Gwendolyn Radsch

Hi Ross, 

I'm also in interviewing mode for a small team and I am always looking for curious and independent individual contributors. By asking CSMs about how they manage their book of business and to walk me through specific examples with customers (positive and negative) I can typically get a good read on how much of these key attributes they embody. Given that a CS Role is typically both about being client forward AND internal advocate, I am looking for examples that illustrate these behaviors. Honestly, I don't want to have to do a lot of digging for this material because for my leaders with experience I expect them to know this is important and to proactively seek ways to demonstrate these as strengths. 
Most everything else depends on what you are looking for in terms of delivery and outcomes but as far as characteristics I hope that response gives you some ideas.
Best,
Gwen