Ways to establish ownership in a start-up CS role

Jean-Pierre Frost

Hi everyone! I've been an Onboarding Specialist at my company for a month now and am part of a very new CS team. This is my first CS role, so it's very exciting and I love how we're figuring it out together. I've noticed a few areas that need to be addresses and would greatly appreciate any insights the community has. I apologize in advance if this is long but I'll do my best to be brief.

1) Blurred ownership/conflicts of interest

Someone from sales messages me and my co-worker about a large account they just closed. My co-worker is the onboarding owner but he allowed me to take it. I have a great conversation with the POC for the customer. For the next few days, the sales rep messages me everyday about this customer. At first it's ok, as he has great domain expertise and wants to help any way he can. After a while, it becomes a bit grating but I simply tell him I will let him know when the customer transacts. Finally, I see transactions pending and when I tell him, he lets me know the customer is upset and the higher ups are working on it. The last thing I want to do is be in the dark about an escalation. So I call the customer later and we have a great convo where he lets me know (unprompted) that he was going to contact me but the sales rep contacted him.

Why? I was a bit miffed because I believed sales had no incentive past the closing of the deal. Wrong. There's a bonus incentive when customers transact a certain amount, so for large accounts there's more at stake for them. I learned this after bringing it up with my supervisor, who said they can't stop him from contacting the customer but he needs to keep me in the loop. That doesn't sound like a working solution but she is working on a way to establish better territory ownership. Part of that leads me to my next issue...

2) Lack of centralized database

For my own sanity, I've begun to build my BOB in Google Sheets. With no easy way to parse which accounts are mine, I've been building it manually. I'm very proud, as its my first and I feel a sense of ownership. However, as I mentioned before, I've got a sales rep with cart blanche to interrupt my cadence with one of my largest accounts. There are also a few projects composed of different spreadsheets based on customer activity and none of them have clearly marked ownership. A member from customer support was brought in to help with one of them, but he has no CS training and a few of these accounts were mine. I made the mistake of redundantly reaching out to a couple of them because I didn't check three other databases to make sure the customer hasn't been contacted. Very tedious!

Thanks for your patience and that's exactly what I know I need here: patience! There's no real established CS team/leadership, as my supervisors are wearing too many hats. It's my first time at a start-up and the company itself is barely 8 months old. While I feel the sales rep went about this the "wrong" way, I understand why he did it and at this point, there isn't a great protocol around handoffs. I can manage my emotions, I'm interested in solutions. So my questions are:

What are some of the ways you've dealt with helping your new CS team establish ownership? Did you find a way to establish a more symbiotic relationship with sales? Is there any software you feel makes centralizing data easier?

BenB

Hi @Jean-Pierre Frost - congrats on the new role!  You're clearly taking enormous pride in your responsibility to the client and company!  Plus you're already diving into a community to help you grow. Cheers to you!

These are just my initial thoughts and there may be better advice out there but here we go... ?

1. The sales person has so much at stake when they hand off a new customer. They could have spent the last 12 months massaging this deal to where it is now. So their overbearing nature is understandable when dealing with a brand new Client Success Team.
2. Over Inolved Sales is probably a benefit (at this stage). IF they are more involved they will see what actually happens when they close a client.  They will feel the challenges/frustration if they over promise or misrepresent a solution.   Typically the customer complaint is "after I signed, my sales rep never called me again.  So look at their involvement as an opportunity (as annoying as it may be.)
3. This situation may be more related to an actual person, not a process or company thing. Basically, if you had the exact same process from  sales to onboarding, but insert a different sales person it might not exist.
4. What would I do? I'd just talk to the sales person and be honest. "….I appreciate you being so involved but im trying to really do my best in this role and its hard bla bla bla " Tell them how they can help you achieve your growth by giving you some room to breathe.  They may respond well to that  

We'll see what others say but that was just my first initial reaction.

Jean-Pierre Frost

Thanks so much @Ben Bunting! I really appreciate your perspective. @Jeffrey Kushmerek shared something similar in our breakout room during Office Hours, but we didn't quite have enough time to get in-depth as this. I'm glad I paused my emotional response in favor of gaining understanding, since this is my first time in this kind of environment. I'm taking it all as a learning opportunity!

I'm very grateful to have a community like this to bring my concerns and questions to ?

BenB

I realize I didnt answer the actual question in your title,  establising leadership... 

On that - i would start a company annoucement email celebrating successful onboarding of a cient.  Similar how a sales team will email "We just closed XYZ" 

you can announce:
Client XYZ signed on 10/1 and in 7 days they are fully onboarded.  
> milestone

>Step complete

>feedback from client. 

Consistent feedback and the sign of confidence in the process will start building that ownership and comfort in others.  - just one idea 

Jean-Pierre Frost

Ahh, this is a great idea! Thank you so much!!