First CSM at Startup
Longtime listener, first-time caller here. I am looking to connect with other members who are the first CSM in their Orgs. I just started as CSM for a travel agent technology startup.
I would love to learn more best practices and hear advice and feedback from other first CSM's.
What metrics are you using to start? How is your role different than traditional CSM roles? Any advice for not getting lost in the weeds?
Cheers,
Colin
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- Retention & expansion (renewals)
- Upsell
- Minimizing churn
Best of luck, feel free to reach out at any time.
Congratulations on the new role. I too have just started as the first CSM in the organisation. There are a number of challenges to being the first in a role that has never existed before, especially a role that some people in the organisation sometimes don't quite understand.
One of the big things for me is trying to define the processes and how to use the existing tools to assist you be as effective as possible. We have Hubspot and I am currently trying to bend it to my will.
Regards
Nick
Congratulations! I'll be in your same position mid-March. I appreciate all of the replies to your question and look forward to learning from each other as we go.
Until then, best wishes!
Leanne
I spent quite a while in CS at HubSpot and now lead CS at a startup. As others such as Harsh have mentioned, your startup priorities will likely be distinct from a mid-market or larger organization. I'd recommend focusing on net dollar retention:
Excited for you and happy to help if there are more specific Q's!
Happy to arrange a call with you and share my experience.
Let's chat privately and schedule a call.
Adding a link to Webinar, in which I participated about being the first CS professional in your organization:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2XpHEeNff4https://www.linkedin.com/in/guy-galon-b1a80/
Guy Galon
Executive Advisor
LinkedIn
My Website: TheCSCycle.com
Hey Colin, I wish you the best and plenty of success in your new job!
During the early stages of a startup, I believe you can first focus more on processes that ensure your existing clients continuously be successful and satisfied rather than focus on defining strategies to increase the client base. For a startup, retention is very much crucial as it promotes the health and success of your organization. You can further work on building long-term partnerships with your customers with the help of cross-functional teams that are trained to do the right thing at the right time. There is a high possibility for customers to experience difficulties with the product at an early stage so cross-collaboration is essential. At this stage, you might not have a dedicated support team or an onboarding team so mostly you would be responsible for all your customer's needs like implementation, support, upsell, and renewal and therefore, you've to be ready to wear multiple hats at this stage.
Also, aid in the product enhancement/roadmap by sharing valuable customer feedback to the product teams regularly. Then as your client base will grow you can segment the customers to plan personalized activities for a more mature business stage. You can expect a lot of blocking and tackling in the early days but it will also help you to grow and learn many new things about this industry.
Best Regards,
Harsh Shah
Customer Success Manager, Woliba
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harshshah-15/
Email: hcshah15.hs@gmail.com
Being the first CSM is exciting! You can bring a lot of unrealized value. I'm not sure of really any one spot to learn best practices, however, this group has office hours and events posted often which will be extremely helpful for you. If there is anything in particular along your journey, just ask here or on an office hours webinar. I find that the CS community is always willing to help out.
Congrats on your new role Colin,
-Josh
I will link an article I wrote on this for onboarding, but I am assuming that it will apply to you for that part of the job. But before I do that, I just want to say to not get too deep into all of the materials that are out there. A startup will function a lot differently than some of the best practices at a public company, and I see many of the people that I work with and help get depressed because they don't have a platform, data ops, etc.
Make sure that you have a defined customer journey. Make sure you aren't getting pulled down into answer support tickets. Ensure that you have a good connection with the sales team. Know who own the renewal process. Try to see if you can get product usage for your customers. Feel empathy with them.
Here is the article, and feel free to ask me any questions
https://www.jeffkushmerek.com/blog/tthe-ipop-the-implementation-process-optimization-plan
Hi @Amanda Watson, I'm happy to discuss live - I just sent you a DM to arrange a time.
I've done this a few times and I'm always happy to share and learn.
Thanks!
I don't have any advice, just wanted to say - You are not alone! I am building the first customer success function for my company and so far - I am the team! I have been with the company for almost 20 years and I am a product/industry expert, but new to CS. I would love to hear feedback from others, too.
We have been considering using a consulting firm to get us up and running - but our business is pretty unique and just concerned about how that would play out.
Wish you well.
Amanda