My 2021 Customer Success Resolutions

Emily Garza

January is the month for resolutions, but unfortunately 23% of people quit their resolution after just one week. I’m sharing these in the hopes that you can join me to continue to elevate the Customer Success profession as well as hold me accountable throughout the year. 

Customer Success Manager

• I will get out of the weeds. As a CSM, you have to do some of the nitty gritty to get things completed but you can’t allow it to take over your entire approach. Being able to take the macro view and create a long term strategy is critical.
• I will not reach out to “check in”. Value is the name of the game, especially with even more volume being driven over email and zoom meetings. Ensure your outreach is directly driving the customer towards their objectives. 
• I will share my learnings. While customer success can be seen as an individual focus, with each team member working on their own assigned accounts, sharing successes for others to emulate will improve the entire team’s approach. 
• I will not rest on my past success. Businesses will continue to evolve as we move through this pandemic and contacts may change roles or leave the company. You need to continue to invest in building relationships, understanding your customers’ business goals, and re-educating your customers. 

Customer Success Leadership

• I will focus on skill development. For both myself and my team, understanding skills you want to learn or practice will help you continue to improve. By being intentional about projects you join, internal and external exposure, and seeking feedback, you can build new skills or continue to hone existing ones, improving your value (and satisfaction!) in the workplace. 
• I will not use 1:1 time to run through a list of customer updates. Rather, start by ensuring there is human connection and the openness to talk about anything on the employee’s mind. Then spend time talking about how you can help remove roadblocks to allow them to thrive- identifying challenges to solve, processes needed or cross functional alignment needed. 
• I will create a consistent story across the company. A CS leader needs to share updates, metrics and customer feedback across the organization and to the executive team. By highlighting key themes and providing clear metrics, you allow other cross functional leaders to better support your efforts.  
• I will not assume more accounts directly translates to more headcount. While you don’t want to dilute a high-touch CSM team to a tech touch model, focusing on areas you can automate or provide better visibility will give your team members the flexibility to take on another account or two and maintain the expected level of engagement. 

What resolutions are you bringing into 2021?