First CSM at a software company

Hi Bayron! Congratulations on your move and new adventure! I've been in a similar position to you a few times, so I have some knowledge to impart. I like to start with the following:

Analyze your customer base: who are your customers? How many customers do you have? How can you segment them for engagement, measurement, etc. What does their usage of your platform look like?

Analyze your tech stack: what tools are available to you internally? What is the source of truth for customer data? Who has access to that data?

Analyze the current state of engagement with your customers: how do they ask for help? What resources are available to them? Are there self-service options or product documentation? How are renewals facilitated, within the Sales organization or elsewhere?

Once you have data from those analyses, you can start building processes and establishing goals and metrics. Understanding what exists first before you start building is critical.

I hope that's helpful! Best of luck!

Allison

Hey Bayron,

That's an exciting position to be in.

Along the lines of what Allison said, it's important to understand where things are currently before you can truly prioritize what needs to be implemented or changed.

Is there a specific metric or goal that leadership is going to be looking for? That could be project-based such as "outline and provide data on # of accounts and value of customer base." or they may have some

Next, determine what resources you have at your disposal, while it includes technologies, it could be a budget, physical hardware, a direct channel to escalate things/tickets/customer requests/etc..

Lastly, find someone or a group of people that you can dive deeper into your unique situations. Not every situation is the same and community is invaluable but a community cannot know you as well as a mentor or a couple of close leaders who you have shared intricate details with.

Happy to help further if you'd like.

I've done this a few times and it's a fun process Bayron - congrats on the promotion.

I'd agree with the other comments above, the one thing I'd add is that in all facets - understand what 'good enough' is for this stage of the company, your customers and your (eventual) team. I've learned that getting something 80% there and then iterating on it every 3-6 months vs trying to get the perfect process / sow / guide etc in place allows you to move more rapidly and react better to things that may change or things you learn as you implement your processes and tools.

Look for allies in other groups (support / product etc) and find a couple of friendly customers to talk to and ask them to be transparent on what's not working and what is etc.

Good luck and enjoy it - you'll be amazed at how much your learn!

-Andy