Customer Success Manager Job Description: Essential Tips and Top Examples

The role of a Customer Success Manager (CSM) has now been a subject of rapid expansion in any software-as-a-service (SaaS) company. Though, this role started out on a simpler ground; it has seen a keen transformation of customer engagement from an orthodox ‘reactive’ to a rather ‘proactive’ mind-set. As you can see, today the entire face of this role has changed dynamically.

They have taken over umpteen responsibilities and firmly produce one of the vital pillars of ‘growth’ within a SaaS community. From a plethora of such roles that a lucrative customer success specialist holds, below are the core seven tasks that are most sought after for a customer success manager job description. Also, we will be walking through some of the burning CSM Job Description examples and an enticing template awaits you in the blog.

Table of Contents

• Roles and Responsibilities of a CSM
• Customer Success Manager Job Description Examples
• Customer Success Manager Job Description Template

Roles and Responsibilities of a CSM

Needless to say, a CSM should know the ins and outs of the Customer Success space. This role demands you to build a strong rapport with the customers and effectively communicate with the internal teams. Here are seven such roles and responsivities from the CSM job description:

Has a sound knowledge of Product and Technical Support

It is deemed pertinent for a CSM to know all about the company’s products inside and out. As a manager, you need to be aware that you may be called upon at any moment to provide technical assistance to the clients or to provide on-site training on the products.

You may even have to come up with the most efficient ways to utilize a given software based on the customer’s business plans or needs. As a CSM, all your focus should not be laser-beamed on making sales, but rather on educating your customers on the capabilities and flexibility of the given software so that they do not give in on the products, that easy!

Understands the Process of Renewals

Yes, you heard that right! Renewals are often synonymous to be the lifeline of a SaaS company since a large portion of the revenue comes through the existing customers. It is customer renewals, that keep the recurring revenue, recurring! As a successful CSM, you must be able to follow up on the current quarter or month to avert hindrances, if any. You can note this – the larger the duration of the contract, the more is the value of the effort that needs to be generated. Some of it might call for some fresh paperwork, to steer away from any last-minute surprises.

Can walk through Customer Onboarding

An essential point in a customer success manager job description is the task of customer onboarding. One of the bullet points that you need to keep in mind is that you do not have to be too verbose. Simply put, you do not have to teach all the features of your product to your clients. Elucidate only the ones which help a customer achieve early value. 

To grab the best results, your customers must be taken through the shortest path to value so that they can get some return on investment (ROI) as soon as possible. It is a proven fact that the seeds of growth or churn are sown early, time and again. Hence, it is necessary for the CSM to streamline a well-designed customer onboarding framework that soothes the lives of the customers.

Establishes practices for Customer Support

As a CSM, you need to acknowledge the fact that you shall be responsible for creating policies and procedures that optimize the customer experience. For this, you will have to follow simple steps such as soliciting feedback from the clients, studying other customer success roles, and analyzing customer data to ascertain the best practices. At the end of the day, you must be able to establish policies for the whole of the staff members, which they can adhere to and receive the same quality of services.

Supervises Staff and Employees

Some of your other tasks would include reviewing applications, supervising staff, performing basic HR work like training and development, hiring, etc. Over and above, you might have to conduct appraisals, evaluations, process payroll of the employees, or handle disciplinary actions. Mentoring and providing on the site job training are some of the other tasks expected. And most importantly, be alert!  

Accounts Escalations

Ranging from myriad issues like an overdue customer support ticket, red flags, poor health or be it any customer reaching out for some issue – you must ensure that you can tame the situation as much as possible or in dramatic terms control the fire when it is small and manageable.

A customer will always have this natural feeling that you are there to help him or her whenever the situation demands. This a very helpful step during the times of renewal when you can upsell to the customers as you mentor them to reach the pinnacle of success.

Conducts periodic health check-ups

As a customer success specialist, you mostly cannot leave the happiest, healthiest, or youngest customer to chance. Conducting a periodic health check-up of at least the key accounts is an important activity to maintain the ever-increasing mix. Additionally, it will weather the customer success team to take effective steps, just in the unlikely event of a dissatisfied client, either with the product or with some other personal or technical reason. 

Since it is actually deemed difficult to figure out the exact condition of most of the customers in real-time, what you can do in such a scenario is to render service from a customer success platform. This will not only help you in monitoring account health but also enhance your efficiency by a mile.

Customer Success Manager Job Description Examples

Now that you have a basic understanding of what is a Customer Success Manager and what does his roles and responsibilities look like, lets us dive a bit more and see some of the relevant job description examples. They will put a spotlight on the specific details and what should be expected of you in terms of the requirements. Let us dig in.

#1 Example

[Redacted] is on the lookout for a Customer Success Manager to manage a higher level of customer satisfaction, aid in retaining customers and demonstrate product usage. You will serve as the focal point of contact for our key clients. You are also required to understand the customer success criterion in and out, and come up with relevant, practical solutions and prove your mettle as a trusted advisor for our customers.

Job Duties:

• Perform onboarding of accounts with the clients and ensure the best ongoing engagement throughout the customer’s lifetime.
• Put forth a communications strategy that maintains and fulfills high customer satisfaction.
• Take customer success reviews periodically and resolve concerns with the assistance of the Technical Support Team.
• Work closely with the other teams, mainly Marketing and Sales teams to provide customer insights that state additional sales and service opportunities
• Meet all the monthly or weekly targets, including maintaining high unit renewal rates.

Requirements

• Should have a passion for benefitting customers and a desire to deeply understand their needs.
• Ability to maintain a high-valued outcome-based relationship with an eclectic customer profile base.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field is a must.
• Capability to gain trust and credibility by addressing customer’s needs and concerns
• Willing to travel periodically based on the business and project’s needs.

#2 Example

We are looking for a dynamic candidate who has a proven customer success experience in augmenting customer adoption, minimizing churn rates and turning customers into product champions. Also, this individual should know how to define and launch the Customer Success function for the specific product. If you have what it takes and have the passion to grow whilst seeking opportunities, this is the right position for you.

Job Duties:

• Conduct customer-focused Quarterly Business Reviews and measure partner performance against the pre-set business metrics.
• Efficiently plan and prioritize customer activities and follow up in a timely fashion.
• Foresee and identify the expansion, upsell and cross-sell opportunities and partner with sales to close such deeds.
• Understand the demand of your clients and act as the voice of the customers internally.
• Act as the liaison with the technical team, accounting teams and other areas of the business to ensure the best of customer satisfaction.

Requirements:

• 3+ years of expertise in the Customer Success niche, Consulting, Sales or Marketing.
• Exceptional planning and communication skills.
• Stellar presentation skills, client management and written communication skills.
• Experience in implementing customer solutions in a [redacted] capacity a notch up.
• Willingness to travel to the client’s location as and when required.

#3 Example

[Redacted] is looking for a Customer Success Manager to focus on retaining, building and growing the current customer base. This individual will work closely with the Sales Teams and act as a bridge between various teams to make sure that our customers are up for success. This individual will also be instrumental in creating long-lasting partnerships and responsible for driving positive outcomes. Here is what we will be needing.

Job Duties:

• Execute and develop account strategies for the customers and deliver positive outcomes for the clients.
• Forecast and identify the calculated risks and seek the growth opportunities.
• Create meaningful relationships and build trust among the customers within each key account.
• Study the current customer needs, market activities, industry trends, and forecast product improvements
• Make sure that every customer gets the value that [redacted] promises to deliver to their customers.

Requirements:

• At least 3-5 years of account management experience in a related field.
• Stellar understanding of value-driven knowledge in recurring revenue business models
• Should be able to work well in a team environment and adapt with people from different walks of life.
• Previous Sales or Marketing experience is a plus.
• Strong empathy for clients and passion for growth and revenue building.

#4 Example

This position is designed for an experienced Customer Success Manager who has keen observation, focuses on details and strives for Customer Success and satisfaction. Also, we are on the lookout for an individual who is credible, articulate and is metrics-driven as well. This role will also work in direct relation with the Technical Support, Finance, and Sales.

Job Duties:

• Drive and create a value realization working plan for the customers.
• Identify new opportunities for the clients and work with account executives to aid the sales process.
• Coordinate with the users and procure to make sure renewals taking place in a timely fashion.
• Track record of meeting annual or quarterly targets.
• Assist the customer in maintaining account direction happening within the Customer Success organization.

Requirements:

• Proven track record of growing and maintain complicated relations with proper management schemes.
• 5+ years of work experience in customer success management or account management or equivalent.
• Ability to align the internal resources to meet and exceed the customer requirements and deadlines.
• Stellar organization and communication skills.
• Strong leadership, teamwork and collaboration skills.

Customer Success Manager Job Description Template

Associate Customer Success Manager – Gameloft

Customer Success Manager – Betterteam

That’s a Wrap

The aforementioned are a few such points that are reckoned important in a customer success manager job description. Over and above, what cannot be given a backseat is the fact that a CSM should measure few key performance indicators (KPI), to ensure that the company is moving in the right direction at the right speed. 

An efficient CSM with a focused team can completely change the path of a company. It is the team that decides the turnover, revenue, and return of investment generated. One more thing that needs to be seen is that it is much needed to give the CSM to make independent decisions without feeling any exterior pleasure. Simply put, a good customer success team makes or breaks the company. In the end, the happiness of a customer is all that matters.

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