I was looking for some feedback from this community on how you train your CSMs.
Many B2B SaaS companies train their CSMs to be the ‘single point of contact’ for customers, where the CSM is knowledgeable about the product(s) but really they coordinate with SMEs in other departments (trainers, product coaches, technical account managers, product managers, etc.) to share expertise and best practices with customers. This increases the CSMs’ potential book of products that they support, and enables each customer to have a single CSM even if they buy multiple, complex products, but limits how knowledgeable the CSM can be with regard to each individual product.
Other B2B SaaS companies train their CSMs to become SMEs themselves, becoming the go-to expert for customers to leverage. This limits the number of products that the CSM can support, and when customers buy multiple products it means that multiple CSMs must support a single customer, but it makes the CSM an expert in the product that they support. More advanced CSMs may take on multiple products as they progress.
How does your organization structure your CSM roles? Are they 1) Resource Coordinators or 2) Subject Matter Experts? Do you believe that one approach is better for driving customer renewals?
