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cmultanen
cmultanen
Helper ⭐️
October 10, 2019

Servicing customers with groups of CSMs?

  • October 10, 2019
  • 11 replies
  • 472 views
Does anyone out there have experience with servicing customers with a "group" of CSMs instead of a single CSM?

Our team is currently exploring the idea of grouping several CSMs together along with a more junior member and having this group collectively service a patch of customers. The thought here is that the more junior member would learn on the job by supporting the CSMs with the more tactical/day-to-day request while the more senior member focus on the strategic aspects: conducting EBRs, stakeholder engagement, adoption, etc. We're hoping that this would also help mitigate the friction/pains of account transitions when a CSM moves roles or leaves the company entirely. Instead of being assigned a completely new CSM, the customer would still have the familiar names and faces of their dedicated CSM group. Thoughts?

Would love to hear if anyone else has experimented with this and/or has other ideas for reducing account transition pains. If so, would also be interested in how you've implemented this in Gainsight. Thanks!

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      Dylan.Shields
      Dylan.Shields
      Contributor ⭐️
      December 15, 2020

      @cmultanen I manage our team of pooled CSMs.  I like to call it ‘Client Success By Committee’.  Customers over a certain $ threshold receive a dedicated traditional CSM, but customers that fall under the $ threshold do not receive a dedicated CSM, and instead receive our pooled CSM resources, but we don’t really introduce the concept to customers because it can be confusing to understand who their key contacts are.  Their expectation after going live on our product is to reach out to Customer Support and use our Knowledge Base/Community for any product questions/needs. 

       

      We generate various types of CTAs (post go live check in, NPS response, usage habits decreased, important event occurred, etc.) that go to an ‘Unassigned Cockpit’ List view, and our pooled CSMs work out of the queue(s) by taking ownership of a few CTAs per day and engaging with those customers.  If the customer engages back, the CSM will work with the customer over a month to two month long period to ‘get them back on track’ so they are maximizing the product and are comfortable managing it themselves with the help of Customer Support and our KB moving forward.  This model has its pros and cons, but it works well for our small accounts that don’t need a dedicated high touch CSM, so there is really no pain when turnover occurs.  We track renewal rate, NPS, and upsells/renewals that occurred as a result of the pooled CSM’s intervention.

       

      Would be interested to hear if you went through with your ideas from a year ago and how it’s going now!

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