What it takes to build a world-class customer success team

This article is based on a presentation given by Matt at our Customer Success Festival in London, 2023.

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Building a world-class customer success team is crucial for driving measurable customer results and fostering long-term business growth.

I've seen firsthand how the right team dynamics, a clear vision, and strong cross-functional partnerships can transform customer success efforts.

In this article, I'll share strategies and practical steps for creating and nurturing a high-performance customer success team, including:

Building a world-class team,
Team dynamics,
Focusing on critical metrics, and
Cross-functional partnerships.

The importance of a focused team

The first thing is the importance of focusing on the team. As we navigate CS, a key question arises: how can our software application do more to accelerate and become the vehicle for driving measurable customer results?

There has been significant discussion about the potential capabilities of generative AI to aid in this endeavor.

However, I’m a firm believer that people – the humans – when part of thriving high-performance teams, can still make a tangible difference to customer value and, consequently, to the revenue outcomes that we, as customer leaders, care about.

We must always remember the importance of high-performing teams in driving outsized impact. But this leads us to an essential question: how do you create a world-class team?

I’m going to discuss four key areas that are crucial in this process:

Recruitment: This involves how you hire and ensure you're bringing in the right folks, and once you have the right people, how do you nurture their talent?
Team dynamics: As leaders, we need to constantly think about team dynamics to ensure the team can drive outsized impact.
Focusing on critical metrics: It's vital to keep the team hyper-focused on the right critical metrics.
Cross-functional partnerships: We cannot operate in isolation; we need to break down silos to enhance customer value generation.

Building a world-class team

There are a number of steps to building a world-class team:

Clear and compelling vision

Building a world-class team starts with establishing a clear and compelling vision. In my 10 years in customer management and leadership roles, I've developed a vision that has worked well for me, although it may not be universal.

My focus is on how customer success can accelerate the delivery of measurable results to key customer roles, whether they are champions or economic buyers. This is achieved by building and maintaining high-quality relationships.

This vision is something I consistently communicated at CultureAmp, in team meetings, one-to-one engagements, and all interactions. I firmly believe in the value of constant communication. My rule of thumb is that when you think you're over-communicating, you're probably just doing the right amount.

Recruiting the right talent

The next crucial step is attracting the right talent for your team of Customer Success Managers. Here are the four key attributes I look for:

Curiosity: I assess this by the quality of questions candidates ask during interviews. Are they asking high-quality questions? Have they researched our business? This type of curiosity is vital as it helps CSMs understand the critical business contexts that customers are dealing with.
Empathy: I evaluate empathy by asking candidates about their experiences dealing with difficult customer feedback. This helps me understand if they have the emotional intelligence (EQ) and self-awareness to handle challenging customer interactions. It's also an indicator of their coachability.
Relationship-building skills: I ask candidates to walk me through how they built rapport quickly with a key point of contact in their most recent role. This demonstrates their ability to establish and maintain important relationships.
Integrity: Integrity is non-negotiable. I want team members who help build a trust-based and authentic culture. To gauge this, I ask about situations where they had to break the rules and the reasons behind their decisions. This helps me understand their ethical framework and decision-making process.

Nurturing talent

Nurturing talent is a hallmark of great leadership. It’s about helping team members become the best versions of themselves.

I focus on four tenets of high-performance people management:

Coaching: This involves asking high-quality, open-ended questions to help team members work through challenging customer scenarios. I use the SIN funnel (Situation, Obstacles, Next steps) to encourage critical thinking and build a growth mindset and resilience.
Ongoing feedback: This includes both positive reinforcing feedback and constructive feedback. I use the situation-behavior-impact (SBI) model to provide specific, actionable feedback that helps team members grow.
Communicate clear and compelling plans: This is linked to the clarity of vision. Leaders must provide clear expectations and accountability. This clarity is crucial for the team to focus on the right goals and metrics.
Hold accountability: Esure the team is being held accountable for the work they do.

By focusing on these areas we can build and sustain a world-class customer success team. This foundation allows us to drive significant results and create a lasting impact on customer value and revenue outcomes.

Team dynamics

To achieve world-class outcomes for customers and our business, we must consider the team dynamics that facilitate these results.

Here are three crucial elements:

Psychological safety

As a leader, it's essential to create a psychologically safe environment. This concept, widely researched by Dr Edmondson, revolves around allowing everyone on the team to express their true views without fear of negative consequences. It's about nurturing a culture where people feel safe to speak up and share their thoughts.

To foster this environment, I focus on role modeling vulnerability. For example, in team meetings, I might share that I've had a bad day or discuss a recent mistake I've made. This authenticity encourages others to do the same, creating a culture of openness and trust.

Vulnerability acts as a force multiplier, enabling faster learning from feedback and fostering trust. Trust, in turn, is the currency of high-performing teams.

Shared context

Another critical aspect of team dynamics is providing shared context. I spend considerable time compressing hierarchy to ensure everyone understands the rationale behind leadership decisions. For instance, if we change our segmentation focus, I explain why we made that decision and its implications for different team members.

Sharing the context behind decisions, including cross-functional perspectives on product changes or roadmaps, helps team members understand the broader picture.

Even if they disagree, they are more likely to commit to the decision. This shared understanding quickens decision-making on the front lines, empowering team members to make better choices in service of the customer.

Celebrating wins

Celebrating wins is vital for maintaining morale and momentum. As leaders, we should amplify and celebrate successes, both for our customers and our teams. Sharing customer success stories and recognizing great work openly boosts positivity and motivation.

Remember to have fun, too. This simple yet often forgotten aspect can significantly impact team dynamics. I have experience leading distributed teams and have found value in bringing the team together for intentional in-person moments, such as quarterly offsites. These events combine social interactions with work activities, strengthening team bonds.

In virtual scenarios, I incorporate fun elements as well. One of my favorites is the "Good News Friday" concept, where we end the week by sharing positive news, not just about our customers but anything uplifting.

This practice keeps the team inspired and ready for the next week.

By focusing on these elements —psychological safety, shared context, and celebrating wins— we can create a team dynamic that drives world-class results for our customers and business.

Focusing on critical metrics

Focusing the team is crucial for achieving world-class results. As I mentioned earlier, this starts with metric clarity. There is a lot of discussion in the industry around revenue metrics and customer health scores.

As customer leaders, we’re ultimately accountable for the financial performance of our business, which includes gross and net retention rates. However, the key is to focus on the leading indicators that drive these financial outcomes.

Here are the two primary metrics I emphasize:

Measurable results for key customer roles

Measurable results are vital. Health scores are useful, but one of their biggest limitations is that they often don't consider the actual measurable results delivered.

Research has shown that customers who are even slightly aware of measurable results, despite them being suboptimal, are six times more likely to stay than those who aren't focused on measurable results at all. This highlights the importance of focusing on metrics that matter to the customer, not just proxies like NPS or product usage.

Measuring customer success should involve metrics that the customer cares about, aligning with their business outcomes. CS teams are best placed to drive these results because they work with customers daily. By focusing on measurable results, we can ensure that we’re meeting the customers' needs and enhancing their satisfaction and retention.

Measuring the strength of relationships

The second key metric is the strength of relationships with key customer roles, specifically champions and economic buyers.

I use a simple five-point scale to quantify this:

No relationship: No meaningful connection with the customer.
Initial engagement: Some interaction but limited depth.
Developing relationship: Customer occasionally seeks our advice.
Strong relationship: Customer regularly engages with us for advice.
Trusted advisor: Customer sees us as a thought partner, even on issues beyond our product.

Each month, teams should evaluate and record the strength of these relationships for both champions and economic buyers. This metric is especially critical in enterprise segments where renewals are complex and involve multiple stakeholders.

Strong, multi-threaded relationships across different levels of the customer organization are crucial for successful renewals and expansions.

Building a robust revenue forecasting model

These two metrics —measurable results and relationship strength— are the foundation for building a robust revenue forecasting model. By analyzing cohorts of customers based on these metrics, we can identify those at risk and those ripe for expansion:

At-risk customers: Poor relationships and no measurable results delivered.
Customers ready for expansion: Strong relationships and excellent measurable results.
Customers in the middle: Opportunities for further engagement and value expansion.

This model helps us hold our team accountable and also enables us to hold our cross-functional partners accountable. It ensures that we’re all aligned and working towards the same goals, recognizing that we do not operate in isolation.

Focusing on these leading indicators and consistently measuring them means we can drive significant improvements in customer value and ultimately enhance our financial performance. This not only helps us achieve our goals but also builds a more resilient and effective customer success organization.

Cross-functional partnerships

In CS, we’re uniquely positioned to champion a customer-obsessed mindset across the entire company. This is not just a buzzword but an operating philosophy that should permeate every aspect of the business. As CS leaders and CSMs, we can be the driving force behind this transformation.

As a leader, I invest a significant amount of time in building and nurturing cross-functional partnerships. These partnerships are vital, not only with other go-to-market (GTM) teams but also with the product organization. By adopting a compassionate leadership approach —empathizing with what’s happening in their world and taking mutual action— we can drive better customer outcomes and results.

CS acts as the hub of customer intelligence. We gather and synthesize insights from various customer interactions, making us central to understanding and improving customer experiences.

Here are some specific cross-functional partnerships that are crucial for driving better customer value:

CS and marketing/sales: Collaboration in identifying the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is critical. Aligning on who our ideal customer is, and iterating on this over time, ensures that our marketing and sales efforts are targeted effectively. This alignment is not static; it should evolve, potentially on a monthly basis, or at least quarterly or semi-annually.
CS and sales: The handoff process from sales to post-sale teams is a pivotal moment. If this transition is mishandled, it can lead to significant issues for both the customer and the CS team. Ensuring a smooth handoff is essential for setting up customers for success.
CS and account management: In organizations where account managers focus on commercial aspects like renewals and expansions, close collaboration with CS is vital. Clear roles and responsibilities help in driving renewals and identifying expansion opportunities effectively.
CS and product: Our products must evolve to drive measurable customer results. CS teams are invaluable thought partners to product teams, providing critical feedback loops. This collaboration helps in creating pathways within the product that lead to desired outcomes for customers. Regularly iterating on these pathways based on customer feedback ensures that we continually improve the customer experience.

By focusing on these cross-functional partnerships, we can embed a customer-obsessed mindset throughout the organization. CS teams, acting as the hub of customer intelligence, play a critical role in aligning marketing, sales, account management, and product teams towards a common goal: driving measurable customer results and delivering exceptional value. This ensures that we’re not only meeting but exceeding customer expectations, thereby fostering long-term loyalty and success.