Breaking into Customer Success

New Year, New Me time is upon us as we start 2024!? I know January is always a big time of year for job seekers, so I wanted to share four nuggets of advice for anyone looking to start a career in Customer Success in 2024. For those in Customer Success, please join the conversation and share what has worked for you!?

As I shared in my Jobs Report , Customer Success is a growing profession and one that I believe will continue to have exciting opportunities. For folks who are excited about working with customers and want to make a business impact, this is a great profession for you to explore!

Use your background to your advantage!?

This is my top piece of advice for someone looking for their first job in Customer Success who has already spent some time in the workforce.? Use the jobs or career that you have had to date as your top competitive advantage in your job search.?

I first heard this advice at the The Customer Conference in London where one suggestion that came up a couple of times was to hire professionals with industry experience instead of hiring CSMs from other industries. So, finding a company that you would be a client of in your current role and have strong industry knowledge around would be a great place to break into the industry.??

An example of this would be, if you are a graphic designer and want to move in Customer Success, you can look at companies like Adobe or Canva who work in this space.?

Learn in Communities?

Over the last few years, Customer Success communities have started popping up all over the globe.? It has been great to see these spaces come to life where CS pros can share knowledge, learn from each other, and support each other. For advice on how to break in and to learn what a CS role is really like, these communities are gold!?

I have personally taken a couple leadership positions within the Customer Success Network and it has been a great experience. I joined this group when I moved to Dublin and didn't have much of a network here. It has helped me to meet like minded individuals and learn from their experience in CS. My CS network in Dublin and Europe would not be nearly as large had I not gotten involved with this community.

Below are a few to check out but there are many more than this:?

Customer Success Network ,? Gain Grow Retain ,? CxXchange Community,? Catalyst Software Community?

Learn from Thought Leaders?

With the rise of communities, it has also led to a rise in Customer Success Thought Leadership.? My LinkedIn feed is so rich these days with amazing content about Customer Success.? Finding people at companies you admire who are sharing consistently on LinkedIn is an amazing way to learn!?Commenting on their content can also be a great way to get noticed and contribute to the conversation.

Here are a few people to get you started but there are so many amazing people to learn from these days:?

Daphne Costa Lopes , Nick Mehta , Carly Agar , Kristi Faltorusso , Maranda Dziekonski (she/her) , Mary Poppen , Rachel Provan , Jan Young, MBA, CSPO, CSM , Dan Ennis , Markus Rentsch , Hakan Ozturk? , Mickey Powell , Josh Schachter , Nabeeda Bakali-Abrar , Marija Skobe-Pilley , Gemma Cipriani-Espineira , Diana De Jesus ?

Network, Network, Network?

The people in the Customer Success space are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.? And you should meet them! Networking is one of the most tried and true ways to make any career move.? As an introvert, I know how daunting this can be, but it doesn’t have to be.? Networking doesn’t have to mean going to events or meetups (but those can be great).? It can mean getting someone to agree to a 30-minute virtual coffee chat or getting them to share some advice over a LinkedIn message.???

My biggest tip when doing outreach for networking is to include an ask that is reasonable and specific.? Giving some background on who you are and why you are reaching out will help them to understand why you are making this specific ask.?

5 LinkedIn Posts I found Interesting This Month:?

(Shameless plug) I joined Sagar Shukla on his Future Customer Value Podcast which went live in January.

Dan Ennis shares about one skill that can be very helpful in your pursuit of breaking in CS, Storytelling.?

Markus Rentsch shares about another skill that is important for CS, Active Listening:?

Nick Mehta shares some good tips to remember when networking:?

Carly Agar shares advice for people making career transitions:?

??Hey, I'm Ezra, a Manager of Customer Success at LinkedIn and Customer Success enthusiast! ?

?? I write about the latest trends?in Customer Success and my life working in the CS department for LinkedIn!?

#?? Follow me and the hashtag #CustomerSuccessMonthly to stay up to date on my monthly newsletters and weekly posts.??

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