Looking to transition to Customer Success? Here Is My "Cheat Sheet"

Throughout my career and time job searching I have learned that just because I don't tick every checkbox in a job description, it doesn't mean I am not qualified.

Still, when you don't tick every checkbox in the qualifications section AND your current job title sounds different AND your current industry is different it can feel like a lost cause. You know you're qualified to do the job, but it can feel like an uphill battle to convince ATS (applicant tracking systems) and recruiters to feel the same way.

During my last job search period, I was coming back from a 7-month career break, switching industries (government → tech) and switching job titles (program manager → customer success manager)?I had worked in a customer-focused role a few years prior, but I knew I would be competing with other people who had always worked in customer success.

I felt that I had the skill sets and industry knowledge to perform well in the roles I saw posted online, but I also knew that if "Customer Success Manager" wasn't the title listed on my resume it may be difficult to stand out. I also had a feeling that I might need to give myself a little bit of a crash course on terminology, processes, and industry knowledge to ensure I could walk the walk and talk the talk if my resume was selected for an interview.

So I buckled down, did some research, looked at hundreds of job postings, talked to my friends who were in CSM roles, and went on dozens of interviews (some I did well in, and some, not so much!) During this process, I started creating a list of the things that I saw and the things that I learned.?

With so much movement in the job market lately I thought, why not share the love? So for anyone looking to move into a role in customer success, this one's for you!?

Note, I am not a recruiter, hiring manager, or CSM expert! Most of these topics below are from my personal research and may also be my personal opinion. If you’re a recruiter or hiring manager hiring for CS roles and have anything to add or anything you disagree with, all perspectives that can help job-seekers are welcome in the comments below!

Transferable Skills

First, let’s talk about your valuable transferable skills. You may read a customer success job description and think “I don’t have any of this past experience, I guess I am not qualified…” but I assure you, you may be more qualified than you think!

Just because you haven’t worked for 5 years in customer success at a SaaS company or you haven’t managed a book of business with a particular amount of revenue, this doesn’t mean you don’t have the skills to do the job. It is your job to make the connection to understand how your skills are relevant and to ensure this connection is clear on your resume and in your interviews (and in a perfect world the recruiter and interviewers can also help to make this connection, but hey, I will save that for another post)

Before my current role as a strategic customer success manager, I worked as a project manager in government. I didn’t “manage a book of business” in the way a traditional CSM may manage a book of business, but I did partner with stakeholders throughout New York City to develop and run programs to help both my stakeholders and the city meet their workforce development goals. I was held to certain metrics and I was responsible for ensuring our partnership was successful and that our contracts were renewed. While interviewing for CSM roles, I had to focus on changing my terminology. Instead of just saying “I worked with 4 of the largest universities in New York City and interacted directly with the Provost" I would then add “Due to their headcount and contract size, you can think of these as strategic accounts/customers and the Provost is similar to the CEO”?

To give another example, let's say you worked the front desk at a hotel for many years and the job posting says “enjoys relationship building; comfortable engaging with a diverse array of clients to learn their business needs" Think about how you can connect and quantify your experience. How many customers did you work with day to day? How many of these clients returned or left great reviews? How did you provide value to these customers?

Or let’s say the job posting says “experience with Customer Success tools such as Salesforce, Gong, and Jira” Maybe you haven’t worked with these tools. So what tools have you worked with? Do you keep track of your job search on Trello? Did you use a different software or database at your previous job? What was your process for learning these tools?

Research the tool in the job description before your interview, learn more about how this tool works, and then tell your interviewer something like “I haven’t worked with Salesforce yet, but I am familiar with Salesforce. I have worked with XYZ tools in the past which are similar to Salesforce in a few areas. I taught myself this tool in a few days, so I feel confident that I will be able to learn Salesforce too!” Obviously, this won’t apply to something like a coding language but for most CSM tools that don’t require an engineering background, you can likely learn the tool on the job as long as you are committed to learning it.

Also, if you have worked in a similar industry to the company that you are applying for but in a different role, use this knowledge to your advantage! Maybe you worked in food delivery and you are now applying for a CSM role for a food delivery app. Outline how your experience in the field can help position you as a subject matter expert when you are employed as a CSM.

All in all, learn the language and tools used by people in customer success roles and try to find a way to map this back to your current experience. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but connecting the dots on your resume for the ATS and the recruiter in advance can help to make you stand out in the application and interview process.

Understanding the Language

You will see a lot of CS terminology and abbreviations in the job description and in your interview process. Get familiar with common CS terms. This list from Planhat has a great breakdown of some of the most common metrics and terms. Once again, think about transferable skills so that you can relate your past experience to some of these metrics, even if you weren’t working in CS in your past life.??

Role Titles?

There are so many role titles in the world of Customer Success! To broaden your job search, here are some of the titles I saw commonly:

** Please take these with a grain of salt! These are very basic descriptions and every role title is different at each company so have your recruiter clarify if you have any questions!

• Implementation Manager: Typically works in between sales and customer success management. You are the person helping your customers implement the platform and ensuring they meet all timelines for a successful implementation. After this, the account is handed to a customer success manager for a longer-term relationship. This is a shorter relationship with a lot of touch points. Having great project management skills is essential here.
• Onboarding Manager: Similar to the above, just with a different title?
• Customer Success Manager: Some companies don’t have implementation managers which means the customer success manager onboards the customer and then is the main point of contact for the customer going forward. They’ll help the point of contact (or contacts) with understanding and utilizing the platform and will ensure the customer is receiving the support and tools needed to achieve their goals. Some customer success manager roles are more transactional (product support mainly) whereas others are more strategy focused.
• Account Manager: Sometimes this role is sales, other times it is a synonym for customer success manager, and other times it is a mixture of sales and customer success management. Read the job description to get a better feel of this. If it involves a large sales quota, it may be more of a sales role.

Customer Success Manager Categories

Sometimes you may see a word before or after the job title (like Enterprise Customer Success Manager) Here are some common categories I saw:

(These titles also vary SO much at each company, so once again, check with the recruiter!)

• Enterprise - Typically handles the largest customers on the platform, this can be in terms of company size or in terms of ARR/MRR (annual or monthly recurring revenue) In terms of the qualities that make a customer an “enterprise” customer, it varies. At some companies, an enterprise customer might be 500 employees whereas at other companies this may be 10,000+ employees. In this role, you may have a smaller book of business with customers that are high touch (meaning you’ll work with fewer customers but may work more in-depth and more frequently with your customer base than a SMB CSM)
• Strategic - This can be similar to enterprise although a lot of times it is its own category. Typically you are working with larger customers and helping them a bit more strategically?(more than just product support)
• SMB- SMB stands for small to medium size businesses. In this role, you may be working with smaller accounts than an enterprise or strategic CSM. This range can be very different for each company. An SMB might be 2 employees or it may be 5000+ employees. You may work less strategically but with a larger book of business (lower touch, higher volume)
• Expansion - An expansion CSM may work with any size account but is typically working in a new segment the company is expanding in. This could be customers in a new territory (the company has always sold in Europe and is now working with US customers) or this could be a new product line the company is launching that involves working with customers in an entirely new segment (the company always sold to healthcare companies and is now selling to government agencies)

Interview Process

The interview process could be an entirely different post, so I urge you to Google “Customer Success Interviews” and also check out customer success interview questions on Glassdoor (both for the company you are applying for and for other companies to keep your knowledge fresh) Yet, I know it can be scary to apply for a job without knowing what is to come, so here is a very brief outline of what I typically saw during my CSM interview process.

• Phone Screen: This is the initial first call with a recruiter to talk about your past experience and why you are interested in the role. They may also outline salary and job expectations in this call.

These are the other interviews I would typically see, but not in any particular order. Sometimes I saw a technical/project step first and sometimes I wouldn’t see this at all:

• Behavioral Interview: Sharing your past experience and possibly discussing what metrics you were held to in your past job. Example: "Tell me about a time you worked with a difficult customer" or "I see your customer retention rate was 100% last quarter, talk a bit about how you achieved this"
• Technical/Project-Based Interview: This may be demoing the platform for the interviewer, having a mock customer call, solving a mock issue for a customer, or talking about how you organize your book of business and plan your day. The interviewer is likely looking to see how you learn, solve problems, and communicate with others. Sometimes the company will give you prep in advance, sometimes they won't.
• Culture Fit Interview: Interviewing you based on the company values and learning more about you as a person to see how you would “fit” at the company. Example: ‘Tell me about a time you were kind to others” or “Describe your ideal manager/team?”
• Situational Interview: Giving you a particular situation and asking what you would do in that situation. Example: “You have a customer who emails you and tells you that they want to leave the platform - what do you do?”
• Other: Usually you'll have a few rounds of situational and behavioral type questions with team members, your potential manager, and maybe a director or VP. Sometimes all at one time (3 interviews back to back) or sometimes spread throughout a few weeks.

Conclusion

Companies are continuing to hire for roles in customer success, and if you find the right company, these roles can provide viable career pathing and financial stability. Yet, this career path still seems to be a bit of a mystery. There are so many varied roles, lists of acronyms, and lots of qualifications that aren't always clear.

I’m sharing this "cheat sheet" because I want to ensure that the stability and career progression that these roles can offer isn’t limited only to those who have had prior access to these job titles and skill sets. In order to create a tech industry that is more equitable, we need to share knowledge, stop gatekeeping, and demystify some of these acronyms and buzzwords.

I hope this guide can help encourage people to feel confident in applying to new roles. Good luck!