Planning transition to customer success role

In my conversations with professionals from various backgrounds, a common theme has emerged and that is to transition from customer aligned roles into the field of customer success. This article aims to shed light on the essence of customer success, focusing particularly on transferable skill and potential gaps to address for a smooth transition into customer success roles.

Understanding the Core Difference:

To start with, it’s important to distinguish between customer service and customer success. This clarification has been useful for those that have reached to me via LinkedIn or during mentoring sessions and is apparently not obvious.

While customer service is largely reactive, focusing on addressing customer problems as they occur, customer success is inherently proactive, emphasizing long-term customer engagement and success with a product or service. It's a strategic approach, entailing relationship building, thorough product knowledge, and foresight in planning. With this understanding, you can analyze your strengths and areas of development to position yourself for a customer success manager role.

Transferring Skills and Identifying Gaps

From the Hospitality Industry:

Transferable

Skills:

1. Strong customer service ethos – a natural aptitude for making customers feel valued.
2. Crisis management and adaptability – the ability to handle unexpected situations and customer demands efficiently.
3. Empathy and attentiveness – crucial for understanding customer needs and providing personalized service.

Gaps to Address:

1. Technical proficiency with specific products or services – essential for guiding customers effectively.
2. Strategic account management – moving beyond individual service instances to managing long-term customer journeys.
3. Data-driven decision making – using customer data to guide strategic plans and interventions.

From Support Services:

Transferable Skills:

1. Problem-solving expertise – a core skill in addressing customer issues.
2. Experience in handling diverse customer queries – useful for understanding a range of customer needs and challenges.
3. Patience and effective communication – key in explaining solutions to customers.

Gaps to Address:

1. Proactive customer engagement – shifting from reactive support to actively ensuring customer success.
2. Strategic thinking and planning – focusing on customer goals and how your product/service can facilitate their achievement.
3. Upselling and cross-selling skills – understanding the broader range of products/services to provide comprehensive solutions.

From Sales Roles:

Transferable Skills:

1. Customer needs assessment – a strong understanding of how to identify and respond to customer requirements.
2. Relationship-building – an invaluable skill in fostering long-term customer relationships.
3. Persuasion and negotiation – useful in advocating for the customer within your organization.

Gaps to Address:

1. Long-term customer success focus – moving beyond the immediate sale to consider the customer's ongoing journey with the product/service.
2. Post-sales technical depth – crucial for advising customers on optimal deployment and value realization.
3. Customer success metrics – understanding and utilizing key performance indicators specific to customer success.

Your success and confidence in applying for such role will come from a good understanding of transferable skills, an acknowledgement of gaps, bridging the knowledge gap with some learning and demonstrating a growth mindset and confidence to learn quickly on the job.

Here are some recommended courses to learn more.

1. For Building Product Knowledge: Consider courses that offer a deep dive into your specific product or technology. Platforms like Coursera and Udemy offer a range of product-specific courses relevant to the organization that you might be aiming for. Microsoft for instance has Fundamentals certification on all solutions such as Azure, Security, Modern work and Dynamics 365 that greatly provide credibility to a level of knowledge every success manager should have for customer success conversations.
2. For Strategic Planning and Relationship Building: Courses on customer success strategies, such as ‘Customer Success Management’ on Coursera or LinkedIn Learning’s ‘Becoming a Customer Success Manager’ by PracticalCSM. Rick Adams—the founder and CEO of PracticalCSM.com—has recently written a book that encapsulates many of the core concepts within the Practical CSM approach titled Practical Customer Success Management: A Best Practice Framework for the Rapid Generation of Customer Success.
3. For Overall Customer Success Skills: The ‘Certified Customer Success Manager’ program from SuccessCOACHING is a comprehensive option. PROSCI’s Change Management Certification, focusing on user adoption and change management, can also be valuable.

In essence, transitioning from customer service to customer success involves capitalizing on your existing skills while actively working to bridge any gaps, particularly in technical knowledge, strategic planning, and long-term relationship management. This journey opens up a world of opportunities to engage deeply with customers and drive meaningful success stories.

Don't discount your past experience, make sure you highlight the transferable skills and build upon them. Keep in mind that while educational courses provide awareness and knowledge, they only cover a portion of the necessary skills. It's always useful to seek a mentor who can offer insights from their real-world experiences. Additionally, it's important not to limit yourself to roles that you are fully competent in from the start. On-the-job learning and skill enhancement is a vital part of building a successful career path.

I’m here to support and guide you through this transition. Looking forward to connecting with you!