Any job search Currently, the platform shows thousands of Customer Success (CS) waiting to be filled. According to research conducted by Gainsight, a customer success software platform, “Companies that invest 10% or more of their revenue into CS activities have the highest net recurring revenue (NRR).
This supports the argument that not only do CS jobs exist, but many of them need to be deployed. Simply put, these jobs serve a vital role in tech companies today.
Like most activities, CS continues to evolve and is not a “one-size-fits-all” model. Developing the right archetype requires careful thought to ensure CS teams focus on the right activities, deliver a seamless experience on the customer engagement model, and bring value to end users. Successful companies understand that CS is not just a job or an organization; It is an organizational mindset that includes actions, investments, and coordination across multiple departments, including product development, management, marketing, sales, and technical and customer support.
Customer Success Career Archetypes
In the XaS model, Net Recurring Revenue (NRR) is a key measure of success. It measures the overall impact of your existing customers on revenue generation – more simply, it measures the brute force of your referral network.
NRR is based on maintaining and expanding your footprint. If a customer doesn’t get value from your solution, they won’t renew or upgrade their contract. That’s why technology companies created customer success 20 years ago to drive adoption, usage and value. Since then, many companies have implemented one or more customer success roles.
Companies should not design their customer success role in a vacuum.
Initially, most customer success roles were adoption or service focused and were filled by the talent of the service organization. However, adoption sales activity results in customer retention and increased sales. Today, many companies are designing more business-focused customer success roles and focusing on innovation and renewal, and even fewer are focusing on expansion.
Companies typically deploy two or more customer success archetypes. They often differ by customer segment, business and technical focus, and sales activity focus: receiving, renewing, selling, and selling.
While these roles may vary from company to company, there are three main customer success role archetypes.
Acceptance of CSM
This role primarily focuses on adoption. It often provides insights into expanding the role of the original salesperson or renovator or sustaining renovators.
