Why is this a role? All they do is ask people to do their job for them. If you're a CSM I hope your resume is up to date.
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Well well well… another revolution of the door of customer success at Helix. Out with the CCO another uplift for the political class. First of many big changes. No one is safe as the players sharpen their claws. This is all about safety now - not for the minions. For the ones grasping onto power and throwing the rest of us under the bus.
Publicly criticizing your own company and colleagues in an open forum is not constructive and being honest, it’s a crazy look. It does nothing to fix internal problems and only undermines the people who are still working to support customers.
In a SaaS world, customers can leave the moment they stop seeing value. So who exactly should be responsible for driving adoption and ensuring outcomes? Should Sales do it, when their priority is bringing in new revenue? Should Product Management handle it, while supporting thousands of customers at once? Should Support take it on, when their focus is resolving tickets rather than shaping long-term success?
Sure, companies could sell professional services packages to handle ongoing enablement, but what happens when customers do not want to pay for that and there is no company investment to drive that function? That gap still exists, and it directly impacts retention. That is why Customer Success exists. It connects business objectives to product outcomes so customers continue to see value. Ignoring that reality does not make the role unnecessary, it just makes churn inevitable.
CS here and what I’m about to say is intended with as much respect to you as possible. Experience varies, sure, but some of us are here and at least trying to make a difference. You know what doesn’t help? Posts like this that inevitably leads to infighting and resentment towards your peers and colleagues. If you’re having issues with a certain practitioner, talk to them. If they don’t listen or follow through, talk to their manager. Don’t post this.
If your perception is that we just play email tennis, wait until you see what happens when we’re not here, customers get irritated by lack of response (or lack of anyone QBing adoption initiatives), and they start churning more than they are already.
Everyone is playing politics trying to show upper management what each group is doing before the RIF.....
If done properly their role could be excellent. However they have suffered with a revolving door of ‘look at me leadership’ who are too busy playing politics to lead and manage their own function. Added with the fact that a lot of the hires in recent years have no industry experience let alone product experience they’re left floundering playing email tennis whilst those who have any skills, capability and experience find themselves hamstrung between toxic micromanagers who are leading with fear and peers and colleagues who are clueless and relying on them to pull rabbits out of hats. Everyone can see it, yet the charade continues.