What do you think about your first 30/60/90 day goals when coming in as the Head of Customer Success in a startup that didn't have customer success managers before?
Meenal Shukla
Gainsight Senior Director of Customer Success • March 24
As the Head of Customer Success in a startup that did not have Customer Success Managers before, your primary objective would be to establish a successful customer success function. To do this, you must take a phased approach in the first 30/60/90 days to develop a foundation for success.
Here are some possible goals you could set for the first 30/60/90 days:
First 30 days:
- Understand the company's products/services, customers, and their pain points.
- Meet with key stakeholders such as sales, services, marketing, and product teams to understand their goals and align customer success strategies.
- Analyze the current customer journey and identify areas for improvement.
- Hire a team of Customer Success Managers (CSMs) or identify existing employees to fill these roles.
- Develop a customer success playbook and define the key performance indicators (KPIs) to track.
Next 60 days:
- Establish a scalable customer success process and standard operating procedures.
- Create a customer onboarding program that ensures new customers receive a seamless and successful onboarding experience.
- Define and implement a customer health score and identify at-risk customers to address any issues proactively.
- Launch a customer advocacy program to drive customer referrals and positive reviews.
- Provide coaching and training to CSMs to improve their effectiveness.
Next 90 days:
- Implement a customer success technology stack to automate and streamline customer success processes.
- Develop a customer feedback loop to collect customer feedback and use it to improve products and services.
- Analyze customer data to identify trends and insights that can be used to improve customer success.
- Create a customer success roadmap to guide the team's efforts for the next six months.
- Establish a culture of customer success across the organization, emphasizing the importance of customer-centricity in all business decisions.
By focusing on establishing a strong foundation in the first 30/60/90 days, you can set your team up for success and build a strong customer success function that drives customer satisfaction, retention, and growth.
994 Views
Related Ask Me Anything Sessions
Hook Head of Customer, Natasha Evans on Customer Success Soft and Hard Skills
Eightfold Director, Customer Success, Rebecca Warren on Developing Your Customer Success Career
Confluent Director, Customer Success EMEA, Conor Holmes on Developing Your Customer Success Career
Top Customer Success Mentors
Stephen O'Keefe
HubSpot Senior Director, Customer Success
Kiran Panigrahi
Gainsight Senior Director - Client Outcomes
Christine Vienna Knific
mParticle Senior Director, Customer Success - North America
Natasha Evans
Hook Head of Customer
Georgia Glanville Harrison
Braze VP Customer Success, EMEA
Caoimhe Carlos
Udemy Vice President Global Customer Success
Meenal Shukla
Gainsight Senior Director of Customer Success
Ben Terrill
Brex Senior Director, Customer Success
Manil Vasantha
Freelance Information Technology Consultant
Jeff Beaumont
Customer Success Consultant
Related Questions
If someone is looking to begin their career as a CSM what are some must have online resources that you would recommend? thanks.What are some of the most common red flags you've come across either on a candidate's resume or initial interview that you'd advise future customer success managers to avoid?What should a CSM focus on in regards to leveling up in their career?What are the most important soft and hard skills customer success managers can build to become successful in their field going forward?What questions should you ask during your one-on-ones with the sales team during your first month at the company?What questions should you ask during your one-on-ones with your cross-functional teams during your first month at the company?