Coaching CSMs to become trusted advisors

In Customer Success, being the hero can backfire. As a CSM, it’s tempting to jump in and fix things for your customer. It feels good to solve a problem quickly. But when we do this for the customer (instead of with them), we’re actually hurting them in the long run. There’s a principle in psychology: “𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵’𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴.” If you give someone the answer without their participation, you’ve only solved one issue — not made them more capable for the next one. In CS, we can fall into this same trap. And the consequences are real:    ❌ Endless “quick asks”  ❌ Unpaid services  ❌ A customer who’s reliant — but not successful So how do you build a real partnership instead? 𝟭. 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 If you don’t know the customer’s “why,” you can’t lead. Once you do, you have a North Star to guide every conversation and expectation. 𝟮. 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 Your customer has homework — not just you. Your role is to clearly explain what must be done, why, and who owns each piece. 𝟯. 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀  Make it easier for them to succeed. Templates, guides, short videos — anything that helps them help themselves. 𝟰. 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗴𝗼) Circle back. Confirm completion. If they’re stuck, offer help. But never let them off the hook. Your follow-up proves you take their success seriously. When you do this right, you create a real partnership — one that delivers results and preserves your boundaries as a CSM. Don’t be the hero. Be the partner that makes them better. #customersuccess #CSM

Please don't show up to your first call with a customer and introduce yourself as their Trusted Advisor. The title Trusted Advisor is earned not given. Just because you're a CSM supporting a customer does not mean they view you as their trusted advisor. I was fortunate enough to have a leader when I first started as a CSM who required that everyone on the team read the book, The Trusted Advisor by David Maister, Charles Green and Robert Galford. While I was never a fan of "required reading" this book helped me better understand how to bring value to my customers and how to earn their trust over time. Too often I see and hear CSMs introduce themselves as their customer's Trusted Advisor, but that's not something you are it's something you aspire to be seen as. So a better way to say this would be, "Hi, my name is XYZ and I am your CSM. My role in the partnership is ABC and hopefully in time you will view me as your Trusted Advisor in the partnership." You've made your aspirations clear to them, but you still need to deliver. So if you want to be achieve this coveted relationship status focus on the following: ▶ Become a product expert; understand the use cases and best practices of your solution. Learn how other customers are creatively using your product and share that with customers. Be able to effectively train and enable your customer to use the product in accordance with their goals - don't just show them features that are irrelevant. ▶ Do what you say you're going to do; make sure your follow up game is strong. Ensure good communication and follow through on tasks and projects with your customer. ▶ Focus on building good relationships with your customer; everyone is different so make sure to get to know what they value as an individual and show up for them appropriately. ▶ Make sure your motives align with their success. If you're a CSM who's responsible for upsell or cross-sell, understand where new products are relevant and going to provide value for your customers. Focus on providing value to customers and not just checking an internal box for activity tracking and you'll start to see that your customers will view you as an extension of their team ... And when they do, you'll know. Happy Monday!

Most CSMs don’t know how to demonstrate the value of the products they support. Here’s why—and how to fix it. After listening to 100+ customer calls, I've noticed a pattern: Most CSMs are product experts and value amateurs. → They dive too quickly into the product → They don't ask WHY enough times → They talk features and not value I’ve seen countless talented CSMs struggle with this. But it's not their fault. CSMs have been set up for failure: → Training focuses on how the product works, not why it matters → Coached to “build relationships” instead of driving outcomes → Available data points mean nothing to the customer’s business goals So, how do you flip the script? 1⃣ Translate features into outcomes Stop saying: “You’ve used X feature 100 times.” Start saying: “Your team saved 50 hours this month using our automation—equivalent to $5,000 in recovered productivity.” Check your customer cases to see how Marketing does this! 2⃣ Align with business goals Every customer is chasing something: revenue, cost savings, efficiency, or market differentiation. Your job is to connect your product’s capabilities directly to those goals. For example: “By integrating [tool], you’ve reduced churn by 12% this quarter. That’s an extra $200K ARR retained.” If you can't get to their goals in your consulting calls. Then leverage an executive to have a conversation with the customer's executives. 3⃣ Tell the story behind the numbers Data alone isn’t compelling. Add context and narrative. “Your adoption of [feature] has grown by 60% this quarter. Here’s what this means for your team: faster workflows, fewer errors, and time saved for strategic initiatives.” Leverage AI here. ChatGPT and Claude can really help you craft your stories. 4⃣ Visualize success Paint a vivid picture of the future. What happens if they continue to use your product effectively? What does their “north star” look like? 🛑 The bottom line? Your customers don’t care about your product. They care about what it can do for them. When you consistently demonstrate value, something magical happens: → Your customers stop seeing you as a vendor. → They start seeing you as a strategic partner. 💌 Want to get this right? Join 14K professionals and sign up to Unconventional Growth [link in the comments]. #customersuccess #csm #cx #revops #retentionstrategies