I’ve read several posts and articles lately about the increasing rate of change in the profession of Customer Success towards taking responsibility for Value. There is no doubt in my mind about the direction of or about the speed of the transformation. Those who get with it and adapt will have a better chance of surviving and prospering in their careers. Those who don’t will not keep their jobs for long. But while undeniably important, the step towards Value responsibility is only a step, it is not The Answer. For there are some questions that are not being confronted. Whose Value? How Measured? Can you prove it?
The Money Difference
A Sales rep closes a $100K deal and gets a $10K bonus. A CSM preserves a million dollars worth of NRR and gets…? The money difference is that the Sales rep can prove their direct and *necessary connection to that new logo income. No Sales rep? No increase in income. The CSM can’t make that case. Why not? Because they don’t have or aren’t using the appropriate technology and they aren’t focused on the right Value. To the Sales rep, Value is income brought into the company. Sure, the CSM can try to use Sales’ definition of Value, dollars to the company, to prove a necessary connection between what the CSM does and the retention of income. But there will be lingering questions about the necessity of that connection, just as there are with the Sales rep. Could AI do a better/cheaper job and produce the same results?
The advantage that the CS group has is that there is a core Value that Sales is not addressing – Realized Value to the Customer. A CSM with in-depth domain expertise and the appropriate technology can measurably guide the customer to increase their sustainable, proven productivity and profitability through use of the company’s product to accomplish real tasks. By collecting, analyzing and reporting the right data, the CS group can make the *necessary connection between the CSM’s encouragement of Customer Realized Value and the retention of NRR to the company. Stated simply, the challenge to the CSM is: Show Me The Money — to both customer and company. Can you do that? If not, let’s talk.
