World-class Customer Success leaders understand the value of predictable results for their organization, so they evangelize, prioritize, and even incentivize Consistency with their team.
They coach their CSMs and Managers to be consistent.
They understand – and help those they manage understand – what has to happen across the quarter for each CSM and Team to reach their goals, and they map out progress milestones to ensure not only success at the end, but success along the way.
And they intervene when progress milestones are at risk of being missed (not after it’s already been missed).
Stop Glorifying Hustle and Scramble
World-class Heads of Customer Success don’t hold hustle and scramble as badges of honor for their CSMs. In fact, they see this last-minute push to hit goals for what it is; failure to be consistent. So these actions aren’t rewarded.
This is in stark contrast to less successful Heads of CS that often glamorize and reward this end-of-quarter hustle over consistent results.
Yes, sometimes a CSM will want to hustle at the end to hit a stretch goal. Sometimes a CSM will decide to chase a spiff or bonus. That is NOT the same as having to constantly, without end, quarter after quarter, hustle and scramble just to hit their minimum requirements.
World-class Heads of CS recognize that this last-minute scramble perpetuates the cycle of burnout many CSMs experience.
Perpetuating the Cycle of CSM Burnout
The hectic push at the end of the quarter requires CSMs to start the next quarter by taking time off to recuperate and ramp back slowly, meaning they’re generally starting the next quarter already behind on their objectives, resulting in, you guessed it, more scramble and burnout.
This burnout cycle – if left unbroken – eventually becomes bad enough that the CSM checks out, starts slow-rolling or full-on ghosting customers, etc., then either quits or gets fired.
Consistency is the Key to CSM Success without Burnout
World-class CSMs recognize that Consistency is the key to success without burnout and focus on this on their own, regardless of whether their boss gets it or not.
Ideally, the Head of CS should be creating a culture of consistency, but if you, as a CSM, don’t work in that type of environment, take it upon yourself to focus on consistency in your work.
And once you are outperforming everyone else on the team in your current role in spite of your boss, you can start looking for a place to work where the Head of CS gets it and is setting everyone up for success.
About Lincoln Murphy