By Ejieme Eromosele
In the ever-changing landscape of the tech industry, with its disruptions and challenges including layoffs and reshuffling of CS teams, professionals are increasingly contemplating their next career moves. The question arises: should one let circumstances guide their career trajectory or take charge and design their own path? As a firm believer in proactively shaping one's career, I have witnessed firsthand the power of envisioning and pursuing the role you desire. Having held positions as VP of CS and Account Management at a Series C funded company, my perspective on career progression has evolved.
A different perspective on “scaling my impact”
Previously, I believed that career growth meant moving "up" by expanding the size of my team and the book of customers I oversaw. However, now, as the head of a region responsible for overseeing all functions across the customer journey, my understanding has broadened. My current role encompasses Marketing, Demand Generation, New Business Sales, Implementation, Customer Success, and Account Management. This expanded scope has revealed the myriad of challenges and opportunities available and is allowing me to scale my impact in a different way.
My aperture of how CS leaders can advance their careers has also widened and I see that you can also grow in scope; as in, the types of challenges you get to solve for and opportunities you can harvest. This means you can start to look at taking your talents to other functions and parts of the business.
Paths to Consider
To provide insight into the breadth of new business areas that CS leaders can pursue, I will outline several potential paths for Directors and VPs of Customer Success. These paths are based on the valuable skills CS leaders have developed and where those skills can be highly leveraged. They also offer opportunities for gaining new tools in the business leadership toolbox.
Moving Closer to Sales
CS leaders are already being entrusted with revenue ownership through renewals and expansions. Their comprehensive understanding of the product and its value proposition positions them well for sales roles. Leveraging their expertise, CS leaders can effectively communicate the product's benefits, build strong customer relationships, and drive revenue growth. Additionally, their deep understanding of customer adoption and satisfaction equips them to support and lead various functions within sales.
Account Management: Driving revenue through expansion, upsells, and cross-sells of the product.
Sales Enablement: Providing product training and developing content to align sales processes with customer needs.
Moving into Product
The profound understanding of customer needs, pain points, and user behavior gained through customer success roles makes CS leaders an excellent fit for product management. They can contribute to product strategy, roadmap planning, and feature prioritization based on valuable customer insights. Furthermore, their expertise in customer success can be leveraged in product marketing to position products effectively in the market and drive sales.
Product Management: Guiding product development, prioritizing features based on customer feedback, and ensuring alignment with customer needs and expectations.
Product Marketing: Maximizing product appeal and driving sales through strategic positioning in the market.
Creating Customer Experience
Given their expertise in customer success, CS leaders are well-suited for roles focused on enhancing the overall customer experience. These roles involve building customer advocacy programs, managing customer feedback and satisfaction initiatives, and ensuring consistent value delivery that meets customer expectations.
Implementation & Professional Services: Providing support and assistance to customers during onboarding and adoption.
Consumer Insights & Analytics: Gathering and analyzing data to gain a deep understanding of consumer behavior, preferences, and trends, enabling businesses to make informed decisions and optimize their strategies to better serve their target audience.
Moving into Other Strategic and Operational Functions
CS leaders possess a holistic view of the business, and strong analytical and problem-solving skills. This makes them ideal candidates for roles in operations or strategy, where they can contribute to driving business growth, optimizing processes, and identifying areas for improvement to enhance customer success outcomes.
Revenue Operations: Aligning sales, marketing, and customer success teams to optimize revenue generation, improve operational efficiency, and enhance overall customer experiences, often leveraging data, analytics, and process optimization.
Advocacy & Community: Fostering strong relationships with customers, empowering them to become brand advocates, and creating a supportive community where customers can engage, share their experiences, provide feedback, and collaborate, ultimately driving customer loyalty and brand growth.
Transitioning Outside of CS
For those ready to explore new challenges or presented with different opportunities, transitioning into roles outside of CS becomes a possibility. Here are a few things to keep in mind when considering this move:
Have a shortlist of things you enjoy and don't enjoy doing: Reflect on your strengths and interests.
Speak up and share your desires, even if the timing may not be perfectly aligned: Making others aware of your intentions, whether it's your manager or acquaintances, can help them support you.
Make a plan but remain adaptable: While having a plan is important, be open to seizing opportunities that arise from luck and timing.
While it was not specifically by design, my experience as a CS leader set me up well for this new arc in my career journey as GM of a region. CS leaders possess a unique blend of empathy, business acumen, and operational prowess, enabling smoother transitions into other business functions. My experience in this new role will undoubtedly make me a more well-rounded and effective business leader, regardless of my future career path. The same holds true for other CS leaders.
To become better Customer Success leaders, it is crucial to spend time in the shoes of other functions. As we often say, "everyone's job is customer success." Each function offers insights into how customer success practically manifests in the day-to-day priorities and challenges of other teams. This fosters a greater appreciation for designing customer-focused delivery and internal collaboration, resulting in a win-win scenario.
The Success League is a global Customer Success consulting firm that helps build and develop top performing customer success programs. Visit our website at www.thesuccessleague.io for a full list of our offerings, including our popular CS Leadership and accredited CSM Certification training programs.
Ejieme Eromosele - Ejieme is a career customer advocate and advises companies on customer-led growth. As VP of Customer Success & Account Management at Quiq, she helps the world’s best brands grow awareness, increase sales and lower customer support costs through conversational AI and messaging. Prior to Quiq, she was Managing Director of Customer Experience at The New York Times and spent over 8 years in management consulting at PwC and Accenture. She has a BA in Economics and an MBA from NYU.