By Mike Su
Dear hiring managers, this one is for you. What I’m about to say holds true for many industries, but I believe it’s worth putting a spotlight on Customer Success. As a Customer Success leader, I have worn ALL the hats as I’m sure you do too. Some days I’m sales. Other days I’m in service. There have been times when I’ve had the honor of being a debt collector. Out of all the many hats I’ve worn, my absolute favorite hat to wear was being a Hiring Manager. It was an exciting time and opportunity to make my mark at a growing company. Plus it was very gratifying to help someone land their dream job. Over the past 15 years I have built CS teams from the ground up, expanded existing teams, and helped other CS leaders build their teams. Every single time, I come across a common issue that irks me so much.
Imagine this. My CEO and leadership team finally see the value Customer Success brings to the company. They finally get it. We’re not just Support 2.0. We’re not just making customers happy. We’re here to demonstrate value by driving product adoption, expansion, and advocacy among many other things. Ultimately we increase our company’s bottom line by protecting our ARR, growing our NRR, and we make the company look good. So I finally got the headcount I have been requesting since Q2 of last year. Yes!! Here we grow!! I was approved to hire two Enterprise CSMs with one very significant caveat. I needed to stay within a certain (and unrealistic) budget. This was going to be difficult, but I took it as a challenge. I really wanted to find people with 2-3 years of CSM experience, but I lost hope in this ever coming true. I hate to say it, but I turned into one of those unrealistic hiring managers looking for a “junior” level CSM with the responsibilities and requirements of a seasoned CSM. It has always bothered me when I come across a job listing for an entry level position that requires 3+ years of experience or some fancy degree. And yet I fell into it myself. My search went on for months yielding zero results. In hindsight I should have known better. Needless to say I regret ever doing this and will never again be part of that problem. I understand we’re in a recession and companies are trying to stretch their dollar, but this is not the way.
So here’s how I ended up finding and hiring my two rockstar Enterprise CSMs. I had no choice but to think creatively and look beyond the resume. With my budget, there was no way I was going to find anyone with 2 years of direct CSM experience. I needed to look for transferable skillsets and relevant experience. Even though what someone may have been doing isn’t called “Customer Success,” they could have been demonstrating value and driving adoption all along. I recall one person I interviewed who fell into this category. His resume alone told me he was not a fit; at all. However his cover letter showed me he has the drive and ambition to perhaps be who I was looking for. I gave him a chance and scheduled the interview. He had no direct CS, sales, or support experience that we’d normally look for. At the time, he was working as a bartender. I’ll spare you all the details, but in 30 minutes I learned how he had 3 years of customer success experience. He drove adoption when he learned about his clientele and why they were out celebrating. He drove expansion and cross sales when he continuously offered different items on the menu to make their experience more enjoyable. He even drove renewals, retention, and advocacy which was proven by life long customers who turned one off birthday celebrations into traditions at his establishment. To this day I do not have not a single regret for hiring this rockstar of a CSM.
After working with many companies and countless candidates, I have learned that I was not alone in this struggle of being tasked with filling headcounts with quality CSMs under a tight budget. This is not a one-sided struggle either. My last article was giving advice to candidates to land their dream jobs. In one of the key takeaways from that article I talked about pointing out transferable skills and experience because it might not be so obvious to HR or the hiring manager. Candidates will need to do their part in selling and advertising themselves, but it’s also up to hiring managers to see past the surface and find out what a candidate can learn and do versus what they already know and have done.
This is a topic I am more passionate about than most. I welcome any comments, debates, or conversations. Hit me up and let’s discuss.
Want to make sure you hire the best for your Customer Success team? Check out our Hiring Top Performers class, which is a part of our CS Leadership Certification program. The Success League is a global customer success consulting firm offering coaching and certification training. Visit www.thesuccessleague.io for our full offerings.
Michael Su - Michael is a Customer Success innovator with over 15 years of working experience. While leading the team, he has designed, built, and successfully implemented Customer Success departments at various companies spanning from early stage tech start ups to publicly traded enterprises. He is passionate about improving processes and streamlining workflows. As a leader he loves working with people to help nurture and grow their professional careers. When Michael is not helping companies fight churn, he enjoys spending time with his wife, 3 kids, 2 turtles, and 1 dog.