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What Does a Customer Success Manager Do?

Nicole Madison
Nicole Madison
Nicole Madison
Nicole Madison

A customer success manager serves as a team manager for a company's support agents and makes sure customers are satisfied and capable of taking maximum advantage of the services or products they have purchased. This usually involves a wide range of tasks, including monitoring and managing customer accounts from the moment they are initiated and supervising customer support agents. A person in this position might also be required to create and implement policies intended to increase client satisfaction and retention, and assess the needs of a company's customers. Customer success managers often have problem-solving responsibilities as well, and the job of ensuring that leads are generated and followed.

When a person has the title of customer success manager, his primary goal and responsibility is making sure his employer's customers or clients are satisfied. This part of his job often involves supervising and coaching a team of customer support people to ensure that they are effective at ensuring customer satisfaction. It may also involve monitoring accounts and tracking changes in ordering or usage. In many cases, this job also requires interacting with customers in a way that demonstrates that the customer success manager has expertise with the company's products or services.

Customer success managers should possess excellent listening and conflict resolution skills.
Customer success managers should possess excellent listening and conflict resolution skills.

This job can also involve creating and implementing policies that help the customer support team meet its company's goals. Usually, this involves policies that help ensure customer satisfaction, which may in turn ensure that the customers continue to purchase from the company. In some cases, a customer success manager is also responsible for bringing new customers to the company, so he might need to create and implement lead generation campaigns and monitor their success. A person with this title might also work to ensure that his team follows up with potential customers and clients and that initial interactions are satisfactory.

Customer success managers keep customers happy.
Customer success managers keep customers happy.

Since part of a customer success manager's job is ensuring that customers are happy and likely to remain with the company, a person in this position may spend a good deal of time evaluating customer experience. In many cases, he also creates and implements campaigns through which he obtains feedback and suggestions from those who purchased the company's products or services as well as from people who considered purchasing but did not. He can then use this information to help determine what the company is doing right and what it might need to change to increase satisfaction.

A customer success manager will include supervising and coaching a team of customer support people to ensure they are performing their job properly.
A customer success manager will include supervising and coaching a team of customer support people to ensure they are performing their job properly.

In many cases, a person with this title is also called on to solve problems. For example, a customer success manager may take over when there is a problem a customer support person cannot solve to the customer's satisfaction. Additionally, he may decide when it is necessary to get another department involved, such as in the case of a technical problem.

Nicole Madison
Nicole Madison

Nicole’s thirst for knowledge inspired her to become a WiseGEEK writer, and she focuses primarily on topics such as homeschooling, parenting, health, science, and business. When not writing or spending time with her four children, Nicole enjoys reading, camping, and going to the beach.

Learn more...
Nicole Madison
Nicole Madison

Nicole’s thirst for knowledge inspired her to become a WiseGEEK writer, and she focuses primarily on topics such as homeschooling, parenting, health, science, and business. When not writing or spending time with her four children, Nicole enjoys reading, camping, and going to the beach.

Learn more...

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    • Customer success managers should possess excellent listening and conflict resolution skills.
      By: taka
      Customer success managers should possess excellent listening and conflict resolution skills.
    • Customer success managers keep customers happy.
      By: Tyler Olson
      Customer success managers keep customers happy.
    • A customer success manager will include supervising and coaching a team of customer support people to ensure they are performing their job properly.
      By: Rawpixel
      A customer success manager will include supervising and coaching a team of customer support people to ensure they are performing their job properly.
    • A customer success manager may spend a good deal of time evaluating customer experience.
      By: pressmaster
      A customer success manager may spend a good deal of time evaluating customer experience.
    • A customer success manager may establish policies for handling customer complaints.
      By: Adam Gregor
      A customer success manager may establish policies for handling customer complaints.