What made you pursue a career in CS?

It found me! I joined an early-stage start-up in 2014 as an account manager, but we were actually operating as Customer Success, and within a year or so, that was officially made our title and function.

What do you like about your role?

What I love about CS and why I feel so lucky to have landed in this career, is the variety of skills, experiences and 'roles' you have within one job. You get to be commercial, strategic, relationship-focused, analytical, and so on, and of course, we get to work with people internally and externally every single day. In my current role managing the team, I love watching the team as they overcome challenges, grow in confidence, and constantly amaze me with their ability and mindset!

What were the most important tips/insights you received that contributed to your professional path?

1. Be solution oriented, show up with suggestions on how to solve or fix something not just with a 'moan!'

2. You are front and centre of the business via your customers (for better and sometimes for worse!). Care strongly but take nothing personally.

3. A CS role requires a lot from an individual in terms of skill set. I always 'joke' it is a 'jack of all trades, master of some' role. And that's okay, the fun is leaning into your strengths and owning development of those areas you find less natural to you. Don't shy away from things you don't like or find harder, and you have to push yourself to work through those things and be open to asking for help from your peers and/or manager.

What CS aspects do you focus on in your current role?

People + Performance!

In my current role, I'm ultimately responsible for the team's performance against our KPIs, including retention and growth. So my role focuses on how to get the best out of the team, whether on the individual level with skills development and 1-1 coaching or more broadly as a team, for example, running specific team-wide initiatives. I have to ensure that the work we do is the right work to drive value for our customers, solve challenges, remove blockers, and enable the team to deliver. Sometimes this involves broader strategic changes e.g. in structure, or role, comp plan or simply joining a customer call to progress or de-escalate a situation in time.

What tips and recommendations can you share with other CSMs looking for professional growth?

· Take ownership of your growth - whether you have a company that supports personal development or not, you can and need to invest in yourself. Read the book, follow the LinkedIn post, join the webinar, attend the event.

· Be disciplined and create time to focus on skills or areas of interest - yes, in your work week. Block it out now, treat it as you would a customer meeting. A better you is better for the company.

· Say 'yes' to things that might make you feel uncomfortable. Presenting, webinars, panels, running a workshop internally, even simply asking questions in a meeting—whatever it is that scares you, be as intentional as you can to challenge yourself and do it!