On July 9th, 2024, I had the pleasure of participating in a fantastic event – our first CS meetup in Romania. CS professionals, working for various companies around the globe, gathered together to exchange thoughts and share knowledge.
This event happened thanks to CS Connect. They create inspiring gatherings for Customer success professionals, all over the world. Alexandra Sagaydak, CS Connect Chapter Lead in Bucharest, managed to bring together wonderful CS leaders and managers who had the opportunity to discuss their challenges and milestones in a casual and cozy atmosphere.
Everything went so smoothly and naturally, it felt like the event came as a breath of fresh air for everyone there. I was extremely surprised to see how many common challenges, fears, and questions we all share.
Key takeaways from the CS Bites and Bonds event powered by Custify
CS professionals face common challenges
“One of the biggest challenges in customer success is managing renewals. Customers often hesitate to renew if they are dissatisfied with progress, implementation, or system issues. Addressing these concerns effectively is crucial for successful renewals” – Hiba Mohammad, Principle Customer Success Manager at Oracle
Nobody can understand a CS person better than another CS person. Everyone in the audience mentioned not being understood by leadership or even by other departments. Also, about their work and struggles not being seen or appreciated. They also mentioned having very confusing tasks and no boundaries, handling everything customer-related.
“There are significant challenges in customer success, including managing customer expectations and maintaining satisfaction across various touchpoints. This involves critical and declarative communication strategies.” – Christiana Vajda, Customer Success Manager
The split of support vs CS was another common challenge for CSMs who were working in start-ups. The majority of the CSMs looked for answers on how to move from reactive to proactive and become more strategic.
One of the most common struggles is proving the CS value to their leadership, just because their work is much more than numbers can show.
“Common challenges include managing customer expectations, dealing with difficult clients, and ensuring consistent communication across all touchpoints. Addressing these challenges requires empathy, clear communication, and effective problem-solving skills.”- Cristina Moise, Customer Success Lead at SmartDreamers
There were also many questions related to workload – how many customers per CSM, how many calls, and how many customer interactions. A lot of curiosity about how to become more efficient while spending enough time with customers. Everyone found different ways and had different ideas on how these processes should look like.
CSMs expressed their need to have a community and have peers that they can talk to when they struggle. Many of them were just looking for confirmation that others had the same pains and challenges as them.
The impact of onboarding and training in retention
We also talked about onboarding and how important this lifecycle is for retention. Everyone was very creative in the way they said they handle onboarding, it is so nice to hear how many different ways of onboarding customers exist – but the conclusion was that a clear and straightforward process, a clear timeline, and proactivity to overcome delays and challenges are crucial for the overall customer satisfaction.
“Effective onboarding and continuous training are essential for customer success. Proper onboarding helps customers understand and use the product effectively, while ongoing training keeps them updated on new features and improvements.” – Daniela Roman, Key Account Manager at PayU
Also, having a separate onboarding team empowers CSMs to handle more customers per CSM (e.g. I’ve heard examples where companies with the same amount of customers were able to handle 50-60 customers per CSM when the CSM was also in charge of onboarding, but in cases where they had a dedicated team handling onboarding, they were able to scale to 100 companies per CSM).
Customer-centric approach and the importance of empathy
Customer success needs to have a customer-centric approach because it is the only way to connect with users and understand their needs.
“Maintaining a customer-centric approach is vital. This involves understanding customer needs, providing timely support, and continuously improving the product based on customer feedback.” Daniela Roman, Key Account Manager at PayU
CS professionals have to advocate for customers’ needs within the company to make sure that those customers are successful.
“Customer success managers must act as customer advocates, balancing business objectives with customer needs. This includes understanding the customer’s perspective and advocating for their interests within the company.” - Cristina Moise, Customer Success Lead at SmartDreamers
Saying no to customers is a tricky topic too. CSMs tend to say yes and do everything to keep a customer happy, but it’s very risky, as they tend to spend a lot of time on a single account. Also, saying “no” can impact customer satisfaction and lead to churn, which is not the preferred outcome. I believe that the best approach here is to use empathy and find a middle ground that is acceptable for both the customer and your business.
“Empathy is a key skill for customer success managers. Understanding and addressing customer emotions and concerns is vital for building trust and long-term relationships.” - Cristina Moise, Customer Success Lead at SmartDreamers
Having and advocating for the right CSP
No matter the size of the company, CSMs are still forced to work with a variety of tools and they find it disturbing. The professionals that gathered at the event mentioned they would prefer a CSP that can display all the information from the other systems, but they sometimes receive resistance from their leadership team, which thinks that they can also do their job without it – even if they are not efficient at all.
CS and Sales go hand in hand
The majority of the audience was talking about the importance of a strong sales and CS relationship. Realizing how important it is, everyone there, including the ones working for early-stage startups, prioritized the sales to CS hand-off flows and were proud of the processes that they had in place.
“Successful customer success involves close integration with sales teams to ensure a cohesive approach to managing customer relationships. This includes coordinating efforts to upsell, cross-sell, and maintain long-term customer engagement.” – Cristina Moise, Customer Success Lead at SmartDreamers
Looking forward to the next CS event
During the event, I realized how essential this meeting was. Connecting in person with others who face the same challenges and share similar passions is incredibly valuable. I also noticed that many CS professionals were keen on finding educational materials, books, and webinars. This clearly shows that the CS community in Romania is eager for information and professional development.
I can’t wait for the next CS Connect event. I truly believe that these meetings are beneficial for the customer success community as a whole and for each participant.
