so I am wondering what the seasoned Account Managers think about the CSM roles ?
Do you think it's all same ?
Isn’t Cust Success a new name for Account Mgmt?
14
True AM -vs- true CSM, no.
AM has revenue responsibility to grow the account. A CSM's job is to not lose the account.
AM has revenue responsibility to grow the account. A CSM's job is to not lose the account.
100%
A lot of the AM roles I've investigated or applied for recently have been the CSM role you described with an AM title. Definitely seeing a shift, most likely caused by title inflation
no i would say they are different, well in Saas at least.
AM - has a quota, needs to understand the whole org and how decisions are made and make sure they renew and upsell the customer when appropriate.
CSM - no quota, purely focused on helping the customer USE the product effectively and adopt as much of it as possible.
Two very different roles, two very different types of people
AM - has a quota, needs to understand the whole org and how decisions are made and make sure they renew and upsell the customer when appropriate.
CSM - no quota, purely focused on helping the customer USE the product effectively and adopt as much of it as possible.
Two very different roles, two very different types of people
I think it depends on the company. 🤷♀️
Yes. CSMs at our company are responsible for adoption and customer satisfaction, as well as the renewals and identifying uplift opportunities for growth. It does vary from company to company.
They are not supposed to be, as the name indicates. CSMs are supposed to make to customer successful of using your product, so they don’t leave you. AM are supposed to manage aka grow the account, so they spend more money with you.
The problem is many organizations are cheap, so they eliminate the AM and give the CSM a quota. This pollutes the relationship since the customer no longer will trust the CSM, as they know they are trying to sell to them rather than make them successful.
Additionally, most CSMs have too many accounts which means they don’t have enough time to truly know their customer’s business and are no longer valuable to the customer.
The problem is many organizations are cheap, so they eliminate the AM and give the CSM a quota. This pollutes the relationship since the customer no longer will trust the CSM, as they know they are trying to sell to them rather than make them successful.
Additionally, most CSMs have too many accounts which means they don’t have enough time to truly know their customer’s business and are no longer valuable to the customer.
Yes, that is exactly what it is. Everyone who says otherwise is either trying to make themself feel better or downplaying the other title.
no, Look back to @Pachacutiresponse
they're all the same, and useless.
Idk if I would say useless, but if the roles aren't tailored to an organizational goal (retention / key account growth) then yes having them could be a waste of time.
Like if my product was extremely transactional and low cost, then I don't need CSMs or any AMs, I just need more people to keep buying.
But if my product is a huge investment and involves a lot of technical setup/APIs, and if I only have a few customers, then I will need both CSMs and AMs most likely.
Like if my product was extremely transactional and low cost, then I don't need CSMs or any AMs, I just need more people to keep buying.
But if my product is a huge investment and involves a lot of technical setup/APIs, and if I only have a few customers, then I will need both CSMs and AMs most likely.
Not too dissimilar
I think my next gig I want to do some csm :)
Def not the same. When I manage an acct I’m nurturing that relationship, running point on what they need, what’s happening internally for them, & what I can upsell with relevance … a CSM is there to take the questions off my plate & train their team to love us so they come back for more.
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