Can You See My Screen...? A Day in the Life of a Customer Success Associate

"Please confirm if you can see my screen," the Unsung CS Hero inquires

Customer Success in every industry is a little unique from the next. In SaaS companies, "know your product" for example, goes beyond just knowing features.

As a Customer Success Associate, this means I have to know the product well enough to identify bugs/issues proactively, communicate value to the customer, and occasionally onboard customers (new or existing) seamlessly.

While some days are faster paced, simply put - work choke! Regular days oftentimes involve the same spiral of work activities, ensuring customer satisfaction across all accounts (book of business) I manage.

My name is Eromonsele Oigiagbe, and at this time of writing, I am a Customer Success Associate at a cybersecurity firm in Lagos, Nigeria. You may find me on the internet promoting arts, local tourism, or rambling about music videos, but professionally, I now work in CS, leveraging skills from previous roles in Customer Service, Support and Sales.

Here is a day in the life of a Customer Success Associate. You're welcome!

#1. Catching Up on Industry Trends and Alerts.

For some reason, I like to kickstart my day with industry news and trends. I have a few product management, cybersecurity, and customer success podcasts (let me know if you want recommendations) I listen to while preparing for work. I work remotely sometimes but this is usually on days when I'm hitting Lagos traffic to reach my office in Yaba.

#2. Checking Calendars and Last Emails.

I'd check my calendars for meetings expected for the day alongside their agendas. Also, if an invite was sent without prior notification from colleagues, I check in with them to ensure we align on the meeting purpose.

Photo by airfocus on Unsplash

Next? To the emails!

I track back on all emails directed at me and the customer success team. This keeps me in line with the most recent requests and ensures response times of below 2 hours, usually.

#3. Meetings.

As the sun rises, I get into those meetings that require my attention. Internal stakeholder meetings, discussions with partners, or customer engagement/kickoff sessions.

I ensure to document the forthcoming of meetings and communicate the next steps and action points via email.

#4. Documentation. More like Paperwork? Sorta...

Customer Success also entails sharing documentation with concerned parties from proposals, plans, and manuals, to invoices, and more.

Photo by Walling on Unsplash

#5. Did I Miss Lunch? I EAT! Very Important.

Mostly Amala.

What's your favourite Nigerian dish?

#6. Nurturing Customer Relationships. Phone Calls & Messages.

The only way to build relationships is to be in constant communication, and that's what I strive to achieve with customers who have been assigned to me. This function, also known as account management, involves reaching key contact persons who influence renewals, insights on business, or decision-making prowess, mostly C-Level Execs.

When I have a free calendar, I visit customers in my city for a quick greeting. Open-ended questions can expose if our customers are achieving success with solutions and occasionally, we'd plan for Quarterly Business Reviews for concise user feedback.

#7. Customer Onboarding.

Mostly SaaS onboarding involves giving customers personalized walkthroughs of our applications and demonstrating value to users. Calls like this often help to identify stop-gaps and train customers on features. Another form of onboarding would involve introducing the team, following up via email, and entering customer details in CRM.

You can read my article on onboarding.

The goal here is to provide product training and support where needed.

Now the Day is Over…

In a nutshell, most of my daily tasks involve customer-facing and stakeholder meetings. Sometimes, I will need to collaborate with team members in Marketing, Product and Technology to achieve long-term business goals.

So, that's it! A Day in the Life of a Customer Success Associate.

Conclusively, as my customers' advocate, work days are a dynamic mix of relationship-building, problem-solving, and strategic planning.

In addition to the aforementioned, typical activities for me also include:

• Regular check-ins with customers to understand their needs and challenges.

• Addressing customer issues and queries promptly.

• Identifying opportunities for upselling or cross-selling.

• Monitoring customer health and Identifying potential risks.

• Analyzing product usage and Identifying improvement areas.

• Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure customer success.

• Providing customer feedback to Product to influence product roadmap.

• Supporting to escalate complex issues and ensure customer satisfaction.

• Identifying customer segments and tailoring strategies accordingly.

Would you like to know more about a specific aspect of a CSM's role? Tell me something in the comments below.

And, let's connect on LinkedIn.