17 Customer Success Leaders Weigh in on Account Transitions
Account transitions are inevitable in the World of Customer Success.
An account transition is the process by which a new or existing customer account is transitioned from one member of Customer Success to another.
These transitions can happen for a number of reasons, but mainly occur when…
A new member of Customer Success is fully ramped and needs to ‘take on’ customers
A CSM is overloaded in terms of capacity and needs to distribute the account load to other CSMs
New customers need CSM assignment
The CSM or the Customer requests a transition to another member of Customer Success
And… As we head into a new year with a wave of new CSMs on the team, and new customers that have joined during the Q4 rush, every CS team will be facing account transitions in one form or another.
So, in December 2020, I asked my Linkedin Network….
What makes a customer transition a success?
17 CS Leaders weighed in on the best practices for a successful account transition, and from those 17 responses it came down to the 5 key areas distilled below.
Nail these 5 components of your customer transition, and you’ll be set up for success with the previous CSM, the new CSM, and the customer.
Let’s dive into the responses themselves!
Be upfront with the customer
“I have found it helpful to let the client/customer know why the change is happening and that there will be no gaps in service. Teammates switch roles/organizations, team structures that worked 5 years ago need to be updated. I try to attend as many transition calls as possible, no matter the ACV.”
Document and define the transition process
“The key is to plan for this dynamic to be common, for many reasons - not necessarily negative ones. Set customer expectations of a team and a company that is behind the service. Make sure that all touch-points and decisions are documented and are easily accessible. Communicate what the change is, why, and set up the going forward experience and expectations.”
Ensure clear documentation
“While transferring a customer from one CSM to the other, I’d have to say Transfer of info right from onboarding , customer goals, 30 -60-90 strategy/plan, info on user personality/temperament, what they value, expectations etc. Avoiding repeat questions, one picking up right from where the prior CSM left off. If they had a technically strong CSM , it would make sense to transfer to a new CSM who is as strong as the previous one.”
Share the intangible data
“I would add something slightly different: style. What’s the customer like? How’s the communication? What are the communication tendencies, difficulties, dependencies? What is a good strategy to talk about A type of things, and what is a good one to chat about B type of things?”
Make the transition seamless
“Team spirit - the customer does not want to feel a transfer from one “silo” to another and start a relationship from scratch with a “new” CSM or segment. The more you can show that the transfer is done by one team member to the other team member showing confidence that he will be taken care of in the best possible way, the more the customer will appreciate what is happening and will engage after the transfer. ”
Define the ‘interlock’ process
“Work with leadership team in creating a documented “Interlock Process’’ Determining what information was needed (The document sat inside our CS Tool) Once that document was filled in (which was mandatory), calls where set up internally to clarify. ”
Create an object specifically for transfers
“As much as possible information in the transfer, we have an object for that in Salesforce and of course an account Looker dashboard which is connected to the account in SalesForce”
Leverage all available data
“I would add besides leveraging all the information of the customer such as past sentiment score, success plan, previous CS notes, also focus on the internal stakeholders who have touched that account in the previous month, including Sales, Services and Support & product and know-how they impacted the customer, and in what way, so that you can continue to the same or improve the experience. ”
Role play the transition scenarios
“Adding another perspective that is more about starting with the customer. Role play the following quick scenarios: 1. Your main POC just left and a new one calls your CSM directly. Does the CSM have all the right info documented to successfully transfer knowledge? If not, this will be an internal gap as well when you transfer accounts. 2. Your main Decision Maker just left and a new one calls you directly. Does your exec sponsor have all the right info in a tight summary to successfully articulate value and status? If not, this will also be an internal gap when you bring in new managers, directors, vps, etc..”
Review previous transition calls
“A great tool is Gong. Have your CSMs that are accepting the transfer review the previous calls. They can learn the customers: what do they like, what interests them, what type of personalities do they have etc... You want the new CSMs to establish trust quickly so the more they can pick up the details, the better. We also use Asana boards for our customers so we keep track of important elements: goals, projects, issues and feature requests. Regardless, this is always challenging so it’s important to have cross-over between the two team members if possible and/or have the manager involved.”
Ensure a consistent success plan
“For me it would be receiving-team expertise in their space, clear client success plan re-alignment with the client and both teams involved + culture fit.”
Be transparent with the customer
“For starters, the customer that’s being ‘transferred’ is aware. A lot of companies start the transition without notifying the customer. Secondly, even before the ‘actual’ transfer it should be SUPER easy for the ‘new’ CSM to read up on everything relating to the account, health, latest communication, success plans, data etc in ONE centralized location to properly prepare.”
Incorporate the broader account team
“An internal meeting between the current and new CSM to discuss the transition plan. The AE/AM should also be included in this discussion. During the next meeting with the customer, notify them about the change, assuring them they won’t be starting from scratch. Clearly outline what you have already shared with the new CSM, such as open projects, next steps, goals, as well as historical challenges, so they are aware of the sensitivity around particular events. Ask the customer if there are any other items the new CSM should be made aware of. Then follow up the call with an email cc’ing the new CSM. Finally have a transition call with the former CSM, new CSM, and AM to again go through the open projects and next steps. This ensures everyone is aligned and shows the customer exactly what info has been shared.”
Incorporate the whole account team
“Transfer of knowledge from everyone who has worked with the customer, directly and indirectly, is key for a smooth and transparent transition!”
Don’t let the customers repeat themselves
“Part of this exercise started with us, as leaders, thinking about how we would like to be treated if we were one of our partners. We have all worked with vendors that introduced new people to us that went bad, good, and everywhere in-between and we wanted to avoid the pitfalls that we have experienced which, at the end of the day, comes down to the handoff. Nobody wants to repeat themselves. Nobody wants to have to explain their business or pain points they are looking to solve to a new person. We are going to bring the new CSM online and then pair them with the existing CSM. Introduce them early on and have them begin to be a presence in the relationship, establishing themselves as an additional value. By the time we need to communicate the change in account management it will be an easy transition built on trust and proven value, or at least that’s the theory!”
Leverage other key members of the account team
“Early involvement and solid communication are KEY. A new CSM needs knowledge of a customer ahead of time... all the time. One of the biggest reasons why many successful companies maintain a Sales Engineering team is to make sure that communication through the sales and customer relationship cycle is seamless and unencumbered. An important facet to Sales Engineering is internal mediation on the customer’s behalf and access to all the internal resources that make a new business relationship turn out successful. Any CSM that has SEs as an internal resource should leverage them in that transition if possible. I have had the privilege of working through those transfers myself and learning from them has helped me apply that experience into my management practices.”
Shadow the existing CSM before the transition
“Proper transition and handover using the right strategy e.g. making the new CSM shadow the original CSM on the account, make the new CSM a co-CSM on the account, overlap by letting the new CSM lead the account after a certain period of transition and have the original CSM monitor it. An account / customer may have different priorities, expectations and profile, There needs to be a good understanding of the static and dynamic customer attributes and devise a successful strategy accordingly. Determine what has worked well in the past, not gone so well in the past and what one needs to continue doing or stop doing based on the lessons learned on a customer account. Proper Change Management both internally and externally.”
