Own it. Drive it. Lead it. (Why CSMs need to take charge)

We often talk about how the customer's success isn't just the responsibility of the CSM but the entire organisation. And that is true. Without Sales, without Product, without Services and Support, our customers will never see the value in our solution, no matter how good a CSM you are. It takes a village, as the saying goes.

Don't Let Competing Priorities De-rail you

Consequently, when putting a QBR agenda together, you may get requests from other teams to focus on specific items. Product might be pushing you to demo that new feature they've invested heavily in. Sales might want you to go hard on a license upsell as they are behind on the Quarter. Services may wish to have you position their latest hands-on audit package. It doesn't matter specifically what, but these requests come from an internal angle. It reflects a desire to push on to the customer what is important to us, and as a CSM, we need to push back on this and take control.

Let the Success Plan Decide your Actions

As I've discussed, everything a CSM does should align with the account Success Plan. There should be no tasks or initiatives that don't move the customer along to their desired state. Everything else is a distraction and a potential hurdle to customer success. Putting those example requests into content:

• Only demo a new feature if its use aligns with the customer's goals.
• Only position an upsell of additional licenses if more users can add further value to the customers' business.
• Only suggest a service package if it enables a customer to move towards their goals quicker or faster.
   

Own It

Despite the team effort of delivering customer success, I think it's imperative that the CSM 'owns' the QBR process. Take control of the agenda, working closely with your key sponsor. Make sure your content is entirely crafted to their requirements and arrange the admin around it.

Drive It

I also believe it's down to the CSM to 'drive it'. By this, I mean putting in the effort to get the required resources aligned, getting other people to commit their time and contributions, and also keeping the energy and momentum going. If you're happy to let things slip a little, you'll quickly see attendees drop off and teammates who can no longer provide that one slide you asked for.

Lead it

Ultimately, the CSM needs to 'lead it'. This is more about leading the meeting. Doing the set-up and intros and also the summarisation and next steps. Be the one that asks the discovery questions and validates thoughts and opinions.

All of this needs practice and also requires a certain level of confidence, especially when working with senior stakeholders, but none of it is beyond any CSM. 

If you're still wondering what a good QBR deck looks like, download my QBR Framework that you can use as a starter base to build off.