[dxdm]

> customer success manager

These words are so funny and so sad at the same time.

Sorry for going off on a tangent, but seeing them used together unironically always has a fingernails-on-chalkboard effect on me.

I know you didn't invent them, it's probably what that role really is called where you work. I've worked there, too, in places that have a "customer success" team.

It doesn't have to be universal, but at least in my experience, in places that use these names, customers aren't successful, at least not by conscious design and effort, and their "success manager" ain't no manager, either.

It's one of these icky corporate euphemisms that make everything around them a little sadder. But it's also a bit fun, because of the immense silliness.

Alright, off-topic rant over.

[xp84]

Our CSMs honestly are some of the hardest working and sweetest people I know. They take a sooo much guff from customers, and yet all they can actually do is lobby the product group to plead the case for what their customers are asking for (or beg for someone like me to figure out some weird bug/bad data etc.)

[dxdm]

Absolutely, customer support are usually quite busy between a rock and a hard place, without much power to affect change. But, hey, slap a "success" and "manager" label on, and everything is automatically better, isn't it? That's what I mean.

[xp84]

Oh I see you’re welcome hat you were getting at. In a SaaS company, at least the kind I know, those are two very separate functions. CSMs are assigned accounts, and they proactively meet with you monthly or at some appropriate cadence to make sure you’re using the software well and don’t have any concerns. The idea being that if you are using it unsuccessfully, you’re more likely to just not renew your contract. They are evaluated on whether their accounts renew vs. churn.

Support are a separate group, they answer emails to support@, open tickets to investigate, etc. They do communicate with your CSM to tip them off if you’re having a hard time.