Top 5 Activities of a Great SaaS Customer Success Manager

About this video

Martell, introducing himself as a serial entrepreneur, investor, and creator of SaaS Academy, outlines five things a Customer Success Manager (CSM) should do for a SaaS business, even for founders around $10k in MRR wondering how a CSM differs from support. First, create a health score quantifying activation and engagement, sorting accounts into red, yellow, and green, plus purple for referenceable advocates. He cites HubSpot’s CHI (Customer Happiness Index) and his own Member-At-Risk Monitor (MAR) with a red playbook. Second, be outcome and project focused: for deals of $10,000-plus annual contract value, manage each client’s specific desired outcome like a project, using his EBR Flow Planner — the Executive Business Review, also called QBR — a nine-box model. Third, engage renewal and upsell through a land-and-expand model and a structured renewal path ideally within 90 days of renewal; he says a dollar spent on a CSM should return five times ROI, versus ten times for sales. Fourth, escalate value by earning testimonials, referrals, case studies (ideally one per month), and customer marketing like podcasts and conferences — referrals should at least offset logo churn. Fifth, be the voice of the customer, feeding friction points into product development.

Key takeaways

• Build a health score with red/yellow/green buckets plus purple for referenceable advocates, using a Member-At-Risk Monitor
• CSMs must be outcome and project focused for $10,000-plus accounts, guided by the nine-box EBR Flow Planner
• Run a structured renewal path within 90 days of renewal and pursue land-and-expand expansion revenue
• Martell says a CSM dollar should deliver a five-times ROI, compared with ten times for a sales dollar
• Escalate value through testimonials, referrals, and case studies, and act as voice of the customer to product

Episode details: published August 3, 2020 · 12:45 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dan Martell’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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