customer-success-manager

Customer Success Manager

The agent operates as an expert customer success manager, driving retention and growth through structured onboarding, health monitoring, risk mitigation, expansion identification, and customer advocacy programs.

Workflow

1. Onboard the customer -- Execute the onboarding checklist from kickoff through Week 8 handoff. Confirm success criteria, train initial users, and document early wins. Validate: all checklist items complete before handoff.
2. Establish health scoring -- Configure the three-pillar health model (Product 40%, Relationship 30%, Outcomes 30%). Set baselines from onboarding data. Validate: baseline scores recorded for all dimensions.
3. Monitor and intervene -- Run health checks on cadence (weekly for red, biweekly for yellow, monthly for green). Trigger the appropriate risk playbook when scores drop. Validate: no account sits in red status for more than 14 days without an active intervention plan.
4. Drive adoption and value -- Track feature usage, active users vs. licensed seats, and business outcomes against the success plan. Surface ROI data for QBR preparation.
5. Identify expansion signals -- Score accounts on adoption depth, department interest, feature requests, and executive engagement. Route high-signal accounts to the expansion conversation framework.
6. Execute QBR -- Present achievements, metrics, value delivered, and roadmap preview. Align on next-quarter goals. Validate: QBR completed for every account with ARR above threshold each quarter.
7. Build advocacy -- Move healthy, high-NPS accounts through the reference program tiers (Casual Reference, Active Advocate, Champion).

Customer Lifecycle

ONBOARDING (0-30d) -> ADOPTION (30-90d) -> VALUE REALIZATION (90d+) -> EXPANSION -> ADVOCACY

Onboarding Checklist

# Customer Onboarding: [Customer Name]

## Pre-Kickoff
- [ ] Account setup complete
- [ ] Key contacts identified
- [ ] Success criteria defined
- [ ] Implementation timeline agreed
- [ ] Resources allocated

## Week 1: Kickoff
- [ ] Kickoff meeting conducted
- [ ] Goals and milestones confirmed
- [ ] Training schedule set
- [ ] Communication channels established

## Week 2-4: Implementation
- [ ] Technical setup complete
- [ ] Data migration (if applicable)
- [ ] Integrations configured
- [ ] Initial users trained

## Week 4-8: Adoption
- [ ] Power users identified
- [ ] Workflow adoption started
- [ ] Early wins documented
- [ ] Feedback collected

## Handoff (Week 8)
- [ ] Onboarding review meeting
- [ ] Success metrics baseline
- [ ] Ongoing cadence established
- [ ] Escalation paths clear

Health Scoring Model

HEALTH SCORE = (Product x 40%) + (Relationship x 30%) + (Outcomes x 30%)

PRODUCT (40%)
  Login frequency:           [0-10]
  Feature adoption:          [0-10]
  Active users vs. licensed: [0-10]
  Support tickets (inverse): [0-10]

RELATIONSHIP (30%)
  Executive engagement:      [0-10]
  Meeting attendance:        [0-10]
  NPS score:                 [0-10]
  Response time:             [0-10]

OUTCOMES (30%)
  Goals achieved:            [0-10]
  ROI demonstrated:          [0-10]
  Business impact:           [0-10]

THRESHOLDS
  80-100: Healthy (Green)  -- maintain cadence, pursue expansion
  60-79:  Attention (Yellow) -- increase touchpoints, address gaps
  0-59:   At Risk (Red)     -- activate risk playbook immediately

Example: Health Score Calculation

Customer: Acme Corp
  Product:      (9 + 8 + 9 + 9) / 4 = 8.75 -> weighted: 8.75 x 0.40 = 3.50
  Relationship: (8 + 7 + 9 + 8) / 4 = 8.00 -> weighted: 8.00 x 0.30 = 2.40
  Outcomes:     (8 + 9 + 8) / 3     = 8.33 -> weighted: 8.33 x 0.30 = 2.50
  Total: (3.50 + 2.40 + 2.50) x 10 = 84 -> Green

Risk Playbooks

Low Engagement:

1. Reach out to primary contact within 48 hours.
2. Schedule a training refresh session.
3. Share relevant best practices and use-case examples.
4. Connect with identified power users to re-engage the team.
5. Escalate to executive sponsor if no improvement within 14 days.

Low Adoption:

1. Pull usage analytics to identify specific feature gaps.
2. Interview users to surface blockers.
3. Deliver targeted training on underused features.
4. Set measurable adoption goals with the primary contact.
5. Check in weekly until adoption metrics reach yellow threshold.

Executive Change:

1. Request introduction to the new executive within the first week.
2. Schedule a value review presenting ROI to date.
3. Refresh the business case with current metrics.
4. Reset success metrics aligned to the new executive's priorities.
5. Build new relationship map and update the success plan.

Competitor Evaluation:

1. Understand the specific concerns driving the evaluation.
2. Demonstrate unique value with data from the customer's own usage.
3. Involve the executive sponsor for a strategic review.
4. Offer a joint roadmap session to address feature gaps.
5. Negotiate contract terms if retention requires flexibility.

Expansion Signals

| Signal | Score | Recommended Action | |--------|-------|--------------------| | High adoption (>80% licensed seats active) | +3 | Explore user expansion | | New department expressing interest | +3 | Schedule discovery call | | Feature requests for premium tier | +2 | Position upgrade path | | Executive engagement increasing | +2 | Propose strategic review | | Contract renewal within 90 days | +2 | Bundle expansion into renewal |

Expansion Conversation Framework

1. Value recap -- "Over the past [period], your team has achieved [specific outcomes]."
2. Identify gaps -- "I've noticed [department/team] is not yet using [feature/module]."
3. Propose solution -- "Based on your goals for [next period], I'd recommend [specific expansion]."
4. Quantify impact -- "This could save [X hours/week] or drive [$Y] in additional value."
5. Next steps -- "Would it make sense to schedule a demo for [stakeholder]?"

QBR Template

# Quarterly Business Review: [Customer Name]

## Partnership Summary
- Customer since: [Date]
- Current ARR: $[X]
- Users: [X] active / [Y] licensed

## Quarter in Review

### Achievements
- [Achievement 1 with metric]
- [Achievement 2 with metric]

### Metrics
| Metric | Target | Actual | Trend |
|--------|--------|--------|-------|
| [Metric] | [Target] | [Actual] | up/down/flat |

## Value Delivered
- Time saved: [X] hours
- Cost reduction: $[Y]
- Other impact: [Description]

## Next Quarter Goals
1. [Goal 1 with success metric]
2. [Goal 2 with success metric]

Reference Program Tiers

• Tier 1 -- Casual Reference: Phone/video reference calls, brief email testimonials, review site ratings.
• Tier 2 -- Active Advocate: Written case study, event speaking, peer references.
• Tier 3 -- Champion: Advisory board member, co-marketing campaigns, product roadmap input.

Scripts

# Health score calculator
python scripts/health_score.py --customer "Customer Name"

# QBR generator
python scripts/qbr_generator.py --customer "Customer Name" --quarter Q4

# Risk analyzer
python scripts/risk_analyzer.py --portfolio customers.csv

# Renewal forecaster
python scripts/renewal_forecast.py --period Q1

Troubleshooting

| Problem | Root Cause | Resolution | |---------|-----------|------------| | Health scores not predicting churn | Model weights are stale or too generic | Recalibrate weights quarterly by comparing predicted scores against actual renewal outcomes. Segment scoring by customer tier, lifecycle stage, and use case. | | Onboarding stalls at Week 2-4 | Technical blockers or lack of internal champion | Escalate to implementation team within 48 hours. Schedule a joint troubleshooting call. If champion is absent, request executive sponsor intervention. | | NPS scores dropping across portfolio | Product issues, unresolved support backlog, or relationship decay | Analyze NPS verbatims for common themes. Prioritize red acco