We can think of our journey as a Customer Success Manager similar to a canoe trip. We have sections of rapids requiring intense focus followed by calm, peaceful sections of river.
Examples of rapids we could face are helping a customer successfully onboard, addressing product adoption issues or expanding our relationship with new ideas or product features.
We need to be ready to shoot the rapids during times of challenge and use periods of calm to reflect and plan for what’s ahead.
We can also think of Customer Success like tending a camp fire.
We want to avoid being distant with customers like a fire that burns too low. We also want to limit situations that feel too intense such as risk of churn due to a competitor.
Our responsibility is to tend the fire and make sure it’s burning evenly as in managing our customers to good health.
Thinking of Customer Success like a canoe trip or tending a camp fire can give us guidance on how to carry out our role.