Understanding the Roles
Understanding the Roles: Account Manager vs. Customer Success Manager
By: Zainab Zanaty
In the business landscape, especially within service-oriented and tech companies, the roles of Account Managers (AMs) and Customer Success Managers (CSMs) are crucial yet distinct. Both positions are integral to the company’s success, focusing on client relationships, but their approaches and ultimate goals differ significantly. This article delves into the distinctions between these two key roles, highlighting how their responsibilities, objectives, and impacts on the business vary.
Table of Contents
“Make sure every single employee in your company knows precisely what value your customers seek and how he or she can impact it.”
Focus and Objectives
Account Manager: AMs are primarily focused on sales outcomes. Their main objectives revolve around maintaining and expanding business relationships, achieving sales targets, and increasing revenue through strategic upselling and cross-selling.
Customer Success Manager: In contrast, CSMs are dedicated to ensuring the customer achieves their desired outcomes using the company’s products or services. Their goals are customer-centric, emphasizing retention, satisfaction, and long-term success.
Engagement Style
Account Manager: Engagement by AMs is often transactional. They engage with clients mainly during contract renewals, sales opportunities, or when addressing specific business needs.
Customer Success Manager: CSMs engage in a more continuous, relationship-focused manner. They monitor customer health indicators, offer proactive support, and work to preemptively solve problems to ensure ongoing customer satisfaction.
Metrics of Success
Account Manager: Success for an AM is measured by sales metrics and how well they meet or exceed financial quotas.
Customer Success Manager: For CSMs, success is measured by customer health metrics such as retention rates, customer satisfaction scores, and usage statistics.
Long-Term Impact
Account Manager: The work of an AM directly impacts the company’s short-term revenue and helps in maximizing the profitability of each account.
Customer Success Manager: CSMs indirectly influence revenue through customer retention and loyalty. Their work fosters a positive customer experience, which can lead to renewals, expansions, and referrals.
“Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.”
Understanding these roles clearly can help businesses allocate their resources better and align their strategies to maximize both customer satisfaction and revenue. By distinguishing between these roles, companies can ensure they not only grow their customer base but also maintain a happy and successful customer portfolio.
Author
Zainab Zanaty
Senior Customer Success Manager with a proven track record in managing customer relationships for SaaS products, specialize in crafting personalized strategies to ensure successful onboarding, user adoption, and overall customer satisfaction. Her hands-on experience extends to collaborating cross-functionally with sales, product, and support teams to align customer needs with product enhancements, ultimately fostering long-term partnerships
Stay ahead of the game.
Sign up to the newsletter.
Get all the hottest customer success conversations and talking points landing in your inbox once a month, every month.
