INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Customer Success Manager positions are at a -1% growth rate, which is slower than average. With that said, there are currently 2,923,400 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to decrease by -34,500 to 2,888,900 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Customer Success Manager jobs was $35,830 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $11.59 per hour, and the highest 10% more than $27.80 per hour.
Our conclusion? The Customer Success Manager job market is facing competition due to decreasing demand.
Top customer success manager sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a customer success manager resume experience section
Customer success manager resume experience: checklist
- Use either chronological or reverse-chronological format when listing your previous jobs;
- Mention only relevant positions that add value to your resume;
- Briefly state the challenges you’ve faced and how you’ve overcome them;
- Highlight the results from your efforts (for bonus points, add numbers, percentage rates, etc.);
- Forget about buzzwords! Use power verbs instead.
Use the examples below to build your own experience section!
- Manage 3 Large Enterprise Canadian accounts (>$8MM ARR): Bell Canada, Sobeys, and ShawCor
- Achieve 103% Dollar Retention Rate and 100% Renewal Rate
- Key member of executive-level escalation team with additional responsibilities for handling at risk accounts
- I'm responsible for owning the support and success KPIs on a weekly basis and continuously monitor the support processes
- Training new team members and getting them up to speed is currently the main focus as Stamped.io is growing rapidly
- I onboarded our Enterprise customers, set their accounts up towards achieving the success criteria and also offer them with refresher training sessions.
- I continuously monitor the help docs for our apps and send our new feature announcements to our customers and get feedback on them.
- Designed enterprise client on-boarding process and managed implementation specialists.
- Demonstrated a Renewal Rate of more than 90% (by count) and more than 100% (by value) for 2 consecutive years at InsideView.
- Managed renewal and upsell business with 60K quota attainment.
- Developed promotional email campaigns (InsideIQ) to drive adoption and retain user adoption.
- I work with a dozen enterprise customers to help them get the most out of their investment in our software. By using more of the functionality, it is possible to consolidate tools and reduce cost.
- Advising the customer on which capabilities they should implement first to get quick wins and a long-term ROI creating a roadmap. Meeting the customer face to face, presenting products and product updates, running workshops.
- If there are missing product capabilities, I capture them and work with PM and R&D to enhance the product and prioritise roadmap items.
If there are support cases that are not making progress, I take ownership and drive them to a resolution. - I team up with other functions, such as Professional Services, Support and Sales so that the customer gets a holistic experience.
- Work with XaaS customers approximately $3M in account value partnering with various teams: product management, sales, marketing, development, support, and lab services to identify use cases, develop long term strategy and ensure cloud adoption into production and measurable business value
- Monitor customer product usage, support tickets as well as NPS for trends and process improvement
- Build customer loyalty and retention by education, feature adoption and expansion
- Guide the development of a Salesforce roadmap and implementation plant, to align to the customer’s business objectives.
- Work close to the implementation team to make sure that the project is delivered in time and budget.
- Recommend & create consumption plan, services, products or AppExchange to help customers speed business value.
- Escalate clients issues that need broader help.
- Orchestrate resolution of product & infrastructure obstacles, enhancement requests, bugs.
- Global responsibility for product deployment, maintenance and development
- Customer delivery & support
- Customer insights, internal reporting
- Product strategy
- Create revenue streams (core & non-core)
- Customer deployment communication & training
- Product Champion (SME)
- Customer advocate
- On-boarded and trained new clients to find success with the product and services
- Created web content and analyzed ROI of blog posts and social content
- Managed and supported 250+ accounts and retained key clients and relationships through strategic outreach, ongoing support and content value-add
- Hosted virtual webinars and in-person presentations with new and existing clients to provide product training
- Responsible for maintaining a 95% retention rate
- Managed the Customer Success Management team. Trained team to exceed customer expectations and increase customer satisfaction.
- Improved Customer Retention Rate from 65% to 78%.
- Led top and mid-tier customers within the Platform Solutions, responsible for client onboarding and ongoing support. Managed clients and communicated with them on a daily/weekly basis.
- Established new opportunities with existing relationships and defined revenue opportunities. Led internal interfaces and operations in order to deliver upon customer requirements
- Implementing Facilities and Real Estate digital processes for EMEA Retailers in Fashion and Grocery Industries.
- Managing workflows of 1.6+M work orders and 7,500 store locations.
- Developing an International team of Managers on field.
- Own overall relationship with 300+ assigned clients, which include: increasing adoption, ensuring retention, and satisfaction
- Establish a trusted/strategic advisor relationship with each assigned client and drive continued value of our products and services
- Project-manage account escalations
- Idenitfy upsell opportunities for account growth
- 60 Large Enterprise clients, managing over 2.5M in renewals
- Reduced churn YOY for clients by 180%
- Created strategic success plans for my client base that resulted in 100% customer outreach
- Conducted monthly large webinars, regularly having over 200+ participants with an NPS of 70+
- Managing 200 top tier customers of Instant Magazine with €100k MRR
- On-boarding on the platform all top tier customers (EY, PwC etc.)
- Developing a health score and the department's workflows
- Managing 40+ key accounts in 25 markets with over €55k MRR
- Data analysis with continuous conversion rate and ROI improvements
- Lead and guide the junior support team for small accounts
- Managing 70+ accounts with over €35,000 Monthly Revenue
- Using Hotelchamp toolset to optimize conversion rate, UX and UI
- On-boarding accounts and driving adoption of Hotelchamp technology and maximising customer retention
- Manage Huddle top tier portfolio of strategic and enterprise customers.
- Responsible for adoption, renewal and growth of designated customer set.
- Ensure the highest degree of service globally through developing new and existing revenue streams.
- Managing graduate team to support all areas of growth.
- Manage a $1.2 million book of business.
- Ran the pilot for the Customer Success Role in EMEA reporting to the US leadership team.
- On-boarded most of the new CSMs and managers in the last 3 years helping them drive success in the role
- On-going buddy and mentoring for colleagues
- Continuous highest level of positive customer feedback driving being a strong trusted advisor and relationship builder
- Drove and evangelised a number of high profile customers to become references and global success stories
- Influenced a high number of growth opportunities within my customer portfolio
- Awarded a worldwide CSM Award in 2015 for my impact with customers
- Work very closely with partners including Accenture, IBM, Avanade and Cap Gemini to ensure deep collaboration
- Drove a number of projects collaborating with multiple teams worldwide including Yammer and Office365
- Acting as the main Customer Success contact and trusted advisor for 3 strategic Tableau Partners in EMEA region
- Working with Partners to jointly build and execute Success Plans for mutual end customers to increase overall customer health, customer adoption, retention and satisfaction
- Collaborating on cross-departmental projects with internal Tableau teams: Planning and delivery of quarterly training workshops for Tableau Partners
PRO TIP
The person reading your Customer Success Manager resume will be busy, make sure you never waste their time with fluff.
Action verbs for your customer success manager resume
Recommended Reads:
Customer success manager resume: The skills section!
How to write a strong customer success manager resume skills section?
- Make sure to include all types of skills - soft, hard, technical;
- Focus on skills that show your expertise in the field;
- Check the job description for keywords and make sure to add them to your resume – this will help you pass ATS;
- Leave room for discussion – elaborate on some of your strongest skills in other sections of your resume
Top skills for your customer success manager resume
dfsf
Jira/Confluence
Salesforce
Aha!
Trello
Intelledox(webforms)
Online Booking Systems
Expense Management Systems
Relationship Building
Time Management
Storytelling
Research / Information Gathering
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Tech Savvy
Networking
PRO TIP
Add a Talent Section to your resume, where you can pick your top 3 soft skills and describe how you used them to complete a project or balance departmental communication.
Customer success manager resume header: tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your customer success manager resume header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have non-discrimination policies about what kind of information can be included on your Customer Success Manager resume. This might include a photo (which is often included in a resume header and might be on personal web pages you link to). You can always email the company’s HR department to ask about their policies before you apply.
A career summary for your customer success manager resume
Things to include in your customer success manager resume summary:
- Your total years of experience in the industry;
- 2-3 of your most remarkable achievements so far;
- How your experience relates to the position you’re applying for;
- A very brief description of your strengths.
Resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
Your summary section should act as a brief but informative introduction to your experience section. In this section you should go into more depth about what you have done, and how you did it.
Recommended reads.":
Customer success manager resume: the education section
Things to include in your resume's education section:
- Your highest education degree – including course, year of graduation, institution;
- Awards received as part of your education;
- Extracurricular activities that have helped you gain relevant skills;
- Certifications that have helped you master new skills and increase your expertise;
- Entry-level applicants only: relevant courses and projects.
Top certifications for your customer success manager resume
Customer Success Manager: Fundamentals to your CSM career
The foundations to become a great Customer Success Manager in a tech company. A very well paid profession on the rise
Customer Success Manager (CSM) Elite
Accelerate your Customer Success career with actionable strategies you can implement immediately.
Customer Success: How to Reduce Churn and Increase Retention
Discover 20 easy to implement strategies to reduce your churn rate in less than 3 months and increase your retention
Customer Success | How to Understand Your Customers
Turn Listening into Fantastic Results
Fundamentals of Real Customer Success
Ensure your customers stay longer, buy more, and advocate for you by helping them achieve their desired outcome.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
Choosing the right format for your customer success manager resume
In general, there are three basic formats for your resume:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional skills-based resume format;
- Combination (or Hybrid) resume format.
Some things to consider when choosing the right format for your Customer Success Manager resume include the stage of your career, whether you have all the right skills required for the job or are looking for an industry change, and what field you’re looking to grow in.
The reverse-chronological resume format is the most common one. It lets you describe your most recent job and then move backward. This makes it great for people who have around or less than 10 years of experience and are looking to highlight only their work-related skills and qualities.
If you’re just starting your career journey and reverse-chronological resumes sound too demanding, go for the functional resume format. It’s ideal for showcasing your strengths, personal qualities, skills, education, and the courses you’ve taken, without putting too much pressure on experience and expertise.
Don’t worry if neither of these sounds suitable for you – the hybrid or combination resume format will surely match your needs. It’s similar to the reverse-chronological, but with a catchy twist. Combination or hybrid resumes are great for showcasing both your experience and work-related skills and your personal qualities. Add a “What my day looks like” section for enhancing the jaw-dropping experience!
Here are some more things worth remembering when it comes to formatting your Customer Success Manager resume:
- Choose standard 1-inch resume margins;
- Go for traditional resume fonts sized 10-12p;
- Match the length of your Customer Success Manager resume with your experience – choose a one-page template if you have less than 10 years of experience, and be careful with two-page templates – use them only when applying for executive positions;
- Save your resume in PDF to avoid formatting issues and potential unauthorized editing.
Tired of getting rejected? Check out this article on how to craft a resume that stands out!
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you feel that you don’t have a high chance in a particular company, due to lack of relevant experience, then you can still consider using a creative layout. That might help you get noticed and invited for an interview, as most of the other applicants will have boring resume designs.
Other sections suitable for your customer success manager resume
Depending on the position and the industry, you can spice your resume up by adding some more sections. They will help the recruiter get a glimpse of who you are as a person, besides all your job-related skills and qualities.
Here are some examples:
How to add creativity to your customer success manager resume
Gone are the days when creative resumes were frowned upon by recruiters!
What’s more, the right amount of creativity will make recruiters remember you and want to learn more about who you are – both as an individual and as a professional.
There are two ways to build a creative resume - add creative sections or go for a more creative design approach in general. Go for whatever suits you, the position, and the industry most!
What makes a great customer success manager resume: key takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
