Understanding and supporting Customer Success Managers (CSMs) is vital for the long-term success of any Customer Success (CS) organization. However, the unique stresses of the CSM role can create levels of burnout and dissatisfaction that are often overlooked by team leadership.

In July 2024, Vitally hosted its first “CSM Confidential” event (watch the recording here), where we delved into the challenges faced by CSMs and offered actionable strategies for CS team leaders to create healthier, more productive work environments. Here’s a recap of the key takeaways from our panel of experts.

Event overview‍

The “CSM Confidential” virtual event series was inspired by our "Secret Lives of CSMs" report, which surveyed 679 B2B CSMs about their work experiences. During the first event, Vitally’s Director of Content Marketing Ben Goldstein summarized the report’s findings about the human toll of CSM work and introduced our expert speakers:

• Ryan Johansen, founder of Stress Less and Get More Done
• Parker Moore, Senior Director of Customer Operations and Education at Vitally
• Celine Doumar, Principal Customer Success Manager at Vitally

How Work Impacts Life for CSMs — 10 Key Takeaways

1. Burnout among CSMs is widespread and driven by key stress factors

According to “The Secret Lives of CSMs” report, many CSMs experience negative effects on their sleep, mental health, and physical health within a short period due to their job. Burnout is a common issue among CSMs, with 36% of them experiencing it “often” or “constantly.” 

The stress in the role is primarily driven by two critical factors:

• Quota anxiety: Most CSMs have quotas, and the pressure to meet these quotas is a major source of stress.
• Lack of job security: Many CSMs frequently worry about their job security, regardless of their performance in meeting quotas.

‍2. The role of a CSM is hard to switch off from

The majority of CSMs have trouble separating their work life from their personal life, often working outside normal business hours due to heavy workloads, cultural expectations, or demanding customers.

Workplace chat tools like Slack and Teams, while convenient, have contributed to an always-on work environment. A large portion of CSMs regularly monitor work communications even outside of working hours (54%) or while on vacation (40%). This behavior is often driven by a fear of missing important information or jeopardizing their job security.

3. Finding balance and preventing burnout is crucial for CSMs

Ryan: "It's important to find a state of 'flow,' where one's skills perfectly match the job challenges. I quickly had to figure out, okay, how can I get a better grip on this and take care of myself while still doing a good job at work?”

To achieve this, Ryan recommended:

• Skill building: Focus on improving skills to better match job challenges
• Workload management: Conduct regular audits of tasks and streamline processes to eliminate unnecessary work
• Boundaries: Set clear boundaries between work and personal time to prevent burnout

‍4. Recognition and appreciation are key to maintaining team morale

Parker: “Every renewal should be celebrated, and we just don't do that. We should be operating from the perspective, I think, as CS leaders: let’s just assume everybody's gonna churn. Then, build the structure to get every single renewal, get every single upsell. And then let’s celebrate it just like we would sell it.”

“There are probably many ways that people need to be recognized, but there's certainly economic recognition. You can tell somebody they're doing a great job and say it publicly, but if they don't see it in their compensation, that's gonna be a tough sell. 

“But private recognition, I think, is also really important as well…Give them a bit more exposition and explanation on why they're doing such a great job and make sure that this isn't the first time they're hearing about it.

“And then obviously in social circles, including in meetings but also like in Slack. For example, we have a channel that is now kind of celebrating the activities that we want other people executing.”

5. Excessive meetings and lack of follow-up can cause significant burnout

Celine: “Something that really burns me out, and I'm sure this is probably common for a lot of folks, is just having endless calls. Having back-to-back meetings and not having a chance to actually follow up or do any other work can really mentally exhaust me. Especially if it's like that every day for a week. One of the things that helps me recover is just those off days where I have fewer meetings.

“There is, you know, some ebb and flow, and some weeks are really busy and some aren't, and that really helps. Just knowing that it's not a permanent state of being is really great. And knowing that the workload will let up and I'll have a chance to catch up and do some of my other work at that time.

“I really try to be less meeting-heavy on Mondays and Fridays so I can prepare for the week on Mondays and then wrap up my week on Fridays. I have blocked my calendar at the beginning of the week and the end of the week. 

“Obviously, I can be flexible. But I don't ideally want a customer to schedule a call early Monday morning or late Friday afternoon because that's really my time to catch up and feel like I'm really on top of my work.

“Also, having new challenges [...] and being able to explore and have the time to do those things is super important for me to stay engaged and see the progress. 

“If I can do something really cool either internally or for a customer and feel like I provided a lot of value, that's motivating. That is super helpful.”

6. Setting boundaries is essential to protect personal time and mental health

Celine: "I think using calendar blocks is important [because] a lot of my customers have my calendar link. Making sure you are not allowing customers to book outside of your regular work hours is also super important.

“And I think it's also a bit of self-discipline. Forcing yourself to not work off-hours or send messages off-hours. Making sure that you actually are off at some points of the day is really important.”

7. There are common themes in CS teams that lead to burnout

Ryan: “First, it’s your relationship to and how you think about stress. 

“Second is the workload, especially as a CSM. Giving people certain tools and strategies can not only be effective but also ensure their time goes a long way so that they feel more in control.

“Third is interpersonal situations such as setting boundaries. I think especially as CSMs, we tend to fall more on the people-pleasing side. We want to be helpful, and that can come as a disservice to ourselves occasionally. Learning that it’s okay to say no to things is key.

“My one quick win for defeating burnout is what Celine said: unplugging your brain. I never used to be able to shut off from work. The small shift I made was to write out the top three things I have to do tomorrow at the end of every workday. Then, I would do one of those things for the first half hour or hour of the day.”

8. You must be proactive in combating organizational burnout

Ryan: “So I'd say in that phase, the first two steps are auditing the workload and analyzing the workload. Get it all out on paper. If you keep everything you have to do in your head, if you don't have any systems in place and it's just chaos.

“It’s an exercise that helps you understand what you actually have to do. Then you can say, ‘what’s a small step I can take?’ and you grow from there and make progress.

“When we keep everything in our heads, it can get way worse than it has to be. Bringing objectivity to a situation can make it a lot easier.”

9. There are obstacles to implementing burnout prevention strategies

Ryan: “The first is that budgets are tight. With something like that, you're thinking about what's the ROI? Typically, budget's not as much of an issue if you can make a good business case for something.

“Even the practice of not starting your day with email. A lot of the time, there are these stories that we tell ourselves that aren't always rooted in reality. And, typically, people have not expressly told [to do that], it's just what they think they should be doing.

“Also, just having a conversation instead. That helps with conflict. Having a conversation and making sure you're on the same page with someone even if it's a little bit uncomfortable at first. That's a huge skill that you should work on.

“Another thing is getting overwhelmed by the thought of trying to solve burnout on your team and get all these things done. So what do we typically do when we're overwhelmed? We procrastinate. It's known as ‘learned helplessness’ when you think that what you do isn't gonna make any difference. 

“So if you’re trying to implement a program or if you’re trying to even make your own life a little bit better, what is that small measurable win that I can do?

“And things are gonna go wrong. But giving yourself those winning moments is something to keep you pushing through.”

10. CS leaders need to advocate for resources and support

Ryan: “You need to make a really strong business case about why this matters. 

“Let’s say I'm trying to get a headcount for my team because we're so overwhelmed and there's so much to do. I put together the amount of time they had and then I put a guesstimate on our amount of upsell. We're able to reduce churn with this amount of people. We predict that adding another headcount at 100k can bring us another 800k. And I brought that to our CEO and our CFO. And my CFO said something great. He said, ‘If you have a high degree of confidence that I can spend a dollar and make eight, that's a trade I'm willing to make a lot of the time.’

“So you have to put some numbers on it. And then the hard part is you need to make that work. And if you're not gonna put your own skin in the game, they're not gonna question it either. So try and make the case that way.”

Wrapping up

"CSM Confidential" Part 1 provided invaluable insights into the challenges faced by CSMs and offered practical strategies to improve their well-being and performance. By focusing on skill building, workload management, and effective communication, CS leaders can support their teams more effectively.

For more detailed insights, watch the on-demand recording of the event. Additionally, you can visit the Vitally Success Network to check out our latest resources on supporting CSMs in your organization.