The Customer Success Competency Framework
Resource used by practitioners that come from companies such as:
What does a customer success manager (CSM) do?
A customer success manager (CSM) is responsible for guiding customers from onboarding through to value realisation, renewal, and expansion.
CSMs build long-term relationships, anticipate risks before they surface, and act as trusted advisors, ensuring every interaction delivers value and strengthens the partnership.
The work of customer success teams stretches across the entire customer journey, blending project management, consulting, and advocacy to drive outcomes that matter to both the customer and the business.
Key responsibilities
As customer success professionals, CSMs have a broad set of responsibilities and competencies, often spanning both commercial and relationship-focused activities.
Their remit typically includes:
Customer onboarding and implementation support: Lead structured handovers from sales teams, align on goals, build detailed onboarding plans, and coordinate internal teams to ensure a smooth start and early value.
Customer value realisation and adoption: Drive ongoing product adoption, monitor usage patterns, deliver enablement, and provide strategic guidance to help customers achieve measurable results.
Customer relationship management and stakeholder engagement: Build trust across all levels, maximise customer experience, map stakeholders, multithread relationships, tailor communication, and act as the customer’s advocate internally.
Renewal and expansion management: Monitor renewal signals, collaborate with account managers, surface expansion opportunities, and support negotiation and value conversations.
Risk management and churn mitigation: Proactively identify early warning signs, build and execute recovery plans, escalate risks, and collaborate cross-functionally to retain customers.
Voice of customer and internal collaboration: Gather and prioritise customer feedback, translate it into actionable insights, and champion customer needs internally with sales reps, product, support, and leadership.
Customer-centric business acumen: Understand each customer’s business model, industry, and goals, connecting product capabilities to strategic objectives and measurable impact.
Product expertise and enablement: Become an expert in product features and best practices, communicate updates, create educational content, and coach customers through adoption challenges.
CRM and customer health management: Maintain meticulous CRM records, track adoption and satisfaction metrics, use health scores for prioritisation, and provide timely account updates to the business.
What's included in the CSM sales competency framework?
The CSM competency framework is a structured guide that outlines the essential knowledge, key skills, behaviours, and attributes required for success in a customer success management role within a sales organisation.
For clarity:
Skills, divided into hard (technical) and soft (interpersonal) categories, are learned abilities that enable individuals to execute tasks effectively.
Knowledge represents the theoretical or practical understanding of subjects (e.g., product knowledge), acquired through sales training, coaching, mentoring, or direct experience.
Behaviour pertains to the actions or reactions of an individual in response to external or internal stimuli. In a professional setting, behaviour often refers to the conduct or demeanour exhibited by an employee in various situations.
This sales competency framework includes a comprehensive list of core competencies (skills, knowledge, and behaviours) that are classified under the following main categories:
Customer onboarding and implementation support
Customer value realisation and adoption
Relationship management and stakeholder engagement
Renewal and expansion management
Risk management and churn mitigation
Voice of customer and internal collaboration
Customer-centric business acumen
Product expertise and enablement
Time management and goal setting
Adaptability and resilience
CRM and customer health management
What's the value of using this CSM sales competency framework?
The value of this CSM sales competency framework lies in its ability to provide a comprehensive and detailed overview of the knowledge, skills, and behaviours that customer success managers need to succeed.
By standardising expectations across the CSM units, it helps align individual efforts with organisational goals and supports the creation of high-performing teams.
More specifically, this framework can be leveraged for:
Recruitment and hiring: Setting clear criteria for what makes a successful CSM, ensuring the right fit for the role and the organisation.
Training and development: Guiding the design of targeted training programmes and identifying areas for skill development or knowledge enhancement.
Performance management: Providing a basis for evaluating performance, identifying strengths and development areas, and setting personalised growth plans.
Career progression: Outlining what is required for advancement, helping customer success managers understand and work towards the next stage in their careers.
Who's the CSM sales competency framework for?
Customer success managers: To clarify expectations, benchmark current skills, and guide personal development.
Customer success leaders and managers: To set performance standards, identify skill gaps, and support team improvement and optimisation.
Human resources and talent acquisition: To identify and select candidates with the essential skills for the customer success roles.
Sales enablement and training professionals: To design and deliver targeted learning initiatives that address specific needs within the CSM population.
How do I use the CSM sales competency framework?
The CSM sales competency framework is designed to be a versatile starting point, offering guidance and saving time by providing a generalised structure.
As you review the framework, you may find that certain competencies don’t directly align with your organisation’s context.
To get the most value from it, consider the following ways to adapt and apply it effectively:
Review and adapt: Disregard elements that don’t fit your scenario, adopt those that align as-is, and adjust others to better suit your needs.
Benchmark and evaluate: Use the framework to assess current skills, identify gaps, and plan targeted development.
Guide coaching and training: Align coaching sessions and training programmes with the key competencies outlined here.
Support career development: Use the framework to clarify what’s needed for advancement and to set clear, achievable goals.
By tailoring this customer success competency model to your unique business environment, you can ensure your customer success managers are equipped with the precise skills required to thrive.
On the topic of skills development, two useful articles you might want to consider are “9 Proven Best Practices to Elevate Your Sales Force” and “Advanced Sales Coaching Techniques for Skills Development”.