A great customer or client success manager (CSM) needs to be multi-talented. In my opinion, that can make the hiring process a challenge. Great CSMs know how to balance reactive support, proactive positioning of solutions, and strategizing for their customers. They have a vast understanding of your product or service. Plus, they can write helpful emails, coupled with knowledge base content, for their customers.
So, how do you find a person with such a broad skill set who fits the role? That’s where great interview questions come in. In my years working in service, I’ve noticed that the right questions can unlock candidates’ abilities and help you see who’s the best fit.
Keep reading to learn the fundamental skills CSMs need, as well as a list of interview questions you can use in your process.
Table of Contents
A good CSM interview question reflects your business needs — specifically, how the CSM role fits into your products, services, and business model.
Your questions typically need to test for the level of business acumen and any personality traits required to fulfill the CSM role.
Your questions should also evaluate specific hard and soft skills. In some cases, having more technical skills or knowledge is essential. In other cases, technical skills don't matter nearly as much as personal skills.
A CSM handling a complex and high-touch portfolio requires a very different skill set from a CSM working on a low-touch model with customers working with a simpler product.
The profiles would have close to nothing in common (except, of course, that you always need to be a nice person).
Finally, allow your company‘s core values to help dictate what questions you ask. Because you’re really looking for a good teammate that can vibe with the rest of the team, contribute to it, and learn.
TL;DR A good customer success manager interview question reflects:
To help customers, day-in and day-out, CSMs need to be empathetic — a key aspect of emotional intelligence.
Whether answering the same question for what seems like the millionth time or counseling an angry customer through a pricing change, the ability to understand and share the feelings of other people is critical for CSMs. They need to effectively understand a customer’s business goal and initiatives, de-escalate tough situations, and advocate for the customer with internal teams.
Effective problem-solving for customers, all day, every day, requires a high level of resourcefulness.
CSMs need to quickly address customer issues. If they can't answer their question, they need to track down the resource or colleague who can. This means that prospective CSM candidates must demonstrate a willingness and readiness to collaborate across teams and across departments — and a track record of being able to solve problems no matter how big or small.
CSMs need to be able to clearly communicate — with customers, with team members, and with other departments within a company — in order to be successful.
CSMs need to answer questions and teach customers — over the phone, on live chat or email, or in a knowledge base article. They also need to share and teach best practices to other team members — as well as identify trends, feedback, and user data to share with other teams within the organization. Excellent oral and presentation skills are important to evaluate in the interview as well.
It may be already obvious, but it's worth emphasizing that a good CSM should be able to build rapport with just about anyone in order to get the job done. This is a hard skill to teach, let alone identify.
Individuals who are friendly, open, authentic, and who can build rapport in an interview can likely translate that over the course of having a longer customer relationship.
If they get the job, a new CSM will have to learn how to use your product and a demonstrable level of skill in using and explaining it to customers.
Even when they become an expert with the tech your company uses, a CSM has to be able to simplify it for new customers or those who are not as technologically savvy. That demonstrates technical acumen beyond understanding the functionality.
CSMs should be intrinsically motivated and should not need to be asked to go the extra mile or put in 110%. In an interview, listen for answers tied with examples of when the candidate went above and beyond to solve problems for their customers.
Now that we‘ve outlined the skills you should be looking for in a candidate, let’s review the questions you should ask during an interview.
Stuff happens. Ask the candidate how they diplomatically share tough news while keeping a customer positive and engaged. You can also give them a scenario based on past customer issues they have had to tackle. This gives you a sense of their ability to adapt to challenges and bounce back.
"I deliver bad news to customers preferably by getting on a Zoom call, if possible, since it's easier to gauge their response when I can see their body language.
“If Zoom is not an option, I‘ll communicate this information through a phone call, as I feel it’s important to deliver bad news in a real-time setting where you can answer questions, understand their reaction, and provide support immediately."
Look for a candidate who strives to empathize with the customer, and understand from the customer’s viewpoint — anticipating any concerns or questions they might have prior to speaking with them. Pay close attention to their ability to read customers and how they transition the news into how they can move forward together.
Be on the lookout for candidates who deliver bad news through an impersonal email or phone script, and don’t make themselves available for a follow-up conversation.
CSMs can‘t answer every question immediately — and they can’t always promise the customer a definitive solution. Ask candidates how they communicate with customers on addressing long-term requests from them, how they follow up, and how they handle letting them know if their request or request is not possible.
"I look to be proactive with my communication – regardless of the medium I use to reach out to the customer.
“For example, if my customer requested a product feature that didn‘t exist, I’d let them no, the reason why this feature isn‘t available, and alternative options to solve for their use case. That said, if the customer was insistent on having that feature, I’d meet with our product team afterward to share this feedback and come back with updates if appropriate.
“If our product team could make the feature, great! I would share the timeline for when the feature will be created. Otherwise, I would again let the customer know the reason(s) why, re-emphasize the alternatives provided earlier, and share ways the customers can use to pitch this idea to my company."
Someone who can proactively set customer expectations and persevere is a good sign.
If the candidate cannot fulfill a certain request, they should be upfront with the customer and communicate why before providing alternative solutions as a way to address their underlying issue. If you can’t provide a solution, the candidate should at least demonstrate to the customer their intention to solve their issue and how they would provide updates on progress.
Anyone that provides a short “no” answer without explanation or alternative options to address the customer’s underlying issue does not demonstrate empathy. Moreover, it speaks to a lack of willingness on the person’s part to effectively communicate the reasoning and context, which is a critical skill to show proficiency in a CSM interview.
The candidate's experience and strategies should demonstrate their ability to not only solve for the customer but highlight their communication skills.
"One time, a customer demanded a refund for their purchase with us. They were upset because they felt they had purchased the wrong product and that the sales rep they worked with only wanted to close a deal. While the product the customer had was exactly what they needed, they needed to learn how it could help them achieve their goals.
“When speaking to the customer, I apologized for the frustration they felt and asked them to walk me through the issues they had with the product. Once they shared their feedback, I aligned myself with their concerns and communicated that they needed to adjust the way the customer was using the product.
“I told them if they adjusted their use of the product, they might see different results. I offered to walk them through how I'd recommend using the product, after which it became clear to them on how they could use our software to meet their business objectives.
“Afterward, the customer was excited about using the product. They decided not to cancel their subscription and we agreed to follow up in a couple of weeks to make sure everything was still going well with their specific use case and product usage."
Of course, no one likes being on the receiving end of frustration from someone. Candidates should be able to keep a level head when dealing with any upset customer. Additionally, they may be able to demonstrate the art of delivering a sincere apology, and pivot to remedy the situation.
If you have a frustrated customer, you definitely do not want a CSM that matches their frustration. Responding by acting curt or flippant with an already upset customer will likely make the situation worse. If the candidate cannot come up with an example of a difficult interaction with a customer, they may not be a seasoned CSM for your team.
Customer success professionals often have to communicate and collaborate with other people across their company in order to get the job done. Whether it's communicating product feedback or collaborating on an upsell, the candidate should share their process and tips for maintaining cross-team communication that demonstrates responsiveness and a collaborative mindset.
"I will often refer customers to sales reps when it's clear there is a product they need but do not currently have. However, I will do some discovery to make sure that the product will help the customer achieve their business objective and long-term goals.
“Alternatively, if a customer requests a product or feature we don't currently offer, I will report this to our product team. I will want to know if the product team has workarounds the customer can use in the meantime, or if they have updates on this new product or feature. Based on their thoughts, I would share this timeline to let the customer know when they can expect to see that product, service, or feature."
Look for CSM candidates who can get to the heart of the customer’s pain points and evaluate what products would work best, rather than immediately trying to upsell them. These reps should also be able to demonstrate how well they function across teams and highlight methods for successful collaboration they have used successfully.
Avoid CSM candidates who indicate an unwillingness to work across teams to solve for the customer.
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The way a CSM candidate answers this question will tell you two things: whether the candidate did research on your products/services prior to the interview and how well they can break down complicated concepts and demonstrate value for customers.
"HubSpot's Workflow tool can automate tasks for your business. Workflows begin with a trigger or enrollment criteria that the customer must complete. Once completed, you can launch a series of actions that are executed chronologically.
“You can also set up branching logic within the workflow that acts as secondary triggers. If a customer completes that action — or doesn‘t — the next step in the workflow shifts based on the customer’s behaviors."
Look for a CSM interview candidate who can simply and succinctly connect the functional capabilities of your products/services to business impact for customers. The best way to understand a concept or product is to effectively explain it to someone else that can benefit them. This will help you evaluate whether or not they researched your product.
Avoid reps that overly rely on jargon and cannot clearly explain what your product or service does.
This question is along the same lines as the previous one, but it will reveal how skilled the candidate is at breaking down a tool they might use every day to an absolute beginner — which is a key skill needed for new customer onboarding calls.
"X is a platform where you can share brief ideas and comments with peers, strangers, and businesses. You might remember it as Twitter. Once you create an account, you can customize your profile and start engaging with other accounts on X. The posts you share have a set character limit. You can't go past that limit unless you write a follow-up tweet.
“You can also engage with other people‘s tweets by commenting on them, liking them, or reposting them, which essentially means you’re reposting their tweet to your account to show support. Who you can engage with depends on which accounts you‘re following. You can also use hashtags, too, but we’ll get to that later on once you've mastered the basics."
Look for a rep that demonstrates patience and empathy. They will most likely be onboarding customers who are completely new to the product and the company — some may not be tech-savvy at all.
Candidates who demonstrate impatience or give a brief answer. For example, responding with "X is a social media company that allows users to communicate with each other” doesn't really explain how a person would use it.
The first conversation with a new customer is critical in the relationship — and it's often a predictor of whether the customer will churn or be retained.
During the first conversation, CSMs will want to set up new customers using the product or service. However, they need to understand how they will understand the value of working with them, so the relationship can grow and develop positively.
Ideally, the CSM will take the time to understand the customer’s business goals and objectives, point to features in the product or service that can help make progress on those objectives, and open a conversation for working together further.
“I demonstrate value by immediately aligning myself with the customer and their goals. I ensure I understand what they're trying to achieve, as well as the challenges they're facing, before showing the resources we have that they need to be successful. I let them know I'm on their team and I'm available for support in whatever way is needed. This helps build rapport and establishes my value early on in the relationship.”
Find candidates who are good listeners and inquisitive about why a customer has decided to work with a company. It’s easy to get caught up in making the pitch, but listening and responding with pointed questions will help you truly understand the customer’s pain points.
Candidates who deliver canned responses and focus on getting the customer off the phone, rather than understanding their business use case, should be filtered out.
Cross-selling and upselling is a delicate balancing act for every CSM. Making a suggestion not in line with the customer's goals, or one that seems pushy can endanger the customer relationship.
Asking the candidate on how they start that conversation will tell you if they understand best practices — and the role of a CSM in the sales process — or not.
"I see that you‘re using this product to attract new leads to your business. How are you liking it? From my standpoint, it looks like it’s going well — I’m excited to see this growth.
“That said, one concern you shared with me early on in our relationship is scalability. You're getting close to achieving your goals, but I want to make sure you do not plateau when you reach the finish line. Let’s keep that growth going so you continue to scale.
“We offer this particular feature on an upgraded tier to help you do just that. It‘s intended for a customer facing the same challenges you are, and I feel it would be exactly what you need to continue growing your business. If you’re interested, I am happy to set up a demo with our sales team, so you can gauge whether this tool is useful. Are you interested? If so, great! If not, no problem. I wanted to raise this with you regardless."
Candidates who can genuinely position an upgrade in line with a customer’s business needs and goals. Solving for the customer should always be the end goal when upselling.
Avoid candidates who suggest new products or upgrades when they don’t necessarily make sense for the customer.
This question tests the candidate‘s preparation for the interview, while also giving them a chance to combine their communication skills and technical acumen and accurately explain what they’re proposing to help customers within the prospective role.
“HubSpot's products help businesses grow better and scale faster without having to hire as many employees.”
Candidates should be able to put together what your company does at the macro level without making it complicated. This information could be pulled from your company’s mission statement or “about” section, showing they actually researched your company beforehand.
A vague statement that doesn’t get to the heart of what your company does could indicate that the candidate didn’t do their research.
This question tests the candidate's understanding of the company but takes it a step further by evaluating how well they understand your customers, too.
CSMs have to interpret Voice of the Customer (VoC) and share it with the broader organization, and answering this question will give you an idea of how they could do that in the role.
“One piece of feedback that I've noticed from online reviews relates to customer education – or customers struggling to understand how to use some of your tools. I notice your company doesn't offer a knowledge base, and creating one might be useful to customers who need support but don't want to spend time reaching out and waiting for your service team for help.”
CSMs act as the bridge between customers and your company. Look for someone who can find patterns in customer feedback, categorize what is working and what is not — plus deciphering what is causing the friction.
Short-sighted candidates who do not go beyond initial customer complaints. They won't examine the cause or how issues might be remedied. Additionally, candidates who do not have thoughtful input in this question may indicate they have not done research on your customer base.
“I take great joy in helping people. I've always been a team player, and I feel a sense of accomplishment whenever I help others achieve their goals.”
Look for a candidate who indicates they will solve for the customer and have a vested interest in helping them succeed.
A candidate who cannot clearly articulate why they want to work as a CSM or provide value-added service is a red flag.
People working in customer success typically face as much rejection as salespeople. Furthermore, it is tougher to bear after building a relationship with your customers, only for them to churn and leave for a competing product or service.
This question will give you insight into how the candidate deals with challenges, and subsequently adapt from setbacks. It is common for CSMs to face customers churning due to outages or a competitor dropping their price. Similarly, you need to make sure the candidate is motivated enough to persevere with their customers and continue providing a superior experience and value-add.
“I always take failure as an opportunity to learn and improve myself for next time. If possible, I'll ask for feedback or advice on where I can stand to improve. Then I apply that learning moving forward and move on to the next case.”
CSM candidates should be able to handle rejection in stride and use the experience as a learning opportunity to iteratively improve. They may have a routine or strategy that doesn't allow customer rejection to derail their entire day.
A candidate who merely internalizes customer churn or rejection and does not have takeaways from the experience may not showcase adaptability in a customer success role.
As with any position at your company, applicants should consider how they‘ll develop in their role over time. They should be familiar with the skills needed to be a successful CSM and outline how they’ll acquire those abilities. During their response, pay attention to the skills they describe, as this may outline some of the candidate's weaknesses.
“I would really like to fine-tune my ability to problem solve and think creatively while on my feet. Working with customers in a face-to-face setting should help me develop these skills, which will enable me to become more proficient in this role.”
Look for candidates who are eager to learn new skills or build on their existing ones to meet the demands of being a CSM on your team. We are always learning in our careers, and there are always areas to improve.
Avoid candidates who do not indicate any room for improvement.
This is a good question to begin with. It shows how prepared the candidate is and will set the tone for the rest of the interview. If the candidate has prepared and researched, they should know a bit about the top competitors in the market (or at least the biggest players).
“I notice that the CRM space is very competitive. I’d say your top competitor is Salesforce. While HubSpot provides a great solution for mid-size and small companies, I’ve noticed that most enterprise players in larger markets choose your competitor. However, with new offerings in AI and a strong product, I can see HubSpot becoming more competitive in the space.”
A great answer will demonstrate the candidate's understanding of:
They don't have to have a full SWOT analysis for you, but they should at least have an idea of the industry and competitors in the space.
If a candidate hasn’t done their research and cannot provide an answer, that’s a red flag. That means they have not done their homework on your business and the space you compete in.
The answer to this question will tell you two things: how the candidate was evaluated in the past, and what concepts and metrics they‘re familiar with. It will also demonstrate the candidate’s views on individual vs. team success, and how the team's success contributes to business success.
You want a CSM who's highly motivated to achieve goals, making a bigger impact for your CSM team, and for the business as a whole.
"In my current role, I measure success by analyzing customer feedback and quantitative performance data. I always ask customers for feedback because I'm eager to hear their thoughts about working with me and with my company.
“Contrastingly, I‘ll look at how I am performing against my retention metric and how often I’m engaging with my customers over the phone or email. This tells me a holistic story that I can track over time to ensure I‘m meeting my customers’ and my team's goals."
Look for someone who can clearly outline how they are measured in their role and demonstrate they care about feedback — from their customers and team.
If a candidate hasn’t measured their success at all, whether qualitative or quantitative, it could be a sign that they don’t have a handle on what constitutes success in their role.
When you‘re hiring anyone — an individual contributor or a manager — you’re bringing on someone who will influence your company's culture. In the case of a manager, for example, they lead employees and ensure your team meets short- and long-term goals.
You‘ll want to make sure their philosophy and methods align with your business’s culture. If not, it will be difficult to motivate team members and maintain employee satisfaction.
“I would love to incorporate a diversity and inclusion program into your company’s culture. This can instill an elevated sense of belonging and appreciation for one another while working on our team. It also shows how we are acting on our team’s needs as we do with our customers.”
If a candidate can find a gap in your company’s culture or overall employee morale and propose a solution for it, it shows they can anticipate needs and provide employees with support when needed.
Avoid candidates who provide answers indicating they’re not concerned with employee needs. You want people who will add to your company’s culture and are proactively thinking about it.
As a CSM, your job is to prevent customer churn. Your candidate needs to be passionate about customer retention and willing to go above and beyond to retain any customer. Consider laying out a mock scenario for your candidate that pertains to your company before asking this question to understand what they'd do to ensure customer retention and satisfaction.
“I would prevent customer churn by maintaining proactive and frequent communication with the customer. If I noticed a potential roadblock that might impede a customer from achieving a goal, I would reach out immediately to provide an alternative solution. I would also follow up afterward to ensure the customer is still content and that our proposed solution is still effective for them.”
Hiring a candidate who can anticipate customer needs and challenges is key. It’s much better to be proactive in communicating roadblocks rather than waiting for the fallout, which can be inevitable. Your customers will appreciate your honesty and attention to detail. This also doubles down on why it's paramount for your CSMs to possess excellent relationship management skills.
Avoid candidates who lack patience or the foresight to anticipate potential problems and communicate them to customers.
Not all customers are good at receiving bad news. Some will be rightfully upset that your company cannot help them achieve their goals.
In these situations, a CSM needs to diffuse angry customers and salvage their experience. While your company should always strive for perfection, what matters here is how your customer success team responds to your organization's shortcomings and mistakes.
"De-escalation always begins with aligning yourself to the customer. You need to demonstrate that you truly understand why they're upset and what they want to change. Doing this shows that you are on the same side of the issue as they are.
“Once aligned, summarize the customer’s situation. Discuss what they would like to accomplish, the roadblock that‘s preventing them, and their options moving forward. This will demonstrate active listening, your understanding of their use case, and clearly communicate potential solutions. You can recommend one solution over another, but only if you can tie that solution back to the customer’s business goal and objectives.
“Once you have confirmed a solution, always follow up with the customer. Make sure the solution is still effective, and offer further support if needed. This continued effort will prove to the customer that you are committed to their needs."
Demonstrating empathy and staying calm under pressure are equally important here. Remaining calm will help you devise a solution to your customer's issue or at least provide an alternative that gets past their frustration.
Beware of hot heads or reactions that could translate to an emotional response. The last thing you want when dealing with a flustered customer is an equally flustered CSM. CSMs should focus on solving for the customer, not get distracted by anger, and prioritize next steps to move ahead.
This question will help you understand the candidate's ability to manage their time. Customer success managers need to consistently adapt and be capable of changing their routines on the fly.
Sometimes, they‘ll provide proactive customer service, while other times, they’ll handle inbound service requests. Regardless, your CSM should be able to account for all of their daily tasks and consistently complete them on time.
“I would first look at how long I have to complete each task. Tasks that have a more immediate deadline would be prioritized first, then followed by simple, easy-to-complete tasks that I can do in a matter of minutes. I would save the most complex tasks for when I have more time to dedicate to them.”
CSMs should have a system or at least create a plan to tackle each task for themselves. You’re not looking necessarily for a “right” answer as everyone will solve problems differently. However, they should be able to put together a plan and execute on it.
A candidate who cannot effectively articulate how they would prioritize tasks or indicate a lack of organization may not be a good fit for the CSM role and your team. For example, not taking deadlines into account or understanding how long certain tasks take to complete could prove challenging to them later in execution.
This question does not have a right or wrong answer. Instead, this question demonstrates the candidate's ability to think critically, and highlight their communication skills.
They not only have to consider the possible actions they can take, but also the potential repercussions that will occur when they take those steps. The best candidates will provide a comprehensive breakdown of how they‘d approach the situation, and how they’d handle any further challenges that may arise.
"I would first analyze the customer’s account details. I would look at how long they've been a customer, when their subscription will renew, what their investment is valued at, their previous support cases, etc. This should give me an idea of how valuable they are to our company and how I should best proceed.
“If the customer‘s subscription is close to renewal, I would let them know about the situation but assure them that their rates won’t increase until the upcoming renewal.
“If this felt like a problem, I would talk to the customer about their options at this point — either paying for more seats or brainstorming ways to use the product with fewer seats while still solving for their use-case.
“If the customer‘s subscription isn’t close to renewal, I would touch base with my team. Since we made the clerical error, the customer should not suffer. I would see if we could continue with their rate until their next renewal. If not, I would be proactive and immediately reach out to the customer to outline alternative solutions."
As stated above, you want to observe the candidate’s thought process rather than look for a “correct” answer. Look for someone who accounts for the customer experience, their history with the company, and their willingness to discuss alternative options with internal teams instead of charging the customer more.
A CSM candidate who moves to immediately charge the customer without communicating the circumstances could indicate they make hasty decisions without evaluating the scope of the issue.
This interview question also does not necessarily have a right answer. This question shows the candidate’s ability to pay attention and think on their feet. You want a candidate who demonstrates active listening and takes note of details. Their feedback will also give you a feel for their ability to read and react to customers.
“I would love to see a little more transparency in the interview process. While I feel confident enough to speak to anyone, it would be nice to know how many interviews I can expect to participate in during this process, who those conversations will be with, and the length of time for each conversation.”
Look for signs the candidate was actively listening. Can they reference a particular question or present feedback regarding how the interview is formatted?
Not having any feedback to give at all could be a sign that the candidate wasn’t really invested in the interview or simply lacks the ability to present growth opportunities thoughtfully.
Before asking this question, you should discuss their daily tasks and responsibilities with the candidate — outlining the job in further detail and going into what a typical day would look like for them.
Interruptions are commonplace in any job, and there will always be multiple customers that have the most urgent issue when a CSM is servicing multiple accounts at once. How does one define which issues are the most urgent?
The ability to handle competing priorities is a skill every CSM needs. A potential CSM should be able to grasp the differences between customers in their value and relationship status. Having this awareness will help them to prioritize customer needs.
The candidate should address the aspects of the relationship and customer value in their answer. They should acknowledge examples of events that might be a higher priority than others.
Be wary of answers that don’t put the customer first. In a success or support role, every thing should tie back to the customer and solving their problems. Make sure that your candidate shows they know how to prioritize.
Having a more engaging and interactive “test case” question in an interview process is so important. Why? Because it allows you to see the candidate in action and gives you the opportunity to test for team fit, problem-solving skills, and personality traits.
This question will help test not only their level of business acumen but also their level of awareness and honesty.
As far as personality, you will be able to see how this candidate handles stress. Are they willing to collaborate and ask further probing questions, or will they try to just come up with an answer on their own?
Look for answers that seek understanding and showcase the candidate’s thought process. This question will give you an indicator of the candidate‘s analytical skills. If the candidate isn’t completely sure of what's being asked, they should ask questions to make sure they fully understand the task at hand before diving in.
For example, some models require math, and there are certain cases where the valuation depends heavily on the product, other team members, the funding situation, etc.
The way they reason the answer will show you their level of expertise in those areas. The candidate should be willing to collaborate, ask questions when they need to, and should consider multiple valuation models and approaches.
If the candidate reacts poorly to the stress of the situation or fails to seek clarification, take note. You’ll want to make sure that the person reacts well to a scenario that could happen in the real world.
Does the candidate seem to enjoy the challenge and task, or do they become a bit grumpy being put on the spot?
The fact of the matter is mistakes happen. Whether it's a software glitch or a major outage, during any customer relationship, your CSMs will have to explain and apologize when things go wrong.
So it's wise to test their ability to diplomatically and effectively communicate, apologize, and mend fences to help retain customers — and not lose them — when those times happen.
Listen for answers that suggest accountability, sincerity, and diplomacy.
You want someone who‘s not afraid to own up to mistakes and say they’re sorry but who can also confidently deliver answers to satisfy the customer so that the incident won't happen again.
Answers that are defensive and lack empathy should be a major red flag. You want to make sure your candidate has the grace to apologize and the ability to communicate well under pressure.
Analytical skills can be essential for your prospective CSM, depending on your product or service.
This scenario will show how a candidate analyzes customer data, identifies trends, and makes data-driven decisions. How they use the data to make decisions will also show whether they're a strategic thinker.
If you need a CSM with advanced business acumen and analytical skills, look for answers showing their ability to use data effectively. That could mean listening for specific techniques.
They may mention segmentation, cohort analysis, identifying usage patterns, or correlating data with customer feedback.
Even if analytical skills are a lower priority for your CSM profile, you'll still want to see how they use analysis to solve customer needs and increase customer success. Be wary of responses that fail to demonstrate an understanding of metrics.
More broadly, this question tests your candidate's business acumen. It also showcases their problem-solving ability and how they balance customer needs with company goals.
Listen for answers that show how they‘d spot potential challenges. You’ll want to test whether their approach to introducing new products or features is customer-centric, too.
Strong candidates may also mention how they'd evaluate the potential impact of a new product or feature on customer success. Specifics might include conducting market research, gathering customer feedback, and analyzing customer data.
Take note if candidates fail to mention possible negative impacts. Even if the feature is an overall positive change, managing a transition comes with challenges.
A good CSM doesn't just handle the positive news. They manage the bad news, too. However, the great ones see “negative” feedback as an opportunity for product improvement, happier customers, and company growth.
This question evaluates how candidates deal with feedback and whether they have a customer-first mindset. It also tests their interpersonal, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
Look for answers demonstrating your CSM has actively listened to the customer, analyzed the feedback, and created potential solutions to discuss internally.
If the candidate feels it‘s best to relay the feedback to the product team, that shows they have the customer’s best interests at heart.
If they discuss how they'd share the feedback internally, demonstrating diplomacy, that shows relationship-building skills.
Great candidates will also aim to communicate the feedback in a way that highlights potential business growth and gets the product team excited. That shows a high level of business acumen.
When answering this question, defensiveness or a lack of empathy are major red flags. The candidate should be able to put the customer first, seeing challenges from the user’s perspective.
Customer or client success managers consistently display a customer-centric, empathetic, and creative problem-solving attitude. I believe that’s both important in the role and candidate interviews. The interview questions above can help you gauge how effective your CSM candidates are for the role and identify the right person for your team.
This article was originally published in August 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.