Hi, Markus here. Welcome to a new episode of the Customer-Value-Led-Growth Newsletter.
Most CSMs are still struggling to prove their impact because they have been taught the wrong version of the job.
That’s why I have built the CSM Operating System to help you grow from an invisible to an irreplaceable CSM.
You are great at what you do - by all means. You care about your customers. You respond quickly. You solve problems. You keep customers engaged.
You are constantly doing something, and yet you are wondering why it feels like nothing is actually moving forward.
What looks like a performance problem on the surface is something entirely different:
You are great at doing the wrong things.
You are solving problems customers should solve themselves
A customer has a question, and you know the answer. So you give it to them. A customer has a problem, and you know how to fix it. So you do it. A customer needs something from another team. You know who to contact and do it on their behalf.
You're being helpful. Because after all, that’s what your job is all about, isn’t it? But after doing this for hundreds of customers, you have created a different job for yourself.
And that job is being helpful. That’s not what it’s supposed to be. Your job is to help customers achieve the outcomes they bought your product for.
You are having meetings that don't need to happen
Your customer wants to discuss something, so you schedule a call. The customer hasn't responded for a while, so you schedule a call. You need to follow up on an action item. So what do you do? You schedule another call.
Soon, your calendar is full. And because you're spending so much time with customers, it feels like you're doing exactly what a CSM should be doing.
But have you ever asked yourself:
How many of those meetings actually needed you?
How many could be replaced by an email?
And how many exist simply because you've always had them?
There is a huge difference between having a meeting and needing a meeting.
You are fighting fires that shouldn't exist
This is perhaps the biggest one. Something breaks, and you jump in. The customer voices a concern, and you jump in. A renewal looks shaky, and you jump in.
Because you're good at firefighting, it never ends. As soon as you have put out one fire, the next one is already waiting in line.
But eventually, you have to ask: Why am I spending so much of my time fixing problems instead of preventing them?
What successful CSMs do differently
It’s all about choices. CSMs who are doing the right things don’t ask:
"What can I do for this customer?"
They ask:
"What actually needs to happen for this customer to succeed?"
They don't automatically accept every meeting.
They don't solve every problem themselves.
They don't measure their contribution by how available they are.
They don't treat every customer request as a CSM responsibility.
They don't spend their time equally across every customer and every issue.
They decide what deserves their attention.
Because CSM isn't about being the person who does the most.
It's about doing the things that matter most.
The real gap
You don't need to become better at everything. You need to get much better at deciding what not to do.
The next time a customer asks for something, don't automatically jump in.
Ask yourself: Does this actually need me?
The next time someone puts another meeting on your calendar: What needs to come out of this meeting?
When an escalation lands on your desk: Am I actually solving the problem, or just taking it off someone else's plate?
And when you're about to add yet another activity to your day: Is this really the best use of my time to move this customer forward?
And the most uncomfortable one: If I stopped doing this tomorrow, would anything important actually get worse?
If the answer is no, stop doing it.
Because being a great CSM isn't about getting better at everything you already do.
It's about getting really good at knowing what deserves your time in the first place.
You probably don't have a performance problem.
You are just spending your talent on the wrong things.