15 Customer Success Manager Resume Examples for 2024

Crafting a resume as a customer success manager means highlighting your ability to ensure clients thrive with a product or service. This article provides examples of strong resumes and tips for showcasing your skills, from managing customer relationships to driving successful outcomes. As a hiring manager, I'll share insights on emphasizing your hands-on experience and the metrics that showcase your success in this vital role.

  Compiled and approved by Liz Bowen
  Last updated on See history of changes

  Next update scheduled for

At a Glance

Here's what we see in top candidate resumes for customer success roles.

  • Metrics That Show Impact: The best resumes show clear impact with numbers. You should include increase in customer retention, growth in customer lifetime value, reduction in churn rate, and customer satisfaction scores. These metrics help hiring managers see your success in real terms.

  • Relevant Skills From The Job Description: Include skills on your resume that you have and are mentioned on the job description. For instance, CRM software proficiency, data analysis, project management, customer onboarding, and cross-functional collaboration show you have the technical ability for the role.

  • Industry Trends: We're seeing a trend towards digital engagement. Show you're ahead of the curve by including phrases like digital customer strategies or analytics-driven decision making to reflect these industry changes.

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Education section sequencing

As a hiring manager, where You place your education section in a Customer Success Manager (CSM) resume is pivotal. Firstly, if you are currently working or have recently been in the workforce, your experience should be presented first. The objective is to highlight your real-world practice in customer success roles, demonstrating your competencies and achievements.

However, if you have recently completed further education that is relevant to the job (like an MBA or a bootcamp), or are an entry-level candidate, prioritize your education part above your experience. This displays your latest achievements and current qualifications upfront, showing hiring managers your commitment to learning and staying updated.

Highlighting technical proficiency

Customer Success Managers often interact with various tech tools and software, hence highlighting your technical proficiency is critical. Mention within your resume, any CRM or customer support software you've encountered or mastered, such as Salesforce or Zendesk.

Another practical aspect to showcase is your ability to handle and analyze customer data. As a CSM frequently works with data to better understand customer behavior, demonstrating your competence in data analysis tools will make your resume more attractive to potential employers.

Ideal resume length

Aim to fit your resume within one page if you are an entry-level or mid-level applicant for a customer success manager position. Having a concise, one-page resume makes it simpler for hiring managers to grasp your qualifications and achievements quickly and easily.

If you're a senior-level candidate, extending your resume to two pages can accommodate the breadth of your experience. If you're struggling with your resume's size, consider using space-saving templates or even removing older or less relevant information.

CSM-specific skill set

Breaking into the field of customer success management requires a unique set of skills. Demonstrating solid communication abilities is crucial as CSMs often act as the liaison between the customers and the organization. Your resume should underline any experiences where you have successfully communicated complex information to a diverse audience.

In addition to that, showcasing problem-solving skills is fundamental. From tackling customer issues to mitigating potential conflicts, these abilities can show that you would be efficient at ensuring customer satisfaction, a priority for any CSM role.

Beat the resume screeners

When you apply for jobs, your resume often goes through a system before a person sees it. This system, called an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), sorts and ranks resumes. To make sure your resume for a customer success manager role stands out, follow these tips.

First, use keywords from the job description. The ATS looks for words that match the job. For example, if the job asks for someone who can 'improve customer retention,' make sure those words are in your resume. Also, include 'account management' if that is part of the job.

Second, keep your resume format simple. Use clear headings for sections like 'work experience' and 'skills.' Some systems cannot read fancy fonts or graphics. So, use a standard font and avoid images or tables. This way, the ATS can find your information easily.

Show your specific skills

When you apply for a job, you need to show how your skills make you a good fit for the role. It's important to focus on what you can do for the company. Use clear examples that match up with the job.

  • Show how you've helped customers succeed. Use phrases like boosted customer retention or enhanced user experience.
  • Tell about tech tools you've used. Mention system names like Salesforce or Zendesk that help keep track of customer info.
  • If you are coming from a different job, find things that are alike. Point out skills like problem-solving or team coordination.

Avoid vague impact statements

When you list your past job duties, you may focus too much on daily tasks and not enough on your impact. Customer success roles are about helping the company grow by making sure clients are happy. You must show how your work has helped in this. For example, you could say you 'led a team to improve customer retention by 15% over six months' instead of just 'managed a customer success team.'

Another common mistake is not matching your skills to the job description. If the job needs someone who can use a specific type of software, like a customer relationship management tool, make sure you mention you have this skill. List any software or tools you have used in your work. This shows you are ready to jump in with less training. Always check the job advertisement for skills the employer wants. Then show you have these skills in your resume.

Use dynamic verbs

When you apply for a role as a customer success manager, it's crucial to use verbs that show your ability to drive results and nurture customer relationships. Your resume should reflect your proactive approach to ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty. Remember, the verbs you choose will help paint a picture of your dynamic role in past jobs.

Below is a list of verbs that are particularly effective for highlighting your achievements in customer success. Each one demonstrates a specific kind of action that is valuable in this role.

  • To demonstrate your ability to improve customer experiences, use verbs like enhanced, streamlined, elevated, optimized, and personalized.
  • When showing how you've built customer relationships, include verbs like connected, engaged, listened, understood, and supported.
  • For highlighting your strategic approach to customer success, use developed, implemented, executed, strategized, and planned.
  • Show your problem-solving skills with verbs like resolved, addressed, remedied, reconciled, and corrected.
  • To reflect your contributions to business growth, use expanded, increased, grew, generated, and drove.

Want inspiration for other action verbs you can use? Check out synonyms to commonly used action verbs like Taught, Plan, Improved, Ran, Utilizing.

Show accomplishments, not tasks

When writing your resume, show what you achieved in your role as a customer success manager, not just what you did. You want to demonstrate how you've helped the company and its clients, not just list your daily tasks. Think about how your work made a difference and describe it in a clear, simple way.

For example, instead of saying, 'I managed account portfolios,' you can say, 'I grew customer retention by 15% through strategic account management.' This shows the value you brought to your position. It's good to make it clear how your actions affected your team, helped customers, and ultimately, how they impacted the company's success.

  • Before: 'Handled customer onboarding'
  • After: 'Improved customer onboarding efficiency by 20%, enhancing satisfaction scores'

Remember, every point on your resume should answer the question, 'How did you leave things better than you found them?' This approach lets you stand out as a strong candidate who delivers results.

Key skills for customer success

As a customer success manager, the skills you list on your resume should clearly match the job you want. Think about the tools and techniques that are important for the role. Here are some skills you might include:

  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software
  • Customer onboarding
  • Account management
  • Data analysis
  • Technical support
  • Renewal management
  • Cross-selling and up-selling
  • Product knowledge
  • Customer feedback collection
  • Customer advocacy

You don't need to list all these skills. Choose the ones that you are good at and that fit the jobs you are applying for. Place them in a skills section on your resume. This makes it easy for hiring managers and Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to find them. ATS is used by companies to help sort through many resumes. It looks for keywords that match the job. So, if you have experience with a particular CRM software that the job asks for, make sure you include it.

Remember to show where you've used these skills in your work history. This helps hiring managers understand how you've applied them in real situations. For example, if you're good at data analysis, describe a time when you used it to help a customer or improve a process.

Show leadership and growth

When you apply for a customer success manager position, showing how you've led and grown in your career is key. Hiring managers want to see that you can take charge and improve your team's performance. Here are ways you can show this:

  • Include any titles you've held that show you were in charge of a team or project. For example, 'team leader' or 'project manager.'
  • List any awards you won for your leadership or service. Awards show you are recognized for your skills.

You should also think about times you helped your team do better. Here are two ideas:

  • Mention a time you trained new team members. This shows you can lead and teach.
  • Write about a big project you led that helped your company. Explain how you made sure your team met its goals.

Quantify your impact

As a hiring manager, I look for clear evidence of impact in a resume. You can show your value by including specific metrics. Think about how you have helped your company or your customers. Use numbers to tell that story.

Here are some ways to do this:

  • Highlight any increase in customer retention rates you have achieved. For example, 'Improved customer retention by 15% year-over-year.'
  • Show how you have reduced response times to customer inquiries. Maybe you cut down response times by 25%.

Think about your daily tasks. Find numbers that show your success. For example:

  • If you trained customers, note the number of training sessions you led or the percentage of customers who increased their product usage after training.
  • If you worked on a project that reduced churn, share the percentage drop in churn rate.
  • Include the size of the customer portfolio you managed. It could be the number of accounts or the total revenue those accounts represent.
  • Mention any customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) and how they changed during your tenure. For example, 'Raised CSAT from 85% to 92% within one year.'

Use these examples as a guide. Look at your own experience. Choose metrics that show your strong impact as a customer success manager.

Show leadership and growth

When you're applying for a customer success role, showing that you've grown in your career can make a big difference. It's important that you highlight any leadership roles or promotions you've had. This shows you're able to take on more responsibility and succeed in it.

Think about times you've led a team or a project. Even if you haven't had a formal title that says 'leader' or 'manager,' any role where you directed others or took the lead on a project counts. Here are some ways to show this:

  • Led a team of 5 customer success associates to achieve a 20% increase in customer satisfaction scores.
  • Promoted from customer service representative to customer success specialist within 1 year, due to strong performance and leadership in client retention initiatives.

Remember to use clear numbers and outcomes to show how your leadership made a difference. Did customer retention rates go up? Did you train new team members? These details matter and help you stand out.

Small company vs large corporate

If you are applying to small companies or startups, show your ability to wear many hats. Highlight various skills and experiences. For example, you might say, "Managed customer accounts, led onboarding, and supported product development." This shows you are versatile.

For larger companies like Salesforce or Oracle, focus on specialized skills. Highlight your expertise in a specific area. Use phrases like, "Led enterprise-level customer success initiatives" or "Specialized in churn reduction for large accounts." This shows you have deep knowledge in a key area.

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