Customer Success Manager Resume Template Example

Organizations count on a customer success manager (CSM) to do the important work of ensuring their products are serving the client base well. Your CSM resume should show you have the necessary skills to build lasting client relationships and maintain these profitable connections. This guide will show you how to write a resume highlighting your ability to create positive customer experiences while sustaining business growth.

How To Write a Customer Success Manager Resume

As a CSM, you understand the importance of first impressions. Using a modern resume template will help you set a professional tone for your application. Your customer success resume should include these sections:

  • Contact information
  • Profile
  • Key skills
  • Professional experience
  • Education and certifications

Contact information

Before getting started on your resume, list your best contact information at the top of the document. Make sure everything is current and error-free so hiring managers can easily reach you to set up a CSM interview. Provide your full name, phone number, email address, location, and a link to your online professional profile.

Example

Your Name
(123) 456-7890
[email protected]
City, State Abbreviation Zip Code
LinkedIn | Portfolio

Profile

The profile, sometimes called a summary or objective statement, is the first paragraph of your resume. This is where you present your most compelling qualifications as a CSM. Prioritize the information you don’t want hiring managers to miss, like your job title, years in the field, key specializations, and unique industry credentials.

Example

Solution-focused Certified CSM with over eight years of experience in the Software as a Service industry (SaaS). Specializes in identity verification and fraud prevention. Develops strategic success plans that align with customer needs and business goals. Leverages Salesforce to gain analytical insight into customer behavior and drive sustainable growth.

Key skills

Creating a key skills list is a great way to show hiring managers you’re capable of meeting the demands of the job. As a CSM, you often navigate the space between sales and service. Include those hard and soft skills that enable you to relay important feedback from customers to your internal teams as you work to optimize the user experience (UX).

Common hard and soft skills for customer success managers

Hard Skills Soft Skills
Account management Adaptability
Analytics and reporting Communication
Customer lifecycle management Conflict resolution
Customer relationship management (CRM) software Customer empathy
Market research Leadership
Onboarding Negotiation and persuasion
Product knowledge Resilience
Project management Strategic thinking
Sales Team collaboration
UX principles Trust building

Resume writer’s tip: Use strong action verbs

Your role as a CSM is more than simply reacting to customer issues. You’re actively anticipating their needs to address challenges before they become a problem. Action verbs will help you communicate this ability and show you’re a proactive contributor to customer satisfaction. The list below will give you a good idea of the kinds of words you can use as you write your CSM resume:

Action Verbs
Analyzed Collaborated
Coordinated Cultivated
Delivered Developed
Implemented Improved
Increased Managed
Optimized Orchestrated
Resolved Streamlined
Tailored  

Professional experience

The customer experience is your focus, and your professional experience section should reflect that. Starting with your most recent position, give a brief overview of your past responsibilities and how your work directly impacted customers. Describe how you collaborated with coworkers, anticipated needs, or took the lead on optimization projects.

Example

Customer Success Manager, VirtuNet, Remote
July 2021 – present

  • Serve as the primary escalation point for clients facing operational issues and manage over 40 accounts
  • Connect with sales team regularly to align on account strategy and customer needs
  • Maintain a 95% customer satisfaction score through targeted success strategies and adherence to service-level agreements (SLA)
  • Establish a regular review cadence with customers to discuss account health and goals
  • Streamlined the communication and escalation process, reducing resolution time by 40%
  • Facilitate cross-functional calls and status meetings to ensure project coordination and team communication

 
Customer Success Manager, Identix Systems, San Diego, CA
June 2015 – May 2021

  • Delivered SaaS identity verification and fraud prevention solutions, managing approximately 30 customers at a time
  • Collaborated with product and software engineering teams to relay customer feedback
  • Ensured continued partnership with current customer base, managing the renewal of contracts valued at over $10 million
  • Anticipated client needs and concerns, handling escalations with a focus on retention
  • Leveraged data analytics to identify at-risk accounts and reduced customer churn by 25% over a four-year period
  • Created and regularly updated individual success plans for each assigned customer

Resume writer’s tip: Quantify your experience

Using numbers to describe your previous jobs transforms vague statements into concrete proof of your abilities. This data-driven approach helps hiring managers see the potential value you could bring to their customer success team. You can use dollar amounts, percentages, and other key performance indicators to quantify your duties and past accomplishments.

Do
  • “Leveraged data analytics to identify at-risk accounts and reduced customer churn by 25% over a four-year period.”
Don’t
  • “Used a variety of digital tools to assess customer accounts that needed critical attention.”

Resume writer’s tip: Tailor your resume for each application

According to LinkedIn, the job title of CSM is growing on a global scale, increasing by about 3% year over year. However, depending on your area, you could face tough competition. Creating a customized resume for every application you submit is one way to ensure you connect with hiring managers and make a lasting impression.

Get to know the company and position in detail before writing your resume. Identify keywords from the job ad that you can include throughout your document. Match up your own skills, education, and credentials with those mentioned by the employer. If you’re familiar with the specific industry, clientele, or product, share how you navigated common challenges and trends.

What if you don’t have experience?

When applying for your first CSM role, you’ll need a solid strategy for your resume. Keep your focus on instances when you’ve interacted with customers, engaged in sales, or used similar products. Also, highlight the soft skills required for the job, such as cross-functional collaboration, navigating customer complaints, and working under pressure.

Describe times you’ve built customer relationships, closed sales, and followed up afterward. If you’ve had experience onboarding or training customers or even coworkers, mention that as well. By going into detail on the programs and applications you’ve used in previous jobs, you show you can handle things like point-of-sale systems, email, and customer loyalty software.

Education and certifications

Start with your highest academic achievement at the top of the education section, providing the degree type, major, name of the institution, and attendance dates. If your major falls outside the realm of business, consider listing any coursework relevant to the job you’re applying for. Also, include any certifications that display you’ve invested in professional development. CRM software proficiency, customer success training, and industry-specific credentials can help you stand out.

Example

Education
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Business Administration, September 2010 – June 2014
University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA

Certifications

  • Salesforce Associate Certification, Trailhead, 2020
  • Certified Customer Success Manager (CCSM), SuccessCOACHING, 2016

Customer Success Manager Resume Template Text Example

Your Name
(123) 456-7890
[email protected]
City, State Abbreviation zip code
LinkedIn | Portfolio

Profile

Solution-focused Certified Customer Success Manager with over eight years of experience in SaaS. Specializes in identity verification and fraud prevention. Develops strategic success plans that align with customer needs and business goals. Leverages Salesforce to gain analytical insight into customer behavior and drive sustainable growth.

Key Skills

  • Customer relationship management
  • Data analysis
  • Negotiation and persuasion
  • Product feedback loop
  • Project management
  • Relationship building

Professional Experience

Customer Success Manager, VirtuNet, Remote
July 2021 – present

  • Serve as the primary escalation point for clients facing operational issues and manage over 40 accounts
  • Connect with sales team regularly to align on account strategy and customer needs
  • Maintain a 95% customer satisfaction score through targeted success strategies and adherence to SLA
  • Establish a regular review cadence with customers to discuss account health and goals
  • Streamlined the communication and escalation process, reducing resolution time by 40%
  • Facilitate cross-functional calls and status meetings to ensure project coordination and team communication

Customer Success Manager, Identix Systems, San Diego, CA
June 2015 – May 2021

  • Delivered SaaS identity verification and fraud prevention solutions, managing approximately 30 customers at a time
  • Collaborated with product and software engineering teams to relay customer feedback
  • Ensured continued partnership with current customer base, managing the renewal of contracts valued at over $10 million
  • Anticipated client needs and concerns, handling escalations with a focus on retention
  • Leveraged data analytics to identify at-risk accounts and reduced customer churn by 25% over a four-year period
  • Created and regularly updated individual success plans for each assigned customer

Education

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Business Administration, September 2010 – June 2014
University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA

Certifications

  • Salesforce Associate Certification, Trailhead, 2020
  • Certified Customer Success Manager (CCSM), SuccessCOACHING, 2016
Andrew Stoner

Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach

Andrew Stoner is an executive career coach and resume writer with 17 years of experience as a hiring manager and operations leader at two Fortune 500 Financial Services companies, and as the career services director at two major university business schools.

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