The seven steps of a successful customer success book shift

Every customer success leader has encountered or will eventually encounter a book shift: the process of reassigning accounts between different customer success managers.

While simple in concept, a book shift is a complex and challenging project, with an array of stakeholders and moving parts that require skillful management and—ideally—an experienced hand. In the relatively new field of customer success, however, you might not have the benefit of this experience within your own team—which is why we’re here to help.

To demystify the process, we’ve outlined a comprehensive seven-step framework in our latest eBook, “The Guide to Book Shifts in Customer Success” and provided some real-world insights from a book shift we did here at ChurnZero.

A book shift is a strategic maneuver designed to align resources and responsibilities within a customer success team. Because of its potential impact on your customers and the CSMs who manage their accounts, it requires meticulous planning, clear communication, and a deep understanding of both internal dynamics and customer needs.

What are the seven steps of a book shift?

While every book shift is different, and undertaken for different reasons, following these seven steps will assure the best chance of success. Note that implementation, the critical moment at which your book shift interacts with your customer experience, occurs at the end of the process, after many steps of careful analysis and deliberation.

• 1: Formalize your objectives.
• 2: Plan and schedule the project.
• 3: Evaluate your books of business.
• 4: Verify your new model’s CSM headcount.
• 5: Develop your reallocation plan.
• 6: Implement the book shift.
• 7: Close out the project.

Here’s a visual representation:

What do you need for a successful customer success book shift?

Clear objectives: Clearly define the objectives of your book shift, whether it’s rebalancing workloads, aligning customers with suitable customer success managers (CSMs), or adapting to staffing changes. Set S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and
Time-Bound) goals to ensure that your objectives are attainable.

Analysis on your current book of business: Dive deep into your data to understand customers’ needs, preferences, and pain points, as well as the performance of your CSMs. This step is crucial for informed decision-making throughout the book shift process. You’ll want to review customer lists, segments, renewal dates and lifecycle stages, CSM performance trends, and your existing customer-CSM relationships.

A verified CSM headcount for your new model: Our guide shows you how to evaluate whether your current CSM staffing plan can accommodate your new model, using a formula that determines the future headroom for each CSM, and compares current capacity with forecasted demand.

A dedicated project team: Include the following roles: a project manager, specialists in operations and enablement, a CSM or a CSM manager, and an executive sponsor such as a CCO or senior leader. This last role is imperative to champion and support your book shift from the top down.

A timeline, a project management plan, and a communications plan: Don’t worry about having specialist project management tools; worry instead about creating a detailed plan that accounts for contingencies like stakeholder departure and changing inter-departmental priorities. The less changes you have to make once you start, the better.

The success of your book shift depends in large part on how you communicate it, especially to your CSMs, who will bear the most impact. For tips on how to get it right – and the assets you’ll need to create –  see our five lessons in communication from ChurnZero’s Big A$$ Book Shift.

Flexibility and adaptability: It’s rare for a project of this magnitude to go exactly to plan. Be sure to closely monitor key metrics and feedback from internal teams and customers alike – and be prepared to take an iterative approach if the outcomes aren’t matching your predetermined objectives.

Are there different best practices for different types of book shift?

Yes and no. Whatever the business need behind your book shift—whether to enhance your customer experience, or to better manage growth—you’ll face a common set of challenges. Your book shift will go best if you follow the best practices, steps, and considerations we’ve outlined for you in our new guide.

Want to know how and why ChurnZero did it? Watch our recent webinar, Lessons from a Big A$$ Book Shift, below.