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Research Report

Compare and Contrast: Sales Account Manager to Customer Success Manager

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There are clearly attributes of the sales account manager (a.k.a. farmer) role that are common to the CSM role, but CSMs ARE NOT sales account managers whose job it is to grow revenue. This paper will highlight the differences between these two roles in the following areas:

  • Key processes they have to master
  • Technologies they leverage
  • Critical skills required for the role
  • KPIs and metrics used to measure their success
  • Compensation models to drive desired behaviors

After documenting the differences, this paper outlines the seven common mistakes management teams make when segmenting responsibilities between sales account managers and customer success managers.

Authored By:

Martin Dove

Vice President, Subscription Sales Research, TSIA

Phil Nanus

Vice President, Customer Success Research, TSIA

Thomas Lah

Publish Date: November 13, 2020

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