Akash Raju

Customer Success Manager

Glimpse

Customer SuccessBalancedConsultativeOn-site📍 NYC
Deal Size: $20-80K expansion ACV
Sales Cycle: 1-3 months for expansions
Posted by Akash Raju

Overview

You own the customer relationship after the sale closes - making sure CPG brands are actually seeing the cash recovery and time savings they were promised. You're running regular check-ins, troubleshooting when the AI flags something weird, coordinating with Forward Deployed Engineers on enhancements, and spotting opportunities to expand Glimpse into other areas of their back-office operations. Your success is measured by retention, expansion revenue, and customer satisfaction.


Role Snapshot

AspectDetails
Role TypeAccount management CSM (retention + expansion focused)
Sales MotionExpansion-focused - upselling additional modules/use cases
Deal ComplexityConsultative - understanding their operations deeply to drive value
Sales Cycle1-3 months for expansion deals
Deal Size$20-80K expansion ACV
Quota (est.)95%+ net revenue retention, $200-400K expansion revenue annually

Company Context

Stage: Series A (estimated based on 45 employees, 14x growth)

Size: ~45 employees, customer base growing rapidly

Growth: Signed largest customer ever in January, expanding customer count quickly

Market Position: Early product with strong product-market fit - customers are seeing real ROI, which is rare and makes your job easier


GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

  • Expansion comes from usage insights - seeing which customers are hitting limits, need more automation, or have additional use cases
  • Customer requests for new features/modules
  • Proactive QBR conversations identifying new pain points

SDR/AE Structure: You own renewals and expansions, AEs handle net-new logos

SE Support: Forward Deployed Engineers support your accounts for technical implementations and customizations


Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors: Churn risk is usually internal issues (implementation challenges, team changes, budget cuts) rather than competitors stealing accounts

How They Differentiate: Actual ROI delivered - customers see cash hitting their bank accounts, which creates stickiness

Common Objections: "Cost is high for renewal", "We want more features before we expand", "Our team isn't using it fully yet"

Win Themes: Proven results (show them their recovery metrics), ease of use compared to manual processes, roadmap alignment with their needs


What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Customer check-ins (35%) | Issue resolution (25%) | Expansion conversations (20%) | Internal coordination (20%)

Key Activities

  • Regular check-ins: Weekly or bi-weekly calls with your accounts to review performance - how much cash they've recovered, what deductions were auto-resolved vs escalated, any retailers causing issues. You're staying ahead of problems and reinforcing value.
  • Troubleshooting: When something breaks or the AI misclassifies a deduction, you're investigating what went wrong, looping in the FDE or product team if needed, and making sure the customer feels supported. Speed matters - they need to trust the system.
  • QBRs and executive updates: Quarterly business reviews showing ROI metrics (cash recovered, time saved, accuracy rates) and discussing roadmap alignment. You're building relationships with finance directors and CFOs to ensure renewals are no-brainers.
  • Expansion motions: Identifying opportunities to add new modules (cash application automation, trade analytics, etc.) or expand to additional retail partners. You're essentially doing mini-sales cycles within your existing accounts.
  • Product feedback loop: Collecting feature requests, pain points, and usability feedback from customers and channeling it back to the product team. You're the voice of the customer internally.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

  • Implementation hiccups can sour the relationship early - if a customer doesn't see results in the first 60 days, retention becomes an uphill battle. You're often managing expectations when integrations take longer than planned.
  • CPG finance teams are stretched thin - your main contact might be juggling 10 other priorities, so getting their time for strategic conversations is tough. You're often chasing people down.
  • Product is evolving fast - features change, new capabilities roll out, and you need to re-train customers on what's new. Some customers just want stability and resist change.
  • Expansion requires budget approval - even when the ROI is clear, getting additional spend approved can take months as it goes through procurement and finance reviews.
  • You're balancing 10-15 accounts (estimate based on company size and growth) - some need lots of hand-holding, others are self-sufficient. Prioritization is constant.

What Success Looks Like

  • 95%+ gross revenue retention (almost no logo churn)
  • 120-130% net revenue retention (expansion offsets any downgrades)
  • NPS of 40+ (customers are genuinely happy and willing to refer others)
  • 60%+ of accounts expanding within 12 months of initial purchase
  • Customers becoming reference-able - willing to do case studies, speak to prospects, give testimonials

Who You're Selling To

Primary Buyers:

  • Finance Directors and Controllers (your day-to-day contacts)
  • Operations teams managing retailer relationships
  • CFOs (for renewals and larger expansions)

What They Care About:

  • Are we getting the ROI we were promised? (Show me the numbers)
  • Is this worth the ongoing cost? (Renewal justification)
  • Can we trust this for mission-critical finance processes? (Risk management)
  • What's on the roadmap that would help us more? (Strategic alignment)
  • How fast can you fix issues when they arise? (Support quality)

Requirements

  • 2-4 years in customer success, account management, or implementation roles
  • Experience with B2B SaaS, ideally in fintech, finance operations, or back-office automation
  • Comfortable reading financial data and building ROI reports
  • Strong project management skills - you're coordinating across customers, product, and engineering
  • Balance of empathy and assertiveness - you need to be customer-obsessed but also drive accountability
  • Genuinely curious about CPG industry and retail operations (or willing to learn fast)