30-60-90 Day Plan: Customer Success Manager (Team Lead, 3 CSMs)

Your first 90 days are about earning trust in two directions at once: with your 3 CSMs and with your ~40 mid-size clinic accounts. You'll do it by listening first, then running strong QBRs, then making one or two focused fixes to churn and onboarding speed. By Day 90, your team should have a clear weekly rhythm, your book should have an accurate risk view and renewal forecast, and you should have one measurable onboarding or retention improvement underway that your manager agrees on.

Assumptions I made

• No start date was given, so phases are labeled Days 1-30, 31-60, and 61-90. QBRs "in about 6 weeks" are placed around Day 40-45.
• You're a player-coach: you carry your own book of ~40 accounts and lead 3 CSMs, reporting to [your manager, e.g., Head of Customer Success].
• Churn and onboarding are measured somewhere in Salesforce or Zendesk, but definitions (logo vs. revenue churn, what counts as "onboarded") may not be settled yet.
• Clinic customers mean patient-related data may come up. Follow [company]'s data-handling and privacy policies, and ask your manager or the relevant internal team if you're unsure what's allowed.
• At least one of your CSMs has been at the company longer than you.

Week 1 Checklist

• Get access to Salesforce, Zendesk, [internal chat], [product admin/demo environment], and any shared drives. Confirm your role permissions let you see your team's accounts too.
• Log into the product as a clinic user. Book an appointment, reschedule one, and run a report so you know what customers experience.
• Have your first 1:1 with [your manager]. Agenda: their top 3 priorities for you, how they define churn and onboarding success, what "good" looks like at Day 90, decision rights on team process and account escalations, and how they like updates.
• Hold a short intro 1:1 with each of your 3 CSMs. Ask what's working, what's frustrating, what they need from a lead, and how they like to get feedback.
• Run a short team kickoff. Share a bit about yourself, say you're spending month one listening, and explain how you'll work together.
• Read the last 2-4 quarters of churn and renewal reports, plus any churn post-mortems or cancellation notes.
• Review the current onboarding process: playbook, kickoff templates, implementation timeline, and handoff from Sales.
• Pull your ~40 accounts in Salesforce. Note renewal dates, ARR, health score (if one exists), and the last touchpoint.
• Scan Zendesk for your accounts: open tickets, escalations, and repeat issues over the last 90 days.
• Learn the team's rhythms. Which meetings exist (standups, pipeline/renewal reviews, CS-Sales syncs)? When do forecasts get submitted?
• Ask when the QBR list, template, and dates get finalized, and who owns prep.

Days 1-30: Learn

Goal for this phase: Understand why customers churn and why onboarding is slow, learn your book, and build a trusting working relationship with each CSM before changing anything.

Key actions

• Hold weekly 30-minute 1:1s with each CSM. Use a simple standing agenda: their priorities, at-risk accounts, blockers, and one thing you can help with.
• Shadow at least 2 customer calls per CSM. Note what they do well and share it specifically ("The way you recapped next steps was really clear").
• Contact every account in your book with renewals in the next 120 days. Start with an intro email, then a call for anything flagged at-risk.
• Build a simple risk tracker for your 40 accounts in Salesforce (or a shared sheet if fields don't exist): health, renewal date, risk reason, next step.
• Interview 3-5 recently churned or downgraded accounts' notes. Tag the reasons (e.g., poor adoption, staff turnover at the clinic, missing integration, price, support experience).
• Map the onboarding journey from signed deal to first live appointments. Mark each handoff and where time is lost. Ask each CSM for their top 3 delays.
• Learn the baseline numbers: [current logo churn rate], [gross revenue retention], [average days to go-live], and [ticket volume per account].
• Review the QBR template used before (if any) and the list of top customers. Ask which ones are at risk.
• Write down feedback observations privately each week, both positive and constructive, with specific examples. This makes later feedback conversations easier.

People to connect with

• [Your manager]: priorities, past attempts to fix churn, and how far your authority goes.
• Your 3 CSMs: their accounts, workload, career goals, and what they wish leadership understood.
• Sales/Account Executives: what's promised during the sale and how handoffs work today.
• Implementation or Onboarding team (if separate): where timelines slip and what customers struggle with.
• Support lead (Zendesk owner): top ticket drivers and how escalations reach CS.
• Product manager: known gaps customers ask about and how feedback gets prioritized.
• Finance or RevOps: how churn and renewals are calculated and reported.

Quick win to aim for

• Clean up renewal dates, contacts, and risk status for your 40 accounts in Salesforce so the forecast is accurate.
• Create a one-page "top churn reasons from the last [X] months" summary and share it with your manager and team.

How you'll know it's working

• You've had at least 3 1:1s with each CSM, and they bring up problems without you asking.
• 100% of your accounts with renewals in the next 120 days have been contacted.
• You can explain the top 3 churn drivers and top 3 onboarding delays with examples.
• Your manager agrees with your summary of the situation.

Days 31-60: Contribute

Goal for this phase: Run excellent QBRs, set a consistent team rhythm, and start giving regular, specific feedback. Agree with your manager on one or two focused improvements.

Key actions

• Build or refine