Delegate The Right Way

It was getting tough at YoPrint, coding, selling, and doing customer support all by myself. I was at my breaking point, and I finally hired my first customer success manager (CSM), who will be responsible for sales and support.

I know how to do a demo, how to sell, everything about the software, and how to answer. I just need to transplant this into my CSM, and it will be an immediate success. My CSM is intelligent. I am sure he can do it.

Surprise. Surprise. This didn't work.

My CSM can never do customer support and sell the same way I do since our positions are different. I am the founder/creator, and I garner a different kind of credibility than my CSM, who is a customer success manager. Furthermore, my CSM is an individual with his own style, preference, and experience. It's harder to imitate someone else than to be yourself.

So, I decided to let go or delegate, and it was the best thing I did.

My CSM has significantly reduced my workload, and our customers and prospects love him alike. I do check his responses from time to time to give him pointers on how to do better. I believe a small nudge from time to time is far more retainable than a bunch all at once.

If I am being honest, I believe my CSM is 80% as effective as me in closing sales and dealing with customers. However, considering that he frees up 90% of my time to work on features, I think it's incredible.

What about the voice of the company?

The charm of a small company is that you can interact with the individuals in the company directly. Instead of having a robotic, scripted salesperson, I would rather we have someone people can relate to. For that to happen, I need to let the individuality shine through.