Setting up the Customer Success Workspace

It's Monday morning. Your inbox is overflowing with customer inquiries, your calendar is packed with customer meetings, and somewhere in your database, several accounts need immediate attention before their renewal dates approach. This is the reality of customer success management‌ ‌— a delicate balance of proactive outreach, relationship building, and strategic account management.

This means that customer success managers, or CSMs, are strategic advisors, product experts, and relationship builders. They're responsible for navigating complex customer journeys while consistently delivering value at every touchpoint. And their stakes? Higher than ever. According to ChurnZero's 2022 CS leadership survey, 41.8% of customer success teams are responsible for growth, and 50.2% own renewals. 63% of CS teams are even growing faster than TikTok dance trends. It's clear that customer success is here to stay.

That’s why HubSpot created the customer success workspace. It’s a personalized workspace that helps CSMs organize their work, identify opportunities proactively, and optimize their schedule.

The customer success workspace, available with Service Hub Professional or Enterprise, enables CSMs to:

• Manage their entire book of business in one place.

• Stay organized and prioritize tasks effectively.

• Optimize their schedule for maximum efficiency.

• Monitor customer health trends critical for increasing retention.

• Deliver proactive, personalized support.

When you enter the workspace, you’ll be taken to the Summary tab. Think of this as your daily command center. The Summary tab provides:

• Task progress tracking.

• Portfolio overview of your customers.

• Health score summaries and alerts.

• Scheduled activities.

• Relevant reporting metrics.

This consolidated view ‌is great for quickly assessing your priorities and planning your day efficiently.

Next, we have the Customers tab. This is where you’ll manage your customers. You can:

• View all assigned accounts.

• Filter by recent assignments.

• View customer health scores.

• Customize displayed columns to prioritize relevant information.

• Create custom views with advanced filters.

Now let’s go to the Services tab. If you've set up the services object in HubSpot, you can manage your offerings you’ve established like:

• Onboarding and consulting services.

• Repairs and maintenance.

• Personal care services.

The Revenue tab offers a visual representation of your customer journey through pipeline stages. In this tab, you can:

• Manage customer progression.

• Track renewal opportunities.

• Monitor upsell and cross-sell potential.

• Move records between stages with a ‌drag-and-drop interface.

The Actions tab keeps you organized with the ability to:

• View tasks through default filters, such as Overdue, Due tomorrow, and All completed.

• Create custom views with personalized filters.

• Prioritize actions based on urgency and impact.

The Schedule tab houses your integrated calendar and helps you stay connected with your customers by:

• Displaying all upcoming meetings and activities.

• Providing direct access to associated customer records.

• Helping you prepare for customer interactions.

And finally, the Feed tab keeps you informed about recent customer activity through:

• Notifications of actions taken by contacts.

• Updates from companies you manage.

• Real-time information on key developments.

Before onboarding your team to the customer success workspace, let’s discuss some best practices to ensure you’re getting the most out of this feature.

First, establish clear processes for managing customer interactions. Set up clear, repeatable processes in HubSpot for how your team handles important customer touchpoints. This includes creating specific steps for answering questions like:

• What happens when a new customer starts working with a CSM?

• How often should CSMs check in with customers?

• What steps should a CSM take when it's time for contract renewal?

Having these systems in place ensures every customer gets the same quality experience, no matter which team member they work with.

Next, integrate product usage data. Connect your product analytics tools to HubSpot to learn how customers are using your product. This will help you identify problems with how customers use your product early on.

Then, set up customer health scores to proactively monitor customer engagement, satisfaction, and product adoption. By combining usage data, support interactions, and key account milestones, you can flag at-risk customers early and prioritize outreach. A well-calibrated health score helps your team focus on the right accounts to drive retention and growth.

Finally, regularly review and refine. Continuously analyze the effectiveness of your health score model and customer success processes, making adjustments as your business evolves.

By putting in place these strategies, you'll be well-positioned to leverage HubSpot's capabilities to their fullest potential, creating a customer success program that drives results for your organization.