Sales & Customer Success SMB (51-200 employees)

Head of Customer Success at SMB

OCEAN+ profile for Head of CS: leading the CS team, retention strategy, account expansion, and voice of the customer at the leadership level.

In LATAM SMBs, the Sales Manager reports directly to the owner or CEO

Regional economic cycles directly affect deal closings

Network within the vertical industry has tangible value

Generic profile Startup (1-50 employees) Enterprise (201-1000 employees) Global (1001+ employees)

Ideal OCEAN+ Profile

Ideal range

Openness

70 87

At SMBs (51-200 employees), openness to trying new channels and sales strategies

Conscientiousness

69 85

At SMBs (51-200 employees), discipline in pipeline management and follow-up

Extraversion

73 90

At SMBs (51-200 employees), the energy to build relationships and close deals

Agreeableness

62 79

At SMBs (51-200 employees), the balance between assertive persuasion and active listening

Emotional Stability

78 94

At SMBs (51-200 employees), resilience in the face of constant rejection and long sales cycles

Structure & Rhythm

61 78

At SMBs (51-200 employees), building long-term relationships with clients

Strengths and Red Flags

Strengths

Designing scalable retention and expansion strategies
Building high-performing CS teams
Managing long-term relationships where personal trust matters more than the formal contract
Generating expansion revenue from existing accounts without a dedicated customer success team

Red Flags

Excessive focus on individual relationships without building systems
Difficulty making tough calls about underperformers on the team
Doesn't document pipeline or activities in a CRM; everything lives in their head
Avoids conflict with problematic clients instead of renegotiating terms

Interview Questions

Tell me about the most impactful retention strategy you designed. What was the problem, what did you build, and what were the results in NRR or churn?

Evaluates: Openness and Conscientiousness

How do you build the relationship between the CS team and the product team so customer feedback genuinely influences the roadmap?

Evaluates: Openness and Extraversion

How do you balance attention to existing accounts with opening new ones?

Evaluates: Time management and pipeline prioritization

Tell me about an account at risk of churn. What did you do?

Evaluates: Emotional intelligence applied to retention