Client Success Manager — Somer Meyers

This week’s spotlight is on Somer Meyers, PT, DPT, a Non-Clinical 101 graduate who is now Client Success Manager for Pyx Health!

What is your full name, title, and company name for your current, primary role?

Somer Meyers, PT, DPT – Client Success Manager for Pyx Health

What additional roles do you currently have?

Part-time PT at Luna.

Where are you located?

Brooklyn, NY.

Where did you go to PT school, and what year did you graduate?

Texas Woman’s University in Dallas, 2018.

What did you do when you first finished school, and for how long?

After graduation, I quickly moved to NYC and started working at a busy and well-known outpatient clinic.

I worked there for two and a half years before becoming Director of Therapy Services for a senior living facility—working under the same parent company as my outpatient job. This was my company’s first time venturing into the space, and I was charged with figuring out how to build and scale this program from the ground up.

In what setting(s) did you work, and what types of patients did you treat?

In the outpatient setting, I treated a variety of patients and conditions. My youngest patient was eight years old, and my oldest was in their late 90s! I treated anything from post-op knee patients, to triathletes, to older adults in need of fall-prevention treatment.

At the senior living facility, I treated strictly older adults—some with dementia, others with vertigo or orthopedic concerns. All of these patients were in need of a strengthening and balance protocol!

What did you enjoy about your early roles? What didn’t you enjoy?

I enjoyed being an expert in something that was helping people. While the work was challenging and exhausting, I found drive and motivation knowing I was greatly improving my patient’s quality of life. It was pretty easy to find my WHY in my work.

I didn’t enjoy the long hours, lack of flexibility, strict schedule, and how exhausting the work was. I was finding that, at the end of the day, I had nothing left to give to my family, friends, or myself. The system is not set up for longevity when it comes to healthcare workers.

When and why did you decide to do something non-clinical?

I think 2020 was a bit of a breaking point for a lot of therapists. I was forced to work harder and in different ways, while taking a slight pay cut. This caused me to re-evaluate a lot about my life and its trajectory.

In 2021, I took the new role as Director of Therapy Services, hoping this change of scenery and pace would ease some burnout and reignite my passion for the field. After 10 months, I accepted that I needed something to change. It was time to look into the non-clinical space.

I decided to go non-clinical for some of the obvious reasons—more flexibility and the ability to work remotely (meaning I could travel to visit my out-of-state family without eating up my PTO). I also was drawn to the seemingly endless growth potential.

The non-clinical world offers so many more career paths, opportunities, and areas for career development that I felt a bit limited by the clinical space.

What are you doing these days?

I am working as a client success manager for Pyx Health, a tech company focused on supporting those with loneliness, social isolation, and social determinants of health needs.

Are you still treating patients, or are you solely non-clinical?

I still treat! I do mobile therapy in patients’ homes.

I enjoy treating and using this side of my brain. Being in control of my schedule and only doing it part time allows me to view it as a hobby/side hustle. With this new balance, I feel like I have the best of both worlds.

What percentage of your time is spent clinically vs. non-clinically?

10% is clinical. This can go up or down, depending on how many patients I take on at a time.

How long have you been in your current client success manager role?

I’ve been in my current role since March 2022.

Did you get any special certifications or training along the way to help you get into your current role?

I took Non-Clinical 101.

This course was a great launch pad for me since I had NO idea where to begin. I was able to learn about a lot of different career paths I didn’t know existed and get a jump start on techniques and strategies for building a non-clinical resume.

I didn’t take any certifications specifically, but I did a lot of reading on LinkedIn to get me up to speed on some of the business and tech-world lingo.

How did you find your job? Did you apply or find it through a connection?

I found it on Linkedin and applied right after the job was posted. Additionally, I messaged the hiring manager right away. After I was hired, I learned this helped me to stand out and land the job.

Did you do anything special to your resume and cover letter to land the job?

Yes! I had to replace a lot of the clinical jargon in my resume and cover letter and connect the dots on how my experience would make me the best fit for the role. I had to write and rewrite my resume at least 20 times over the course of my job-search process.

How have people reacted to you leaving patient care?

I’m lucky to have a supportive group of friends and family. I’ve received nothing but support and shared joy.

What’s a typical day or week in the life like for you? What types of tasks and responsibilities fill your time?

One of the things that I love about my job is that no two days are identical—every day truly is unique, so it is hard to get bored! On average, I’d say:

• 30% of my time is spent on client meetings
• 30-40% is spent prepping for meetings and following up after meetings
• 20% is spent on internal meetings discussing company updates and client strategy
• 10-15% or so is typically spent doing other admin and email tasks

What are some of the rewards of your role? What are the biggest challenges?

Being in the healthtech space, especially at the company I am at, I am motivated by the good we are doing in the world.

It is very rewarding to be working for a solution to loneliness and social isolation. It makes it easier to work hard when you are heavily aligned with the company’s mission.

One of the biggest challenges can be the ambiguity that comes with being a client success manager (CSM). As a PT, there is a protocol rooted in evidence and a typical outline of what treatment should look like through each phase of care. You can pretty simply set goals and a treatment plan to achieve them.

However, as a CSM, the rulebook is constantly being updated to keep up with your business as it grows, along with the client’s business that continues to grow, evolve, and have a shift in priorities.

CSMs must always be strategic, nimble, and ready to adapt. While this is a challenge, I also love the way this job requires me to stretch my brain and mind in new ways.

How did your clinical background prepare you for this role? Which skills transferred?

Where to begin! I’ll highlight a couple skills here:

1. Client-facing experience: As a therapist, you take your patient (client) through the full client lifecycle. You have them from onboarding and implementation (evaluation), maintaining the relationship (treatment plan), and renewal (patient retention as they come back for each visit and come back for new injuries). You become an expert in active listening, adapting your approach, and building trust with each of your patients/clients.
2. Data analysis and delivery: As a therapist, you are consistently gathering and evaluating data through your eval and re-evals. You then have to translate this from medical jargon into a language that is meaningful and impactful to a patient.

Roughly speaking, how are the hours and pay compared to patient care?

Pay always depends on the region and field you come from. In my experience, it is comparable, with a much higher ceiling than patient care. The hours are significantly less for me, which is a huge win.

What type of person do you think would do well in your client success manager role?

An active listener and great communicator! A lot of the CSM role is active conversation—knowing which questions to ask a client, when and how to dig deeper, and ensuring they feel validated, heard, and prioritized.

Do you work remotely or onsite?

I’m fully remote, and I love it!

Did you read any books, take any courses, or do anything special overall to get you where you are today?

I started by reading Do What You Are to gain a better understanding of my strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes to inform my decision when choosing a long-term career path. I highly recommend anyone start with a bit of soul-searching when switching careers.

I also took the Non-Clinical 101 course, which was helpful in laying out the ground work! Other than that, I leaned on networking and following thought leaders on LinkedIn.

What is a typical career path for someone in your role?

You typically would see someone start off as an associate customer success manger, and progress to customer success manager, to senior customer success manager, to enterprise success manager, and beyond!

There are a lot of other roles and opportunities in the client/customer success world. Every title and career path might look a bit different, depending on the company, in terms of compensation, scope, and responsibilities.

What is next for you? What are your high-level career aspirations?

I’d love to move into an enterprise and then director role here in the near future. I enjoy being strategic with my high-impact customers and leadership roles.

What would you teach to today’s graduate students in your profession, if you had the opportunity?

It’s okay to change your mind and your field if it is no longer serving you. Just because you spent thousands of dollars and thousands of hours on an education does not mean that you have to be tethered to that field forever. A therapist’s skills are highly transferrable!

Do you have any special advice for others who want to follow in your footsteps as a client success manager?

Networking is your friend. It will feel awkward and strange at first, but connections are key. A good place to start might be LinkedIn, or even local or virtual events. For instance, I am one of the current NYC Chapter Leads of Women of Customer Success.

I’d also like to acknowledge that the job market is saturated and tough right now. If I were to enter the job market right now, I’d likely invest in a good career coach to give me a leg up!