Customer Success didn’t “break.” The world around it changed.
New logo growth slowed.
CFOs scrutinized renewals harder.
Expansion became a primary growth lever (not a “nice to have”).
ChartMogul found that for companies in the ~$15M–$30M+ ARR range, ~40% of growth is now driven by expansion (up from ~30% during the 2021 peak-growth era).
Bain reported that NRR has declined for 75% of software firms in its survey, despite increased CS investment.
And SaaS Capital’s benchmarks still show the uncomfortable truth: median net retention ~102% and gross retention ~91%, meaning “renewals just happen” is a dangerous fantasy for most teams.
The next era of CS belongs to the commercial CSM: the person who protects revenue, creates expansion surface area, and translates product value into business outcomes.
Below are the five legacy beliefs that keep CSMs stuck, and the commercial replacements that drive renewals and expansion predictability.
The Visual: Old Mindset vs. Commercial Mindset
Old Mindset (Legacy CS) | Commercial Mindset (Revenue CS) |
“I’m not in sales.” | “I’m accountable to revenue outcomes, in a customer-first way.” |
“Renewals just happen if adoption is good.” | “Renewals are earned by proven value + risk removal + executive alignment.” |
“If they’re using the product, we’re good.” | “Usage is a signal. The goal is measurable business impact.” |
“My job is to be responsive and helpful.” | “My job is to run a value process: diagnose → align → prove → expand.” |
“Expansion is sales’ job.” | “Expansion is created in CS: surfaced, qualified, and made inevitable.” |
Keep that table close. Every belief below ladders back to it.
Belief #1 to Unlearn: “I’m not in sales.”
Why it’s attractive
It feels “pure.” It sounds customer-first. It avoids pressure.
Why it breaks in the real world
In subscription businesses, post-sale is the revenue engine. If expansion and renewals are material contributors to growth (and they are), then CS is unavoidably part of the commercial system. ChartMogul’s expansion-driven growth data is the loudest evidence of that shift.
Also: the CFO doesn’t care what department owns the renewal. They care whether the customer sees enough value to keep paying.
The commercial reframe
“I’m not in sales” → “I lead value realization and revenue protection.”
Commercial CSMs don’t “sell features.” They sell clarity:
What outcomes the customer committed to
What progress has been made
What ROI exists today
What risks threaten renewal
What additional value is available next
What changes in behavior
Legacy behaviors
Avoids money conversations until renewal month
Defers expansion to AE/AM
Reports activity (“met with them twice”)
Commercial behaviors
Brings economic framing into every QBR
Runs a mutual plan with business milestones
Measures outcomes tied to dollars, time, risk, or growth
A simple script (that doesn’t feel “salesy”)
“My role is to make sure you get measurable value from this investment, so renewals and any future growth decisions are easy and justified. Can we align on the 2–3 metrics that matter most to your leadership?”
Belief #2 to Unlearn: “Renewals just happen.”
Why it’s attractive
It’s the story CS inherited from the boom years: “If adoption is strong, we’re fine.”
Why it breaks
Bain’s research points to a harsh reality: even as CS teams grew, NRR still declined for most software firms.
Translation: you can do “more CS” and still lose revenue if you’re not doing commercial CS.
Renewals don’t “happen.” They’re the output of a system:
Executive alignment
Proof of value
Risk mitigation
Competitive insulation
Budget timing + procurement readiness
The commercial reframe
“Renewals just happen” → “Renewals are a managed process.”
Commercial CSMs treat renewal like a deal:
Clear stakeholders + power map
Identified risks with owners and dates
ROI proof documented before procurement starts
Timeline reverse-engineered from legal/procurement reality
The Renewal Readiness Checklist (90 days out)
A renewal is not “on track” unless you can answer yes to these:
Economic buyer aligned? (Name + last touch within 60 days)
Business outcomes defined? (Not features—metrics)
Value proof captured? (Numbers, narratives, screenshots, benchmarks)
Risks named + owned? (Product gaps, adoption gaps, org changes)
Procurement path known? (Timing, steps, blockers)
Competitive threat assessed? (Incumbent risk is real)
Mutual plan exists? (Customer agrees to dates/actions)
If you can’t answer these, it’s not “green.” It’s “unknown.”
Belief #3 to Unlearn: “If they’re using the product, we’re winning.”
Why it’s attractive
Usage is easy to measure. Dashboards are comforting.
Why it breaks
Usage is not value. It’s a proxy, and sometimes a misleading one:
A team can use the tool and still not hit business outcomes.
A team can hit outcomes with partial usage.
“Logins” don’t defend a six-figure renewal in a CFO budget review.
At the market level, retention performance varies widely, and achieving/maintaining strong NRR has become harder across segments.
The commercial reframe
“Usage = success” → “Usage = signal; outcomes = success.”
Commercial CSMs build a Value Narrative that connects:
Business goal (what leadership cares about)
Workflow (how work gets done today)
Product capability (what enables change)
Measured impact (proof)
Next unlock (what’s now possible)
Replace “health score theater” with an Outcome Scorecard
Instead of: logins, seats activated, feature clicks
Use: time saved, revenue influenced, risk reduced, productivity gained
Examples:
“Reduced onboarding time from 21 → 12 days”
“Increased manager coaching frequency by 2x”
“Improved forecast accuracy by X points”
“Decreased support tickets by Y%”
Even if you can’t measure perfectly, you can measure directionally—and pair it with customer testimony.
The QBR slide you should always include
“Value Delivered (Last 90 Days)”
3 quantified wins
2 customer quotes
1 before/after workflow change
1 “what we’ll improve next quarter”
This is what earns renewals.
Belief #4 to Unlearn: “My job is to be helpful and responsive.”
Why it’s attractive
It’s how many CS orgs were trained: be the friendly concierge.
Why it breaks
Helpful is not the same as valuable.
Bain highlighted a mismatch between what vendors provide post-sale and what customers actually value, with technical/implementation needs often underserved.
Being responsive to tickets doesn’t fix misalignment, stalled adoption, or executive skepticism.
The commercial reframe
“Be helpful” → “Be the driver of a value process.”
Commercial CSMs are not “support with meetings.”
They are operators who run a cadence that produces outcomes.
The commercial cadence (simple version)
Monthly (30 minutes): Value + Risk
Progress vs outcomes
Top risks and mitigations
Decisions needed from customer
Quarterly (60 minutes): Executive Value Review
ROI and outcomes
Strategic roadmap alignment
Expansion options (if relevant)
Ongoing: Mutual Plan
Next milestones
Owners + due dates
Success criteria
This is how you move from “nice to have” to “revenue critical.”
The skill shift: from “answering” to “diagnosing”
Commercial questions sound like:
“What happens if this initiative fails?”
“Who owns the number you’re being measured on?”
“What did leadership promise the board this year?”
“If budget gets tight, what gets cut first—and why?”
“What would make renewal a ‘non-event’?”
That’s not salesy. That’s serious.
Belief #5 to Unlearn: “Expansion is sales’ job.”
Why it’s attractive
It avoids awkwardness. It avoids quota tension. It feels like “staying in your lane.”
Why it breaks
Expansion doesn’t start in a pipeline. It starts in the customer’s day-to-day reality:
New priorities
New stakeholders
New teams needing the workflow
New use cases unlocked by success
CS is the closest function to those signals. And the macro trend reinforces why this matters: expansion is a growing share of SaaS growth for many companies.
The commercial reframe
“Expansion is sales’ job” → “Expansion is created in CS and closed collaboratively.”
Commercial CSMs do three things relentlessly:
1) Surface expansion signals
Adoption spreading organically
New departments asking for access
Leadership requesting broader reporting/visibility
Customer hitting limits (usage, seats, workflows)
“Can you do this for X team too?”
2) Qualify like a pro (without being pushy)
A lightweight “CS qualification”:
Problem: what new pain exists?
Impact: what does it cost today?
Owner: who cares + who signs?
Timing: when does it need to be solved?
Path: what’s the next step to validate?
3) Make the expansion the logical next chapter
Position it as:
risk reduction (“standardize across teams”)
efficiency (“one workflow vs many”)
governance (“one reporting layer”)
growth enablement (“scale what’s working”)
The expansion sentence that works
“Based on what you’ve achieved, the next logical step is expanding this workflow to [team/use case]. Want to pressure-test the ROI and see if it’s worth building a plan?”
That’s value-led. Not pitch-led.
The Operating System: How Commercial CSMs Think Differently
If you want one model to train your team on, it’s this:
Commercial CSM = Value Process Owner
Diagnose → Align → Prove → Expand → Renew
Diagnose: business pain, stakeholders, constraints
Align: mutual plan, success metrics, cadence
Prove: outcomes + ROI evidence
Expand: replicate wins into new scope
Renew: make it a non-event (no surprises)
This is how you reverse the trend Bain called out, more CS spend without more retention.
Manager’s Corner: How to Coach This Shift
1) Coach beliefs, not just behaviors
In 1:1s, ask:
“What money conversations are you avoiding?”
“What would make this renewal inevitable?”
“What value proof are you building this month?”
2) Redefine “great CS”
Old: NPS, tickets closed, meetings held
New: renewal readiness, risk burndown, value proof, expansion surfaced
3) Add one scoreboard your team can’t ignore
Value Proof Coverage %
What % of accounts have documented ROI / outcomes in the last 90 days?
Because if it’s not documented, it doesn’t exist when budgets get cut.
The Challenge for Your Team This Week
Pick one account and rewrite your posture using the commercial mindset:
Write the customer’s top 2 business outcomes in plain English.
List 3 proof points you already have (even directional).
Identify 1 risk you’ve been “hoping away.”
Propose 1 next-step meeting agenda that forces alignment.
Do that 10 times and your renewal calendar becomes predictable.
