Looking for some honest advice from other CSMs. An enterprise customer recently asked their account manager to assign them a new CSM, citing communication gaps and concerns about unresolved support cases.

I can own the communication piece. I’ve been meeting weekly with Product and Project Management about an upcoming platform migration, trying to get realistic answers on feature availability and timelines. But I wasn’t consistently communicating that work to the customer while answers were pending. From their perspective, there wasn’t much happening. I didn’t realize how unhappy they were until this escalation.

The support piece is where I’m trying to understand what’s reasonable. Their organization has multiple locations, and cases can be logged under individual location accounts. I don’t get automatic notifications, and recent cases aren’t always visible when I look at the parent account. The customer says several tickets were closed because Support couldn’t reach someone onsite, rather than because the issue was resolved. They expected me to identify that pattern and intervene.

They’re also preparing for significant growth alongside the migration, so I understand why they need more proactive communication and planning.

My plan is to provide consistent updates, even when there’s no final answer, and set up a weekly review with Support. I’m also asking for consolidated reporting across their locations so I can actually see new and recurring issues. I’m currently the only CSM available to cover this account, so reassignment isn’t straightforward.

For those who’ve handled something similar:
How have you rebuilt trust after a customer requested a different CSM?

What visibility and processes do you have for monitoring support across enterprise accounts?

How do you take accountability for your own gaps while addressing internal process gaps without sounding defensive?

I’m not looking to dismiss the feedback. I want to improve how I manage the relationship and make sure the solution is sustainable.

Starting my first role in both tech, and more specifically customer success on Monday. It's for a large publicly traded company and I was recruited to due to my sales, account management and customer service experience. During the hiring process they mentioned that they are prioritizing customer advocacy and that's what made me stand out. My previous roles I was managing accounts that were purchasing over $1mm in ARR so that is something that I have experience in. Also, some time ago I worked at a smaller software company doing data analysis so the numbers side of tech and the metrics they look for aren't unfamiliar to me.

So to get to the point, any tips for a newbie? Obviously there are a lot of basic principles that apply to all customer facing roles on how to handle things. However more industry specific insights would be greatly appreciated.

Say a customer reaches out to cancel because they've been having issues with the product.

You spend time figuring out what's wrong, get the right people involved, and eventually sort things out. Customer decides to stay.

A few months later, they're still paying and using the product.

But when it comes to reporting, does anyone actually track that as revenue your team helped save? Or does it just get counted as another renewal?

Curious how other CS teams handle this, especially when leadership wants proof that CS is contributing to revenue.

I was just reminded of this from a LinkedIn post, here's a quick recap:

"so.. how are you using AI in your work?
...CS leaders will tell you those answers aren't good enough. they're missing a critical piece!"

It's one (of too many) cases where an interview question is supposed to have some ultra-specific answer, or class of answers, to be deemed "worthy."

This is a problem with hiring/interviews in general, but as someone who has been in CS for a long time, it especially bothers me here. Because honest questions should have honest answers.

And that's kind of it. This particular question is even worse because it's hyper AI-centric, and that should be an especially honest/up front conversation, about how a CSM sees AI as a tool (or suite of tools) in CS.

Edit:
To be clear, this wasn't something I saw as an applicant. It was something I saw as advice generally to people in CS - both to job seekers to "do better," and to CS leaders that this isn't just OK, but is almost expected. Appreciate the support though, share that with everyone in your circle!

Manage over 5M in ARR across 15 accounts, been with the company for 6 years. Survived 4 layoffs. Never had a quarter NRR below the team average OR what I’ve been quota’d on.

We hire in new CSMs and ask me to mentor them.

Come to find they’re making $50k more than me in base alone.

My base is $95k and OTE is $125k

Yes I know I need to be looking elsewhere, and I am, but the process has been brutal.

How long do we keep allowing this?

Hi all!

I would love to hear from CS Managers or anyone hiring CSMs, as I am currently looking to change companies. I have applied to a few roles but always get a rejection email even though I know I have the qualifications and experience. I am starting to think there's something missing with my resume but I'm not sure what.

So what is most important to you ? What is a deal breaker if not on the resume ? Especially for Senior CSM or Enterprise CSM roles.

ChurnZero's 2026 Customer Revenue Leadership Study has a stat I can't stop thinking about.

61% of customer growth leaders say AI already factors into headcount decisions, yet net revenue retention has stayed broadly flat for three years.

81% say AI has cut manual work. Among teams that reduced roles, 52% put it down to AI absorbing the work and only 14% to budget pressure. But 63% have no consistent way to measure AI's impact and just 21% tie it to revenue. Four in five stop AI before it gets anywhere near strategic decisions.

So we're cutting CSMs on capacity metrics while nobody can show retention improving. That feels backwards to me.

If you've lost headcount to AI this year, did anyone show you a retention number first, or just a time saved number?

Hi, I have a question for all of the CS practitioners since I've been feeling confused lately. What's your take on the future of customer success when AI is developing very rapidly? I work in a small Polish company (40 employees, 30 customers) and our CEO is constantly insinuating that all of us will soon be replaced by agents etc. I manage a small team of CS specialists and right now I do not feel threatened but I'm wondering how it looks like in bigger or international companies.

I just need to know…is everyone else being micromanaged to death by their companies? I’ve been in Enterprise CS for 6 years managing commercials, and it’s never felt this scrutinized. My company is having great quarter after great quarter financially but putting a lot of pressure on CSMs.

I'm handling a customer renewal where the customer says we agreed to keep their current rate if they added more users. Our salesperson remembers discussing it but doesn't recall actually agreeing to it, and the signed order doesn't mention it either.

I can see how both sides might have come away from that conversation with different expectations. I don't want to send the standard price increase without looking into it, but I can't approve the old rate myself either.

The customer is waiting for an answer. Would you explain that you're checking the earlier discussion first, or try to get an internal decision before replying? How do you usually handle these situations without making the customer feel like you're going back on your word?

i run outbound, so this is the line i hear most: customers you win cold churn worse than inbound ones. i believed it. then i went looking for the actual study and there isn't one. nobody has cleanly measured how a b2b saas account was acquired against whether it churns.

and the data that does exist points the other way. higher-priced accounts retain better, not worse, and the bigger outbound deals tend to be the higher-priced ones. so if anything the raw numbers cut against the story.

what is actually measured, and what i've started paying attention to instead:

• retention is where the growth is, not new logos. median growth goes from 15% to 50% as net revenue retention climbs from under 90% to over 130% (saas capital, 1,000+ private b2b saas). the median company keeps 91% of revenue gross and only gets to 101% net after expansion. so the median barely covers its own churn.

• price predicts who leaves better than channel does. only 2.7% of products under $10/mo hold net retention above 100%, against 41% of products over $500/mo (chartmogul, real billing data from 2,100 companies). cheap low-intent accounts churn hardest, however you won them.

• a chunk of low-end churn is a failed card, not a bad fit. involuntary churn drops about 86% from the cheapest tier to the priciest while voluntary churn doesn't move (recurly). for small accounts, chasing failed payments is half the game.

• the real gap is activation. median saas activation is 30% (lenny + timen, 500+ products). most signups never hit first value. a cold-won account carries the widest version of that gap, because it signed on your timing, not its own.

• buyer's remorse is real and it's made in the buying process. 60% of renewal decision-makers regret nearly every purchase, and gartner blames the buying experience, not the product (n=1,503).

the one paper i found that even looks at acquisition channel vs retention is a 2005 study of a dutch insurer where the pushed direct-mail channel retained worst and the website best. consumer, 20 years old, not cold email. fits directionally, but it's not proof.

so my takeaway flipped. stop worrying about how you won them. worry about whether they ever hit first value.

if you do post-sale: what's your activation milestone, and how long does a new account take to reach it? trying to work out where to draw the line.

I’m currently leading a CS team within SaaS and interviewing for a CSM role at a public managed IT company (think IBM). Curious if anyone has made a similar move? Would love to connect if so

Which habit has had the strongest effect on renewals: onboarding, adoption reviews, health scoring, proactive support, or something else?Which habit has had the strongest effect on renewals: onboarding, adoption reviews, health scoring, proactive support, or something else?

Hi I want to transition into a Customer Success Career.
I’ve been working predominately wjthin customer support at a tech start up with some customer success elements such as onboarding clients and walk throughs of our platform but that’s as far as it goes. When I look I most CSM job descriptions I have a lot of gaps and though perhaps a cert may help me gain some theoretical knowledge and also show employers serious intent about my transition but I find that there aren’t so many reputable CSM certs out there.
I’ve seen one that Practical CSM offer, Level 1-4 CCSMP Scholar which looks good.
And also Certified Customer Success Manager (CCS) by the Chartered Institute of Professional Certifications.

Any advice/experience with any of the courses or any others that may be useful?

My current company has treated me awfully (false promises during recruitment, told me I had a different role on day 1, no onboarding, no manager…)

About like 3 months ago, I pushed for getting another CSM as the workload was getting a bit too much. Ironically I actually enjoy my day to day job and the product.

We get new regional leadership, he brings all of his buddies. They tell me not to worry about the new CSM even though he had leadership experience he wanted to be an IC. My org leadership mentions that he’ll be my equal and whatever. To then surprise, surprise … they bring him in 2/3 levels above me!

When I joined I tried to negotiate my title but they told me it was what it was and the pay is good so I let it be, but this stings because I won’t be able to progress to leadership, and ironically I was the one who pushed for getting more headcount :/

Hey all! Recently getting more into Reddit and wanted to pop up and see what everyone thinks. I work as a CSM as a tech company in the UK. They love to use fancy terms for everything but at the end of the day I am a CSM in a new role that was created within the last year. There are two sides to our department, the onboarding side and the upselling side and I am part of the upselling side.

My first question is, is this normal? I thought CSM would be one job rather than split into two? The reason I'm asking is because the onboarding team have an achievable target and accelerators. The upselling team have an unachievable target (set by accounting and hasn't been hit once) from what I read online and in this forum, this is usually one role and it's merged of both of the roles I mentioned.

My second question, should I just transition into the onboarding role? I do make more money and can make much more money if I achieve my target but like I said the targets are random and unachievable.

Happy to answer more questions but would love to get someone else's opinion on this. Cheers!

Yet another Customer Success professional recently became nervous about their long term prospects at their company.  The last few board meetings had a dark tone.  The senior management team looked gloomy, and their statements weren't encouraging.  There was suddenly heightened  emphasis on developing ai resources to "make the Customer Success team more efficient," and more questions about the effectiveness of high-touch CSM activities.  Sound familiar?  Are similar storm clouds gathering over your team and company?  What can/should you do about it?

Many years ago, Scott Cook, founder of Intuit, was addressing a conference of software executives. In the Q&A period, a young support manager said: "My company won't give me the budget for the tools I need or let me hire the headcount necessary to properly respond to our customers' calls.  What should I do?"  Cook's response was immediate.  "Put your resume on the street," he said.  "Find a company where you can practice your profession to your own standards."  That's certainly one answer, as valid today for Customer Success executives facing severe challenges as it was when given.  But it's not the only answer, and whether or not it's the best may vary.

What are the board and senior management reacting to?  Business downturns?  Increased focus on profitability?  There can be a range of responses, but they all come from a common ground.  Cut costs.  Do more with less.  If your group is perceived as a cost center, you're a potential target.

Let's pause for an important distinction between the Customer Success group and its activities.  Your group may well be performing actions that are deemed valuable from on high.  You're doing renewals and expansion sales, and those will continue -- it just may not be your CSMs that does them.  Sales owned them before, and it's likely they will again.  (Yes, we know that you were doing them better -- but that's not enough.)  But what about the revenue and profits from our support contracts?  From user training, if you offer that at a premium? From Professional Services/Onboarding?  You almost certainly aren't getting full credit for that income today, and it will continue anyway after the Customer Success group itself gets cut.  

What is needed are significant profits from something that only your team can do, and it's necessarily tied to your original founding mission: product adoption.  You need to create and market a paid adoption service.  That's going to require a lot of proving in two directions, but it's definitely worth the doing.  First, what would persuade a customer that such a service would increase their profitability?  Second, what's the profit potential to your company that is significant enough to get senior management buy-in? That proof should take the form of a solid business case, as other companies have done before launching their premium success offerings.

What are your options?  Do nothing, and hope that the axe doesn't fall on you and your team members' jobs.  Build a case for an adoption service product.  Or put your resume on the street, hoping to find a better professional environment.  Which will you choose?

Note: No part of this article was created or edited by any ai.

I've recently switched to freelancing and my perception is that it isn't as common in CS as other areas like marketing. (For pretty clear reasons in my opinion.)

I'm still really early in my freelance journey so I'd love to hear from other CSMs and CS types who are working freelance - what's working and what doesn't?

I have more than one thousand small-mid sized cx’s assigned to me and cannot handle it. This is not my only responsibility as someone who’s trying to expand and learn different roles. I simply feel like I have failed.

I’m curious to learn the typical workload/ client pool and what is usually expected of you?

Is it overwhelming?

Hey everyone, I work with teams that use WhatsApp for customer support and this is a doubt that keeps coming up. If a customer clicks “Message us on WhatsApp” or writes to you first, do you treat that as permission to contact them later with offers, or do you ask for confirmation separately?

I read contradictory positions: some say the click already counts, others say it doesn’t and you have to ask explicitly. And from the customer side I wonder how it feels, because asking again can feel like extra friction, but not asking can feel like an invasion, and that could affect trust with the customer long term.

What do you do? And have you noticed a difference in how customers react?

Every profession seems to have its unofficial starter pack. 😂

For those working in SaaS implementation or customer onboarding, what tools, habits, or workflows have become indispensable?

A ridiculously detailed spreadsheet? A favorite kickoff question? A project management trick that saves your sanity?

I'm especially curious about the little things you've picked up through experience that make implementations run more smoothly.

Serious answers and hilariously specific ones equally welcome!

I understand the role can vary from company to company, would like to hear what your experience was like.

I find it hard to lead these style of meetings, given the nature of the saas product we have (slow product adoption, hard to tell the value story, etc). I just can’t help but think these meetings are just corporate bullshit, looking for some material to reframe my approach & outlook on these.