Confessions of a reluctant revenue owner

Alright, alright – the debate is officially over.

For the past couple of years (maybe longer?), the customer success (CS) community has been in a heated battle about whether or not we should drive the revenue train.

I’ve been part of countless debates, meet-ups, webinars, and trainings where the pros and cons of CS owning revenue were discussed endlessly. CS purists argue we should focus on traditional "core" responsibilities – customer satisfaction, advocacy, and goal attainment.

However, with the rise of more CS departments sitting closer to CROs and CFOs, many CS pros began advocating for more entrepreneurial responsibility to stay relevant and truly guide a customer-centric product.

According to the State of Customer Success Report 2024, over 75% of all CS professionals are responsible for some area of financial expansion, and nearly half of us own upselling, cross-selling, and renewals.

A graph showing that according to the State of Customer Success Report 2024, over 75% of all CS professionals are responsible for some area of financial expansion, and nearly half of us own upselling, cross-selling, and renewals. — Source: State of Customer Success 2024

Around 20% reported that revenue was teed up to a completely different group in the company. Given the trend over the past few years, that 20% is set to shrink dramatically as more companies see that revenue generation comes from long-standing customer relationships.

Shantel Love, Global VP of Customer Success at Pearson, sums it up by saying:

“In the orchestra of business, every employee holds an instrument of sales – from the first note of customer onboarding to the sustained harmony of renewal. Customer success isn't just a department, it's the entire melody of organizational growth.”

The debate is over, and here’s the verdict: we are revenue generators – so all aboard the Expansion Express. I suggest we start in the bar car, with snacks.

Let me be crystal clear – I was one of the last people to hop on this party train. I didn’t want to! I moved away from account management because selling just isn’t my jam. Money matters? Nope. I just like making customers happy. (Yes, I hear the irony… hang tight.)

I had all the same objections as everyone else: it’ll hurt rapport with customers, we won’t have time to advocate for them, we’ll step on our sales team’s toes, and we won’t have the tools, the time, or the expertise. And… I didn’t want to!

So trust me, I get the hesitation. But here I am, sitting at the caboose of the Profit Gain Train, and I’ve got some lessons to share about what I learned and how I ended up coming around. Here’s my story of being dragged, kicking and screaming, into owning the numbers…

Welcome to the jungle

My introduction to revenue ownership was… abrupt. Imagine a quick, no-fanfare, 10-minute call from leadership saying, "Congrats! You and your team now own renewals and upsells. Build a process for it."

Pardon?

"We’re moving this away from GTM, and it’s all yours."

EXCUSE ME?! Your girl was not amused.

Selling to customers had always been someone else’s circus – definitely not my monkeys. Sure, it affected CS, but it wasn’t our show. We tossed those messy contracts, discounts, and amendments over to account management and washed our hands clean. We had our own priorities – chasing goals, advocating for customers, and pleading with our product team for features.

Our team was working on the first baby steps of a consistent customer journey and standard offerings in preparation for building to scale. Adding a new and novel responsibility seemed like setting us up to fail by overfilling our plates.

Being handed something you don’t understand – like a pet you never asked for – and being told to “keep it alive,” which is… not ideal. I threw a bit of a pity party, especially since our CX department was already in the middle of other major shifts. Again, your girl was not amused.

Pardon our mess

Our renewal process was a bit chaotic. We had three distinct referral types and processes tied to different contract signing periods, making things unnecessarily complicated. This led to ambiguity on renewal close dates and how to get accurate data to the customer.

In one case, we asked for a renewal almost a year too soon because we fat-fingered the date and didn’t have checks and balances to ensure our information aligned with our finance team. Oops.

Renewals were often delayed because pricing decisions rested entirely with busy salesfolks. This meant last-minute pricing, anxious customers, and missed upsell opportunities. Because really we want sales to ABC (Always Be Closing), not reviewing upsells worth 1% of the new contracts they can bring in!

To speed things up, CS sometimes ended up discounting, removing price increases, or doing things for free —giving away revenue to keep customers happy.

And our CS team didn’t have access to key tools for revenue expansion – no accurate contract values, no templates, and no insight into pricing, contracts, or negotiation options. At one point, I found a team member who actually didn’t have access to the space in the CRM where the contracts were – they had never needed it.

Lack of training in selling meant email chains to customers that could rival War and Peace!

Reiterations, clarifications, and corrections – all required more internal meetings and approval from outside the team before taking the next steps or responding to customers. Contacts who raved about our prompt and engaging responses were thrown off-kilter by the stilted and delayed communications that lacked confidence and certainty.

This felt set up for failure from the jump, and there was a serious impact on the morale of the team as frustration and imposter syndrome started to creep in. Again… not amused.

This chaos was my begrudging “ah-ha” moment. The process wasn’t great, and we were leaving a lot on the table for both our company and our customers.

Customers were missing out on consistent and predictable expansion motions that would allow them to focus on goals and potential new functionality. The company was straight-up leaving money on the table in the form of apology discounts and missed upsells.

I realized that my team was uniquely positioned to build a proper process and lead organic expansion. (But I still didn’t want to.)

Stringent objections

I had the same objections as everyone else, but I had to figure out how to get my team (and myself) on board with this new revenue gig.

Respecting rapport

One of the biggest fears about CS owning revenue is that it will harm the relationships CSMs build with their customers.

As veteran CS professional Johnathan Gray explained:

“Owning revenue raises valid concerns for customer success teams. One of the cornerstones of the CSM role is building authentic relationships based on trust and value realization, which could be compromised if customers begin to perceive us as salespeople in disguise.”

And he’s not wrong, CS teams new to revenue ownership can make some missteps that will spoil hard-won rapport. But selling with a CS mindset can actually deepen those relationships.

The CS team’s role is about empowering customers to achieve their goals, solve challenges, and derive value from the product. When you’re genuinely invested in a customer’s success, introducing options to solve those challenges is a natural extension of the partnership.

Johnathan went on to say:

“Our (CSM’s) primary focus is ensuring customers achieve their goals with our product… CS focuses on the realization of the value for that revenue spent by clients.”

Would you feel betrayed if your stylist recommended a new treatment to combat that dry winter hair? Of course not! It’s the same in CS. If a new product feature, training package, or expanded service can help the customer succeed, bring it on! Frame your conversations around honesty, value and transparency.

If that’s how you come to customers then conversations on achieving their goals (even with an invoice attached) will demonstrate your commitment to their success.

And, owning revenue provides opportunities to align more closely with the customer’s evolving needs. CSMs are staying attuned to their customers' progress, pain points, and future objectives, and can present relevant offerings at the right time.

This proactive approach ensures the customer feels supported, understood, and seen, rather than pressured.

Different (E)motions

Speaking of “pressured”, another fear - talking money. Talking about money can be a little itchy for folks in roles focused on relationship-building. That’s because traditional conversations are “pitch-heavy” with a focus on closing deals and hitting quotas.

But a CSM discussing money is an entirely different dynamic that calls for different delivery.

Sales focus on potential—painting a vision of what could be. They highlight how the product might solve problems or open new possibilities. Once the contract is signed, however, customers are looking for something more – they want results.

CS pros are equipped for this! CSMs base their recommendations on concrete data, past experiences, and the customer’s unique setup. Expansion conversations with CS feel less like a “pitch” and more like a logical next step in their journey.

Forget “imagine the possibilities,” we’re coming in with “based on your current usage” and this data-driven, goal-oriented framing helps tee up expansions with which the customer can resonate.

The customer sees the recommendation as an informed suggestion from someone who truly understands their needs, reducing resistance and fostering trust. That’s a different kind of sales motion.

New stakeholder, who ‘dis?

The final fear I needed to address was that in expansion sales, customer success teams often deal with different stakeholders than the initial sale.

During the initial sales process, the focus is on executives or procurement teams with the authority to approve budgets and sign contracts. But we all know that some of these folks are not going to stick around for the real journey.

Post initial-sale, the spotlight shifts to the end-users and department heads who are responsible for wringing success from your product in their daily work. These folks might not control the purse strings, but they do wield significant influence over the product’s success within their organization.

They are the advocates for renewals, champions for adoption, and honest providers of feedback that guide opportunities. CSMs regularly engage with these stakeholders and understand how to bridge the gap between technical details and strategic objectives. Make sure to ask “How can we make you look good?” and show that you are there for everyone’s success, not just the C-suite.

Multi-threaded and multi-tiered engagement with various stakeholders uncovers cross-departmental opportunities. A feature that works well for one team might also benefit another, leading to conversations about expanding usage across the organization.

Dig in and ask who their champions are in the company and how we help those folks as well. So crafting an approach based on the priorities of the stakeholders so that they all feel seen and empowered will lead to maximum potential. But you’re a CS pro, so you already know this.

Take on me; take revenue on

So, now we’ve come to it. You’ve crossed the Rubicon – congratulations! It’s time to make renewals, upsells, cross-selling, and referrals part of your CS motions. Let’s get those skills in place to do this right:

Get leadership on the train

If your leadership team hasn’t given you this mandate, you might need to guide them along the same path you just took. I mean, why does CS need to be involved in revenue at all? After all, Sales had that covered, right? Sales opens the door for revenue, but CS is where long-term profit lives.

Speak to LTV (lifetime value) and the overall margin benefits of expansion over racking up more CAC (cost to acquire) debt.

More and more SaaS and tech companies are looking at LTV as a metric of success over standard NPS and customer satisfaction because, hey, they might be “happy” and still churn.

A focus on LTV lets the CS team demonstrate what is a “good fit” customer and not just a “good enough fit” customer based on data.

James Sanchez, Manager of Customer Success at LeanLaw, got leadership onboard with a big win!

“Several folks didn't even think CS could generate revenue. It was not even a consideration. But there was an internal shift to look more at expansion-related revenue and as a result, the single largest customer payout in the company's history came from CS – not sales.

"For a scrappy, Series A start-up, this was what opened leadership's eyes to what we could do with even minimal tools."

You can also talk to your sales team leaders about the benefit of faster, smaller initial contracts if there are CS expansion motions to collect that additional revenue down the road. Faster close times for sales might win you some friends! In short, convincing leadership to invest time, talent, and tools in CS may require some bold conversations.

Borrow some bravado

The first time I heard a sales partner just blurt out “But why?” in a call to a customer, I almost choked on my water.

Sales were questioning the pushback on pricing, acceptance of a very necessary cross-sell, and why the customer was stalling. The sheer boldness, and around money no less, was a shocker and a learning moment.

Pre- and post-contract sales motions are different, but your sales team has skills you can adopt. For me, it was their bravado. Salespeople bring a certain boldness to interactions that CSMs sometimes hold back – lean into that confidence!

But your sales team can also show you how they are doing pre-sales value prop that you can adapt for customers and better manage and track your expansion pipeline.

Parul Bhandari, a CS leader who has built several teams from the ground up, learned from her sales team counterparts early in her career as a leader:

"In my first CS team, we tried owning renewals and frankly failed. The team was trained on the how and not the ‘what are my customers thinking’.

“But, when a sales team member took over, I observed and absorbed their methodology. The next time I led a CS team, I developed a renewals methodology and training for the team, which helped them be better prepared and allowed us to crush our renewals and even dive into expansions.

“The key was in the training, which sales teams get more of, and we can borrow."

Plus, increased interaction with your sales or GTM teams will be a boon to the company as well. Companies aligning service and sales have a drastic increase in customer satisfaction that leads to up to a sevenfold increase in customer retention. A more cohesive journey for the customer means everyone wins.

“Clairvoyance” by way of data

You’ve got something sales doesn’t usually have before the initial sale – actual usage data!

This information, coupled with the rapport you have cultivated is the reason that revenue-focused organizations are leaning on CS to bring in the money. CS is responsible for holding the retention numbers that cross-sell and upsell are built on.

According to GainGrowRetain, a company’s revenue can increase anywhere between 25-90% by focusing on only 5% of customers. And who is going to know who is in that 5%? (That’s a rhetorical question... it's us!)

Don’t start with a massive upheaval of your process, start with quick wins. Identify a few clear upsell opportunities from your current accounts – the things you know a customer needs, but you haven't pushed.

Instead, exercise those money conversation muscles and get used to how you, your customers, and your product can positively introduce expansion. Then look for similarities across those customers, and use that insight to seek out more opportunities in your book.

Over time, your team will become adept at spotting the right expansion moments. You will recognize the telltale signs of someone outgrowing the product as it is, and you’ll know how to address it with your product. Communicating to the customer from this vantage point will secure your rapport, despite the invoice.

Welcome aboard the Margin-Maker Express

Congrats – you’ve made it. This is no small feat for CS pros and organizations making the leap. Look how far we’ve come! From reluctantly accepting this new role to embracing it as a core part of our CS contributions, it’s been a ride.

Revenue ownership isn’t about sacrificing customer relationships or just adding to a CSM’s already full plate – it’s about leveraging those relationships to create sustainable, long-term success for everyone involved. Change is hard! But we can do hard things, and we can support each other along the way.

So, fellow reluctant revenue leader, welcome to the caboose of the Expansion Express. It may not always be a smooth ride, but guaranteed, we’re on the right track. Plus, we’ve still got snacks.