Understand Relationships Between CSMs and Sales to Mitigate the "Friction"

"Sales are sometimes a little bit too old school. I called that the triple F. In the past, you Find the customer, you then F*** the customer, and then you Forget the customer"... then comes the CSM.

Due to the nature of their financial incentives, Salespeople often create challenges for CSMs: overpromising or not delving into details to close deals quickly, withholding important information, prioritizing maintaining relationships over transparency, poor handovers, or a lack of communication throughout the process.

These situations can be avoided if leaders clearly understand and articulate expectations. D. Boghe et al. propose first clarifying the roles and responsibilities of CSMs in relation to presales, up-selling, and cross-selling.

Considering this positioning, they recommend a classification of tasks and duties, which can significantly reduce friction.

A choice must be made by the leadership team because "As soon as you start having targets on upselling grow its natural growth and things like that, the people tend to follow their objectives, right? And this is upselling, and this is not anymore the success of the customer".

Boghe, Dirk, Yves Van Vaerenbergh, Inês Ferraz Teixeira, and Britt Vancoetsem. "Customer Success Managers' Involvement in Sales: Taxonomy, Frictions, and Implications." Industrial Marketing Management 122 (2024): 119–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2024.08.011.