5 No-BS Ways to Grow Your Customer Success Game

How to boost efficiency, crush churn, and keep your team sane.

Author

Tomas
February 3rd, 2025

Editor Notes

The Scoop

I’m doubling down on one truth: scaling your Customer Success team doesn’t require a Fortune 500 budget—just the right strategies.

This week’s lineup:

  • No-nonsense ways to grow your CS function (without the chaos)

  • Practical tweaks to boost efficiency, cut busywork, and prepare your team for sustainable scaling

Cheers,

Tomas - Chief CS Enthusiast, The Customer Champion

P.S. I posted on LinkedIn about how 82% of CS leaders are going old school with in-person meetings. Their reward? Better NRR, bigger deals, and surprisingly, lighter workloads.

Featured Article

5 No-BS Ways to Grow Your Customer Success Game

Growth without strategy is just chaos in slow motion. To scale your CS function effectively, you need deliberate processes, clear role definitions, and tools that empower—not overwhelm. Here’s how to evolve your team with discipline, not desperation.

1. Specialize Roles: Stop Asking One Person to Do 17 Jobs

The Fix:

  • Split your “Swiss Army knife” team into Account Managers, CS Ops, and Support.

  • Add niche roles like Onboarding and Customer Analytics.

Why This Matters:
Ever tried to fix a leaky faucet while baking a cake? Yeah, that’s your CS rep juggling onboarding calls and churn reports. Specialization stops burnout and lets people actually excel at their work.

Try This Tomorrow:
Audit your team’s “WTF?” tasks. Anything that makes them mutter “This isn’t in my job description” gets delegated or automated.

2. Automate the Dumb Stuff (So Your Team Can Do the Smart Stuff)

The Fix:

  • Use bots for:

    • ”Did you get my email?” follow-ups

    • ”Your trial ends tomorrow” nudges

    • ”Here’s how to actually use our product” drip campaigns

Why This Matters:
Your CS team didn’t sign up to be copy-paste robots. Let them tackle complex issues while bots handle the Groundhog Day loop.

Hot Take:
If a task makes you want to gouge your eyes out after the 10th time? Automate it.

3. Data: Your New Best Friend (That Won’t Ghost You)

The Fix:

  • Track ”Why Do They Hate Us?” Metrics™:

    • Rage-clicks in your product

    • Support tickets titled ”HELP ASAP”

    • Features customers use once and never touch again

Why This Matters:
Guessing why customers churn is like playing darts blindfolded. Data = actually knowing where the dartboard is.

Pro Tip:
Start with one metric you’re ignoring (e.g., how many users finish onboarding). Fix that. Bask in glory. Repeat.

4. Teach Customers to Fish (So They Stop Emailing You at 2 AM)

The Fix:

  • Build a ”Figure It Out Yourself” Hub with:

    • GIF-filled tutorials (“Click this button!”)

    • Bite-sized training videos (under 90 seconds or bust)

    • A community forum (where power users can flex)

Why This Matters:
70% of customers prefer solving issues alone^1. Let them! Bonus: Fewer tickets about “Where’s the login button?”

^1 Source: My sanity after implementing self-service.

5. Break Up With Silos (They’re Toxic Anyway)

The Fix:

  • Force CS + Sales to share CRM notes (no more “But I didn’t know!”)

  • Make Product teams watch 5 customer support calls/month (popcorn optional)

  • Invite Finance to churn post-mortems (awkward, but necessary)

Why This Matters:
Silos are why Marketing promises AI chatbots while CS is stuck with 1998-tier tools. Alignment = fewer dumpster fires.

Cold Hard Truth:
If your CS team is screaming into the void about a bug, but Product’s “too busy”? You’re losing money. Fix it.

So What’s the Big Deal?
Scaling CS isn’t about getting bigger — it’s about getting smarter. You’re not building a “customer success machine.” You’re building a team that can:

  • Spot fires before they blaze

  • Turn casual users into fanatics

  • Actually enjoy their jobs (wild concept, I know)

But here’s the real magic: When you specialize roles, automate drudgery, and break silos, you’re not just scaling efficiency. You’re creating space for the human stuff that actually moves the needle — like building trust, sparking “aha!” moments, and turning customers into collaborators.

Your Homework:
Pick one tiny pain point (e.g., that chaotic onboarding email thread) and fix it this week. Not “strategize.” Do.

Still reading? Go. Shoo. Your CS team needs you. 💥

TL;DR: Growing your CS team? Specialize roles, automate drudgery, obsess over data, teach customers self-help, and get rid of silos. Bonus points if you laugh while doing it.

TL;DR for the TL;DR: Scaling done right means your team spends less time putting out fires and more time lighting fires (the good kind, obviously). 🔥

Quick Tips

Working Smarter, Not Harder

1. Conduct a CS Maturity Assessment: Before you start your expansion journey, know where you stand. Use a framework like the Customer Success Association's CS Maturity Model to identify your strengths and areas for improvement.

2. Invest in Scalable Tech: Choose a CS platform that can grow with you. Look for features like automated customer health scoring, task management, and integration capabilities with your existing tools.

3. Create a Knowledge Sharing System: Set up a central repository (like a Notion database or internal wiki) where your CS team can document processes, best practices, and customer insights. This will be crucial as you scale and bring on new team members.

4. Implement a "Voice of Customer" Program: Start collecting regular, structured feedback from your customers. This could be as simple as quarterly NPS surveys or as comprehensive as a customer advisory board.

5. Cross-Train Your Team: Before you specialize roles, ensure your current team members have a broad understanding of different CS functions. This will make the transition to specialized roles smoother and foster better collaboration.

Events

Save The Date

All for Customer Paris 2025
📅 Date: April 1-3, 2025
📍 Location: Paris, France
🌐 Website: https://www.all4customer-paris.com/en

X4 Summit 2025
📅 Date: March 18-20, 2025
📍 Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
🌐 Website: https://www.qualtrics.com/x4summit/

Customer Experience Asia Week 2025
📅 Date: June 17-20, 2025
📍 Location: Singapore
🌐 Website: https://www.cxnetwork.com/events-customerexperienceasia

Deep Dive

What We've Been Reading

What We've Been Listening Too

The Merger of CSM and AE by The Customer Success Playbook

What We've Been Watching