Customer Success vs. Account Management

A common source of confusion in early-stage growth companies is the distinction between Customer Success and Account Management.

I saw this while reviewing a client’s draft CS compensation plan. It had two payout components:
1️⃣ Retaining customers
2️⃣ Upselling customers

Without realizing it, they had stumbled into a reality that’s often missed but critical for growth: these are two different jobs.

Here’s why that matters.

• 👉 Customer Success (CS) exists to ensure customers achieve measurable business outcomes from your offering. When customers see value, they stay with you. The best way to measure this is Gross Revenue Retention (GRR).

• 👉 Account Management (AM) exists to expand the relationship. When customers achieve outcomes, they often want more value. AMs ensure the customer gets the full benefit of your portfolio of offerings, creating expansion revenue and lifting Net Revenue Retention (NRR).

Now, let’s be clear: the CSM will naturally uncover new opportunities through their work with the customer. In fact, it should be a natural outcome of ensuring value. But the CS role should stop at identification of opportunity.

From there, the AM takes over. Naturally, CS and AM collaborate, but keeping the CSM focused on value realization, and the AM focused on selling, maintains customer trust in the process.

So, why not let CS own the upsell directly? Three big reasons:

• Different skill sets. A CSM is a trusted advisor, skilled in engagement methodology, organizational change, and adoption. An AM is a revenue generator, skilled in sales practices, opportunity management, and closing deals.

• Conflicting goals. People lean into what they’re best at. Your CS-minded team members will focus on helping customers. Your sales-minded team members will chase dollars. Neither is wrong, but blending them creates inefficiency.

• Erosion of trust. Customers can tell when their advisor is also a seller. The moment a CSM is viewed as someone with a quota, customer trust is undermined.

That’s why role clarity is so essential.

• CSMs ensure customers realize value from what they purchased. (Sure, their comp can include NRR, but GRR comes first.)

• AMs ensure your company capitalizes on opportunities to drive further value by solving more problems.

Together, they maximize NRR, which drives profitability and enterprise valuation.

A nuance I often share with CEOs: if your CSMs are missing renewal goals, don’t layer in expansion targets. GRR is the foundation. Once value delivery is reliable and renewals are steady, then you can tie CSM incentives to NRR. Otherwise, you risk chasing growth before you’ve secured mass stability in the base.