Customer Success is your most underused commercial asset

Most founders and owners will tell you they believe in Customer Success.

They invest in it. They talk about retention. They value long-term relationships. And yet, when it comes to growth conversations, Customer Success often sits quietly to one side.

Sales drives revenue. Marketing fills the funnel. Customer Success “keeps people happy”.

That division feels neat. It’s also quietly expensive.

Because in many SMEs, Customer Success holds the clearest, earliest view of where future revenue will actually come from. That insight is rarely used well.

The paradox founders live with

Founders often find themselves in a strange position. They’re paying for a team that sits closest to customers. A team that sees how value is really being used. That hears what’s changing before it hits a dashboard. That notices risk and opportunity early. Yet when growth slows or targets tighten, attention swings almost entirely to new clients.

More pipeline. More activity. More pressure on business development and outbound sales.

Meanwhile, the part of the business with the highest trust and lowest cost of sale is underleveraged. Not ignored, just muted.

Why existing customers behave differently

This isn’t a sentimental argument about loyalty. It’s a commercial one. In existing accounts, trust already exists. Context is shared. Access is easier. Risk tolerance is higher. Decisions happen faster because less has to be proven. Cross-sell and upsell conversations don’t start from zero. They start from lived experience.

That’s why expansion revenue is typically cheaper, more predictable, and more resilient than new logo growth. Customer Success sits at the centre of that dynamic. Not because they are nicer than sales (although it does help avoid suspicion if you don’t have “sales” in your job title!) But because they are already inside the value conversation.

What founders can misunderstand about Customer Success and revenue

A common belief in SMEs is this. “Customer Success isn’t a sales function, so they shouldn’t be responsible for revenue”.  That’s reasonable. But it often quietly turns into something else…”Customer Success doesn’t need to think commercially.” That’s where value leaks out.

Not carrying a quota does not mean a role is commercially irrelevant. It means its commercial contribution needs to be designed differently. This distinction matters because it determines whether Customer Success is treated as a signal source, or just a service layer.

Strong Customer Success teams understand how customers define value. They recognise when that value is expanding or stalling. They can see where commercial conversations should happen, even if they don’t lead them.

When that judgement isn’t expected or developed, Customer Success becomes reactive by default. Helpful. Busy. Commercially quiet.

The hidden cost of underleveraging Customer Success

The cost isn’t just missed upsell. It shows up as expansion opportunities spotted too late. Renewals that become defensive instead of developmental. Sales teams chasing new business to compensate for stalled growth elsewhere. Founders surprised by churn that felt out of the blue.

Many of those outcomes were visible months earlier. They simply weren’t taken seriously. or the insight remained outside of the strategic conversation. Customer Success often sees the signal first. The system just isn’t set up to listen.

Why SMEs struggle with this more than larger firms

This problem is amplified in SMEs for understandable reasons. Roles are leaner. People wear multiple hats. Short-term pressure is constant. Customer Success roles are often junior by design. They’re framed as proving grounds. They’re positioned close to delivery and customer service rather than strategy.

None of this is about blame. It’s about what becomes invisible when everyone is stretched. Those constraints make it very hard for Customer Success to influence direction, challenge assumptions, or shape commercial thinking. It’s not a failure of ambition.

It’s a design constraint.

What commercially serious Customer Success actually does

Customer Success does not need to sell harder to be commercially valuable. Its real contribution sits elsewhere. It shapes how value is understood. It identifies when customers are ready for more or not. It reduces risk by surfacing truth early. It makes expansion more timely and less forced.

This only works when Customer Success is expected to exercise judgement, not just manage activity. Judgement about which accounts matter most right now. Where value is fragile. Where commercial conversations would land well. Where they would damage trust.

That judgement is gold dust in an SME.

The question that really matters

The most useful question founders can ask themselves isn’t whether Customer Success should have a revenue target.

It’s “Where does future revenue become visible first in my business, and am I paying attention there?”

For many SMEs, the honest answer is Customer Success. Not because they close deals. But because they can see the ground shifting long before it moves. For good or other.

So what?

This isn’t about restructuring teams or turning Customer Success into sales. It’s about recognising that you already have commercial insight inside your business and deciding whether to use it.

When Customer Success is designed with commercial curiosity, authority to surface insight, and leadership attention, growth becomes calmer. More predictable. Less frantic.

Most SMEs don’t need more pressure. They need better use of the trust and knowledge they already have.

Customer Success isn’t underperforming. It’s underused.

And that’s something founders can change.

Talk to us to see how we can help