The Role of CS in Driving Upsells

Customer Success Managers play a crucial role in driving upsells and expansion within an existing customer base. While they are not salespeople, they need to be sales-savvy and constantly look for opportunities to sell more to customers. This involves engaging in discovery conversations, understanding customer needs, and identifying areas where the product can provide additional value. CSMs should also proactively ask for internal referrals within the customer organization to expand the relationship. To incentivize and recognize their efforts, CSMs can be included in a compensation plan that is tied to net revenue retention and other metrics like customer success-qualified leads, referenceable customers, or testimonials.