The Customer Success Economy

21Roles and Responsibilities: Who Owns Renewals and Revenue?

Sometimes when people hear the question, “Who should own renewals and expansion?,” they roll their eyes. It's probably the most hotly debated—and long-debated—CS topics of the decade. Some people are tired of talking about it. But others are in the thick of making this decision on ownership at their company. (Will this chapter resolve the question once and for all? Time will tell.)

Let the games begin! To represent the side in support of CSMs owning renewals, we'll bring in time-honored champions Christina Kosmowski of Slack and Samuel Lee of KeepTruckin. To represent the side against CSMs owning renewals, we'll bring in Jane Graham at Kronos, Inc. and Anthony Reynolds of Altify. Then we'll have an overtime match to determine who should own expansion.

CSMs Owning Renewals: The Arguments in Favor

We've gathered three major arguments: (1) ensuring accountability for the CSM, (2) giving renewals a focus that Sales wouldn't give them, and (3) keeping a single point of contact.

1. Accountability for the CSM.

Kosmowski, the global head of Customer Success at Slack from the previous chapter, believes that the CSM should do renewals.

Ultimately, the renewal is the byproduct of that value realization from all the work that the Customer Success team has been doing. As a matter of fact, being a trusted adviser is about talking about the business value that your customers are achieving, which is what renewal conversations ...