8 Big Customer Success Fallacies

This article is part of a series of related Go-To-Market posts for budding entrepreneurs, founders, GTM pioneers, board advisors & investors who want to scale their businesses. This article focuses on the role of Customer Success (CS) and the many inaccurate assumptions that people have about this important function. I am sure many of my inspiring peers, network contacts & followers will have more to add to this list ! Hopefully you will find the content below to be informative and worthwhile. Remember if you have a great story to share, stick it in the comment section, as I am sure readers will want to hear it.

1. “Customer Success is a standalone function.”

Reality: Customer Success should not be an isolated function. This is a mistake you often see in early-stage firms. CS is an integral part of the Go-To-Market org, collaborating deeply with Sales, Product, Support and Marketing to deliver value throughout the customer lifecycle. It is integral to the customer journey and overall experience. GTM truly wins, when we all WIN together.

2. “Only Customer Success is responsible for customer satisfaction.”

Reality: I have heard this so many times. It is simply not true. Successful modern day SaaS organizations have GTM team that is interlocked. Retention is a collective effort. The customer experience is shaped by Product, Support, Marketing, Sales, and of course your exec Leadership. While Customer Success may take the lead in many areas, it requires support from the entire team to retain a book of business and scale a firm.

3. “All customers are equally important.”

Reality: This is a fallacy, one that many new customer success managers believe initially. Customers vary in their strategic importance. The Pareto Principle applies, 20% of your customers deliver 80% of your revenue. So support levels, resources, and touchpoints should be aligned with the revenue potential, opportunities for expansion, and long-term compatibility of your book of business. So no, not all customers are created equally.

4. “Customer Success shouldn’t be involved in selling.”

Reality: I have seen this false belief surfae many times in my career usually in early stage firms. Success teams play a critical role in 'land-and-expand' strategies. They identify needs, build trust, and recognize opportunities for cross-selling or upselling—without necessaruly adopting aggressive sales tactics, they can be a very effective networker and lead sourcer in accounts.

5. “NPS is the ultimate metric.”

Reality: While the Net Promoter Scores (NPS) is valuable, metrics such as Net Revenue Retention (NRR) and Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) provide a more comprehensive view of business health and growth prospects. Very many NPS are simply an indicator 'of a moment in time' and often don’t convey the true health of an overall account. Use it as part of a series of CSAT and account performance metrics.

6. “Customer Success = Support.”

Reality: Support is reactive. Customer Success proactively drives outcomes. It is not true that CS is a support only function. The very inclusion of the word ‘success’ should be indicative that there is a difference. Yet many founders think it is all about support. CS is a strategic function that should be focused on adoption, value realization, and relationship growth—not merely troubleshooting.

7. “Churn is only CS's problem.”

Reality: Many churn issues originate upstream—in possible Sales misalignment, onboarding gaps, or product-market fit. Customer Success often identifies these issues but does not typically cause them. Churn and its obvious connection to renewals (or lack of ability to) is everyone’s problem, especially where an account is strategically important. You can’t up or cross sell an account you no longer have. Now this does not mean, CS must be optimal, it must but it is part of a wider GTM team and churn (unless wanted e.g non desired account) is everyones concern.

8. “Customer Success only matters after onboarding.”

Reality: The Customer Success journey begins pre-sale. In leading SaaS organizations, Success is involved in solution fit, onboarding planning, and long-term success planning before the contract is even signed. Very often with enterprise accounts, CS need to be engaged in how a large-scale account will be supported before a deal is ever closed.

Conclusion:

Ultimately the evolving landscape of Customer Success demands a deeper understanding of its strategic importance within the business framework. A well-executed CS function serves as the connective tissue between departments, ensuring alignment and collaboration from pre-sales to renewal, and beyond. To fully leverage its potential, organizations must invest in specialized training, robust analytics, and clear communication channels to empower their Customer Success teams. This paradigm shift is essential for driving long-term growth and fostering genuine, lasting relationships with clients.

Further Reading:

This article is part of a series of thought leadership pieces on GTM, designed to address common misconceptions and provide valuable insights. If you found this article informative, you may also find the following readings worthwhile:

• 7 Tall Tales About SaaS Marketing
• 10 SaaS Sales Myths Debunked
• The GTM Interlock: Why Sales, Marekting & CS are all on the same team.

Your stories:

The above represents only a small portion of the misconceptions, myths, and fallacies related to Customer Success, its position within GTM, and its responsibilities. Please feel free to share your thoughts or experiences in the comment section below.

I have copied in some of the many GTM champions, CS gurus and people I follow below, as they may have some additional words of wisdom to share with you all:

Bart Hammond , Paul Johns , Louise O'Connell , Olga Long , Kimberley Allan , Andrew Brandman , Gonzalo C. , Michael Nugent , Jon Evans , Melissa Holtzer , Nadine Macklin , Robin Schribman , Shlomi Geva , Hilary Headlee , Kate Kawalek , Jimmy Collins , Jake Miller , Raviv Haddi , Jason King , Tom F.