After 15 years of Customer Success evangelism, SaaS companies are facing an uncomfortable truth: growth is stalling while costs continue to rise. New sales are down, and SaaS spend per employee continues to climb.
At a recent AlphaGroup networking breakfast on partnerships in London, a surprising theme emerged: the return of the Account Manager. While most of the group conversation focused on channel partnerships, I raised a different kind, the partnership you build with your customers.
We explored a hard reality: most CS models aren’t delivering what companies need. Expansion, retention, and commercial impact are lagging. And the cracks are showing in the metrics.
During the growth-at-all-costs SaaS era, many companies split the relationship. Sales closed the deal, and CS took over from there. It looked efficient. But the math never worked.
Here’s what really happened:
That’s the fault line we’re now feeling. The value CS delivers is real, but it’s invisible to the people who approve renewals and expansion. And when budgets tighten, invisibility is fatal.
As I wrote in a previous blog on churn, the structural risks are already visible. However, over the next 12–18 months, companies that haven’t addressed executive visibility will feel it even more acutely.
Dan Adams, Group Dealing Director at Alpha Group, summed it up:
“We tried the CS model — and it failed. We’ve returned to the salesperson owning the relationship for all major client relationships, adopting a less-is-more approach. Because the person who fought hardest to win the customer is the one most invested in keeping them. That move has been one of the differentiators that drives continued growth for Alpha Group”
Dan’s insight reflects a broader shift. As expansion becomes harder to earn, more companies are realising that account ownership matters more than orchestration.
Not shared accountability. Not siloed functions. But actual ownership, with a direct line to the LOB executive and budget holder.
The CS model made sense when capital was cheap and growth was the only KPI. But today:
The tell? My daughter just took a new role at a London fintech as an Account Manager. Not a Salesperson, or CSM. Not an SDR. Account Manager!
That title now signifies what it once did: continuity, ownership, and commercial focus.
Customer Success isn’t going away, but its role needs to evolve. The fundamental shift is in how go-to-market teams manage growth across the customer lifecycle.
The companies making this shift are deepening relationships with key accounts and leveraging retention as a growth driver.
If you’re seeing churn rise or expansion stall, it’s likely not a product issue. It’s structural. Your CS team is talking to users, not buyers, and your buyers don’t see the impact you’re delivering.
Most teams don’t need new tech or better health scores. They need executive access and clear ownership of strategic accounts.
Are you seeing these patterns? Have you shifted relationship ownership back to sales or AMs? Let’s compare notes — I’d love to hear how others are approaching this.