"My CSMs are too busy to do Advocacy, Lincoln."

"So pile even more onto my overworked CSMs? Umm, No."

I've heard the same for Expansion, Renewal, etc. And every time, it tells me more about the leader than the team.

Too Busy for What Matters, Never Too Busy for What Doesn't

Weird how their CSMs are too busy to do things like Advocacy or Expansion but not too busy to:

  • Do the work for the customer
  • Work escalated support tickets
  • Train individual users
  • Answer the same questions over and over
  • Have meetings when they're not necessary
  • Have super-inefficient meetings
  • And so much more nonsense

See the pattern? CSMs aren't too busy. They're too busy doing the wrong things.

Saying their CSMs are "too busy" to do Advocacy or Expansion is NOT the flex they think it is.

What "Too Busy" Really Means

When I hear this, it tells me a few things:

1. They think of Expansion and Advocacy as extra - not part of the customer's journey. As if helping a customer expand their usage or become an advocate is some bolt-on activity rather than a natural progression of a healthy customer relationship.

2. They assume doing those things will be inefficient and add a lot of overhead to their already overworked CSMs. Why? Because everything they are currently doing is inefficient and comes with a ton of overhead. They can't imagine it being any other way.

The Real Failure

The job of a Head of CS is to create an environment for everyone to thrive - their CSMs and their customers.

A Head of CS that says their CSMs are too busy to do Expansion, Advocacy, etc. has failed to create that environment.

And saying their CSMs are "too busy" without following that up with "and I'm actively working to remedy this" is a huge part of what's wrong with this profession we call Customer Success.

If your CSMs are drowning in reactive work, the answer isn't to accept it. The answer is to fix the system so that high-value activities like Advocacy and Expansion aren't luxuries. They should be built into how your team operates every single day.

Stop wearing "busy" as a badge of honor. Start building an operating model where the important stuff actually gets done.