Your CS Tier Structure Is Costing You Expansions (Here's The Fix)
It’s Monday, 10:12 AM.
Your largest customer’s checkout process is down. The CSM, Account Manager, and Support open 3 separate threads.
45 minutes in, no one has the full picture.
Your execs join. Tempers rise…
Last week, a smaller customer solved the same issue with a 3-step workaround, but it’s trapped in another “tier,” so the room never heard about it at first.
And yet, the solution is simple:
Scrap tiers for AX (Appropriate Experience): A single CSM owner who pulls the pod together, references the one-pager from last week’s SMB win, and closes the loop in 4 hours instead of 4 days.
And the result is you are back to green today, not next quarter.
TL;DR: Tiered CS (Enterprise/Mid-Market/SMB) looks neat and quietly taxes growth.
Route coverage based on your customers’ needs (complexity, lifecycle, and success potential), not by who pays most.
You’ll raise retention, speed, and bench depth in a quarter.
Start Here: 3 Simple Actions if You’re Overwhelmed (90 mins - Full Playbook In Premium)
Route by need (30 mins)
Score each account on Complexity (0–2) and Success Potential (0–2).
Assign a coverage recipe (Tech-Touch, Project CSM, Programmatic, Strategic). Move the top 20% (highest scores + at-risk) into AX today.
For accounts that need a formal outcome map, use my Customer Success Plan Templates and upgrade them as needed.
Create coverage you trust (45 mins)
Stand up two pods (Strategic, Programmatic).
Pair a Lead + Associate on your 10 most complex/high-potential accounts.
As you formalize outcomes and exec rhythms, check out the deeper guide: Master Customer Success Plans.
Swarm and share (15 mins)
Open a #cs-swarm channel with a DRI (Directly Responsible Individual) and a 72-hour “return-to-green plan”
Put a weekly 30-min cross-poll on the calendar. Ship one one-pager playbook by Friday.
Pull formats from my CS Playbook Library (updated every week)
Do these three now. Then follow the rest of this post to scale.
Where Tiers Quietly Hurt You
Silos stall learning
SMB hacks that unlock Enterprise adoption never cross the wall.
Talent signaling backfires
“Tier 1 = elite” keeps your bench thin; attrition stalls execution.
Relationship whiplash
Contacts change companies; their experience shouldn’t nosedive with the logo.
Budget ≠ need
High ARR doesn’t equal high complexity; low ARR doesn’t equal low upside.
If payment size dictates engagement, you’re managing a spreadsheet, not a customer.
The Appropriate Experience (AX) Model: What Replaces Tiers
Design coverage around what it takes for this customer to succeed right now.
Segment on four operational dimensions
Lifecycle: onboarding → value build → maturity → renewal/expansion (map it using the Lifecycle Automation Playbook)
Complexity: integrations, security, data, vendor sprawl
Behavior: usage depth, feature activation, stakeholder engagement
Success potential: expansion runway, strategic fit, advocacy likelihood
Route to one of four coverage recipes (2×2: Complexity × Success Potential)
Low C / Low P → Tech-Touch + Office Hours (automation + pooled help)
High C / Low P → Project CSM (time-boxed stabilization, exit to tech-touch)
Low C / High P → Programmatic + Expansion POD (cadenced value reviews, use-case mapping)
High C / High P → Strategic POD (Lead CSM + Associate + SE + AM; exec reviews; clear exit criteria)
Team design that scales
Pair Lead + Associate to build a bench without silos.
Rotate 20–30% of books across recipes quarterly to build fluency.
Swarm complexity with a DRI and time-boxed incidents (steal incident language from my CSM Churn Rescue Playbook).
Why this wins
Faster time-to-value, fewer escalations, better continuity, consistent playbooks without over-servicing the wrong logos.
If you need proof points and early-warning design, skim the Churn Analysis & Retention Guide.
🔐The AX Operating System: Rubrics, Templates, Cadences, and a 30–60–90 Plan
Get the tools, not just the theory → Instant access to all downloads (Excel Sheets):
AX Rubric Template: score Complexity & Success Potential; auto-route to the right recipe.
AX Playbook Log: capture repeatable motions on one page; filter and assign owners.
AX Swarm Log: track incidents to a 72-hour “return-to-green plan”; auto SLA flags.
AX Dashboard Starter: TTFV, D30/D60/D90 activation, and continuity by recipe.
Plus: full CS Playbook Library, Templates, and new releases every week.
Teams using AX report faster incident recovery and cleaner handoffs in the first quarter.