Customer Success Best Practices: Mastering the The 60/40 Balance

What Is the 60/40 Balance?

The 60/40 balance customer success methodology is about defining the relationship between you and your customer. As a Customer Success Manager (CSM), you should be leading 60% of the conversation. Your role is to direct the customer, using your product expertise to guide them toward strategic customer success. The other 40% is where the customer comes in — they are the experts in their field, and they know the ins and outs of their daily operations better than anyone.

Strategic customer success isn’t a static formula. The ratio can shift depending on the customer or the situation, but if the balance tips too far in one direction, things can go wrong. For example, if the customer pushes too much and you become the 40%, or even worse, the 10%, you’re no longer leading them — you’re working for them. That’s when the value you bring diminishes, and the customer’s perception of success might falter.

Why Is the 60/40 Balance So Important?

At the end of the day, your customer needs your guidance. They may be the experts in their industry, but you’re the expert in your product or service. You’re the one who understands how it should be implemented and how it can drive results for their business.

Imagine a bowling alley: the customer is throwing the ball, but you’re the bumpers — ensuring it stays on course. Your job isn’t to take control of the ball but to make sure it doesn’t end up in the gutter. You’re there to help them get a strike.

Without this balance, the relationship suffers. If the customer is leading too much, they may not fully understand the product's capabilities or how best to use it. If you’re leading too much, they may feel like they’re not being heard. It’s all about finding that sweet spot where both sides are contributing to mutual success. In short, 60/40 method and effective customer success for SaaS delivers results & drives customer success. It also fosters strong customer relationships and improved customer service. 

Challenges in Maintaining the Balance

Of course, maintaining this balance isn’t always easy. Customers come in all shapes and sizes, and some can be more demanding than others. You’ll find customers who are pushy, who think they know better, or who simply don’t have the time or resources to invest in their side of the relationship.

One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen is when timelines are tight. Sometimes, a customer signs a contract today and needs everything set up by tomorrow. In those situations, it’s easy to lose sight of the customer’s real goals because there’s so much pressure to get things done quickly. When that happens, you risk skipping over the essential steps that ensure long-term success.

But the reality is that the world isn’t perfect. Sales processes can drag out for years, or they can be as short as a day. As a CSM, it’s your job to navigate these situations, identify what’s non-negotiable, and build the relationship accordingly. In my experience, having a clear understanding of the customer’s goals from the outset is critical. Without that, you’ll find yourself in a reactive mode, constantly putting out fires rather than driving strategic value.

The Human Factor

Beyond the balance itself, customer success relies on something that no playbook or customer success strategies can replace: the human touch. A CSM’s role is not just about implementing technology; it’s about building relationships. Following customer success best practices means focusing on the individual needs of each client, fostering a personalized customer experience that goes beyond standard procedures.

It takes a unique kind of person to manage the variety of personalities and demands that come with the job. You need to be charismatic, creative, and adaptable. A good CSM doesn’t freak out when things go wrong; they adjust, pivot, and come up with new solutions on the fly. You can’t script every interaction, and there will always be unexpected challenges. It’s your character and ability to connect with customers on a human level that will often be the difference between success and failure, making customer success best practices even more crucial.

How to Reach the Balance

So, how do you ensure you’re maintaining the 60/40 balance with your customers? It starts with structure. Customer success might be one of the most undefined roles in an organization, but that doesn’t mean it should be unstructured. You need clear standards, playbooks, and well-defined processes that guide every interaction you have with a customer.

At my company, we’ve built what we call “bibles” for every type of customer interaction, whether it’s a kickoff meeting, a QBR, or a scoping session. These playbooks ensure that no matter the situation, we’re following a process that leads the customer from point A to point B. And while no playbook can cover every scenario, having a solid foundation allows us to adapt quickly and confidently when things don’t go as planned.

How to Measure Customer Success

To effectively measure customer success, especially for SaaS companies, it's essential to focus on a few key metrics that reflect the health of your customer relationships and the value your product delivers. One of the most important indicators is customer satisfaction. Regularly collecting feedback through surveys or direct communication helps you gauge how well your customers perceive your service.

Another critical measure is the use of health scores. These scores typically combine various data points such as product usage, support interactions, and customer feedback to provide a snapshot of a customer's overall success with your product. By tracking these health scores, you can identify at-risk customers and take proactive steps to improve their experience before issues arise.

Technology and the Future of Customer Success

Looking to the future, AI will be leveraged across a wide variety of tools in two key areas: better understanding customer business objectives and better guiding customers to maximize the potential of the product.

On the first aspect, AI will map the business objectives of each persona or user interacting with the product. With so many customer interactions scattered across different sources—CRM, Slack, call recordings, support tickets—AI plays a clear role in bringing insights and significantly reducing the time previously spent on manual value mapping.

On the second aspect, AI will assist the CSM in gauging how satisfied each persona is, considering their business objectives, and determining what is needed to guide them to the desired destination. In other words, if the CSM is the driver, AI acts like a navigation app, eliminating the need to stop by the side of the road and consult a map, ensuring a smoother, more direct route to success.

Imagine a world where AI tools handle day-to-day administrative tasks—like creating reports and scheduling meetings—freeing you to spend more time building relationships and even helping you to understand customers' needs. By leveraging the right tech stack, we can create a more efficient and effective customer success function, one that’s built on both data and personal connection.

The Long-Term Impact of the 60/40 Balance

Ultimately, this balance isn’t just about making today’s interactions more effective — it’s about ensuring long-term customer retention. When you strike the right balance between guiding the customer and listening to their needs, you build a solid foundation for the future. The customers you work with today will be the ones who stay with you for years, not because they have to, but because they want to.