Your CSM Can’t Save You, but AI-Powered Product Telemetry Might..
There are products I absolutely love as a revenue leader. Tools like Gong, HubSpot, Salesforce, Copy.ai, Clay, 6Sense, all have impacted my teams and our revenue in meaningful ways. And here’s the truth: I’ve publicly advocated for these products because they made an impact, not because I had an amazing CSM.
“I’ve never renewed a SaaS product because of the CSM alone, and I’ve never cancelled a truly valuable product even when the CS team didn’t add much. “
This is not a referendum on CSMs. It is simply a call to arm them with the right information so that their conversations are impactful and help customers realize more value from the actual product.
The product wins or loses the renewal. Period.
Yet many CS teams still operate like it’s 2015, relationship-heavy and data-light. Meanwhile, AI is creating an even bigger gap between companies that understand this and those that don’t.
The Power of Product Telemetry
When I was running a team at Salesforce, we had what we called an early warning system, product usage data that was visible across the entire customer base. It was valuable for three reasons:
You could prep for calls knowing exactly how the customer was using the CRM.
You could challenge the customer around adoption and best practices.
You could spot opportunities to drive growth and expansion.
One year, my team needed to find additional growth. We brainstormed on which plays might make the most sense. Salesforce had different product editions, so upgrades were an obvious path.
In Professional Edition at the time, customers had a limit of five workflows (if-this-then-that style automations). We ran a report showing which customers had maxed out their five workflows and called them to upgrade. It generated revenue, but it wasn’t game-changing.
Then we tried something different: we pulled a list of customers with three workflows. Instead of pushing for an upgrade, we called to help them build more. The conversion rate went through the roof. The customer saw us driving value first, and when they hit their limits, upgrading felt natural and obvious.
And here’s where it gets even more exciting: AI changes the game. What used to be manual analysis of product usage is now a real-time, scalable engine that can drive both retention and expansion.
Why AI Supercharges This
AI can now take this play to a new level. It can:
Interpret telemetry data at scale
Spot patterns across your customer base
Recommend pricing or packaging adjustments
Tie product usage directly to dollar value
Predict risk and opportunity
Trigger playbooks for your CS and Sales teams to act on
Here’s an example: when I was using new AI features in Gong, the product team saw my usage patterns and reached out. They didn’t just check in, they gave me valuable tips, based on my activity, that helped me get even more value from the product. Naturally, I use those AI features constantly now.
Common Mistakes
CS teams operating without access to product data
Sales and CS relying too much on relationships, not on value delivery
Good telemetry, but no playbooks
Data insights that don’t inform pricing, packaging, or expansion strategy
The Playbook
If you want to turn CS and Sales into true revenue drivers:
Build telemetry into your product. Non-negotiable.
Link that telemetry to pricing and packaging, know what features drive value.
Create playbooks based on key usage patterns.
Measure and refine those playbooks.
Use AI to constantly improve your understanding and actions.
In today’s environment, you can’t afford to rely on relationships alone. The companies that win will be the ones that tie product, data, and revenue together. AI is accelerating this shift. If you aren’t already building this into your revenue motion, you’re behind.
It’s time to make product telemetry your new revenue engine.