If You Need a Playbook for Everything, You Hired the Wrong CSMs
By Alli Tiscornia
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a techno-optimist. I firmly believe in the potential of AI and the power of lean, scalable operations. But over the last few years, I’ve watched Customer Success teams fall into a troubling pattern: building a playbook for everything. AI has enabled the creation and automation of playbooks to be faster and more ubiquitous.
Playbooks have their place, especially in tech-touch and high-volume segments where consistency and efficiency are critical. But great CSMs aren’t hired to follow instructions. They’re hired to think. To adapt. To make judgment calls in ambiguous situations.
Here’s a litmus test I often use during book-of-business reviews:
“How does this customer make money?”
Too often, the response is silence.
Pro Tip:
If you’re a CSM, try this:
Use ChatGPT to create a table listing your accounts, their value propositions, annual revenue, and main competitors. It takes 30 seconds and instantly equips you with context that will impress your VP or CCO, and more importantly, help you establish yourself as a strategic partner to your accounts.
The truth is, however, that playbooks and AI only go so far. Their value is in the hands of the people using them.
Where AI and Playbooks Shine
Let’s be clear - automation and standardization work beautifully in many situations:
Where They Break Down
There are moments when automation and predefined responses fall short:
These aren’t outliers - they’re common. And they’re moments where judgment, experience, and human connection matter most.
The Right Way to Use Automation
When CS teams use AI and playbooks as guardrails, not GPS, they unlock their real value.
AI can surface trends. Playbooks can drive consistency. But only humans can interpret context, nuance, and emotion.
The best CSMs don’t hide behind automation. They use it to be more efficient so they can spend their energy where it counts: building relationships, driving outcomes, and navigating change.
Because Customer Success isn’t about running a checklist, it’s about recognizing when the game has changed and adapting in real time.
Final thought: If your team needs a playbook for everything, you may not have a Customer Success team. You may have a call center with better branding.
The Success League is a customer success consulting firm that offers a CS Leadership Certification program, including a class on Hiring Top Performers. For more on these and our other offerings, visit TheSuccessLeague.io.
Alli Tiscornia - Alli is a seasoned Silicon Valley executive with over 20 years of experience leading customer-facing teams. As Chief Customer Officer at ChurnZero, she scaled the customer experience organization and formalized implementation methodologies. At Sendoso, she built the customer experience function before transitioning to Chief Sending Operations Officer, aligning logistics with product and customer workflows. Previously, as VP of Customer Services at Zenefits, she led professional services and support for the platform. Passionate about scaling teams and driving customer success, Alli has held leadership roles at Medallia, Visa, Endeca (acquired by Oracle), and CA Technologies. She holds a B.A. in sociology and public policy from the University of Arizona, with certifications in scrum management, project management, and IT infrastructure. As a visiting lecturer at Pavillion’s CCO School, Alli specializes in customer onboarding. She resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her family and a lively Goldendoodle.
