Let's address the elephant in the room: the most toxic trait hurting Customer Success teams today is the "Sales vs. CS" mentality.
I see it everywhere. CSMs rolling their eyes when sellers hand over "impossible" accounts. Sales teams frustrated when CS seems to block expansion opportunities. Both sides treating each other like adversaries instead of allies fighting for the same company's success.
Here's the hard truth: this mentality is killing your results, damaging your relationships, and making everyone's job harder than it needs to be.
When we cultivate better cross-functional relationships, we make our lives easier. And, we need to build trust before we deliver an ask.
Why This Mentality Develops (And Why It's Understandable)
Look, I get it. The tension feels real because, organizationally, it often is:
Sales is measured on new bookings and expansion revenue, often with aggressive quarterly targets
Customer Success is focused on retention, health scores, and long-term value
Compensation structures can create competing priorities
Timelines differ, sales needs wins now, CS thinks in longer cycles
When your seller pushes for an upsell on an account that's barely stable, or when CS blocks a deal because "the customer isn't ready," it's easy to see each other as obstacles rather than teammates.
But here's where it gets toxic.
When "Different Goals" Becomes Destructive
The toxicity isn't in having different targets, it's in refusing to recognize that strong relationships can bridge these gaps and actually improve both teams' performance.
When CSMs fall into the "us vs. them" trap, we:
Miss opportunities to provide critical customer context that could help sellers close better deals
Fail to leverage sales relationships that could unlock expansion opportunities
Create organizational silos that confuse and frustrate customers
Waste energy on internal battles instead of external wins
The irony? CSMs are literally relationship builders by trade. We're experts at understanding motivations, finding common ground, and creating win-win outcomes. Yet somehow we forget to apply these skills internally.
Plus, when we see this as an “us vs. them” relationship we avoid developing it and, most importantly, developing trust. Why would a seller who doesn’t trust you let you block their quota? They wouldn’t. That’s why we need to develop relationships and educate rather than battle. We’re both skilled professionals with different skillsets that, when combined, do better together.
The Relationship Revolution: Your Competitive Advantage
Here's what I've learned after years in CS: the CSMs who build genuine relationships with their sales partners consistently outperform those who don't.
Why? Because great seller relationships give you:
Better Account Context: Your seller knows the original pitch, the decision-makers' pain points, and the competitive landscape. This context is gold for your success planning.
Expansion Intel: Who better to know when a customer is ready to grow than the person who sold to them originally? Your seller's relationship can unlock opportunities you'd never see.
Executive Air Cover: When tough conversations need to happen, having your seller as an ally means unified messaging and shared accountability.
Faster Problem-Solving: Need to escalate an issue or navigate internal politics? Your seller relationships can cut through red tape like nothing else.
True Alignment: When your AE/AM trusts you, they trust your judgement and customers notice this. When you take the time to develop those relationships that trust develops into more long-lasting customer relationships because you’re working together rather than in opposition.
The CSM's Guide to Seller Love
Lead with Curiosity, Not Judgment Instead of: "Why did you sell them this when they clearly weren't ready?" Try: "Help me understand the original vision, what outcome were they hoping to achieve?"
Share Context Proactively Don't wait for problems. Regular account updates that include wins, risks, and expansion signals make you invaluable to sellers.
Understand Their Motivations Yes, they want to make President's Club. That's not evil, it's human. Understanding their goals helps you find alignment opportunities.
Create Joint Success Metrics Work together to define what "account success" looks like. When you're both measured on customer outcomes, competition becomes collaboration.
Be Their CS Champion When sellers understand how CS drives long-term value (and comp), they become your biggest advocates. Educate, don't alienate.
I Love My Sellers (And You Should Too)
Sellers are going to sell. That's literally their job, and frankly, it's why we all have paychecks.
What I'm not going to do is hate the player. I know they want to make President's Club. I know they have quotas breathing down their necks. I know they see opportunities I might miss.
Instead of fighting this reality, I've learned to work with it. My best partnerships happen when I help sellers sell better by providing customer insights, and they help me succeed by sharing context and staying connected post-sale.
The result? Higher retention rates, bigger expansion deals, and way less internal drama.
Your Action Plan: From Adversary to Ally
This week, try this:
Reach out to one seller you've had tension with. Ask about their biggest account challenges and how you can help.
Share one piece of valuable customer intel proactively. Maybe it's expansion signals, competitive threats, or usage insights.
Schedule regular check-ins with your key sales partners. Make it about their success, not just your accounts.
Ask yourself: "How can I make my seller's job easier?" Then do that thing.
Remember: great CSMs don't just build relationships with customers—they build relationships across the entire revenue team.
Your customers will thank you. Your sellers will champion you. And your results will speak for themselves.