The email subject line just says "Meeting."
Your champion wants to talk. When you join the call, they're apologetic but direct: the CFO cut your product in the latest budget review.
You're confused.
Usage is up 40%, support tickets are down, the team loves it.
None of that mattered. You got labeled "nice to have."
Why? You didn’t position your product’s impact on their revenue as growth and protection. And in a room where every dollar gets scrutinized, efficiency on its own sounds optional when it isn’t clearly tied to larger revenue goals.
The good news is you don't need to change your job.
You need to change how you talk about it.
TL;DR
- Unconnected efficiency language caps your value at “nice to have”
- CFOs fund what moves NRR, renewals, and expansion.
- Much of what you do can be tied back to revenue or retention; your job is to connect the dots out loud
- Build relationships with users, but align with the people who sign the checks
- Speaking commercially makes sure your product’s revenue impact shows up in budget conversations
Why focusing too much on efficiency caps your value
When you talk about adoption, smoother processes, and time or cost savings, you're positioning your work as operational improvement.
To a CFO, operational improvement often sounds like cost reduction if you stop there.
And cost-reduction messaging, by itself, can get cut when budgets tighten if it isn’t clearly tied to revenue, margin, or risk
As CSMs, we don’t want to be in that position.
The problem isn't your work. The problem is the frame.
So what’s the answer?
Stop positioning your work as “we cut costs” and start positioning it as “we protect and grow revenue.”
CFOs fund what moves NRR, renewals, and expansion. Those numbers determine the company's valuation, funding rounds, and what their team gets budgeted for next year.
This is where you come in.
Most of what you do as a CSM ultimately touches at least one of these numbers.
Your job is to connect the dots out loud so the people who matter actually feel your product’s impact.
Here are four ways to shift your messaging so your product sounds revenue-critical, not “nice to have.”
1. From usage → business outcomes
Stop reporting what customers do in your product. Start reporting what they achieve because of it.
Usage metrics are your leading indicators. But business outcomes are what executives fund.
When you kick off with an account, ask:
- What are you trying to accomplish this quarter?
- Which workflows matter most to your revenue targets?
- What happens to your numbers if this stops working?
Then connect everything you do to those goals.
Don't say: "Usage went up 40% this month"
Say: “Your team closed 15% more deals using the proposal workflow, putting you closer to your Q3 revenue target without adding headcount.”
Don’t say: “Your team is spending 25% less time on admin tasks.”
Say: “Your team has 25% more time each week to work their pipeline and move deals forward.”
Don’t say: “More reps are using the forecasting dashboard.”
Say: “More reps are using the forecasting dashboard, which has improved forecast accuracy and helped leadership make cleaner revenue calls.”
Same data. Different frame.
2. From solving problems → de-risking revenue goals
Every problem you solve protects something strategic.
When you jump on an issue, ask:
- What is this blocking?
- What larger goal does this project support?
- What would've happened if this didn't get fixed?
Then frame your work as risk reduction, not just problem resolution.
You're not "troubleshooting an integration error."
You're "protecting the revenue pipeline that relies on deals syncing correctly."
You're not "closing out a ticket."
You're "protecting their Q4 sales campaign that depends on daily system access."
You're not "training new users."
You're "getting 40 sellers up to speed, ensuring their expansion into EMEA stays on track."
Same work. Different story.
3. From status updates → value reviews + expansion discovery
Your QBRs, check-ins, and weekly syncs shouldn't be status reports.
They should answer three questions:
What value did we create since the last time? Use their metrics. Revenue generated. Pipeline accelerated. Churn prevented. Deals closed faster.
For example: Your team generated $450K more in pipeline this quarter.
What risks did we de-risk? Projects kept on track. Issues resolved before revenue impact. Renewals protected.
What's next? Don't wait for them to ask. Propose the next chunk of value based on their priorities.
And while you're in these conversations, listen for expansion signals:
- "Our other team struggles with this, too."
- "I wish we could do this across regions."
- "If only marketing had access."
Ask three questions in sequence:
→ Does anyone else struggle with this workflow?
→ If this solves your problem, who else would benefit?
→ What would it take to roll this out wider?
Your job is to validate the need. Then bring Sales in to structure it.
4. From "user relationships" → "economic buyer alignment"
Build relationships with the people who use your product. But align with the people who control the budget.
Many CSMs build amazing relationships with manager-level users and wonder why renewals feel shaky.
The reason: They never talked to the person writing the check.
For every account, identify:
- Who uses the product day-to-day
- Who manages those users
- Who holds the budget and signs contracts
- Who makes the final call to renew or cut
Don't ignore economic buyers just because they don't log in daily. They're making decisions in budget meetings when you're not in the room.
Making your story executive-ready
You don't need to become a salesperson. You need to make your work legible to executives.
That means talking about your product’s impact on their revenue, risk, and strategy, not just what you did.
Everything above only works if you translate it out of “CS language” and into how your customer’s leadership team actually thinks.
Instead of stopping at feature names, tickets, and projects, translate your work into:
- Revenue protected or unlocked
- Risk reduced
- Strategic bets supported
Then make sure your updates sound like decisions, not activity.
For every place you said "usage increased" or "adoption improved," add one sentence:
"This means [customer] can now [business outcome]."
Ask yourself:
“If my champion forwarded this to their CFO, what story would it tell about the value we created and the risk we removed?”
Go from describing what you did to speaking in the language of trade-offs, bets, and impact.
A simple revenue check-in
Here's the simplest way to make this shift stick.
On a regular basis that works for you, pick your top 5–10 accounts and ask:
1. What number are they trying to move?
Revenue. Retention. Conversion. Efficiency that clearly impacts growth.
2. What am I doing for them this week?
Calls. Projects. Training. Problem-solving.
3. How does that touch their number?
Protected. Unlocked. De-risked. Accelerated.
4. Have I actually communicated that connection back to them?
In an email, a meeting, a QBR slide, or a quick recap line.
Then turn it into a one-liner you can use in emails and QBRs:
"This week we're focused on [action] so you can [impact on their number]."
That's it.
It’s the same work you're already doing, just a different lens and how you talk about it.
You're not changing your job
Same customers.
Same product.
Same you.
You're making sure the work you're already doing gets framed in the language that matters to the people who decide renewals, expansions, and your budget.
Stop selling just efficiency and smoothness.
Start protecting and unlocking the numbers that matter.
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