Land and Expand vs. Traditional CS Playbooks: What Works in 2025
TL;NR
2025 is the year CS teams stop being reactive and start driving revenue.
In this post:
-What traditional playbooks got right and wrong
-How “Land and Expand” flips the CS role from support to strategy
-When to use each approach (and how to combine them)
-Tactical actions to evolve your motion this quarter
Traditional CS Playbooks: Designed for Retention
The classic Customer Success playbook was built for one goal:
Keep customers happy so they don’t churn.
It worked for a while.
You’d see:
Onboarding checklists
Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs)
Health scores built around logins and NPS
Manual renewal tracking
But here’s the problem:
These playbooks were reactive.
And in 2025, reactive CS means missed revenue.
The “Land and Expand” Model: Designed for Growth
“Land and Expand” is more than a sales strategy, it’s a CS mindset.
Instead of just keeping accounts alive, your team drives:
Product expansion
Account growth
Strategic partnership
The playbook shifts from support to proactive opportunity mapping.
In practice, this means:
Signal-based QBRs (triggered by usage milestones or account changes)
Playbooks for expansion-ready behaviors (e.g. power user → upsell)
Product-led adoption paths with CSM nudges
Segmentation that prioritizes whitespace
Key Differences Between Traditional CS and Land & Expand
Traditional CS
Goal: Retention
Triggers: Time-based (e.g. QBR every 90 days)
CS Role: Account manager / support partner
Metrics Tracked: Health score, NPS, adoption
Process: Manual and reactive
Land & Expand CS
Goal: Revenue expansion
Triggers: Signal-based (e.g. usage spike, new stakeholder)
CS Role: Strategic growth partner
Metrics Tracked: NRR, expansion %, time-to-value
Process: Automated and proactive
So, Which One Works in 2025?
Both, but at different stages.
Use traditional playbooks when:
You’re building your first CS motion
You need consistency in onboarding + renewals
Your product is complex or onboarding-heavy
Use Land and Expand when:
You have product-market fit
CS needs to drive pipeline (not just preserve it)
You’ve built CS Ops to track the right signals
Most mature CS orgs use a hybrid model:
→ Traditional playbooks as the baseline
→ Expansion frameworks layered on top for growth
How to Shift from Traditional to Land & Expand (This Quarter)
Here’s what to do this quarter:
Audit Your Playbooks
Are they built to retain or expand?
Are QBRs leading to value or opportunity?
Map Expansion Triggers
Identify 3 signals that show expansion potential
Build 1 playbook for each
Upskill Your Team
Run a session on spotting whitespace
Teach how to sell value, not just solve issues
Align CS with Revenue Teams
Joint pipeline reviews with Sales/AMs
Shared KPIs for expansion
Final Thought
Traditional CS playbooks kept customers happy.
Land and Expand playbooks turn them into champions and revenue.
In 2025, the most successful CS teams don’t choose between the two.
They combine them to build retention, growth, and strategic scale.
Want to Shift to a Land & Expand CS Motion?
We help CS teams design playbooks, signals, and systems that drive expansion.
