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# Customer Success Reviews Incentivize Crisis Management Over Prevention
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/customer-success-reviews-incentivize-crisis-management-over-prevention/
- Published: 2026-08-02T11:02:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-02T11:02:53.000Z
- Description: When renewal processes reward dramatic saves and escalations rather than steady relationship maintenance, CSMs optimize for visible firefighting instead of preventing churn before it starts.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-brand, customer success strategy, performance metrics, organizational incentives

Source: [Hakan⚡The CS Café](https://open.substack.com/pub/thecscafe/p/measuring-prevention-customer-success)

When renewal processes reward dramatic saves and escalations rather than steady relationship maintenance, CSMs optimize for visible firefighting instead of preventing churn before it starts. This structural misalignment means companies celebrate the CSM who talks a customer off the ledge in week 52, while the CSM who kept that account healthy all year gets overlooked. Prevented risk is cheaper and more predictable than last-minute rescues. The fix requires performance metrics that credit baseline health and early-stage expansion over heroic interventions.