Customers Don’t Want More Meetings. They Want More Context.

Last week I was on a call with a customer and about ten minutes in she paused and said,

“Kristi, can I be honest? You’re one of the only people we work with who doesn’t make us sit through slides.”

I laughed. But I also noted it.

Because that comment says a lot about where customers are right now and what they actually need from CS.

They don’t want more meetings.

They don’t want another deck.

They don’t want another “just checking in.”

They want help that is fast, relevant, and useful.

The shift I’m seeing across Customer Success teams

Across the teams I’m advising and coaching, a clear pattern is emerging. The CSMs getting the strongest engagement and the best outcomes are not the ones increasing touchpoints or adding more standing meetings. They’re the ones bringing more context into every interaction.

They know what their customer is trying to accomplish this quarter.

They know where things are stuck.

They know what has changed since the last conversation.

They know what matters most to the executive sponsor.

Instead of showing up to review slides or recap metrics, they show up with direction.

That difference is subtle on paper, but powerful in practice. Customers respond quickly when they feel like their Customer Success partner understands their business and can help them move forward without friction.

A simple shift that changed engagement

Recently, I shared this perspective with a Customer Success leader I’m coaching. Their team was doing what many teams do: scheduling recurring meetings to “review progress” and “stay aligned.” Attendance was inconsistent. Engagement was lukewarm. Customers weren’t pushing back, but they weren’t leaning in either.

We decided to try something different.

Instead of defaulting to another meeting, the team began sending short, direct notes to their customers. Three sentences. No slides. No scheduling link. Just context and direction:

Here’s what I’m seeing.

Here’s what I recommend.

Here’s what I’d do next.

The response was immediate. Customers replied faster. Conversations became more focused. Meetings, when they did happen, were more productive because they were rooted in clear recommendations rather than general check-ins.

This wasn’t about reducing communication. It was about improving its quality.

Speed over polish. Relevance over frequency.

Customer Success teams have spent years optimizing for visibility. Regular touchpoints, structured business reviews, and consistent communication cadences became standard practice. Those things still matter, but the expectations have shifted.

Today’s customers are overloaded with information and meetings. What cuts through is clarity.

Speed matters more than polish.

Relevance matters more than frequency.

Clarity matters more than slides.

Customers don’t measure value by how often they hear from you. They measure value by whether your outreach helps them make a decision, solve a problem, or move faster.

From relationship manager to context manager

For a long time, the Customer Success role has been framed as relationship management. And relationships are still critical. But relationships alone are no longer enough to sustain engagement or prove value.

The most effective CSMs today are acting as context managers.

They are tracking what’s happening in the customer’s business.

They are identifying risks and opportunities before they surface in a formal meeting.

They are synthesizing information and delivering clear, actionable guidance.

When you understand the context your customer is operating in and can help them move forward with confidence, you become indispensable.

When you simply add meetings to the calendar without adding direction, you become noise.

Rethinking what value looks like

Customer Success doesn’t need more activity. It needs more intentionality.

This doesn’t mean eliminating meetings or abandoning structured reviews. It means making sure every interaction has a purpose and a point of view. It means shifting from reporting on what has happened to guiding what should happen next.

Customers are not asking for more visibility from their Customer Success partners. They are asking for more value. And value, increasingly, looks like clarity, speed, and relevance delivered in the moments that matter.

The teams that embrace this shift will stand out quickly. Not because they communicate more often, but because when they do communicate, it matters.