Why Your Weekly Customer Calls Don’t Make You Strategic

Let’s clear something up:

Showing up to weekly or bi-weekly calls with your customers does NOT make you proactive. And it definitely does not make you strategic.

I see so many Customer Success Managers rely on recurring cadences of engagement as proof of their “strategic” role. Don’t get me wrong, cadence is valuable. It creates consistency, builds familiarity, and ensures you’re present.

But let’s be honest: unless you’re using that time to bring consultative insights that align with your customer’s priorities and objectives, all you’re really doing is acting as premium support or an education and enablement resource.

Both are important. Both have a place. But neither of those motions makes you a trusted advisor.

Why Recurring Calls Can Become a Trap

If you’ve ever opened a call with:

“What’s top of mind for you?”

“How would you like to use our time today?”

…then you know what I’m talking about. That’s not strategic. That’s reactive.

And here’s the danger: when every recurring meeting becomes reactive, customers start to see you as an extra set of hands, not a partner driving their business forward.

The truth is, your cadence is just a container. What you put inside it is what matters.

5 Ways to Make Your Recurring Customer Calls Strategic

Here’s how you can pivot your recurring engagement so it drives real value and positions you as a trusted advisor:

1. Lead with Insights

Don’t wait for the customer to set the agenda. Arrive with a usage trend, industry benchmark, or pattern in their data they should be paying attention to. This shows you’re thinking ahead and anticipating their needs.

2. Tie Everything Back to Their Objectives

It’s not about your product, it’s about their business. Frame your conversations in terms of their goals and outcomes. Help them connect the dots between what you do and the success metrics they care about.

3. Show Progress

Your customer should leave every meeting with a clear picture of momentum. Celebrate milestones, highlight measurable wins, and address risks you’ve helped mitigate. Progress builds trust.

4. Introduce Something New

Bring a fresh idea, a best practice from another customer, or a relevant case study. Curate knowledge they don’t already have. The moment you stop teaching or inspiring, the value of your meetings declines.

5. Challenge Constructively

Being a trusted advisor doesn’t mean being agreeable. It means guiding customers toward the best outcomes, even when that means challenging their assumptions or approaches. Done with care, this earns you credibility and respect.

The Bottom Line

Your recurring customer calls are not inherently strategic. They’re just standing meetings. The strategy comes from how you prepare, what you bring to the conversation, and whether you’re consistently adding value that ties to your customer’s priorities.

The cadence is the container. Your insights, preparation, and consultative approach are what fill it with impact.

Stop mistaking presence for strategy. Start using your time with customers to truly lead.