The traditional playbooks, which were once the gold standard for directing customer engagement, are being reimagined and, in many cases, replaced or enhanced by a more flexible, collaborative model: the playroom. This is a subtle but significant change in the rapidly changing field of customer success.
In Playrooms, we move faster, align better, and uncover opportunities we’d never find through a playbook alone.
The flexibility and responsiveness of Playrooms make them ideal for enterprise accounts where use cases are complex and stakeholders are diverse.
Playbooks v/s Playrooms
Let's examine the differences between playrooms and playbooks, the reasons behind this change, and how it is influencing the ethos and tempo of customer success in the current SaaS environment.
01. Playrooms: The New Model of Successful Collaboration
A document is not a playroom. Customers and CSMs can collaborate virtually or in person in this co-creation space to explore, brainstorm, and modify value-generating paths in real time.
Imagine this:
-
Instead of following a checklist, a product adoption session is a collaborative process in which both parties actively revise the plan to map actual usage against desired outcomes.
- The CSM and the client co-edit a digital board (Miro, Notion, Google Jamboard) and iterate on important outcomes rather than exchanging success plans via email.
- When the customer and CSM bring data, context, and obstacles to a QBR, it turns into a value co-creation workshop where they jointly prioritize.
Playrooms are ideal for:
- Strategic high-touch clients
- Goal recalibration and executive alignment
- Complex product launches or initiatives for change
- Cross-functional interactions (customer + CS + product)
02. Playbooks: The Historical Foundation of Procedure
Establishing operational excellence in customer success has been made possible in large part by playbooks. Consider them Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), which are excellent for:
- Regularly onboarding a number of clients
- Scaling CSM initiatives for sizable clientele
- Using programs like ChurnZero or Gainsight to automate repetitive success motions
- Enforcing deadlines and internal alignment
The problem with playbooks, however, is that they make the assumption that things will happen in a predictable way. The inflexibility of playbooks can result in stale interactions or, worse, irrelevance in a world where business climates, customer needs, and maturity levels change quickly.
03. Playbook vs Playroom:
| Aspect | Playbook | Playroom |
|---|---|---|
|
Definition |
A structured sequence of steps for predefined scenarios | A collaborative, real-time workspace to co-create outcomes |
|
Nature |
Static, linear, and prescriptive | Dynamic, fluid, and interactive |
|
Ownership |
CSM-owned, customer-guided | Jointly owned by CSMs and customers |
|
Adaptability |
Scenario-based with limited flexibility | Context-driven, easily shaped by live feedback |
|
Purpose |
Ensure consistency in success motion | Drive co-innovation and accelerate business alignment |
|
Success Mindset |
Execution of a known formula | Exploration toward mutual value discovery |
|
Examples of Use |
Onboarding checklist, QBR framework, Renewal sequence | Product roadmap workshop, Success planning jam, feedback loops |
Key Takeaways for CSMs (Customer Success Managers):
1. Embrace co-creation over instruction
Change your perspective from leading clients through a procedure to collaborating with them to create customized success pathways. Co-creation promotes long-term trust, greater alignment, and ownership.
2. Use tools that enable real-time collaboration
Use tools like Zoom, Notion, or Miro to help with visual ideation, shared planning, and live discussions. These tools infuse your engagements with vitality, visibility, and agility.
3. Reserve playrooms for complex, strategic engagements
When dealing with high-stakes accounts, multi-stakeholder rollouts, or changing product use cases, use playrooms. When static templates are insufficient, they excel.
4. Mix and match playbooks and playrooms based on customer maturity and context
Use playbooks for consistency, but when subtlety, adaptability, and co-strategy are required, use playrooms. Consider them complementary tools rather than diametrically opposed ones.
5. Measure success not by delivery, but by co-delivered value
Start measuring impact, results, and customer-owned progress instead of just tracking tasks that have been completed. The customer should feel like an equal contributor to the success, which is a mutually beneficial endeavour.
Final Thoughts:
The most creative businesses are substituting real-time relevance for rigidity as Customer Success develops. Playrooms symbolize that transition from providing instructions to working with the client to design solutions.
They serve as a reminder that structure should enhance flexibility rather than restrict it, rather than taking the place of it.
Ask if your group is still only using playbooks:
"How can our success motion incorporate more real-time, interactive, and customer-driven moments?"
That's how you enter the playroom.
