Article · reference

Customer Success Playbooks

The GitLab Handbook Free Advanced

Shows what a productised CS play looks like when written down for a whole team: a named motion, tied to a product stage, with the assets attached. Rare to see this published.

  • Sorts every play by trigger type: risk, lifecycle event, opportunity or expansion, objective, activity, digital journey.
  • Risk plays are named off observable signals, for example low license utilisation, non-engaged customer, product risk.
  • Each playbook has the same four parts: procedure, positioning, discovery questions, and an adoption map.
  • Every play is marked automated or manual, so only some fire without a human deciding.
Open on handbook.gitlab.com ↗

It answers 5 questions

  1. How do I run a QBR that the customer does not find a waste of time?
  2. My champion at a big account just left. What do I do?
  3. How do I build a renewal and expansion process that runs without me in every deal?
  4. GitLab publishes its entire customer success handbook. What is worth copying?
  5. How do the best teams cover a long tail of customers without a CSM per account?

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