The Post-Sales Reset · overview
The overview, slide by slide.
Everything about the Reset in 14 slides: what it looks at, how it runs, what you receive and how to start. Share it with your co-founder or team.
SuccessByCS
The Post-Sales Reset
Find what is stalling customers after the sale.
A focused review for founder-led B2B SaaS businesses. Short interviews, my analysis, and a clear report on what to fix first.
US$500 · billed in your currency · Chris Sparshott
Sound familiar?
The work after the sale often has no clear owner, so the founder becomes the fallback process.
01
Customers are slow to reach value
Deals close, then onboarding drags and the first real result takes too long.
02
You are still on the escalation path
Support questions and customer issues keep landing back on you.
03
What worked informally is breaking
More customers or more complex implementations have made the work inconsistent.
04
Renewal risk shows up too late
Health, ownership and renewal risk only become visible when it is hard to act.
That can work for a while. It does not create a repeatable customer operation.
Real customer progress
$200M
Managed book of business
+25%
Digital CSM activation
60→80%
Large deal activation in 90 days
“From the start, Chris took the time to properly understand our business and culture… He’s successfully onboarded six new team members and coached the team to consistent, month-on-month results against ambitious activation targets.”
Charlie Marsh · managed Chris at Tradify · LinkedIn recommendation
Trusted by founders and teams at Tradify · SearchPilot · ScaleWise
Start here
The Post-Sales Reset
I look at how your customers move from signed deal to renewal, find where the work is stalling, and give you a short, practical report on what to fix first.
You leave with a clear view of the next steps, whether or not we work together afterwards.
$500
Fixed fee · billed in your currency
Interviews: up to 2 hours, 1 to 3 people
Analysis: 1 to 2 hours, by me
Read-back: 30 minutes
Payment: upfront, once dates are agreed
How it works
Short interviews. One clear report.
01
Interviews
I interview the founder, the person closest to customer success and, if useful, your support leader. Separately, 30 to 60 minutes each.
Up to 2 hours
02
Issues and journey
We walk through recent customer issues and your customer journey, to see where problems cluster: activation, retention or elsewhere.
In the interviews
03
Map, assess, plan
I map the issues onto the Sideways Funnel with your ways-of-working documents and CRM stages, assess AI agent readiness and write the plan.
My analysis · 1–2 hours
04
Read-back
I walk you through the report. We agree the priorities and first actions, and whether you run the plan yourselves.
30 minutes
All on Google Meet, at times that suit your team and time zone. Nobody loses a whole day.
Before the interviews
Your pre-interview pack
Material you already have. It usually takes 15 to 20 minutes to gather.
01 Customer examples
Two or three recent customers: one that went well, and one or two that stalled, escalated or churned.
02 Ways of working
What you already use for handover, onboarding, escalation or renewals: checklists, playbooks, templates.
03 CRM stages
If you use a CRM such as HubSpot, a screenshot or export of your deal and customer lifecycle stages.
04 Who is involved
A simple list of the people and systems that touch a customer after the sale.
05 Support themes
If your support leader takes part: the most common reasons customers ask for help, and what escalates.
06 Your measures
Time to first value, activation, renewal rate or support volume. Unknown is a fine answer.
Screenshots, exports and redacted examples are fine · no production-system access needed
The method
The Sideways Funnel™ operating model
LAND
Accept the sale and its promises
G1 Accepted handoff
ADOPTION
Onboard, implement → activate, first value
G2 Ready to use
G3 First value
RETENTION
Sustain adoption and evidenced value
G4 Review and improve
ADVOCACY
Optional · permissioned
EXPAND
Qualify new value
Agreed new scope → back to onboarding and first value
RENEWAL · parallel contractual decision · renew, reduce scope or exit
RISK AND RECOVERY · enter from any phase · qualify → respond → verify
EXIT / REACTIVATION
Authorised closure
Reassess before restart
Across every phase · relationships and governance · learning and feedback · data, ownership and controls
Sideways Funnel™ © 2021–2026 Chris Sparshott. All rights reserved. The taper is illustrative only.
Evidence gates
A customer moves on when there is proof of progress, not just activity.
G1
Accepted handoff
Delivery has accepted the sale: the promises made, the customer’s context and the first next step.
G2
Ready to use
The customer is set up, implemented and able to start using the product.
G3
First value
The customer has reached a first meaningful result that proves the purchase was worthwhile.
G4
Review and improve
Value is reviewed with the customer on evidence, and the next improvements are agreed.
Sideways Funnel™ © 2021–2026 Chris Sparshott. All rights reserved.
Where it started
The original Sideways Funnel exercise
I first published the Sideways Funnel as a Miro template in 2021, so teams could map their own customer success lifecycle in about 90 minutes.
8.9K
VIEWS
1.1K
USERS
172
LIKES
Miroverse, October 2026. In the Reset, I do this mapping for you, from your interviews and documents.
01
Read the instructions and get familiar with the template
15 min
02
Define your lifecycle phases
15 min
03
Define the functional teams involved in each phase
15 min
04
Define the actions in each phase by role: Associate CSM, CSM and CS Director
20 min
05
Define the metrics for each phase that contribute to a successful outcome
20 min
06
Reflect, and review your work in a day or two
Later
Sideways Funnel™ © 2021–2026 Chris Sparshott. All rights reserved.
What you get
A written report, not a slide deck.
01 Sideways Funnel map
Where your customer issues sit across Land, Adoption and Retention, and which evidence gates are being missed.
02 Priority issues
The one or two problems causing the most customer or operational pain, such as activation or retention, with the evidence behind them.
03 AI agent assessment
Which affected workflows an AI agent could assist now, which need foundations first, and where a person should stay in charge.
04 30 to 90 day priority plan
Sequenced next actions and measures for the next 30 to 90 days, plus the open questions still to answer.
Not included: defining roles and responsibilities, implementation, integrations or a full data audit. These are scoped separately.
AI agent assessment
AI readiness, without the hype.
Not every repetitive task is ready to automate. I sort each affected workflow into one of three groups.
Assist now
A bounded task with known inputs, safe actions and a human approval point.
Prepare first
The workflow needs clearer data, completion evidence or an escalation rule before anything is automated.
Keep human-led
Trust, negotiation, judgement or sensitive customer conversations matter most.
What can happen next
The Reset stands on its own.
The default next step is for your team to run the plan. If you want help, the report makes the next piece of work specific enough to decide on.
01
Workflow sprint
Design one priority workflow, such as handover, onboarding, risk or renewal planning.
02
Foundations sprint
Build the minimum operating model: customer journey, roles, risk and renewal rhythm.
03
Fractional Head of CS
I put the agreed priorities into practice and keep the operating rhythm going as you grow.
Optional and separately scoped. No obligation to buy further work.
Who runs it
Chris Sparshott
Fractional Head of Customer Success · SuccessByCS
As APAC Head of Partner Renewals at IBM Asia Pacific, I managed a $200M book of business. I was also Fractional Head of APAC Customer Success at Tradify, where I onboarded and coached the team to consistent month-on-month activation results.
I created the Sideways Funnel™ and I run every Reset personally. Based in New Zealand, working with teams in Australia, Singapore, the UK, Canada and the US.
Book your Reset
Start with a short call.
Tell me where customer work is getting stuck. We will both know quickly whether the Reset is the right next step.
01
Book a short fit call
02
I confirm interview dates and send a payment link
03
Paying US$500 holds your dates
04
Send your pre-interview pack
Prefer email? chris@successbycs.com
© 2026 SuccessByCS · Sideways Funnel™ © 2021–2026 Chris Sparshott · New Zealand law applies