Before you can implement a customer success platform like Gainsight, how would you track renewals, expansion, etc manually? And how many accounts can you do manual reporting for before you push for a platform?

Essential Manual Tracking Tools

• Customer health database: Create a central spreadsheet (Google Sheets/Excel) with:

  • Basic account info (contract value, renewal date, key contacts)

  • Health indicators (color-coded red/yellow/green)

  • Usage metrics pulled manually from your product

  • Engagement tracking (last contact, QBR dates) Risk indicators and mitigation plans

• Renewal pipeline tracker: Separate spreadsheet focusing on:

  • Upcoming renewals by quarter

  • Expansion opportunities

  • Renewal probability scores

  • Historical trends by segment

• Customer engagement log: Document all meaningful interactions. (There are tools available in the market that can automatically do this for you, like Staircase.ai).

  • Meeting notes in a shared drive

  • Email summaries of key discussions

  • Support ticket history

  • Product feedback collected

The breaking point typically occurs around:

• 20 accounts per CSM for high-touch B2B relationships

• ~200-300 total accounts across your CS organization

• 10+ CSMs

Signs you've outgrown manual tracking:

• CSMs spending 20%+ of time just maintaining tracking systems

• Renewal forecasting becoming consistently inaccurate

• Difficulty identifying at-risk accounts before problems escalate

• Inability to correlate product usage with renewal likelihood

• Leadership lacks clear visibility into customer health trends