---
title: "Best Customer Success Consultancies (2026)"
description: "Customer success consultancies and the software next to them: Sixteen Ventures, The Success League, Practical CSM, TSIA, and Gainsight."
url: https://getaob.com/customer-success-consultancies
---

# Best customer success consultancies (2026): who designs the motion, and who sells the software

Customer success consultancies design how a recurring-revenue company keeps and expands accounts: the operating model, the playbooks, and the training. The software platforms in the second group record health scores and workflows. Buying the software does not design the motion.

Sales training that also covers customer success is on [sales training companies](https://getaob.com/sales-training-firms). Hiring the people is on [GTM and sales recruiting agencies](https://getaob.com/gtm-sales-recruiters), where several firms also place customer success roles.

By [Garrett Wolfe](https://garrettawolfe.com), founder of OneGTM (Clay Artisan Solutions Partner) and former GTM engineer at Unify. Updated November 4, 2026.

Key takeaways

- Sixteen Ventures is Lincoln Murphy's practice, focused on expansion revenue and customer lifetime value for SaaS companies.
- The Success League consults and trains customer success teams, with assessments and playbooks. Practical CSM trains teams on a published framework.
- Winning by Design includes customer success in a broader SaaS go-to-market system. TSIA is a membership and advisory organization for technology and services companies.
- Gainsight, ChurnZero, Vitally, and Totango (now Odie) are software. They are listed so they are not confused with consultancies.
- Consulting fees are quoted. Software is sold on a subscription the vendors mostly do not publish.

## Customer success consultancies and training

Hire a consultancy when the team exists and the operating model does not: who owns renewal, what a healthy account is, and how expansion is forecast.

### [Sixteen Ventures](https://sixteenventures.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=customer-success-consultancies)

Consulting practice led by Lincoln Murphy, founded in 2008. The work is expansion revenue and customer lifetime value for SaaS and other recurring-revenue companies: consulting, workshops, and training for CROs, customer success leaders, and founders.

**Best for:** A SaaS company that can acquire customers and cannot forecast expansion

**Fees:** Fees not published. Engagements are scoped.

### [The Success League](https://www.thesuccessleague.io/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=customer-success-consultancies)

Customer success consulting and training firm. Engagements include assessments, strategy, and deliverables such as models and playbooks. The site lists offices in San Francisco, San Diego, London, and San Felipe.

**Best for:** Building or resetting a customer success operating model

**Fees:** Fees not published. Engagements are modular.

### [Practical CSM](https://practicalcsm.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=customer-success-consultancies)

Customer success training and enablement firm built on the Practical CSM Framework. Delivery includes certification, workshops, and consulting that puts the framework into a team's playbooks.

**Best for:** A customer success team that needs one shared standard

**Fees:** Fees not published on the homepage.

### [Winning by Design](https://winningbydesign.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=customer-success-consultancies)

Revenue consulting and training firm for B2B SaaS. Customer success is trained with sales and solutions engineering on one go-to-market system. The sales-training angle is on [sales training companies](https://getaob.com/sales-training-firms).

**Best for:** SaaS teams that want sales and customer success on the same method

**Fees:** Programs are scoped. A single public price was not on the homepage.

### [TSIA](https://www.tsia.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=customer-success-consultancies)

Technology and Services Industry Association. Members get research and advisory on how technology companies run services, support, and customer success. It is a membership organization, not a project consultancy you hire to rewrite one playbook.

**Best for:** Technology companies that want benchmarks and advisory across the services business

**Fees:** Membership is quoted.

## Customer success software, not consultancies

These products store account health, tasks, and sometimes the renewal workflow. They show up in the same buying conversation as the firms above, and they do not replace them.

### [Gainsight](https://www.gainsight.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=customer-success-consultancies)

Customer success platform used by larger SaaS companies for health scores, playbooks, and renewal workflows. It also runs education and a community. The software is the product. Implementation help is a separate conversation.

**Best for:** A customer success team that needs a system of record

**Fees:** Subscription. Not published. Quoted.

### [ChurnZero](https://churnzero.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=customer-success-consultancies)

Customer success software for digital-first teams. It tracks product usage and customer health and is aimed at improving retention and expansion. It is software, not a consulting firm.

**Best for:** Product-led teams that want usage tied to the customer record

**Fees:** Subscription. Not published.

### [Vitally](https://www.vitally.io/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=customer-success-consultancies)

Customer success platform. The site describes an all-in-one system, including AI features, for customer success teams that want health, tasks, and reporting in one place.

**Best for:** Customer success teams that want one workspace

**Fees:** Subscription. Not published on the pages checked.

### [Totango](https://www.totango.com/?utm_source=onegtm&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=customer-success-consultancies)

Customer success platform now branded Odie on its site. The current product is described as a customer knowledge layer for post-sales teams. Treat the name on the contract as whatever the site uses when you buy.

**Best for:** Post-sales teams evaluating a customer success platform

**Fees:** Subscription. Not published.

Fees are from each firm's own site as of November 2026. Consulting engagements are quoted. This is an opinionated list, not a paid ranking, and nobody paid to be on it.

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## Customer success consultancies compared

| Firm | Best for | Fee |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sixteen Ventures | A SaaS company that can acquire customers and cannot forecast expansion | Not published |
| The Success League | Building or resetting a customer success operating model | Not published |
| Practical CSM | A customer success team that needs one shared standard | Not published |
| Winning by Design | SaaS teams that want sales and customer success on the same method | Not published |
| TSIA | Technology companies that want benchmarks and advisory across the services business | Membership, not published |
| Gainsight | A customer success team that needs a system of record | Not published |
| ChurnZero | Product-led teams that want usage tied to the customer record | Not published |
| Vitally | Customer success teams that want one workspace | Not published |
| Totango | Post-sales teams evaluating a customer success platform | Not published |

Fees as published on each firm's own site in November 2026. "Not published" means the firm does not list a project or subscription price.

## How to choose customer success help

If you cannot describe a healthy account, start with a consultancy or a training firm. If you can describe it and cannot see it in the data, start with software. Doing both at once is common, and it fails when nobody owns the definition the software is scoring.

- Ask for two clients with your contract length and expansion motion.
- Ask what the deliverable is: a model, a playbook, a certification, or a membership login.
- Ask whether they will use your accounts or a generic curriculum.
- For software, ask what implementation costs on top of the subscription.
- Hiring a VP of Customer Success is a recruiting project. These firms do not replace that search.

## Related lists

Sales methodology, including firms that also train customer success, is on [sales training companies](https://getaob.com/sales-training-firms). Hiring customer success and sales people is on [GTM and sales recruiting agencies](https://getaob.com/gtm-sales-recruiters). The CRM those teams live in is on [HubSpot and CRM partners](https://getaob.com/hubspot-crm-partners) and [CRM for startups](https://getaob.com/crm-for-startups). Part-time revenue leadership is on [fractional executive firms](https://getaob.com/fractional-executive-firms).

## Retention math still depends on how the account was won

OneGTM does not run customer success consulting. We build the outbound and CRM system that decides which accounts show up in the book a success team inherits.

If the book is full of customers who were never a fit, the fix starts in targeting. See [outbound](https://getaob.com/outbound-agency).

- Renewals fail on accounts that should not have been sold.
- Success and sales do not share a definition of a qualified customer.

Book a call

## Customer success consultancy FAQ

### What are the best customer success consultancies?

Sixteen Ventures consults on expansion and lifetime value. The Success League and Practical CSM design and train customer success teams. Winning by Design includes customer success in a SaaS go-to-market system. TSIA is a membership and advisory organization for technology services companies. Gainsight, ChurnZero, Vitally, and Totango (now Odie) are software, listed separately so they are not mistaken for consultancies. Consulting fees are quoted.

### How much does customer success consulting cost?

The consultancies on this list do not publish a standard project price. Expect a scoped assessment or a training program. TSIA is a membership. The software platforms are subscriptions and do not publish list prices on the pages we checked. Ask what implementation costs on top.

### Should I hire a consultancy or buy customer success software?

Buy software when you already know what a healthy account is and you need to see it. Hire a consultancy when that definition, the playbooks, or the forecast do not exist yet. The software will score whatever definition you give it.

### Do sales training firms cover customer success?

Some do. Winning by Design trains customer success with sales. Sandler lists a customer success series. The sales training list covers those firms from the selling side. This page covers the retention and expansion side.

### Does OneGTM consult on customer success?

No. OneGTM builds outbound and CRM systems. The firms on this page consult, train, or sell customer success software.

Churn is a targeting problem as much as a success problem?

## Related

- [Best sales training companies](https://getaob.com/sales-training-firms): Sales training and coaching firms for B2B teams, with the methods they teach and what they publish on fees.
- [Best GTM and sales recruiting agencies](https://getaob.com/gtm-sales-recruiters): GTM and sales recruiting agencies for SaaS and tech, including UltraTalent, with the fee models they publish.
- [Best HubSpot and CRM implementation partners](https://getaob.com/hubspot-crm-partners): HubSpot and CRM implementation partners for B2B, with the fees they publish and when a RevOps firm fits.
- [Best fractional CMO, CRO and sales leader firms](https://getaob.com/fractional-executive-firms): Fractional CMO, CRO and sales leader firms and marketplaces, with the fees they publish.
- [Best CRM for startups](https://getaob.com/crm-for-startups): Attio, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Folk, Close, Twenty and AI CRMs, with what OneGTM runs and pricing.
- [Best marketing and RevOps recruiters](https://getaob.com/revops-marketing-recruiters): Marketing and RevOps recruiters and talent networks, with what they publish on fees.

## Get an outbound system review

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Book a call at [getaob.com/#contact](https://getaob.com/#contact) or email [team@getaob.com](mailto:team@getaob.com).