M&A is one of the few moments when customer engagement can double or disappear within months. Most CS teams wait for instructions from Legal and the exec team. By then, the competing vendor has already met the new stakeholders. This article outlines a practitioner's playbook for both directions: when your client acquires, and when your client is acquired.

The CS executives who build lasting organizations are not the ones who hit NRR targets for three consecutive years. They are the ones who build the quality foundation that makes those targets repeatable, and who have the Deliberate Courage to raise the uncomfortable quality conversation in rooms where everyone else is celebrating the numbers.