February 11, 2024 | Read Online
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I speak with 3-5 SaaS executives every week. Typically S/VPs of customer success, chief customer officers, and chief revenue officers.
Over the past twelve months, I’ve noticed a measurable uptick in the number of customer success teams that now report into sales or the CRO.
Some might be alarmed by this trend, but I’m not.
Aligning closer with sales is a wonderful opportunity for customer success leaders to step up, build new skills, and propel their careers forward.
I often try to persuade CS leaders that they already possess many of the characteristics and skills necessary to lead commercial teams.
For example, many customer success teams have adopted account management playbooks. They act as the main point of contact for an assigned book of business, run regular business reviews, identify expansion opportunities, and participate in (if not fully facilitate) renewal negotiations.
But many customer success leaders have an allergic reaction to becoming too “commercial.” They fear that discussing money and contracts will erode trusted advisor status with their customers.
I reject this notion.
If we can't trust the people who negotiate pricing, then no customer would ever sign a contract - the ultimate demonstration of trust.
And yes, I’ve been in this game long enough to realize that some sales people win in spite of themselves. But the best ones I’ve worked with over the years earn trusted advisor status while selling.
A sale rep's ability to build trust in the buying cycle is more critical than ever because the nature of B2B buying continues to evolve.
Competing products are often indistinguishable from one another. Free trials have become the norm, allowing customers to try before they buy. And most importantly, prospects complete 70%+ of their research before engaging with a sales team.
By the time they do engage, the seller’s best bet is to differentiate on the service they provide. The vendor that is seen as most helpful during the sale has the best chance of winning.
Many customer success professionals have the core skills, temperament, and experience to thrive in this context.
Here are a few examples...
They are relationship oriented.
If you squint, it's difficult to see the difference between one software vendor and another in the same category. To convince someone to buy something from you versus a competitor, you must first build rapport and earn trust.
Customer success professionals know how to build relationships based on value. They are comfortable asking customers for references and referrals, even if there are problems with the account.
They are service oriented.
The best CS practitioners listen more than they talk. They look for the customer’s pain and position solutions accordingly. They have a genuine interest in helping the customer improve.
“Anytime you’re tempted to upsell someone else, stop what you’re doing and upserve instead. Don’t try to increase what they can do for you. Elevate what you can do for them.”
- Daniel Pink (To Sell is Human)
All things being equal, sellers who are more helpful to their prospects increase their likelihood of winning against their less helpful competitors.
Educating stakeholders, helping a champion craft an internal pitch, and project managing the procurement process can mean the difference between a win and a loss.
All of these are natural motions for CS folks.
They are consultative.
Great customer success pros offer benchmarks, insights, and resources to their customers. They also provide recommendations and share common practices based on their experience with other customers.
They act like consultants and even challenge the customer to think differently when necessary.
They are process oriented.
Many customer success leaders come from operational backgrounds. Professional services, support, renewals, or even consulting. A well-architected sales process, with clear stages, objective evidence, and milestones, leads to higher conversion rates and more predictable sales results.
These are the areas where customer success people shone and should feel the most comfortable.
But to excel as a revenue leader, there are some additional skills to build and hone. Adding these skills will increase the likelihood of success in a revenue-generating role and help propel one's career toward senior management.
Negotiation
Great sales leaders excel at negotiating. They work to find common ground and develop commercial arrangements that meet each parties’ needs.
Whether a new sale, expansion, or renewal, good negotiators understand the levers of value on all sides. And they work hand-in-hand with their counterparts to create win/win outcomes where everyone’s critical needs are met.
Managing by numbers
At some level, sales is a numbers game. There’s a cumulative effect to consistent execution over prolonged periods of time. Want to drive more pipeline, closed-won deals, and revenue? Prospect every single day, follow up on every lead, push each active sales opportunity forward every week.
Great sales leaders hold their teams accountable to minimum activity thresholds. They scrutinize stage gates, objective evidence, and conversion rates, and identify and debug bottlenecks in the revenue generation pipeline.
Accountability and coaching
Not only do great sales leaders drive activity volume, they assess and enforce quality. They join sales calls and provide regular coaching and feedback to frontline sellers.
One of the most valuable tools in a modern go-to-market tech stack is the call recording platform (like Gong or Grain). These tools allow leaders to be omnipresent and provide asynchronous feedback and coaching to their teams.
Strategy planning
Sales leaders create plans to tackle their market, segment, or territory to ensure they hit their number. They have a clear sense of who their prospects are, how to engage them, and how they will go about developing and closing opportunities with them.
Influence and persuasion
A prospect’s preference for status quo will often torpedo a sale before a competitor does.
The best sellers know how to convince buyers to think and act differently. They persuade through education, and convince the buyer to act now versus later. It’s not about being pushy, but rather, challenging the status quo.
Financial acumen
Great sales leaders understand the fundamental language of business. They help customers understand return on investment in both a financial and non-financial sense. They also know how business and legal levers affect all parties.
(I'd argue this is a skill every CS leader should possess, too.)
The x-factor
Finally, I believe urgency, hustle, resiliency, adaptability, and determination are intrinsically motivated.
They can’t be taught.
One either possesses these traits or they don’t, and there’s very little gray area in between. Sales is a fast-paced profession with wild swings between triumph and defeat from day-to-day and hour-to-hour.
The best sellers seize opportunities to make things happen, and bounce back quickly after a failure.
CS leaders can lean into commercial roles by leveraging what they are already good at: relationship development, service, consultation, and process.
If they do take the plunge, the new skills they develop can catalyze future career growth.
But, above all else, the transition from customer success to sales requires a mindset shift. Sales isn’t a necessary evil, but rather the first step of the journey toward improving customer outcomes – something every customer success leader can rally behind.
Is a transition from success to sales something you’ve entertained? I’d love to hear how you’re thinking about it. Hit “Reply” and share your thoughts.
🤘
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