13. Why does sales still take an inside out view? Jackie Quint discusses the success moments that will change your selling perspective and drive both customer satisfaction and profitability!

Special guest ⁠Jackie Quint and I discuss the value of customer success as a key to revenue generation and why smart AEs partner with CSMs to win more deals and help customers achieve their strategic goals!

Too much of selling focuses on the hero's journey of bringing in new logos and undervalues the shorter-cycle, lower-cost, higher-win-rate sale to existing customers. Jackie, with her experience in carrying a bag, consulting with multiple companies and then running Sales Enablement, Operations and Customer Success at Sophos, Extreme Networks, Salesforce and Hitch, offers a remedy.

Organizations need to move beyond their functional silos and deliver on higher customer lifetime value. Great SaaS companies treat customer success not only as a key driver of customer outcomes and NPS, but also an essential part of the revenue operating rhythm.  We all know renewals are key to any revenue picture, but how else does customer success add a boost to sales for new or existing customers?

Key takeaways of our conversation include the three unexpected ways customer success boosts sales:

• Expansion Opportunity Boost - CSMs act as trusted product advisors, opening up qualified expansion opportunities, with fleshed out buyer maps and internal value stories that drive ROI. Try that with an MQL!
• Win Rate Boost - CSMs participate in high-value, new-logo deals building buyer confidence by sharing implementation, adoption, success and change best practices that become a core differentiator!
• Sales Confidence Boost - Via sales enablement, CSMs share stories with relatable quotes, anecdotes - and specifically how we overcame obstacles - that take AE conversational competence to a new level!

Next actions? Sales Enablement teams need more knowledge of the post-sales role in selling and Customer Success Enablement teams need to build better CSM skills in selling. To follow up with Jackie, you can reach her on ⁠LinkedIn⁠.

To provide feedback on this podcast or to suggest additional topics or guests, please visit The Thoughts On Selling™ podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.