After the Close: The Customer Revenue Podcast

Kristi Faltorusso
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Management
  • Weekly

You closed the deal, somebody rang the bell in Slack, and the whole company moved on to the next one. Now the customer is yours, and so is the renewal, the expansion and the number your CEO is going to ask about. After the Close is the customer revenue podcast for the operators running post-sale teams. I’m Kristi Faltorusso, and I’ve led customer revenue at five companies, so I’ll tell you what I’ve seen work and what I got wrong. Every week, in about 20 minutes, you’ll walk away with one move you can use this week and the words to explain it to your CEO, CRO or board. Some weeks it’s just me, and some weeks a leader joins me for Behind the Decision to walk through a hard call they made. Because closing the deal was the easy part. Get the newsletter at kristifaltorusso.com/newsletter

  1. 3d ago

    Your Existing Customers Are Your Growth Plan (Maybe)

    Your CEO wants growth from the customer base, so somebody hands customer success a number and wishes them luck. I tell the story of a cross-sell that made it all the way into the forecast before one call showed us the customer we already had was at risk, why fixing it cut our pipeline by more than half, and the comp change that made it honest again. If you're deciding who owns growth from your existing customers, you'll walk away with the one question that tells you whether it's even a CS deal, and what to check before anyone gets a number. Get After the Close, the newsletter, every other Tuesday: kristifaltorusso.com 00:00 Your forecast is full of deals that aren't real 00:22 The cross-sell that made it to the CEO 02:53 "We're not going to make an introduction" 03:11 I paid them to open opportunities 04:55 Real sales training for CS 06:03 The pipeline dropped by more than half 06:58 Happy ears 08:00 The comp change: 30% qualified, 70% closed 09:47 It set us back a full quarter 11:06 The upsell sales already gave away 14:10 Not even one size fits most 16:20 It was never a CS deal 16:54 "Own is a very extreme word" 18:20 Do the math first 19:58 Give them real training 21:25 The CFO who handed down impossible numbers 24:09 The question for your leadership team 24:43 Happy ears don't renew

  2. 3d ago

    Why Sales Keeps CS Out of the Deal (and When They're Right)

    Your sales team will take your answers and your talking points, then ask you to wait in the hallway until the contract is signed. I break down the five reasons sales keeps Customer Success out of deals, the two that are completely fair, and the pilot that got my team into the right deals, where we closed 7% more of them and sales stopped discounting to get them signed. If you lead a post-sale team and keep inheriting promises you never heard, you'll walk away with the exact questions to take to your sales leader this week. Get After the Close, the newsletter, every other Tuesday: kristifaltorusso.com 00:00 Sales wants your answers, not you 00:24 The deal I got kept out of 03:39 Five reasons sales says no 04:07 "Stop selling once you've sold" 04:49 Sales sells the vision, we live the reality 06:15 How one call slips the forecast 08:13 I don't scale either 09:48 How the sausage is made 11:18 Two of the five are fair 11:36 The pilot I pitched as a new VP 16:25 7% more deals closed 17:05 Fewer discounts, less product given away 18:52 What's fair: capacity and timing 22:52 Two questions before you ask for a seat 23:13 How to run the pilot 26:02 Measure what happens after the close 26:33 Every deal you're kept out of

  3. Jun 1

    EPS 10: Churn So Good: When Losing Customers Is Actually Winning

    Not all churn is a crisis. Some of it? It's a gift. In this episode of After the Close, I'm joined by Dannah Vaughan, Director of Customer Success at Silverline Solutions, and we're flipping the script on one of CS's most loaded words. Churn doesn't always mean you failed. Sometimes it means you got smarter about who you're actually building for. We're breaking down the concept of good churn -- what it is, how to spot it, and why holding on to the wrong customers is costing you more than letting them go ever would. Bad fit customers, legacy accounts on outdated plans, customers who've outgrown you (or you've outgrown them) -- they all have something in common. They're draining your team, distorting your metrics, and quietly holding your business back. Dannah brings the real operator perspective on what it actually looks like to make these calls in the field -- and how to have the internal conversations that make good churn a strategy, not a failure. This one is for every CS leader who's been told "just save the account" without anyone stopping to ask if that account was worth saving in the first place. Churn so good, baby.

  4. Jun 1

    EPS 10: Churn So Good: When Losing Customers Is Actually Winning

    Not all churn is a crisis. Some of it? It's a gift. In this episode of After the Close, I'm joined by Dannah Vaughan, Director of Customer Success at Silverline Solutions, and we're flipping the script on one of CS's most loaded words. Churn doesn't always mean you failed. Sometimes it means you got smarter about who you're actually building for. We're breaking down the concept of good churn -- what it is, how to spot it, and why holding on to the wrong customers is costing you more than letting them go ever would. Bad fit customers, legacy accounts on outdated plans, customers who've outgrown you (or you've outgrown them) -- they all have something in common. They're draining your team, distorting your metrics, and quietly holding your business back. Dannah brings the real operator perspective on what it actually looks like to make these calls in the field -- and how to have the internal conversations that make good churn a strategy, not a failure. This one is for every CS leader who's been told "just save the account" without anyone stopping to ask if that account was worth saving in the first place. Churn so good, baby.

    EPS 10: Churn So Good: When Losing Customers Is Actually Winning

  5. May 13

    EPS 9: Show Me the Money - CS Leader Edition

    You're managing a book of business worth millions. You're driving retention, expansion, and customer outcomes. And yet, somehow, you're still begging for budget like you're asking your parents for an allowance. Sound familiar? In this episode, Kristi Faltorusso sits down with Raffaella Fontes to get real about why CS leaders are so bad at asking for resources -- and why the system makes it almost impossible to win even when you try. From being kept in the dark on budgets to having zero influence over how money actually gets allocated, they dig into the structural dysfunction that keeps CS teams underfunded and underestimated. This isn't a pep talk. It's a reality check, a rant, and a roadmap -- all in one. You'll walk away knowing exactly why CS keeps losing the budget conversation, and what it actually takes to start winning it.

    EPS 9: Show Me the Money - CS Leader Edition

  6. May 12

    EPS 9: Show Me The Money - CS Leader Edition

    You're managing a book of business worth millions. You're driving retention, expansion, and customer outcomes. And yet, somehow, you're still begging for budget like you're asking your parents for an allowance. Sound familiar? In this episode, Kristi Faltorusso sits down with Raffaella Fontes to get real about why CS leaders are so bad at asking for resources -- and why the system makes it almost impossible to win even when you try. From being kept in the dark on budgets to having zero influence over how money actually gets allocated, they dig into the structural dysfunction that keeps CS teams underfunded and underestimated. This isn't a pep talk. It's a reality check, a rant, and a roadmap -- all in one. You'll walk away knowing exactly why CS keeps losing the budget conversation, and what it actually takes to start winning it.

  7. Apr 13

    EPS 8: Survive or Thrive: The Real Cost of Lazy CSM Onboarding

    Most companies spend months recruiting top CS talent and then hand them a laptop, a Salesforce login, and absolutely zero plan. The result? Burned out CSMs, frustrated customers, and churn that nobody wants to trace back to a broken onboarding process. In this episode, I'm joined by Sarah Walton, Customer Success Enablement Specialist at Trimble, who has made it her mission to fix exactly that. Sarah is in the trenches every day building the systems, training programs, and support structures that turn new hires into confident, effective CSMs. She knows what good looks like and she is not afraid to call out what lazy looks like either. We get into the real cost of skipping a structured ramp, why experienced hires still need onboarding (yes, all of them), and what a 30/60/90 day plan should actually include beyond product demos and good vibes. If you lead a CS team, are building out an enablement function, or just started a new role and immediately thought "what is happening here," this one is for you. 🎧 What we cover: Why most CSM onboarding sets people up to fail from day oneThe difference between product training and real readinessHow to build a ramp program with actual milestones and accountabilityWhat good looks like at 30, 60, and 90 daysThe metrics that tell you if your onboarding is actually working

  8. Mar 27

    EPS 7: It's Not Them, It's You. Why Execs Aren't Showing Up and What to Do.

    Your executives are skipping your business reviews. And I'm going to tell you something that might sting: it's not them. It's you. In this solo episode, I'm breaking down exactly why the traditional QBR is broken and what to do before your next one. QBRs were never a SaaS motion. They were borrowed from consulting and nobody questioned it. Somewhere along the way they turned into useless status updates that waste everyone's time. The review and the reflection? Leave that to AI. Humans should be in the room doing what AI can't: planning, challenging, advising, and partnering around what comes next. If you're going to run business reviews, here's what has to change: 1. Rename it. Call it a Goal Planning Session. 2. Flip the agenda. Look forward, not back. 3. Lead with the exec summary. Slide one, not slide nine. 4. Drop the spin. Own the bad quarter. 5. Come with a POV and proof. 6. Ask better questions and actually follow the thread. The teams getting the most out of their business reviews aren't the ones with the best decks. They're the ones who show up with a plan, a point of view, and real curiosity. Save this one before your next business review. Find me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kristifaltorusso More at kristifaltorusso.com

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You closed the deal, somebody rang the bell in Slack, and the whole company moved on to the next one. Now the customer is yours, and so is the renewal, the expansion and the number your CEO is going to ask about. After the Close is the customer revenue podcast for the operators running post-sale teams. I’m Kristi Faltorusso, and I’ve led customer revenue at five companies, so I’ll tell you what I’ve seen work and what I got wrong. Every week, in about 20 minutes, you’ll walk away with one move you can use this week and the words to explain it to your CEO, CRO or board. Some weeks it’s just me, and some weeks a leader joins me for Behind the Decision to walk through a hard call they made. Because closing the deal was the easy part. Get the newsletter at kristifaltorusso.com/newsletter

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