Unprecedented is an understatement. This year, we’re seeing:
- 54% of sales pros say selling is harder than it’s ever been
- Leads who aren’t converting due to inflation
- The slow-motion trudge of the sales process stops even the few that convert
- Companies are taking fewer risks than ever with their budgets (State of Sales Report)
Amidst such a tumultuous Sales landscape, it’s time you stood out by pushing for increased CS <> Sales alignment and collaboration.
Why and how?
Simple - Sales should report on their activity to CS.
Outrageous, you say? Let us walk you through it.
Who sales reports to now
First off, we are not arguing that CS oversees or manages Sales. That would be ineffective, adding unnecessary friction to the sales process and frustrating reps. No, instead, we think Sales should simply CC customer success in all their reporting. Today, the Head of Sales typically reports to one of the following:
- Another sales function - such as the Director of Sales.
- The CEO directly - or another C-level function - which is most often the case.
- The CMO or Director of Marketing - occasionally, when it's a marketing-focused org, Sales is beholden to the brand positioning set by Marketing and must report to the CMO.
Certainly not an overly complex org chart. What then would be the harm to simply ensuring stakeholder visibility for their colleagues in customer success?
Why customer success reports to the C-suite
Let’s see the counterpoint: quite a few salespeople seem to argue the opposite - that CS should, in fact, report to Sales. This stems mostly from decade-old organizational models that seem, at best outdated and, at worst, completely out of touch with reality.
It’s almost funny to think of the wide-eyed optimism and naivety of a time when most of the business sector was hung up on the differences between CS and Sales, while we strongly believed CSMs should have single roles, some handling customer service, some more on the sales side, others leveraging partnerships, and so on.
Today, we know that’s not the case. We know 42.4% of CSMs are responsible for 10+ major job functions (CSM Insights Report 2024). We know CS is typically in charge of upsells. As such, it makes complete sense for CS to report directly to the CEO or CRO, but still that doesn’t discount the possibility of CC-ing Sales, particularly for reporting on expansion revenue and efforts. In fact, CSMs often do send larger upgrades back to Sales - so why not guarantee visibility for all expansion efforts?
On customer centricity and customer outcomes as the organizational north star
This brings us to our second main point - both CS and Sales should make an effort to report to each other on critical activities relating to the others’ job functions. In an effort to increase customer centricity, focus on customer outcomes, and align on core values and customer success as a guiding precept.
Remember: one of CS’s organizational responsibilities is to own the customer-first approach and help ensure everyone’s aligned on it. Time and again, it’s been proven that taking great care of customers leads to increased revenue retention and more successful upsells. It’s far from a secret, as the same State of Sales report cited above also says 72% of business revenue comes from existing customers.
Sales should therefore be an ally in CS’s efforts to ensure retention and help their teammates who are struggling with their sales skills. CS can easily ensure Sales sees their expansion opportunities, efforts, and struggles, allowing for increased collaboration in closing those upsells and greater efficiency when passing large upgrades over to Sales.
Furthermore, picture an org where Sales isn’t clued into the customer-first approach championed by CS. They could be closing deals with prospects who can never achieve their goals with the company’s product or services, leading to higher churn and a lot of time wasted.
Alternatively, imagine CS is involved in the sales process - they can find ways to provide value quicker, shortening the slow burn of the sales process and convincing prospects they’ve chosen well.
So, naturally, what’s the best solution to improve alignment and collaboration?
Maybe sales and customer success should report to each other
There’s long been talk of reviewing weekly sales data as a team - we think that review should also cover CS expansion efforts. Likewise, CS should also review sales data relating to new prospects and ongoing conversations, scanning for ways they could aid the process and help close deals sooner.
Let’s go through the main arguments once again:
- It’s not a question of management - but reporting. CS shouldn’t manage Sales just as Sales doesn’t need to manage CS.
- However, both Sales and CS have a relatively simple org chart and typically report to their own teams and the CEO or CRO. So, it should be easy for both teams to CC each other on critical areas where visibility is essential.
- Sales often have discussions where a CSM would be extremely helpful. Adding CS to the process can help secure better prospects, demo the product earlier, and shorten TTV, as even before the full sales flow is complete, the potential customer will have attained some value from the account CSM - enough for them to stick around until the contract is actually signed.
- We know how much revenue comes from existing customers - revenue that CS guards and nurtures constantly and diligently. According to the same CSM Insights Report, 63.4% are responsible for expansion, leading to many customer conversations where increased Sales expertise would be invaluable. In fact, larger account growth opportunities are typically passed to Sales, so it makes sense to further that collaboration.
We’ve seen what a lack of collaboration means. We’ve seen what poorly understood customer success principles can lead to. And we firmly believe that it is through teamwork that we can move forward.
Summing up
Maybe if sales and CS reported to each-other, the customers would be better-fit, CS could jump in sooner and provide value, retention and loyalty respectively would grow, and expansion would be easier with improved sales skills.
So, how are you going to take charge of better reporting, increased alignment, and more collaboration between Sales and CS?
This article was written by Irina Vatafu, Head of Customer Success at Custify.
