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#dfdfdf}:where(amp-accordion>section)>:last-child{margin:0}}amp-accordion>section{float:none!important}amp-accordion>section>*{float:none!important;display:block!important;overflow:hidden!important;position:relative!important}amp-accordion,amp-accordion>section{margin:0}amp-accordion:not(.i-amphtml-built)>section>:last-child{display:none!important}amp-accordion:not(.i-amphtml-built)>section[expanded]>:last-child{display:block!important} /*# sourceURL=/css/ampshared.css*/</style><meta name="amp-to-amp-navigation" content="AMP-Redirect-To; AMP.navigateTo"><meta name="description" content="Customer Success is when your customers achieve their Desired Outcome through their interactions with your company. Those interactions include the sales cycle."><meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"><meta property="og:type" content="article"><meta property="og:title" content="Sales is Part of Customer Success"><meta property="og:description" content="Customer Success is when your customers achieve their Desired Outcome through their interactions with your company. Those interactions include the sales cycle."><meta property="og:url" content="https://sixteenventures.com/sales-customer-success"><meta property="og:site_name" content="Maximizing Lifetime Value by Lincoln Murphy"><meta property="article:publisher" content="https://www.facebook.com/sixteenventures"><meta property="article:published_time" content="2018-01-03T18:58:06+00:00"><meta property="article:modified_time" content="2020-08-24T05:19:48+00:00"><meta property="og:image" content="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sales-is-Part-of-Customer-Success.png"><meta property="og:image:width" content="1024"><meta property="og:image:height" content="512"><meta property="og:image:type" content="image/png"><meta name="author" content="Lincoln Murphy"><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"><meta name="twitter:creator" content="@lincolnmurphy"><meta name="twitter:site" content="@lincolnmurphy"><meta name="twitter:label1" content="Written by"><meta 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(1k+ clients, 10k+ pros trained)","sameAs":["https://ltvmax.com","https://www.instagram.com/lincolnmurphy/","https://www.linkedin.com/in/lincolnmurphy/","https://x.com/lincolnmurphy"],"url":"https://sixteenventures.com/author/lincoln"}]}</script><title>Sales is Part of Customer Success</title></head> <body class=""> <header id="top" class="amp-wp-header"> <div> <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/?amp=1"> <span class="amp-site-title"> Maximizing Lifetime Value by Lincoln Murphy </span> </a> </div> </header> <article class="amp-wp-article"> <header class="amp-wp-article-header"> <h1 class="amp-wp-title">Customer Success and Sales: Why the Latter determines the Former</h1> <div class="amp-wp-meta amp-wp-byline"> <amp-img src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3334de1f544b64f1d1b3383098d14892?s=72&d=mm&r=g" srcset=" https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3334de1f544b64f1d1b3383098d14892?s=24&d=mm&r=g 1x, https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3334de1f544b64f1d1b3383098d14892?s=48&d=mm&r=g 2x, https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3334de1f544b64f1d1b3383098d14892?s=72&d=mm&r=g 3x " alt="Lincoln Murphy" width="24" height="24" layout="fixed" class="i-amphtml-layout-fixed i-amphtml-layout-size-defined" style="width:24px;height:24px" i-amphtml-layout="fixed"></amp-img> <span class="amp-wp-author author vcard">Lincoln Murphy</span> </div> <div class="amp-wp-meta amp-wp-posted-on"> <time datetime="2018-01-03T18:58:06+00:00"> 7 years ago </time> </div> </header> <div class="amp-wp-article-content"> <p>Sales is part of Customer Success. Like it or not.</p> <p><amp-img class="alignright wp-image-7377 amp-wp-enforced-sizes i-amphtml-layout-intrinsic i-amphtml-layout-size-defined" src="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sales-is-Part-of-Customer-Success-1024x512.png" alt="" width="400" height="200" srcset="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sales-is-Part-of-Customer-Success.png 1024w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sales-is-Part-of-Customer-Success-300x150.png 300w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sales-is-Part-of-Customer-Success-768x384.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" layout="intrinsic" disable-inline-width="" i-amphtml-layout="intrinsic"><i-amphtml-sizer slot="i-amphtml-svc" class="i-amphtml-sizer"><img alt="" aria-hidden="true" class="i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer" role="presentation" src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyBoZWlnaHQ9IjIwMCIgd2lkdGg9IjQwMCIgeG1sbnM9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzIwMDAvc3ZnIiB2ZXJzaW9uPSIxLjEiLz4="></i-amphtml-sizer><noscript><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sales-is-Part-of-Customer-Success-1024x512.png" alt="" width="400" height="200" srcset="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sales-is-Part-of-Customer-Success.png 1024w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sales-is-Part-of-Customer-Success-300x150.png 300w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sales-is-Part-of-Customer-Success-768x384.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px"></noscript></amp-img>No, I don’t mean the Sales organization should report to the Customer Success Management org.</p> <p>I mean that <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/customer-success-simple?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Customer Success</a> as an Operating Philosophy, as a way of doing business, includes sales. It includes marketing, product, support, etc, too.</p> <p>It’s critical to understand that Customer Success is not just about “post-sale.”</p> <p>Customer Success is when your customers achieve their <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/desired-outcome?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Desired Outcome</a> through their interactions with your company.</p> <p>Those interactions start early – from the first marketing touchpoint, at the start of the sales cycle, on the first cold outreach email by your SDR – and they continue throughout the entire lifecycle of the customer.</p> <p>Which means we need to be thinking about Customer Success when creating marketing campaigns, determining <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/ideal-customer-profile?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ideal Customers</a>, optimizing the sales cycle, etc.</p> <p>In fact, let’s talk about Sales.</p> <p>Sales is important. Sales is critical.</p> <p>But…</p> <p></p> <h2>Sales to Offset Churn</h2> <p>In far too many companies, a huge portion of the short-term sales goals are set simply make up for the loss of revenue from churn.</p> <p>Think about that for a minute.</p> <p>We need to close $10M in new business this quarter… but $3M of that will simply replace what was lost last quarter, so we’ll only be up $7M on all that effort and expense.</p> <p>Yeah, we’re up some.</p> <p>But so much of that hustle.</p> <p>So much of that closer coffee.</p> <p>So much of it is there simply to offset churn.</p> <p>How is that gong-worthy? How?</p> <h2>Growth is the Goal</h2> <p>Look, I just had an AMAZING meeting with the SALES leader of a company… it was AMAZING.</p> <p>When possible, I work to engage the sales organization of a company.</p> <p>It’s not “us” vs. “them.”</p> <p>I’m not a “Customer Success” guy… I’m a Growth guy.</p> <p>I want us all working in the same direction.</p> <p>So I am not anti-sales by any stretch.</p> <p>I’m 100% pro-sales.</p> <h2>Sell, Sell, Sell (One Caveat)</h2> <p>Please sell more.</p> <p>Sell all you can.</p> <p>Beat your quota by a mile (or 1.6km if that’s how you roll).</p> <p>Reach for the stars.</p> <p>Whatever.</p> <p>Just do it by selling to good-fit customers.</p> <p>Sell to customers with <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/success-potential?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Success Potential</a>.</p> <p>You can’t solve <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/upstream-problems?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">upstream problems, down stream</a>.</p> <p>It’s really very simple.</p> <h2>Don’t Close Bad-fit Customers</h2> <p>Now, if eliminating bad-fit customers from your territory, target customers, pipeline, or whatever will not leave you with enough leads to work…</p> <p>…then you need to rethink your business, prospecting, lead gen, ToFu strategy, etc., not try to close bad-fit customers.</p> <p>Real, professional salespeople building their careers and early-retirements in sales (vs.short-term, desperate, gotta-hit-my-bs-numbers-or-get-fired salespeople who float through sales between other jobs), go into each sale with a goal of 100% referencability. (why? think about it)</p> <p>You don’t get that by <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/churn-bad-fit-customer?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">closing bad-fit customers</a>.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://www.customergrowthlab.com/maximizing-lifetime-value-book-early-access" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><amp-img width="1080" height="1080" src="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square.png" alt="" class="wp-image-9001 amp-wp-enforced-sizes i-amphtml-layout-intrinsic i-amphtml-layout-size-defined" srcset="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square.png 1080w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square-300x300.png 300w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square-150x150.png 150w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square-768x768.png 768w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square-600x600.png 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px" layout="intrinsic" disable-inline-width="" i-amphtml-layout="intrinsic"><i-amphtml-sizer slot="i-amphtml-svc" class="i-amphtml-sizer"><img alt="" aria-hidden="true" class="i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer" role="presentation" src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyBoZWlnaHQ9IjEwODAiIHdpZHRoPSIxMDgwIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIvPg=="></i-amphtml-sizer><noscript><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1080" height="1080" src="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square.png" alt="" srcset="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square.png 1080w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square-300x300.png 300w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square-150x150.png 150w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square-768x768.png 768w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ltvmax-book-16V-square-600x600.png 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px"></noscript></amp-img></a></figure> </div> <footer class="amp-wp-article-footer"> <div class="amp-wp-meta amp-wp-tax-category"> Categories: <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/category/customer-success?amp=1" rel="category tag">Customer Success</a> </div> </footer> </article> <footer class="amp-wp-footer"> <div> <h2>Maximizing Lifetime Value by Lincoln Murphy</h2> <a href="#top" class="back-to-top">Back to top</a> </div> </footer> <div id="amp-mobile-version-switcher"> <a rel="nofollow" href="https://sixteenventures.com/sales-customer-success?noamp=mobile"> Exit mobile version </a> </div> </body></html>