Stop Leaving Money on the Table: How to Increase Revenue with Your Customer Success Team

The way companies grow revenue has changed. In today's market, closing a deal is no longer the finish line; it's the starting block. The most successful businesses are those that transform customer success into a powerful revenue engine. This requires sales, marketing, and customer success teams to work together to build long-term relationships that lead to more business, higher retention, and powerful client advocacy.

At Sandler, we know that success is built on having the right conversations—not just before the sale, but long after. Let's dive into how aligning your teams can create explosive growth.

The New Revenue Driver: Why Customer Success Is Key

The traditional model of chasing new logos at any cost is outdated and expensive. The numbers don't lie:

• Acquisition costs are soaring. It's 70% more expensive to win a new customer today than it was just five years ago.

• Retention is highly profitable. Increasing customer retention by just 5% can boost your profits by as much as 95%.

• Expansion is a goldmine. Selling to an existing customer is 5 to 25 times more profitable than acquiring a new one.

It's clear: customer success isn't just a support function; it’s a growth strategy.

Shift Your Mindset from Funnel to Flywheel

Many companies still use a traditional sales funnel that ends with a "closed-won" deal. But the most successful organizations have adopted a flywheel model. In this model, every stage of the customer lifecycle—from onboarding to advocacy—generates more value, more referrals, and more revenue.

Here’s where marketing and customer success come in:

• Marketing doesn't just generate leads. It's now responsible for supporting onboarding education, driving ongoing engagement, and helping create advocates who sell on your behalf.

• Customer success ensures clients get value quickly and consistently. This lays the groundwork for future upsells, renewals, and cross-sells.

Four Stages to Drive Sustainable Growth

To build this new revenue engine, focus on these four key stages:

1. Onboarding: Your goal is to get the client their first "win" within the first 30 days. Set expectations early with a clear Sandler Up-Front Contract, and use a mix of automation and personal touches to build momentum.

2. Activation: Help customers quickly adopt your core features or services. Track key usage milestones and proactively provide resources to keep them engaged and using the product.

3. Expansion: Look for signals that clients are ready for more. Trigger upsell or cross-sell conversations based on their behavior, connecting new opportunities to fresh pain points you've uncovered post-sale.

4. Advocacy: Turn happy clients into your best sales reps. Actively ask for testimonials, referrals, and reviews. Then, share their success stories to inspire others and attract new business.

Make It Happen: Actionable Tools & Tactics

• Create a cross-functional "Voice of the Customer" team. Have sales, marketing, and customer success meet regularly to share insights and align on a shared agenda for retention and growth.

• Use data to drive your plays. Leverage your CRM and AI tools to identify risks, track customer behavior, and spot opportunities for advocacy.

• Keep messaging consistent. Ensure marketing campaigns support customer success conversations and reinforce your team’s use of the Sandler methodology.

Your Next 30 Days: A Sandler Challenge

Ready to put this into action? Here's how to get started immediately:

1. Audit your post-sale journey. Map out your process and identify any gaps in onboarding, activation, expansion, or advocacy.

2. Align your teams with one shared goal: growing revenue through retention and expansion.

3. Launch your first campaign. This could be a "celebration" email for a milestone, a webinar for your best clients, or a simple referral ask.

4. Measure and iterate. Track customer experience (CX) metrics and marketing outcomes to learn what works and what doesn't.

Your revenue engine doesn't end when a deal is signed. In fact, that's where the real growth begins. By uniting marketing and customer success—and reinforcing their efforts with core Sandler principles—you can increase your revenue while building a base of clients who stay longer, spend more, and bring others with them.

Ready to transform your post-sale process into a powerful engine for growth? Contact us today to learn how Sandler can help your teams align and succeed.