Historically siloed as a post-sales function, CSMs possess deep wells of knowledge about their existing customers that can move the needle for sales teams and help secure new deals. In many ways, customer success is the ultimate sales enablement strategy.
We often think of customer success as something that kicks in after the sale – onboarding new customers, driving product adoption, and identifying expansion opportunities. But smart companies are realizing there's a huge missed opportunity by not involving customer success teams much earlier in the process.
These are the frontline experts who live and breathe working hand-in-hand with your customer base daily. They intimately understand the challenges, goals, processes, and human elements that lead to successful outcomes. Their boots-on-the-ground experience gives them unparalleled insights into tailoring your solutions, mitigating risks, and mapping your capabilities to tangible impact.
By involving customer success upfront in the sales cycle, you unlock a powerful force multiplier.
How CSMs can help close deals pre-sale
Rather than just touting product capabilities, your sales team gains indispensable companions who can map prospects' objectives to real-world examples, use cases, and proven best practices from your existing customers. CSMs contribute practical frontline insights, risk mitigation strategies, and tangible roadmaps to architect success from day one.
This collaborative sales enablement approach combines your sales team's talent for pipeline management and deal navigation with customer success's expertise in driving adoption and realizing maximum value. It's a potent pairing that elevates deal conversations beyond hypotheticals and PowerPoints to "Here's exactly how we've helped others just like you achieve X."
From the prospect's perspective, they get to experience your customer-obsession ethos from the very start. Instead of just brushing the surface on envisioning a partnership, they get an in-depth preview of the tailored solutions, strategic guidance, and white-glove treatment that has catalyzed success for your existing clients. This tangible demonstration solidifies you as a trusted partner before the deal is even signed.
Mark Higginson
The impact of a united front
Leading companies are tearing down the archaic departmental silos and positioning customer success as a pre-sales force multiplier. They structure discovery calls and platform demonstrations as united forces - customer success professionals AND sales counterparts co-shaping the narrative together.
This cross-functional collaboration is the true "secret sauce" in reliably delivering differentiated buyer experiences and predictable outcomes. It marries the mastery of sales motions with the pragmatic client journey expertise of customer success teams.
Customer success brings an ethos of empathy, patience, and "becoming a part of the tribe" that beautifully complements a sales team's momentum, hustle, and ambition to get deals across the finish line. Rather than mercenaries constantly scanning for new territories to conquer, customer success practitioners are more akin to anthropologists – quietly studying patterns, building relationships, and supporting customers in their natural environments.
This potent combination breaks down combative customer-vendor dichotomies from the start. Prospects don't just engage with a self-oriented sales machine waving dollar signs. They experience a well-orchestrated village of professionals obsessed with their long-term success – a stark contrast to traditional transactional peddlers.
Grace Gupta
A crucial investment
Is involving customer success pre-sales more effort? Absolutely. It requires commitment from leadership to embrace customer success as a company-wide philosophy rather than an isolated post-sales function. There must be organizational buy-in that customer success should be introduced as early as possible as a competitive differentiator.
Speak the language of value
After all, most buyers nowadays are less swayed by "me too" product platitudes than they are by seeing a credible path to achieving their nuanced goals. Bringing customer success managers into the mix allows you to speak that language fluently and make your case with proof providers.
Cross-functional collaboration
There's also the internal change management of structuring compensation, incentives, and processes to foster consistent cross-functional collaboration between customer success and sales teams. But this upfront investment brings massive dividends:
- Higher win rates and shorter sales cycles as you more effectively qualify, shape, and articulate tailored solutions that resonate
- Stronger expansion revenue from nurturing a "customer for life" mindset from the initial engagement
- A reputation for being professionals who guarantee success, not just sell products
- Differentiated buyer experiences that minimize churn and foster raving fans
Ultimately, incorporating customer success as a pre-sales force multiplier positions your entire organization to consistently deliver exceptional customer experiences and sustainable business growth.
Grace Gupta
How about building a customer success team of your own?
It's time to learn how
Has this article opened your eyes to the possibility of building your own customer success function, we have the perfect course to help you position CS to a leadership team and establish a successful customer success operation.
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By taking this course, you'll discover how to:
🔧 Leverage technology and automation to streamline customer success operations and improve efficiency.
🧑🎨 Sculpt out a strong CS function and learn for your business, including where CS slots into the client experience and why it’s an investment for the future.
🎨 Create effective customer onboarding processes and ensure a seamless transition from sales to customer success, setting the stage for long-term relationships.
🧱 Build a culture of continuous improvement by cultivating a mindset of learning and growth within your customer success team.
