In the rapidly evolving business world, the focus is often skewed towards acquiring new customers.
However, the real magic happens when we tap into the potential of our existing customer base.
Welcome to the realm of ‘Selling to Existing Customers,’ an arena that has the power to catapult your business towards exponential growth, if maneuvered correctly.
This blog post explores this topic further, drawing from insights shared in episode 23 of our Impact Weekly podcast.
Customer Success Podcast: Impact Weekly Episode 23
If you want to go deep on this topic, listen to this episode of our Customer Success podcast, Impact Weekly, that comes out every Wednesday. You can listen below or on your favorite podcast app:
Understanding Customer Success-Driven Opportunities
So, what exactly does selling to existing customers mean? It’s more than merely upselling or cross-selling.
Instead, it’s about viewing the customer journey from the lens of customer success. By helping our customers move through various progress milestones and meeting their evolving needs, we enable them to derive more value from our product or service.
This, in turn, creates organic opportunities for expansion.
The key here is to avoid rushing the process or pressuring the customer into purchasing something they don’t need.
Instead, it’s about helping the customer realize their progress and potential, subsequently leading them to the realization that they would benefit from expanding their investment with you.
Cooperation Between Customer Success and Sales
To make this approach successful, it’s critical to foster an environment of cooperation between your customer success and sales teams.
See my post on RevOps Evolved for a deeper-dive into this multi-pronged growth mechanism.
The responsibility of nurturing customers through progress milestones and identifying expansion opportunities should ideally rest with the customer success team.
The sales team then steps in to close the deal, ensuring the process doesn’t feel like a one-way street where customer success is merely a lead source for sales.
This cooperation is crucial for both internal clarity and external communication with customers.
A well-defined process with clear responsibilities minimizes confusion and enhances the customer experience, strengthening their trust in your organization.
The Training Imperative for Effective Expansion
Now, it’s important to understand that expansion is a huge growth opportunity, but it’s also vastly different from new business sales.
If customer success is to drive expansion, the team needs to be adequately trained. This means equipping them with the skills and knowledge to cultivate customer relationships, identify opportunities for upselling or cross-selling, and communicate these opportunities effectively to customers.
Check out our Impact Academy Customer Success training programs to ensure your Customer Success Managers (CSMs) are well-trained on how to do this.
While expansion may seem daunting, with the right training, CSMs can become catalysts for exponential growth in your organization.
Customer-Centric Expansion: The Game Changer
Selling to existing customers, when done right, is a game-changer. It enhances customer relationships, opens doors for expansion, and leads to exponential business growth.
But remember, the approach matters. By focusing on customer success, fostering cooperation between teams, and investing in proper training, you can unlock the true potential of your existing customer base.
Make an Impact… Weekly
Don’t miss out on similar insights and more by subscribing to our Impact Weekly podcast. Every Wednesday, we share valuable tips and strategies to navigate the complex world of Customer Success Management.
With the Impact Weekly podcast, you’ll stay one step ahead in your journey to Customer Success excellence. Subscribe today, and never miss an episode!
About Lincoln Murphy