Keep the C-suite close, AFTER the sale

I have previously the need to engage the Decision Makers/Economic Buyer early in the process. It massively increases the win rate.

But even teams that get this right, can slip up on the next step: postsale engagement with the same people. If you’re looking for any further business, and nearly everybody is, it’s crucial to retain that engagement.

Psychologically, businesses, from the CEO and even Board downwards, have a heavy focus on new logo acquisition. The amount of time spent on planning this, measuring this, driving this often drowns out the efforts on existing business growth. One symptom of this is that the executive team does not remain engaged with key players at the customers. That same C-suite that we nurtured so carefully presale, gets neglected.

Don’t! Make sure they remain front of mind.

⭐ The CSMs / post sales team must make this happen, plan and maintain cadences that include multi-level hierarchy engagement. This can be through QBRs, 1-1s, emails on interesting topics, … Then remind the executives in your company what they need to do and when – and hold them to account for doing it.

⭐ If the sales team is not responsible for ongoing relationships and expansion, then ensure that the Customer Success or other post sales leader is introduced early to the senior stakeholders that the sales leader was engaged with. Make the time to hand this over properly and warmly.

⭐ Maintain a scorecard or tracking as to the depth of senior relationships with your key customers. Do not allow it to drop below a certain level. This should be reported at least monthly to the executive team.

And don’t forget to continue multithreading. That same Ebsta report finds that you need 5 engagements across the organisation for the best expansion opportunities. And includes your day-to-day contact, the Decision Maker/Economic Buyer/C-suite we are talking about here, and others who can influence and who are impacted by your solution.