or working with more consultants. All these changes are intended to crack the top of the funnel in some way.
FOCUSING ON EXISTING CUSTOMERS Additionally, CROs are trying to focus on delighting their current custom- ers to improve retention rates and upsell opportunities. In turn, customer success teams are going through a paradigm shift. Historically, within most organizations, customer success as a department was intended to do exactly that: enable customer success. But over time, those team members became little more than a shoulder for customers to cry on. Customer churn became so terrible during 2021 and 2022 (when SaaS companies had an average of 13% churn) that CROs had to take a step back and evaluate why they had customer success as a department at all. If it was work- ing, then retention should be higher. Customer success had failed to prove its worth to CROs. Many CROs then decided to sepa- rate customer success into two teams: account management and customer support. This way, account managers could focus on upselling and cross- selling, while customer support could
SELLING TIP
Practice Optimism for Positive Performance
Optimists see each minute of each day as a time to en- joy, treasure, and use for all it’s worth. An optimistic at- titude requires nourishment. The people you associate with have a tremendous impact on your attitude – what you hear and talk about shapes your thoughts. Upbeat, fun-loving people who are honest and shar-
ing will increase your enthusiasm and appreciation of life. Intelligent people will sharpen your wits, and courageous and disciplined people will inspire you to be physically, mentally, and emotionally tough. Form friendships with people who have positive characteris- tics and goals that are similar to yours. They will share information that will spark ideas for constructive action. You will feed each other’s enthusiasm.
“Customer success teams are going through a paradigm shift.”
truly listen to the customer and help them succeed. This restructuring has benefited organizations looking to achieve revenue and retention goals.
REASSESSING SALES
ENABLEMENT AND INVESTMENT Another area CROs are evaluating is where they’re losing out on go-to- market efficiency. The more they look, the more they see that their invest- ments in quota-carrying reps are not as high as they should be, and they have many enabling functions across their revenue organizations (whether SDRs, sales enablement folks, sales engineers, etc.). As an example, the sales engineer
ratio has been increasing in numerous companies. This means there are a lot of non-commission, high-salary individ- uals on their payroll and not enough quota-carrying investment happening. This has encouraged many CROs to turn to AI to take on some enabling functions to improve efficiency. AI can help automate certain tasks, allowing sales reps and other
revenue-generating roles to focus on activities directly contributing to revenue growth. By leveraging AI and other advanced technologies, CROs can streamline operations and ensure that every part of the sales process works optimally.
IN CLOSING As more and more is demanded of CROs, and as the role continues to grow more prevalent and powerful, these leaders are becoming proactive change agents within their organiza- tions. To succeed, they must balance traditional approaches with modern, data-driven strategies and pay careful attention to how they’re allocating resources. Only the CROs who do this – and also redefine sales and customer success roles and adopt new technology – will position their companies for sustainable growth for years to come.
Arjun Pillai is the co-founder and CEO of DocketAI, an AI-driven revenue enable- ment platform.
Here are some simple techniques to help you practice
optimism today: 1. Don’t let negative people affect your attitude. Keep injecting optimism into the conversation. Make a game of it. For every pessimistic remark they make, try to say something optimistic.
2. Before you go to sleep, spend at least 10 minutes thinking of everything you have (and will have) to be grateful for.
3. Spread some happiness. If you make someone else happy, you will share some of that happiness. Com- pliment as many people as you can – their qualities, efforts, accomplishments, or appearance. Thank someone who did you a favor; encourage someone who is struggling with a problem. It may take a little effort to keep your optimism in your daily life, but the rewards are so great they cannot be measured. Happiness is a state of mind, and your mind can produce it!
– WILLIAM EDDY
SELLING POWER MAY/JUNE 2025 | 25 © 2025 SELLING POWER
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