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When unexpected changes in the economy happen, companies are expected to make swift changes to their strategies. Executives know that slower deals and fewer resources are on the horizon, but the business goals will remain the same. Anything that does not serve those goals gets cut. 

The issue with this approach is when the wrong cuts are made. Fast decisions tend to be made with incomplete information, or worse, incorrect data. Rather than making their team more productive, companies make it more difficult for their team to do their best work. 

Time and time again, we see that the answer to growing your business is not to completely reimagine your approach. Rather, it’s finding the playbooks and behaviors that are already driving revenue and repeating those strategies across your entire customer base. In other words, the answer is looking to your current customer success team. 

Let us explain. 

The undeniable value of your existing customers

The past few years have taught all of us that it’s nearly impossible to predict the kind of market you’ll be selling to from one quarter to the next. Conversations with prospects that seem promising one week can be dead in the water the next. The cost of acquiring a new customer can quickly become too expensive for your organization to maintain. 

One thing that remains constant, though, is the efficiency of selling to your existing customer base. According to SaaStr, your current customer will spend over 30% more than new customers. What’s more, companies report 75% of new revenue coming from their current customer base. To put it more plainly, focusing on your current customer is the most effective growth strategy, especially during an economic downturn. 

Operationalized customer success strategies drive revenue

If the answer to increasing revenue with fewer resources is focusing on your existing customer, then the most important growth strategies live within your customer success (CS) organization. Your customer success managers (CSMs) know which account is ready to expand their product usage and who to talk to begin upsell conversations. CSMs also know the necessary steps to get each account to this stage. 

What is less clear, however, is whether each CSM on your team is growing your current customer base in the most efficient way possible. With so many tools and platforms to engage each customer, organizations do not have a reliable way to identify or operationalize their best practices. In the best of times, that might not be a cause for concern. But as CS teams take a bigger role in driving revenue, effective and scalable strategies are critical. 

According to Ventana Research, companies are turning to workflow intelligence tools to build these strategies. With complete visibility into how their teams are engaging with the customers, when, and where, organizations can differentiate between the engagements that lead to new revenue, and the ones that have a negative impact on the customer’s journey. 

With that kind of comprehensive understanding of best practices, companies aren’t at risk of cutting resources for their greatest revenue drivers. They can double down on what makes their team succeed, and their bottom line will be better for it. 

Learn more about the expanding role of customer success in today’s market

Creating an exceptional customer journey is a complex problem to solve. Today’s market adds another layer of complexity. But there are organizations finding a way to thrive despite all of these challenges. 

To learn how they’re tackling these challenges, and how workflow intelligence data can help you reach your business goals, download “The Expanding Role of Customer Success in Uncertain Markets” the newest whitepaper from Ventana Research. You’ll learn the behaviors and tools organizations use to identify and operationalize their best practices and drive revenue growth.