Customer Experience in Sales

I got on the phone with a sales rep who asked about my challenges, then told me his product was not for me. This happened in the first five minutes of our call. He went on to offer a few suggestions on what would suit me better. That’s what the buying process should be like, but it’s a rarity that calls go this way. The best salespeople act like advisors. They’re not selling with a sledgehammer, drilling their products into your face, and pushing their agenda. They’re asking questions, figuring out what the problem is, and trying to find a solution, even if they’re not a fit. They show up to calls to solve your problem, not sell their solution. And by doing just that, they either spark a relationship by recommending others that are a better fit, or they end up selling their solution because they actually understand what you’re trying to solve for.

Throughout my decade-long journey in the tech industry, if there's one lesson that’s stuck with me, it’s this: your connection with your customers is everything. At Supersourcing, we’ve woven this belief into the fabric of our business. And trust me, it’s made all the difference. Here’s how we keep our customer focus sharp and true: - Listen First, Act Fast: Early on, I learned that listening isn’t just about hearing words; it’s about understanding your customers' underlying needs and emotions. We prioritize active listening—through regular feedback loops and candid conversations—so that when we act, it’s both swift and deeply aligned with what our clients actually want. - Tailored Solutions, Not One-Size-Fits-All: One of the most transformative shifts we made was moving from a transactional mindset to a partnership approach. It helps us understand our clients’ bigger picture—what are their goals? What keeps them up at night? We tailor our solutions to align with these insights, making our support feel less like a service and more like a collaboration. - Transparent Communication Builds Trust: I can’t stress enough how much transparency has contributed to our success. It’s about being upfront, even when the news isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Our clients appreciate honesty, and this straightforward approach has helped us build strong, lasting relationships based on trust and mutual respect. - Proactivity Is Key: Waiting for a problem to arise means you’re already too late. We’ve built a culture of proactivity—whether it’s checking in on developers regularly or anticipating potential roadblocks, we aim to address challenges before they turn into problems. These strategies have been pivotal in driving not just customer satisfaction but loyalty and advocacy. It’s about being more than a vendor; it’s about being a partner who genuinely cares about the success of those we serve. How do you keep your client relationships strong and authentic? I’m eager to hear your thoughts!

Customers rarely remember the campaign that brought them into the store, but they often remember the person who made them want to return! Luxury brands invest heavily in campaigns, store design, events, technology, and visual presentation. All of this creates interest and brings customers through the door, but it does not automatically create loyalty. Loyalty is usually built during the human interaction that follows. The customer remembers the salesperson who listened before recommending a product, understood what mattered without making assumptions, and respected the difference between offering advice and applying pressure. They remember the person who was honest enough to say that a product was not right for them, even when selling it would have helped achieve the day's target. They also remember who followed up after the purchase, resolved a problem without passing responsibility to someone else, and recognized them when they returned without needing to be reminded of their importance; this is where luxury becomes personal. A beautiful store can impress a customer once, but a trusted relationship can bring that customer back for years. The challenge is that many businesses continue to treat experienced salespeople as a cost while spending considerably more trying to recreate customer loyalty through campaigns and systems. Technology can support clienteling, but it cannot replace genuine attention, sound judgment, or the trust created between two people. The strongest luxury retailers understand that the salesperson is not simply completing the final stage of the transaction. In many cases, that person becomes the part of the brand the customer remembers most. When customers return to your business, are they returning because of the brand, the product, or the person who served them? #LuxuryRetail #CustomerExperience #Clienteling #RetailLeadership

Sales folks, take note! Spamming a target company's employees with your services and requests for meetings will result in your company making its way onto a buyer's blocklist. As a buyer in the localization industry, I receive dozens of emails and LinkedIn requests every single day from vendors looking to showcase translation, AI, QA services, and more. It's not humanly possible to give personal replies to every outreach. When vendors can't get through to me, they often reach out to everyone on my team... and sometimes to many others across my company. I'd love for this practice to stop. It wastes valuable company time and makes a vendor appear desperate and non-strategic. Here's what to do instead: 1. Appeal to ego! Invite a target company’s decision-maker to a panel, or start a vlog series and ask buyers to appear and discuss industry topics. It’s also a great opportunity to reposition your company as a thought leader. 2. Offer genuine insight, not just services. Share a case study, white paper, or benchmarking data that’s actually useful to the buyer’s role, and do it without a sales pitch. 3. Build a reputation before you build a pipeline. Comment thoughtfully on posts. Contribute to community conversations. If you consistently show up with value, you’re far more likely to get noticed. 4. Target smarter, not broader. Don’t shotgun your message to an entire company. Learn the org. Understand the buyer’s scope. Then send one well-researched, personalized note that shows you actually did your homework. 5. Focus on mutual value. Can you help solve a known pain point or offer perspective on something changing in the market? Frame your outreach around collaboration, not consumption. 6. Use timing to your advantage. Keep tabs on when companies are hiring for roles associated with your offerings, launching in new markets, or attending conferences. That’s when buyers are more receptive to new solutions. 7. Lead with generosity. Offer a no-strings-attached resource, intro, or suggestion that doesn’t benefit you directly. Reciprocity is a powerful trust builder. And please! Don't ever ever call me on the phone! ;)

Tough Talk Tuesday? If your company says Customer Success is strategic but still treats it like a support function, stop pretending. If your CS team is occupied mainly with “check-in” meetings and renewal prep instead of driving outcomes, stop pretending. If your leaders talk about trust and value but can’t show how CS moves the business forward, stop pretending. Customer Success is not a concierge desk. It is not a feel-good function. It is a growth engine. And it needs to be treated like one. That means: • CSMs who understand the customer’s business better than Sales or Product • Success plans tied to business outcomes, not playbooks • Metrics that reflect value delivered, not just effort made • A culture where CS earns its seat at the revenue table by showing up with data, direction, and urgency We are not here to smooth things over. We are here to move things forward. Five steps to start shifting from support to strategic: 🔢 1. Replace activity metrics with outcome metrics Track customer impact, not just engagement frequency and volume. Stop counting touchpoints and start measuring progress. 🔢 2. Know the customer’s business priorities by heart Treat every EBR and senior executive session like a board meeting. Tie your updates to what your customer’s CEO and CFO care about. 🔢 3. Stop asking “How can I help?” and start saying “Here is what we should do next.” Lead. Recommend. Own the play. 🔢 4. Align CS goals with company goals Revenue, retention, margin, influence - whatever matters to the business should matter to your CS team. 🔢 5. Tell the story of value loudly and often One story, once a week. Share a real example of customer success inside your company until others start doing it for you. The future of Customer Success belongs to those who stop waiting to be seen as strategic and start behaving like it. What is one move your CS team could make this week that shifts how you are seen? #CreatingTheFuture #CustomerSuccess #Leadership #Growth #ClientValue #DISQO

Product knowledge is not the same as buyer-ready language. That distinction matters. Because a lot of companies assume their technical sellers are ready to sell once they understand the solution. They know the specs.  They know the process.  They know the technical advantage.  They know how the product works.  They know where it fits.  They know the implementation details. So leadership assumes: “They should be able to sell this.” But knowing the solution is not the same as knowing how to create movement with a buyer. That requires translation. A technical seller may know the answer and still struggle to make the answer useful. They may know the feature and still struggle to connect it to the business problem. They may know the risk and still struggle to help the buyer feel urgency. They may know the implementation process and still struggle to make the decision feel clear. That’s why more product training does not always fix sales performance. Sometimes the seller does not need more knowledge. They need better language. Language that connects technical depth to business impact. Language that helps the buyer see the cost of staying the same. Language that makes the value clear without overwhelming the conversation. Language that moves the buyer from understanding to action. The goal is not for the buyer to think: “They know a lot.” The goal is for the buyer to think: “This matters to us.” That’s the shift. Technical depth creates credibility. Buyer-ready language creates movement. Where does your team get stuck: knowing the value or saying it in a way the buyer can use? 

One lesson that's stayed with me throughout my career is that the strongest customer relationships rarely start with the product. Early on, I realized that the conversations with the greatest impact weren't about what we were selling. They were about what our customers were trying to accomplish. Whether it's a restaurant, stadium, or hotel, every customer is building an experience for their own guests. The product is only one piece of that equation. That's why I've always encouraged my teams to understand how the business works. Ask better questions. Learn what success looks like for your customer before offering solutions. I've found that when customers see you as someone invested in helping their business grow—not just your own—you earn something much more valuable than a sale. You earn the opportunity to help shape what's next!

Something remarkable happened when we started bringing Customer Success leaders into our sales conversations. The traditional sales process transformed into a strategic partnership discussion that benefited everyone involved. After implementing this approach across hundreds of deals, we discovered benefits that went far beyond our initial expectations. Sales teams gained a deeper understanding of post-implementation challenges, which helped them qualify opportunities more effectively. Instead of focusing solely on closing deals, they began asking questions about operational readiness, internal champions, and resource allocation. Prospects received authentic insights into what successful implementation truly requires. Our CS leaders shared real examples of customers who thrived and openly discussed common obstacles they might face. This transparency built trust and helped prospects make informed decisions. Better aligned customer expectations from day one. When CS leaders joined these conversations, they highlighted potential roadblocks and success metrics based on similar customer profiles. This practical guidance helped prospects understand the work required to achieve their desired outcomes. This early involvement proved invaluable for our CS team. They gained visibility into the customer's vision before contracts were signed, allowing them to proactively plan resources and create tailored onboarding strategies. A surprising result was the reduction in "rescue" situations during implementation. We eliminated many issues that typically surfaced months into the relationship by addressing potential challenges during sales discussions. The data supported our approach. Deals that included CS leaders showed 40% higher implementation success rates and 25% faster time-to-value. More importantly, these customers renewed at significantly higher rates. For those considering this approach, start small. Choose strategic opportunities where CS insights could substantially impact the prospect's decision-making process. Document the outcomes and refine your strategy based on that feedback. Great customer relationships begin with the very first conversation.

This is the most underrated problem I've seen when trying to build or expand partnership GTM: Leadership is initially fully behind a new partnership, excited about its potential, but that enthusiasm never makes its way down to the sales teams who are expected to execute. Without alignment, even the best partnership can stall before it has a chance to succeed. Why does this happen? Sales teams are often focused on their core products, and if a partnership doesn’t clearly benefit them or fit into their day-to-day operations, it becomes an afterthought. To turn things around, you need to make sure your partnership incentives, compensation, and training are in lockstep with the teams that will be selling your product. Here’s how to align incentives and drive results: 1. Ensure your incentives are compelling enough for frontline teams. It’s not enough to excite leadership—sales teams need a clear, tangible reason to sell your product. - Introduce a financial incentive or bonus structure that’s competitive with what reps earn on their core products. This could be a one-time bonus for the first sale, or an ongoing commission that rewards consistent effort. -Tie the incentive to their existing sales goals. If your product helps them hit their targets more easily, they’ll naturally prioritize it. 2. Structure partner compensation to motivate co-selling. If your partner compensation doesn’t align with their core goals, they won’t push your product. - Design a compensation plan that aligns with both the partner’s and your business objectives. For instance, if your partner’s core offering is hardware, incentivize bundling your software as part of the sale to create a win-win situation. - Offer performance-based incentives that reward partners for hitting key milestones—whether that’s a certain number of units sold, a specific revenue target, or even customer engagement metrics. Keep it simple and measurable. 3. Provide consistent training and engagement so your product isn’t just another checkbox. Sales teams won’t advocate for your product if they don’t fully understand its value or how to sell it. - Develop ongoing, bite-sized training sessions that fit into their schedules. Instead of overwhelming them with lengthy sessions, focus on 15-minute, high-impact trainings that teach them how to identify the right opportunities. -Pair training with real-time support. Join sales calls, offer one-pagers, and provide direct assistance during key customer engagements. When they feel supported, they’re more likely to feel confident pushing your product. This kind of alignment can make the difference between a stalled partnership and a thriving one. When sales teams are motivated, equipped, and incentivized to sell your product, the partnership stops being just another checkbox—it becomes a key driver of growth.

Quick Perspective: Trust grows when sellers are willing to protect the customer’s interests, even when it costs them an immediate sale. One salesperson advised a customer to stop buying a product because it was not the right option for them. The customer’s response? “I finally trust you.” That moment captures the difference between completing a transaction and building a strategic partnership. The strongest customer relationships are created when sellers understand the customer’s strategy, align their teams around shared priorities, and make decisions that support long-term success. Product, pricing, and positioning can earn attention. Alignment across planning, execution, and resources is what allows the relationship to grow. I explored these ideas in my latest article, based on my conversation with Christoph Senn, adjunct professor of marketing at INSEAD and author of Triple Fit Strategy. #SalesStrategy #CustomerExperience #Growth