Revenue Growth Chronicles: Strategies from the Top - Featuring Jeff Kushmerek

In this installment of Revenue Growth Chronicles: Strategies from the Top,we chat with Jeff Kushmerek, CEO of Infinite Renewals, about the secret sauce to blending great customer relationships with a revenue-driven mindset. Jeff shares actionable insights on how to shift your team’s mindset and supercharge collaboration between sales and Customer Success to drive long-term growth.

Jeff Kushmerek , CEO and Founder of Infinite Renewals, specializes in helping B2B SaaS emerging tech companies reduce churn and significantly increase recurring revenue. With over 25 years of experience, he partners with CEOs and C-Suite executives, offering strategic, actionable solutions that lead to reduced churn, accelerated time to value, expanded revenue, and scalable Customer Success organizations. Jeff’s proven approach consistently boosts customer satisfaction, helping companies renew and upsell customers for long-term success.

Passion & Purpose: To help post sale organizations increase retention by focusing on the basics of customer relationships, value realization and expectation management.?

1. What is the biggest challenge in driving customer revenue growth from a Customer Success perspective?

Revenue and Value mindset: In my experience, a common challenge in customer success is the tendency towards people-pleasing and a reluctance to focus on revenue generation. CSMs often over-index on the relationship component of the gig and are afraid that the money discussions will adversely affect the relationship. This misalignment can lead to missed upselling or renewal opportunities.

2. How can the Customer Success community effectively address this challenge?

Adopting a Revenue-Centric Mindset: ?To successfully drive revenue growth from a Customer Success perspective, it is important for the entire team to adopt a revenue-centric mindset. This means understanding how customer success efforts directly impact the company's bottom line and working towards aligning their goals with those of the sales team.

• Cross-Functional Training: Foster collaboration between the customer success and sales teams. This will help bridge any knowledge gaps and create a shared understanding of how each team contributes to revenue growth.
• ?Metrics and Goals:? Establish metrics that track? success in revenue generation for both teams. By setting clear goals and tracking progress together, customer success teams can better understand their impact on overall revenue and collaborate more effectively with sales.
• Hiring Practices:? Managers should hire team members that will not shy away from the revenue conversations. Consider former sales reps and account managers for their revenue-focused experience..?

3.Could you share two best practices (dos) and two common pitfalls (don'ts) for Customer Success teams aiming to enhance customer revenue?

Dos:

• Proactive Engagement: Stay in constant communication with customers. Actively listen to their needs and address any issues promptly. Often, an upsell opportunity arises from a deep understanding of their business and needs.
• Collaboration with Sales: Work closely with sales teams to drive revenue from existing customers. Align goals, identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities, and address challenges together. Additionally, learning from sales practices, such as attending lunch-and-learns, can improve customer success strategies and enhance upsell positioning.

Don'ts:

• Neglecting Customer Needs: Avoid focusing solely on upselling without considering the customer's current satisfaction and outcomes.
• Siloed Teams: Don’t let customer success and sales teams operate in isolation. Lack of collaboration can hinder effective revenue growth and customer satisfaction.