“When I got into sales, I was thinking about the customer throughout the whole life cycle. It wasn’t just about the hunting aspect; it was also about the farming aspect. Because of that, I think I always connected how to grow the account with how the customer was growing,” shares Jan Young, an expert in customer success and post-sale strategies.

In this episode, Jan joins Alex Raymond to dive into the concept of “earning the right to sell,” a core principle for account managers aiming to boost net revenue retention and unlock upsell potential. She stresses the importance of building meaningful, long-term relationships with clients—going beyond just understanding their business goals to continuously adapting as those goals shift.

Jan also contrasts the structured approach of initial sales with the looser methods often used for renewals and upsells. Why do so many account managers lose that focus after the first deal closes? Jan makes a compelling case for consistent customer engagement and disciplined tracking post-sale. By keeping a close eye on key metrics like onboarding success and time to first value, account managers can have more informed, impactful conversations around renewals and upsells.

This episode highlights the vital role of account managers as trusted advisors, who navigate complex client dynamics and ensure every part of the organization feels supported. This approach not only strengthens client satisfaction but also drives revenue growth, positioning account managers as key players in long-term success.

Quotes

• “You need to understand and translate how you’re impacting the business overall. This enables you to step up to the executive level and communicate effectively with other executives on the team.” (32:12 | Jan Young)
• “There needs to be a team specifically focused on ensuring customers are achieving their goals, renewing, and expanding. But beyond that, everyone needs to understand their role and how they contribute to the customer’s success. Unfortunately, this is something we have to translate as leaders because we’re the ones working with the customers. Whether you’re in account management or customer success, we have that insight and the voice of the customer, and it’s up to us to translate it back.” (35:19 | Jan Young)
• “We need to help marketing understand who the most successful customers are, which ones are more likely to renew and expand, and how they should go about identifying those customers in the marketplace. We also need to connect the dots across the executive team and speak in the language of business.” (36:41 | Jan Young)

Links

Connect with Jan Young:

Website: https://www.janyoungcx.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/

Website: https://amplifyam.com/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm