Cost of misalignment between Customer success and sales teams

A common scenario: Your sales team is crushing their targets, signing new deals left and right 🏆. But the excitement fizzles out when customer success team steps in and realises the promises made don’t quite match the reality.

This misalignment between sales and CS is more common than you think—and it’s costly. We’re talking about lost revenue, churned customers, and frustrated teams who feel like they’re fighting an uphill battle. 😩

In today’s subscription-based economy, retention is everything. Yet, too many companies let the disconnect between these two critical teams wreak havoc on the customer experience—and by extension, their bottom line.

Let’s break down what misalignment looks like, why it’s such a silent killer, and most importantly, how to fix it.

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1. The Root of Misalignment between Customer success and sales: Different Goals, Different Mindsets

Let’s start by identifying the core issue. Sales and customer success are often working toward different goals:

• Sales: Focused on acquisition, getting as many new customers in the door as possible. The pressure to hit quotas can lead to over-promising or selling a solution that isn’t the right fit.
• Customer Success: Focused on retention, driving long-term satisfaction, and ensuring customers see value. They inherit the customers that sales brings in, and often, they’re left to clean up any mismatches or miscommunications.

The result? When sales pushes a deal through with the wrong expectations, CS is left scrambling. They have to overcompensate, and the customer feels the gap between what was promised and what’s being delivered. This frustration often leads to higher churn rates. 🚪

📊 The Numbers Don’t Lie:

According to research by HubSpot, companies with strong alignment between their sales and CS teams see 36% higher customer retention rates and 38% higher sales win rates. (Hubspot)

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2. The Hidden Costs of Misalignment

💸 Churn and Lost Revenue:When a customer churns due to unmet expectations, that’s money out the door. Worse, it’s not just a lost customer, it’s a missed opportunity for upsell, referrals, and brand advocacy.

• Fixing churn is 5x more expensive than preventing it in the first place. So when sales and CS aren’t aligned, you’re setting the stage for costly churn battles. (Forrester)

⏳ Inefficient Processes:Misalignment creates inefficiencies. CS spends more time firefighting unhappy customers instead of being proactive about growing accounts or building relationships. Sales has to explain why customers aren’t sticking around, which eats into valuable selling time.

• Every time CS is dragged into solving preventable issues, that’s time and resources wasted—resources that could have been used to scale or improve your product offering.

😡 Poor Employee Morale:Nothing is more demoralising for your teams than feeling like they’re working against each other. Sales feels like they’re not being supported post-sale, and CS feels blindsided by unrealistic customer expectations. This creates tension, frustration, and often turnover within teams.

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3. How to Fix the Misalignment between Customer success and sales (For Good)

The good news? It’s fixable—with the right strategies and a focus on cross-functional collaboration. Here’s how:

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A. Start with Shared Goals

The most effective way to align sales and CS is to get everyone working toward the same goal. Forget about siloed KPIs; create shared metrics that both teams are accountable for.

• Example: Instead of sales focusing purely on new customer acquisition, have them track customer lifetime value (CLTV) and renewal rates. This forces them to think long-term, not just about signing contracts.

Pro Tip: Celebrate wins together. If CS upsells or renews a major account, that’s a team victory, not just a CS win.

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B. Implement a Seamless Handoff Process

Once a sale is made, the customer should transition smoothly to the CS team. This handoff is critical, and it’s where most misalignments start.

• Tangible Solution: Set up a formalised handoff process with a detailed customer profile—this should include expectations, goals, and any promises made during the sales cycle. Even better? Get sales and CS on a joint call to introduce the customer and set expectations together. 👥

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C. Improve Communication with Technology

Misalignment often comes down to poor communication. Use technology to bridge the gap. Shared tools (like Stellafai) allow both teams to track customer interactions, making sure everyone is on the same page.

• Visualise Data: Dashboards showing key metrics like renewal rates, upsell opportunities, and customer health scores should be visible to both sales and CS. When both teams have access to the same data, it reduces the chances of anyone working in the dark.

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4. The Benefits of Sales-CS Alignment (Why It’s Worth It)

When sales and CS are aligned, the customer journey becomes seamless, and the benefits ripple throughout your entire business. Here’s what that looks like:

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A. Improved Customer Retention

When the customer experience is consistent from the moment they interact with your sales team to the moment they onboard with CS, they’re more likely to stick around. Retention goes up, and so does the customer’s lifetime value.

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B. Stronger Brand Advocacy

Happy, well-served customers become your biggest advocates. When sales sets realistic expectations and CS delivers on them, you create promoters who will recommend your product to others. 🎉

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C. Higher Revenue per Customer

With clear communication and collaboration, CS can more easily identify upsell or cross-sell opportunities that sales can capitalise on. Everyone wins when customers expand their relationship with your brand.

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5. In a Nutshell: Make Alignment Your Secret Weapon

Sales and customer success don’t have to be at odds. When you take deliberate steps to align these teams, you’re not only preventing churn—you’re setting the foundation for long-term growth and success.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Set shared goals between sales and CS teams to encourage collaboration.
• Create a smooth handoff process to ensure customers get what they were promised.
• Use shared technology and dashboards to keep communication clear and transparent.
• Celebrate team wins together to build a culture of collaboration.

🔗 Want to learn more about how aligning your teams can unlock higher retention rates and revenue growth? Let’s chat. Reach out here to see how we can help streamline your customer experience!