Who owns upsells? Creating a Cohesive Relationship between Sales and Customer Success

Whitney HillyerVP of Customer Success@whitneyhillyer

BITLY LAUNCHED2008

90 Employees

3 OfficesNY, Denver, and SF

1200 Enterprise Customers

1M Active monthly free users

2 hourONBOARDING

$1500/MRRASP

$720/MRRAvg. Upsell ASP

19 on CS Team

23/25 Top Global Brands

A Historical Breakdown: Sales & Success

VP of Sales

NEW BIZCS

A Historical Breakdown: Sales & Success

SALES NEW BIZ PROBLEM

CS

A Historical Breakdown: Sales & Success

SALES NEW BIZ PROBLEM

CS

$$$

Sales was valued for success.

Success was punished for problems.

The Paradigm Shift

Moving from a Sales Funnel to a Sales Hourglass

Sales LifecycleVP of Sales

Variable CompNew Biz

$$$

iz mp

Customer LifecycleVP of Success

Upsells & RenewalsVariable Comp

$$$

Our Journey

2014 Planning…..

Opportunity Scoping AUTOMOTIVE FOOD & BEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY FINANCIAL SERVICES E-COMMERCE

EDUCATION MEDIA & PUBLISHING ENTERTAINMENT RETAIL TRAVEL

Rewriting the Rules

SALES CUSTOMER SUCCESS

ALL EXPANSIONNEW LOGOS

The Why• Two is better than One

• Increased knowledge

• Decreased time and frustration for the client

Good story…..

The How

• Created Strong Rules of Engagement• Trained current people and hired different people• Restructured the team and tiered our accounts• Set aggressive activity goals• Rebuilt the comp plan

So how’d it go…..

Year One….

Upsells

+40%+267%

of new revenue is drivenby Customer Success

Churn

-25%

Upsells accelerate our long-term growth

And have lead to 10 quarters of Net Negative Churn

Being Adapative and Adoptive - New Rules

SALES CUSTOMER SUCCESS

STRATEGIC ACCOUNTS

2015….

Strategic Accounts

1 Ent. Rep1 Snr CSM

10 Parent AccountsEx: NBCU, Amazon

Accounts Only(10+ brands)

2X Comp2X Quota Relief

TargetsTeam Focus Comp

ENTERPRISESALES

CUSTOMER SUCCESS

NEW BIZ

LTV

2016….

6 MONTHS

Ok but how did this impact culture?

Culture starts at the top

How we’ve maintained culture

Key Takeaways

• Make sure Sales & Success are on equal levels within your organization

• Build a holistic customer experience owned and run by customer success

• Consider a Land and Expand Approach - IT WORKS!

• Create strong and enforceable rules of engagement but also be adaptive

• Pay attention to the culture - especially at the top

“A 2% increase in upsells

can lead to a 28% increase in valuation.”

And don’t forget….

- Open View Partners

Q&A