Wolf&Grayson EditorialMost companies treat their sales, marketing, and customer success teams like separate kingdoms. This creates gaps that cost real money. Chrisley Ceme has watched this play out across two decades of working in various industries, and he’s developed a different approach. His strategy focuses on tearing down these walls and creating systems that actually generate revenue instead of just looking good on paper.
Building Insights from Two Decades
Ceme started young in sales and marketing. “I’ve been in sales and marketing, honestly since I was 14,” he says. “I’ve been in the game for 20 years at this point in a wide variety of different industries.” His experience spans everything from car care products and makeup to tech SaaS solutions in health tech, fintech, restaurant tech, and consumer tech spaces. This variety gave him something most consultants lack: real experience seeing what works across different business models. The breadth of his background means he’s seen the same problems pop up everywhere. Companies struggling with the same basic issues regardless of whether they’re selling software or makeup.
When Ceme looks at struggling companies, he sees a pattern. “Each of those departments are siloed as their own separate entities without an overarching lead of all of those,” he explains. Sales and marketing operate as competitors instead of teammates. “They should really, in my opinion, be one department.” Customer success gets treated even worse. “Customer success is often put into a separate category where, especially if you’re talking in the B2B phase of things, customer success essentially is secondary sales.” Companies don’t realize they’re creating their own roadblocks by separating teams that should work together.
Three Steps to Keep Focusing on Revenue Priorities
Ceme has three non-negotiable steps for companies serious about revenue growth.
- First Comes Clarity About Targets – “There needs to be a clear ICP and positioning of whom it is that you’re going after in terms of new targets.” Without this foundation, everything else falls apart because teams aim at different goals.
- Fixing The Disconnect Between Sales And Customer Success – “Sales may be overpromising things that customer success and the actual fulfillment side of things aren’t necessarily going to fulfill.” This misalignment kills deals and destroys client relationships. When sales promises something that can’t be delivered, everyone loses.
- Staying Connected With Existing Clients – “You want to have a strategic and optimal follow-up process with your current clients,” Ceme says. Most companies miss obvious opportunities because “people don’t know your full suite of offerings that you’re able to provide.” Clients end up buying services elsewhere that the company already provides. “It’s much more expensive to gain new revenue through client acquisition than it is to generate that same income through your current client base.”
Ceme has watched companies lose money by ignoring their existing customer base. “Many times your clients will need additional services that you actually do provide and they’ll look outside because they don’t know that you also offer those solutions.” The solution requires consistent communication to spot opportunities before clients look elsewhere. This approach works because it builds on existing relationships instead of starting from scratch. Account managers need to “pinpoint when your customers need additional services that you may offer so that they have ammunition to do upsells.”
Leveraging AI as a Sales Tool
Artificial intelligence creates opportunities, but Ceme takes a realistic view. For product-led growth companies, “AI is going to be very pivotal” and “it’s only going to get much better.” But relationship-based enterprise sales need a different approach. “You want to be looking at AI much more as a tool for your reps rather than a replacement for them.” His best suggestion involves using AI to build credibility. “If you’re using and leveraging AI to invest in your reps’ LinkedIn profiles, to have them be individuals that your target market would want to engage in conversation with,” prospects respond better. When a marketing director sees content from someone who appears to be an expert rather than just another salesperson, they’re more likely to engage.
Success with AI requires planning, not just adoption. “You need to look at them as a tool and not a replacement for any particular role,” Ceme says. “You want to ensure that you have good foundational strategy behind what you’re using the AI for.” Companies should avoid implementing AI just because it’s trendy. For those unsure about proper usage, he recommends finding consultants “that can provide you with that level of expertise to ensure that you, yourself and your organization are using it correctly.”
Connect with Chrisley Ceme on LinkedIn to learn more about his strategies for sustainable growth.
