How Startups Can Align Sales and Customer Success for Faster Growth
Startups, let’s talk about something that can quietly trip up your growth—or set you up for a win: getting your sales and customer success (CS) teams on the same page. It’s not about grand plans or endless meetings. It’s about keeping customers happy, speeding up their onboarding, and dodging the churn bullet. And here’s the good news: one 15- 30-minute internal kickoff call per deal can make it happen.
Sounds too simple to be true? It’s not. At Infinite Renewals, we’ve helped SaaS companies hold onto over $1.8 billion in ARR by focusing on practical post-sales moves like this. So, let’s break it down—why this matters, how to pull it off, and what it can do for your startup.
Why Alignment Is a Game-Changer
Imagine your sales team lands a solid deal. Everyone’s pumped. But then the handoff to CS goes sideways—details vanish, expectations get fuzzy, and your new customer’s left scratching their head, wondering what they even signed up for. That’s not the first impression you want to leave.
When teams aren’t synced, customers feel it. Adoption drags, frustration creeps in, and before you know it, they’re out the door. For startups, where every account matters, that’s a hit you can’t take. The worst comment that I hear at this point is the customer saying “Do you guys even talk to each other?”
A quick internal kickoff call cuts through the noise, making sure everyone knows what’s up before the customer has to ask.
The 30-Minute Fix That Works
Here’s how it goes: For every new customer, pull your crew together for a 30-minute chat. Who’s in the room?
Salesperson: They’ve got the backstory—why the customer said yes and what they’re expecting. They know who’s who, and the outcomes they are looking for. They can also call BS when the customer says “Sales told me I could have this”
Sales Engineer: They clear up any tech questions or setup quirks.
CSM (Customer Success Manager): They’re taking over, so they need the full picture of the customer’s goals.
Implementation Lead (if it’s a big lift): They sketch out the onboarding steps.
Focus on three questions:
Why did they buy? Nail down their pain points and what they’re hoping to solve. They purchased your software for a specific outcome- find out what that is.
What’s the go-live date? Agree on a timeline that works for everyone.
Who or what are they replacing? Know their starting point to ease the switch.When does the old vendor go away (that should not be your go live date).
That’s it—no long agendas, just the basics. Log it all in HubSpot’s CRM to keep things tidy and accessible. Done right, this sets the stage for a smooth handoff and a happy customer. Pro tip: make the handoff mandatory for commission in the sales stage
What You Get (and How to Keep It Going)
This isn’t just about avoiding headaches. It speeds up onboarding, reduces back-and-forth, and gets customers to value faster. As your startup grows, you can build on it—add HubSpot forms to automate parts of the process, tweak it as you go. The point is to start small and let it grow with you. At the end of the day, the customer will be happier.
We’ve seen this pay off at Infinite Renewals. It’s not about flashy setups or over-the-top systems—just clear, straightforward communication. Jeff Kushmerek, our founder, has been in the trenches with startups and knows how much these little habits can add up.
Ready to Sync Your Teams?
Want to ditch messy handoffs and give your startup a growth edge? We’ve got a full guide on streamlining sales-to-CS alignment, plus a HubSpot demo to show you how it looks in action. Have questions? Reach out to us. We’re here to help you make the most of HubSpot.