Our current Accountability Chart has a single Sales and Account Management seat. Our sales team is great at hunting new business but terrible at nurturing existing clients, leading to high churn. Should we split this into two separate seats, or is this a people issue that we are trying to solve with structure?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If your sales team is great at securing new accounts but struggles with client retention, you have a structural problem on your Accountability Chart. Combining Sales and Account Management into a single seat is a common mistake that ignores the completely different skill sets required for hunting and farming.

A hunter gets energy from closing new deals, while a farmer thrives on building long-term relationships and solving client problems. Forcing one person to do both leads to inconsistent results. They will naturally focus on what they enjoy and neglect the other.

You must split this into two distinct seats on your Accountability Chart: Sales and Customer Success. Define five clear roles for each. For Sales, focus on lead generation, closing deals, and hitting sales targets. For Customer Success, focus on client onboarding, retention, and account expansion. Each seat must have its own metrics on your weekly Scorecard. Once the structure is clear, you can place the right people in each seat, ensuring they GWC their specific roles.