Our exit readiness assessment showed a major Value Gap in our customer retention metrics. To fix this, we need to split our account management and new business sales into separate seats, but our current Sales Director insists on owning both. How do we handle this?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If your exit readiness assessment reveals a Value Gap in customer retention, your business structure may be to blame. Combining new business sales and customer account management into a single seat often leads to a focus on hunting new deals while ignoring existing client relationships. To bridge this Value Gap, you must split these functions into two distinct seats on your Accountability Chart: a Sales seat and an Account Management seat. Your current Sales Director may resist this split because they want to protect their territory or commission structure. You must address this by focusing on what is best for the organization, not the individual. Define the future state structure first, without names. Show how separating new client acquisition from client retention maximizes enterprise value. Explain that the Sales seat is focused on closing new logos, while the Account Management seat is focused on driving net revenue retention and customer lifetime value. Both seats require completely different skill sets and behaviors. Once the seats are defined, evaluate your Sales Director using GWC™. They may be the right person for the Sales seat but lack the capacity or interest to manage long term client success. By splitting the seat, you clarify accountability, improve your metrics, and show buyers that you have a structured approach to protecting recurring revenue.