In this episode, we round off our six-part series exploring the Wellmeadow 6 Box Model, our framework for understanding how marketing and sales work together to drive sustainable growth in SMEs. We discuss the often-overlooked final stage of the model: customer retention and satisfaction. Once a deal is done, the real work begins, ensuring your clients stay happy, engaged, and ready to buy again.

We explore how integrating your sales, operations, and customer service teams is essential to maintaining healthy client relationships and predictable revenue. From aligning KPIs across departments to leveraging CRM data effectively, we share practical ways to dissolve silos and create a seamless experience that benefits both your business and your customers.

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Intro & sailing chat

00:03:14 – Episode overview

00:05:44 – Customer retention

00:07:04 – RevOps & breaking silos

00:09:13 – Retention vs new business

00:11:15 – Forecasting & churn

00:14:08 – Managing client success

00:17:33 – AI & sentiment tracking

00:22:12 – Customer service today

00:26:15 – Automation & support systems

00:31:03 – Using internal knowledge

00:33:08 – Series wrap-up

Key Topics Discussed:

- Why customer retention should be as celebrated as customer acquisition

- The critical handover between sales and operations after a deal closes

- Using CRMs and shared data to create transparency across teams

- Applying AI and sentiment analysis to measure client happiness in real time

- The role of service engineers as “undercover salespeople” for opportunity spotting

- How to balance automation, AI, and the human touch in customer service

- Lessons from traditional support systems and what SMEs can learn from SaaS models

Who This Episode Is For:

This episode is aimed at business owners, managing directors, and sales or operations leaders who want to strengthen their customer relationships and drive growth through smarter collaboration. It’s particularly relevant for those managing service delivery teams or looking to implement CRMs, RevOps models, or AI tools within their business.

Quotes to Remember:

“You don’t want to fill a leaky bucket; it’s hard to grow if you keep losing the customers you’ve already won.”

“The single biggest thing you can do to break down silos is to make sure everyone’s looking at the same data.”

“Sales and ops have got to talk together, they’re both at the core face of what the customer really wants.”

Actionable Takeaways:

1.) Integrate systems and data: Ensure marketing, sales, and operations all work from a shared CRM to improve communication and accountability.

2.) Measure client sentiment proactively: Use AI or manual methods to gauge customer satisfaction throughout the relationship, not just at the end.

3.) Recognise the power of retention: Track and report on churn and repeat business as seriously as new sales.

4.) Empower your delivery teams: Train service or technical staff to identify and report new opportunities during client interactions.

5.) Balance automation and humanity: Use AI to handle volume and speed, but make sure customers can still access genuine human support when needed.

🎧 Listen on YouTube & Apple Music here:

https://anchor.fm/wellmeadow

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