How to Stop Your Sales Teams Hurting CX

Are your sales conversations creating trust, or setting customer success teams up for failure?In this CX Today interview, Francesca Roche speaks with Seth Marrs, Chief Strategy Officer at Sandler, about how seller performance inside live buyer conversations can shape customer trust, long-term customer experience, and revenue outcomes.Seth explains why the first sales conversation is such a critical moment in the customer relationship. When sellers overpromise, stretch expectations, or fail to align the buyer’s needs with what the solution can realistically deliver, those gaps may not appear immediately. Instead, they often surface later as churn risk, implementation issues, and a breakdown in trust.The discussion explores Sandler’s sales performance ecosystem, which focuses on measuring how sellers actually behave in live customer conversations, not just what they know from training. Seth highlights the difference between understanding a sales methodology in theory and applying it under real pressure when buyers raise objections, ask hard questions, or expect transparency.Seth also discusses the growing role of AI in coaching. He explains how sales leaders can use AI to support base-level coaching while focusing human coaching on higher-order skills, real call performance, and the behaviors that create unique value for customers.Finally, the conversation looks at why sales, customer success, and CX teams need better shared visibility into buyer conversations. As more businesses move toward consumption-based models, customer experience and sales performance are becoming increasingly connected.Watch the full interview to learn why the promises made in the first sales conversation can define the entire customer relationship.For more Customer Experience tech news visit https://www.cxtoday.com