July 17, 2025
Hot Take: 75% of the Calls Your VP of Sales Joins Should Be Customer Calls
Debra Senra
Debra Senra has spent the last 20 years leading GTM teams across sales, customer success, account management, and growth. She often joins companies to lead one of those functions and is quickly asked to take on others. Why? Because the silos between these departments are usually the biggest blockers to growth.
A key to her success has been her ability to turn siloed groups into unified teams, working as one to grow the business. Sitting in on customer conversations across the full lifecycle has been essential to that work. It grounds the strategy, strengthens the relationships, and creates the shared language required to win.
🌶️ Hot Take: 75% of the Calls Your VP of Sales Joins Should Be Customer Calls
Sales leaders love to say they’re customer-obsessed, but then spend 90% of their time chasing new business and almost none of it listening to the customers they’ve already won. If you want better messaging, tighter alignment with CS, and a team that sells what you can actually deliver, your VP of Sales should be spending most of their time in customer conversations.
I'm not talking about putting out fires. I'm talking about QBRs, EBRs, save calls, and renewals. These are the moments where you hear what matters most. Why customers stay. What they actually value. How their perception of your product has changed over time. These stories are your sales pitch, and they evolve constantly. If you’re not in the room to hear them directly, you’re relying on secondhand interpretations (or outdated information) to shape your strategy.
You’ll also hear the hard stuff. Where your message falls flat. Where your team is selling the dream, and your CS team is servicing the nightmare. This isn’t someone else's problem. Word spreads. These mismatches create detractors and kill your next deal before it even starts. These calls will show you exactly how to refine your pitch, how to align it with reality, and when to update your ICP.
Spending time in these conversations also creates a shared language with your CS counterparts. You may still disagree, but you’ll be on the same field, solving the same problems, together. And when you bring these insights back to your team, they get better. More context. More precision. More confidence. That is, by far, the most impactful thing you can do as a leader of the sales organization.
One Tip You Can Use Right Now
Set a calendar rhythm with your CS counterpart today. Pick one QBR, one save call, and one renewal call each month that you will join. Agree on your role. Will you speak? Take notes? Be a visible participant or listen quietly? Ask how you can add value. Offer to return the favor by having the CS leader join key sales calls.
Before you do anything, explain to both teams what you're doing and why. Make it clear this isn’t about oversight. It’s about partnership. And if you say you’re just there to listen, keep your word.