Why Customer Success > Sales (And How to Nail the Transition)

Speak In Flow

What does it take to shift from transactional sales to transformative customer success? In this episode, Melinda Lee chats with Andrea Bumstead, VP of Customer Success, about her journey from marketing and sales to leading long-term customer relationships. Andrea reveals why she chose customer success over sales, and how this helped companies scale from 15M to 50M.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

The Power of Long-Term Relationships

Andrea's pivot from sales (transactional) to customer success (relational):

"I value relationships more than deals. In customer success, you partner with customers for years, not just until the deal is signed."

Key difference: Sales is a one-time thing; customer success keeps them coming back.

The 40-Year-Old Epiphany

"At 40, I stopped apologizing for who I wasn’t and started leading with who I am." How authenticity unlocked her confidence.

Scaling Companies

Andrea’s non-negotiable strategy for client retention: "Treat every customer like a 10-year partner, not a one-time transaction."

The Best Investment

Learn why she hired her own executive coach - and how spending $5,000 on self-development led to a $50,000+ salary increase! A clue? Difference in communication style.

Connect with Andrea Bumstead

LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/andreabumstead

About the Guest:

Andrea Bumstead is a transformational leader who thrives in the chaos of scaling, turning Customer Success into a growth engine for SaaS companies. With a track record of scaling organizations across FinTech, EdTech, and beyond, she’s a builder at heart, obsessed with momentum (her 70% Rule > perfection) and empowering teams through trust.

Fun-facts:

• 🐄 Grew up on a 100-cattle dairy farm in Ontario.
• 👨👧👦 Mom of 3 (2, 5, and 8) who took all three kids to Asia for a month last year.
• 💘 Met her husband at her first job out of university.

About Melinda:

Melinda Lee is a Presentation Skills Expert, Speaking Coach, and nationally renowned Motivational Speaker. She holds an M.A. in Organizational Psychology, is an Insights Practitioner, and is a Certified Professional in Talent Development as well as Certified in Conflict Resolution. For over a decade, Melinda has researched and studied the state of “flow” and used it as a proven technique to help corporate leaders and business owners amplify their voices, access flow, and present their mission in a more powerful way to achieve results.

She has been the TEDx Berkeley Speaker Coach and has worked with hundreds of executives and teams from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Caltrans, Bay Area Rapid Transit System, and more. Currently, she lives in San Francisco, California, and is breaking the ancestral lineage of silence.

Website: https://speakinflow.com/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/speakinflow

Instagram: https://instagram.com/speakinflow

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpowerall

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