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by Vlad, CITY PROFIT
In this article, you’ll learn how to successfully navigate the tricky waters of Sales strategy for SaaS.
Learn what techniques to use and when so that your sales cycle is as frictionless as possible.
In short, SaaS sales is the sale of software and services that are accessed via the internet.
The two best examples are Google Drive and Office 365. How you sell them in a perfect world? You just update it few times in decade. And that is it, right? No. Sales strategy for SaaS is not THAT EASY.
First you make a product that has a client. Then, you make your crowd stand out. And then, after that, ofcourse, if your product is GREAT, your brand is on TOP of the list.
But what if your product is a CRAP? You need to make yourself popular. And you need to do that by creating buzz, making people love it and talking about it. But your product still sucks? You need to try different marketing techniques like influencer marketing, PR campaigns, giveaways etc…And all of this needs money. The bad news is if you do all of that – it is not going to help you anyway.
If your product is CRAP – then your brand is CRAP in a longrun. For sure.
Sales Strategy for SaaS is Product (team, features, price, package, additional bonuses, UX, support) + Brand (content marketing, SEO, offline events, social media marketing, ads, etc.). And it is the one and only formula.
For example, Office 365 has its own bunch of features (like cloud storage), but it also has the advantage of the MAJOR network that Microsoft owns. It is a good product, but even better brand.
Sales of enterprise software and other SaaS products is considerably different from other types of sales. The customer may be less willing to buy the product after a free trial. In this case, it needs more time to convince a prospect that the product will solve their problems.
The sales cycle is much longer in SaaS products because customers are looking for a long-term solution and they want to make sure that the company is reputable.
While many companies have already figured out how to create effective sales strategies, you will mostly find it difficult if you are new to selling enterprise software and SaaS products.
This article will introduce some effective practices in order to give you an overview on what works when selling enterprise software and SaaS products
SaaS sales is a complex process. You will have to deal with different stakeholders and different buying stages. It requires closing skills, patience and the ability to handle objections.
The SaaS sales cycle is a long process with various stages that you will need to go through if you want your lead to convert into a paid customer. This means that you should be aware of what you are selling and what the potential risks are for each stage of the process.
It is important for sales reps to know who their stakeholders are during this complex process, as it may be different in every transaction. You will need to have an understanding of personal responsibility, communication skills, and professional demeanor being an essential part of this type of sale.
SaaS requires a lot of time to market and convince potential customers. They usually come with a higher price tag, meaning it’ll take longer to close the sale.
Keeping these aspects in mind is crucial when deciding whether or not to buy SaaS. Marketing nurtures potential clients until they are “sales ready.” Once this is achieved, a salesperson or our chat-bots and email-automations follow up with the prospect to gauge next steps. Marketing varies depending on the type of service.
I`m open for free 1 hour online consultation for new customers (owners only).
A research report shows that the average duration of a sales cycle is 84 days which echos the finding that irrespective of the ACV- new or old, it takes about 84 days for a sale to close.
The mid-ticket SaaS sales cycle is usually between 1-3 months, with the average closer to two. Low-ticket in other hand can be about few minutes.
Especialy if the product is realy good and / or you just give it for free. The average lifetime value of a customer is about $4,000. The average revenue per customer is about $1,500.
The following is an example of a mid-ticket SaaS sales cycle:
Scenario 1:Pizza business owner starts pizza delivery service and needs to start marketing. The customer might be from the neighborhood, a customer from a university, or any other nearby area where they could make money. They are looking for quality leads that are interested in Pizza, right? SaaS provides a list for Ads in your selected area. How much can you charge for that kind of SaaS? 99$/month is fine for 5000 leads.
Scenario 2: Car Dealership Retail chain is looking for leads for Facebook and Instagram Ads. The same SaaS can provide the same data. But your pricing can be 1K-5K per month for 5000 leads.
So the question is = what pricing AND sales cycle can be? The more it costs – the more time your client need to decide. Use that logic developing your next Effective Sales Strategy for SaaS.
Since this level of software can be expensive, it’s important to have a sales team dedicated to individual buyers’ needs. Think about customizing your software in order to meet the needs of different types of customers. You may want to develop a sales process for clients who require technical support, but that doesn’t mean you have to take on every client.
Set up a business model that lets your company choose which customers they’ll serve.
This model is best for businesses selling lower cost software or memberships at a high volume, like Spotify subscriptions, Medium membership options, or phone plans.
Campaigns where the product is free or at a significantly discounted price are often used to attract customers in the self-service model. It allows you to make more money using a low ASP, while still making a lot of sales. .This model is best for businesses with large customer bases. If you have 100,000 customers, it’s likely that a self-service model will generate more sales and more money than the other models because of the increased number of customers.
A SaaS enterprise sales model is where there are no upfront costs and only an ongoing, predictable and scalable recurring fee. This can be beneficial for both parties, since it takes away any risk of failure or high investment from one side to another.
In the past, enterprise software use was typically the purview of large companies with deep pockets. The premium prices and cumbersome sales process led to a reluctance among many SMBs to invest in even the most basic enterprise software.
But this is changing. In today’s market, SMBs are demanding more ease-of-use, advanced customization, and business intelligence capabilities than ever before. Software as a Service (SaaS) has emerged as a viable option for SMBs because it offers these capabilities at affordable prices while simplifying the sales process through the use of subscription models and shorter contracts.
So, are U realy want to go Enterprise Sales model? For sure you can – it is a long story with a lot of marketing budgets. But programming is still the same cost, so… your choice.
Well, lets talk about our tips and tricks and ideas.
1) Use SEO instead of social media Ads.
2) Use Google Ads instead of Google my Business
3) Use LinkedIn + custom hand made EMail instead of spamming
1) use value based pricing (read about Pizza again in the begining of this post)
2) use freemium instead of free demo for 30 days with no functions and robot-like email marketing automation thru this period
3) focus on NO PERSONAL CUSTOMIZATION FOR INDIVIDUALS functionality. You can make it customizable, but without a support team
4) create additional functions like a box of presents for higher ticket offers (give 10 new high quality features in stead of 1 new feature and bug fixed update)
5) stay with quizes and polls for your facebook community – it`ll provide you with better roadmap.
1) Find a niche thru SEO analysis of your market and MVP features
2) Create and implement a content marketing strategy and leadgeneration
3) Provide a freemium for your first customers
4) get a feedback and update your software
5) geet another feedback and give a new offer with bunch of new features people were looking for.
Yep it is simple as that. And you were looking for something complex and hard to understand?
The real question is this – WHO is going to be your marketing partner right?
Tip: use fix + flex model for your marketing partners. As 1000 fix and 15% of sales or some like that.
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