How relevant is YOUR sales process to the solutions your SaaS provides?
If the purpose of your b2b SaaS could be summed up in generic terms, it should be that it's here to make life better, more productive, and increase profitability.
Right? Your app solves efficiency challenges that people are experiencing, because if it didn't, I don't think you'd end up with very many interested customers, but this is nothing new.
So, what does this have to do with your sales and marketing processes? Besides everything, you mean?
1. Finding the problem
In order for your SaaS to make a sale you need to find people who suffer from the problems it solves.
If your salespeople are cold-calling or spamming their ways into the lives of their prospects, they very likely won't have very much information about the pain they are experiencing.
Finding the problem becomes a game of "throw-as-much-shit-against-the-wall-that-they-can," a sort of tennis match that starts with a 30-second elevator pitch.
Your sales process should provide solutions that help people resolve their pain. This doesn't mean shoving your app down their throats and hoping that somebody chokes so you can give them the heimlich, but rather, providing a path from prognosis to actionable items that lead to measurable results - a path that leads them to solutions. (your Saas being that solution for many, of course)
Doesn't that sound just like your app?
But the problem doesn't just lie in that first phone call... it's about how that first phone call came to be to begin with. There is no history between your sales teams and the prospects. They've done nothing to earn trust of their prospects prior to picking up the phone and disrupting whatever it is they were doing.
So, if we take it back a step and start thinking about how to attract leads through educational blog posts and content downloads, as opposed to pounding the phones with purchased lists, we might have a chance to actually start the conversation off on the right foot!.
We can replace the elevator pitch with a consultative inquiry based on a history readout between your brand and the leads exploring your website. Of course, you'll also need a good SaaS like Hubspot to help you deliver and analyze your work.
2. Setting goals
Your customers expect to be able to see the return on their investment from your software in a manner that is easy to understand and even tangible. In other words, if your app does what it says it's supposed to do, then those who use it will be able to feel it positively impact their businesses.
Setting goals doesn't have to be complicated. For sales we can look to sales calls, appointments, and customers. For marketing, when using the inbound methodology, we look to traffic, leads, and customers.
Set your marketing objectives with this free ROI calculator by Orange Pegs!
Customers is key, and your ultimate defining metric, but the others are also important, because they tell us where the problems are occurring when sales are lacking.
2. Providing welcomed solutions
What is a SaaS without solutions?... Nothing, right? Obviously, that's the whole point. But what about making sure those solutions reflect your mission statement from the very first point of contact, so they are welcomed?
How do your sales and marketing processes contribute to the storyline between you and your prospective customers? Are they coming to you, or are you cold-calling off of purchased lists and spamming your way into appointments and deals?
Think about it. If your software is supposed to remove cyber clutter from our lives, does it make any sense to litter our phones with unsolicited calls, our emails with spam, and our physical mailboxes with junk mail?
With inbound marketing, you attract people to your site by blogging about their troubles, using keywords, and leveraging valuable content to promote the exchange of contact information.
So, when a lead comes in through inbound (using proper marketing tools), we can see how they got there, what interested them while they were there (services offered, blog topics, pricing, etc.), and what their level of engagement is based on the type of content they downloaded.
Is it top of funnel? Is it bottom of funnel? Are they diagnosing their problems still, or are they already looking for solutions? Knowing this information helps them visualize the best paths through your app to acheive their goals, which you have extracted and qualified, but it also helps you hone in on what's important without wasting a lot of time or bullshitting.
4. Keeping customers engaged
Getting them signed up is just the beginning. Emailing new customers with tips on getting set up and recommending a demo for the more complex programs will help in your quest for improving longevity.
Part of the inbound marketing mantra is to turn customers into raving fans by continuing to keep them engaged to what they paid for. The more they use your app, the more they're likely to continue paying for it, and even promoting it outside of your own efforts through social media or their own websites.
5. Measuring & improving results
Your customers expect to be able to see the return on their investment from your software in a manner that is easy to understand and even tangible. In other words, if your app does what it says it's supposed to do, those who use it should be able to feel it positively impact their businesses.
You should expect no less from your investments in sales & marketing. How can you possibly improve your outreach efforts if you don't have a way to accurately measure its efficacy?
ARE YOU READY FOR A CHANGE YET?
Check out this Inbound marketing playbook we wrote just for you:
COMMENTS