Software as a service, or SaaS, providers store their cloud-based programs online and make them accessible to their clients. The SaaS market is expanding quickly and is predicted to reach $400 billion by 2025. Therefore, it is now time for SaaS salespeople to hone their SaaS sales skills as they attempt to win over new clients, upsell or cross-sell to their current clients, and enhance the bottom line for their companies.
We have gathered everything related to SaaS sales in one location on this blog. This article can assist you in learning the craft of SaaS selling in a few simple stages, whether you’re a sales representative, manager, or SaaS business owner.
Selling cloud-based software to customers is the core of SaaS sales. Sales representatives in the SaaS sector concentrate on using distinctive B2B SaaS sales methods to acquire new clients and retain existing ones. Customer service and personalization are the main aspects of SaaS sales. You may increase your SaaS sales operations with the appropriate combination of these two elements.
A SaaS sales cycle depends on various factors like customer segment, price of products, and product complexity. Complex SaaS products typically have longer sales cycles as more stakeholders get involved in the sales process
Here are some factors that typically control your SaaS sales cycle:
- Changing market trends
The global SaaS market is evolving every day. Sales reps need to keep up with these trends to make the SaaS sales experience seamless. However, keeping up with the latest SaaS trends can be time-consuming. You need time to educate your sales reps on the best practices in the SaaS industry before they start communicating with prospects. This can impact the length of the sales cycle of your SaaS organization.
- Software complexity
Is your SaaS product a complex one? That can also be the reason behind a long SaaS sales cycle. For complex SaaS products, reps need a significant amount of time to execute product demos and explain the prospective features of the product which can take up a lot of time.
- Target customers
Before building a B2B SaaS sales strategy, you must figure out who your target customers are. For example, if your target customers are large enterprises, your SaaS sales cycle is likely to get longer. That’s because the SaaS sales process, in that case, includes several steps which would involve multiple stakeholders from the buying organization.
- Free trials
Many SaaS businesses offer free trials to their prospects. While this is a good strategy, it has its own challenges. For instance, if you’re offering a 30-day free trial, you’re simply increasing the length of your SaaS sales cycle by 30 days.
Typically, the average length of a SaaS sales cycle is 84 days. However, it can vary depending on the Annual Contract Value (ACV). If your ACV is less than $5K, the SaaS sales cycle may be as long as 40 days. On the contrary, for ACVs over $100K, the SaaS sales cycle can be around 170 days.
A SaaS company’s growth is no easy task. Because of this, developing a thoughtful sales plan is crucial for a company to be successful. You may find some essential strategies to boost sales for your SaaS company below.
1. Identify Qualified Prospects
If you have excellent face-to-face sales skills but can not identify qualified prospects, it would be difficult for you to get the right customers.
The problem with prospecting is that it is often linked to activity. Sales representatives are urged to make more calls, knock on more doors and send out more emails. However, the result of this is primarily a minor increase in sales. There are better strategic ways to get more prospects which include:
- Referrals from existing clients.
- Networking with sales representatives in similar industries.
- Web-based marketing, e.g., blogging and newsletters.
Doing these would help you easily create a rich funnel pack with qualified prospects.
2. Give Short and Value-Focused Demos
Customers want to be 100% sure of every purchase in most cases. Therefore, in software sales, your demo for a qualified lead is going to be more critical than ever.
A demo shows the efficiency and value of your product to prospects. Some key indicators of a good software demo are feature promotions, a well-paced narration that is clear and concise, and a call to action on the following line of steps with the product.
Though video demos are a great way to get a lot of information across to potential customers, not everyone has the whole day to spend on your page. That is why it is ideal for keeping your demo between 15-20 minutes.
3. Optimize your Email Campaigns
According to Statista, over 333 billion emails are expected to be received and sent daily. That means email marketing isn’t going anywhere soon, and the only way to gain optimal value from it is to optimize your email campaigns.
Read Also: How do I Set up SaaS?
You can optimize your emails by writing relevant and high-converting copy with the correct email marketing tools. Use great subject lines and make your email easy to scan, as explained in a case study by Solitaire Bliss. Ensure that your tone is personalized while setting the right triggers with your customer’s behavior.
4. Show Customer Pain Points
Like everyday problems are varied and diverse, customers often experience recurring issues that allow you to pitch a solution. The best way to close the gap is to uncover your customer’s typical troubles by positioning yourself in two ways:
- See yourself as someone facing either a small or big frustration from your customer’s standpoint. Identify these frustrations, then flip back your position.
- Begin with a conversation and clearly show them these outlined pains.
Now that you have identified your customer’s pain points, they will be thrilled. But, again, this would create a sense of necessity and willingness to accept your solutions.
5. Keep your Trials Short
Having a lower trial duration creates urgency for customers and often gets them to think about your product. Whereas giving potential customers an extended trial period would make them forget or procrastinate on using the software, which will hurt your business in the long run.
Customers are more likely to take the trial period seriously when it is shorter. That’s why they can only use the software for a limited time, increasing their chances of signing up to continue using the product since they have enjoyed the service.
6. Reward your Existing Customers
Instead of dumping money into campaigns that focus on paying prospective customers, you can drive a dramatic increase in your existing customer’s performance.
One fundamental way to increase your customer’s lifetime value is to offer a reward. Reward often stimulates loyalty with your existing customers, and there is no other customer retention strategy in the SaaS business that beats rewards.
Allow your customers to experience the unexpected, which can be in the form of freebies, discounts, or promo codes. In addition, you can reduce the churn rate. Also, maximize every opportunity to ensure the values you are offering as a reward is from your product.
7. Upsell and Cross-Sell your Existing Customers
According to Sumo, revenue is increased up to 30% on average by upselling. Therefore, upselling and cross-selling to your existing clients are vital to making more money as a SaaS business.
Clients who have already purchased from you or are in a purchasing mood and see value in what you do are excellent prospects for upselling and cross-selling. If done correctly, this can:
- First, enhance average order and customer value over time.
- Increase the number of repeat buyers.
- Increase customer retention
- Most importantly, increase sales.
When you provide value to customers, there is every possibility that they will buy your other products once you make them known to them.
8. Show Customer Success Stories
One proof that validates that your SaaS works are customer success stories. It is the best way to display your company’s value. That will boost your credibility, attract prospective customers, and establish your product in the marketplace.
With the high increase in SaaS, some are deemed illegal. Your customer’s success story threshold makes you outstanding. It also helps you resonate with the genuine perception of your product, service, recognition, customers, and brand awareness.
Do not forget to include ratings and review sessions and aggregate your customer’s social contact details to build a social sharing ecosystem. That will allow them to participate in the use cases. The idea is to reassure and resell – a win-win for consumers overall.
9. Interact on Social Media
Social media is a great way to reach new audiences and keep existing customers engaged. With over 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, using social media for SaaS can be a powerful way to grow your business.
Social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and the rest connect people, create communities, and provide free exposure to many SaaS businesses worldwide. Interacting on these social media platforms helps generate organic traffic to your site, and in the end, you find it easier to convert the traffic to sales.
10. Produce Video Marketing Content
Creating video content includes many benefits. That’s why it attracts a lot for B2C and B2B companies. With so many video types, you can reach a much wider audience, humanize your brand, and generate sales. Moreover, 87% of businesses use video as an essential part of their marketing strategy, and 83% consider video gives them a good ROI.
Depending on what you are selling and who you are selling to, you can produce different videos, from product demos and product videos to “how to” and upselling videos. Make sure to check out which type works best for your business.
To create animated videos, Rocketwheel is an excellent solution for SaaS businesses. Whether it’s 2D animation, motion graphics, corporate, or learning, it serves as a great asset for your product pages.
11. Invest in PPC Marketing
The PPC model of digital marketing allows you to advertise and only pay a fee when people click on your ads. Investing in it is one of the best ways to outsmart others. It helps you generate exceptional tracking metrics, and the best part is that you can get user-specific about whom you’re putting your SaaS product beforehand. This process increases your SaaS revenue and sales growth.
Most platforms find it hard to maximize the result of PPC marketing because they do it the wrong way. Of course, you will have a better shot with first-time buyers when you kick-start with the right keyword and interact through their search interests or browsing history.
However, customer retention becomes more manageable when your marketing ads get to a repeated buyer, meaning you will not have to work as hard to secure that prospective customer.
12. Offer Annual Plans
Offering annual plans makes it easier for you to keep customers for an extended period (minimum of a year), which could help you build loyalty.
The annual prepaid model increases revenue compared to monthly plans, making cash flow more relaxed. In addition, you can be sure of at least a year’s payment for each customer who signs up for the yearly plan.
Doing this also helps you attract high-quality customers with higher purchasing power while reducing churn to a large extent. That enables you to grow faster.
13. Measure your Results
Analyzing and measuring channels that bring traffic and sales is vital for identifying where you fall short and need to do to get better.
Using tools like WebCEO can quickly help you generate new leads, manage and monitor your results, and create branded reports for your clients. It also provides in-depth competitor research and live keyword ranking data. As a result, you can easily organize your teamwork and reach your sales goals.
Now that you understand the SaaS sales process, you may use it to your advantage. Technology has played a significant role in sales, particularly in SaaS sales, and will likely continue to do so in the foreseeable future.
