SaaS market space is growing exponentially, and SaaS solutions are becoming an essential element of modern business. However, SaaS sales are entirely different from traditional sales, and scaling the growth is also a tedious task. Glancing at the data shared by McKinsey, it is observed that only a timeshare of SaaS companies successfully sustains growth rates above 30 percent to 40 percent.
However, after the initial “overnight success” phase, most SaaS companies run into trouble. Even the most well-oiled machine can sometimes need a tune-up. And in the fierce SaaS market, to scale your business growth and maintain your SaaS growth momentum keeping your sales process consistent is a vital aspect to consider. Adopting a consistent strategic blueprint assessing the saas sales stages’ consistency is the key to keeping your momentum and preventing your sales from falling off.
Getting your SaaS business off the ground can be challenging, and it can be challenging to know where to start. But irrespective of if you have just flown off as a SaaS company or an experienced player in the market, brewing out the proper SaaS sales process is the essence of your growth.
To draw impressive growth figures and sustain in the cutthroat competition setting up and establishing a highly methodical enterprise saas sales process is also crucial for SaaS giants. In this article, we’ll walk through the eight must-try saas sales processes rounding up the best practices to offer you the best start possible.
The process of SaaS sales might look a little different than you’re used to. With SaaS businesses, you don’t have customers coming to your office to sign contracts. There’s no need for you to cold email your customers and try to build a rapport with them.
First, customers sign up for an account on your software and then start using it. This is when you start contacting them and creating sales conversations. While SaaS sales processes vary based on the specific SaaS business model, some key components are common to almost all SaaS sales processes. When you have a SaaS business, you have to have a sales process that helps customers onboard, get familiar with your software, and get signed up.
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Several factors can impact the average length of a SaaS sales process, including the size of the deal, the complexity of the solution, the number of decision-makers involved, and the buyer’s budget. In addition, the sales cycle can be lengthened or shortened by external factors such as seasonal fluctuations or economic conditions.
Various internal and external factors can impact the average length of a SaaS Sales process. Internal factors could include the company’s financial situation, the number of products or services offered, the complexity of the product, the sales team’s experience and knowledge, and the company’s overall marketing strategy. External factors often consist of the state of the economy, the level of competition in the market, the buyer’s needs and budget, and changes in regulation or technology.
In addition, SaaS Sales length is also hugely impacted by the number of decision-makers involved in the decision-making process, the level of competition, the economic climate, the size of the potential customer, and the buying behavior of the potential customer.
Where SaaS sale is a critical task of businesses of all sizes, enterprise SaaS solutions have to face inevitable unique hassles. And they are because often the target audience is often tech-savvy, and you need to convince them to purchase a physically invisible product, and the length of the sales cycle adds to the challenges.
While selling the product, the primary hurdle is that the sales reps should be capable of handling the high number of users when it comes to enterprise SaaS. Your SaaS sales deck should be well equipped with other programs, including resource planning, human resources, payment processing, etc. Besides, in the B2B SaaS, your potential leads may require even months to purchase the process; the initial interaction with themes is just the development of a sales cycle; it doesn’t guarantee a sale.
Going by the data, it is seen that in the initial interaction with the leads, only 2% of sales take place. 63% of leads seeking details about your solution won’t push to the end of the sales funnel for 3 months, and another 20% take a year to purchase the products. Hence to enrich the sales, you need to have a well-articulated follow-up process, and going by the current trends, it is seen that in B2B, the SaaS sales may witness an elongated cycle of 90 days or beyond.
To grow your SaaS business, you need to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU). You need to get more customers signed up and using your software. To increase your ARPU, you need to encourage your existing customers to keep paying you every month. In addition, you can attract new customers by using the selling process mentioned above. Increasing your ARPU is to boost your average revenue per month (ARPM).
It is the total amount you get from each customer every month. You can improve your ARPM by closing more deals per month, having a lower churn rate, and a better retention rate. To boost your ARPM, you have to have a solid sales process that helps your customers sign up, get familiar with your software, and get signed up as soon as possible. However, let’s drill down some of the keys must try sales processes for your SaaS sales that you should make an integral part of your SaaS sales deck:
After your sales team understands the different types of customers and how to contact them, you can start classifying them. It will assist your sales team in understanding their ideal customers and how to contact them.
Once you’ve got more information about your customers, you can implement your customer retention strategy. The more you know about your customers, the better you can retain them. Retaining customers helps boost your ARPU and ARPM by keeping them as customers. You can use specific strategies to increase your customer retention. One way is to offer excellent customer service.
Some SaaS businesses invest in hiring apt customer service reps to help their customers. This can help your customers feel happy about their experience with your business, increasing their loyalty to you. Another way to boost customer retention is to have a subscription model. Having a subscription model can help you keep your customers by giving them a long-term deal. This can help keep customers because they know they won’t have to constantly re-up their deals.
When you start selling SaaS products, you need to communicate with your customers about the value proposition. The value proposition is your message to your customer about what your product does for them. The value proposition is a vital part of the sales process and is used to sell more.
You can use the value proposition to hire new customers and boost customer retention by keeping current customers. When engaging new customers, it’s essential to hire the right ones. One effective way to do this is to use your data to hire the right people. You can also hire people based on the value proposition you’re hiring them to communicate. Another way to boost customer retention is to have a customer retention program. A customer retention program can help keep your customers by giving them deals they can’t refuse.
In addition to upselling existing customers, you can also use upsells and cross-sells with new customers. If you have a SaaS product, you can use these tactics to help boost your revenue. Upsells are when you suggest additional products or services that are better than your product. For example, you can upsell your customers on software that could help boost their business.
Cross-sells are when you bundle your product with another product that your customers might also be interested in. For example, you can cross-sell your product with your customer’s hardware or software. Both of these tactics help you boost customer retention by keeping your customers happy. This can help you boost ARPU by getting more of your revenue from existing customers.
Another integral part of your sales process is the trial period. The trial period is when you let potential customers try your product for free for a set length of time. This is an opportunity for you to get more information about your potential customer and their needs. The length of your trial period is up to you and is based on a few factors.
You have to consider how long it takes for your customers to decide between buying your product. Often the decision takes time; you can give them a trial period. Additionally, consider how much it costs to run a software trial. If your product costs a lot to run, it might not be worth the expense. You need to weigh this against the value of your product and decide whether it’s worth it.
There are two main reasons to boost average revenue per user to increase the SaaS sales process. The first reason is that it allows you to increase your prices without affecting your overall sales numbers. This means that you can increase your margins and make more profit per sale. The second reason is that it allows you to sell more products or services to each customer, which can lead to increased customer lifetime value.
The more revenue that a business can generate per user, the more profitable it will be. Therefore, if a business wants to boost its sales, it needs to focus on boosting its ARPU. There are many ways to boost ARPU, but some of the most effective methods include upselling, cross-selling, and increasing prices. By using these methods, businesses can increase the amount of revenue that they generate per user, which will, in turn, improve their overall sales.
One of the most important benefits is that it can help increase conversion rates. By making the signup process simpler and more efficient, you can encourage more people to complete it and become paying customers.
Additionally, optimizing the signup process can also help reduce customer churn. By assuring that customers have a positive experience from start to finish, you can keep them engaged with your product and reduce the likelihood that they will cancel their subscription.
Optimizing the signup process further aids to acquire new customers more efficiently. With a streamlined process and making it easier for potential customers to find and sign up for your service, you can attract more leads and convert them into paying customers.
SaaS businesses need to have a strong lead sourcing process to ensure they can identify and connect with potential customers.
One of the best ways to keep your sales process consistent is to train your reps. If you’re not already doing this, it can help maintain consistency in your sales process. Leveraging a SaaS sales process that works is a critical element to maintaining as it takes a lot to flow in the momentum. There are lots of different ways to track your inbound leads and outreach efforts, but this is largely dependent on your business type.
The most important part of keeping your sales process consistent is not micromanaging the team. You may have the best intentions, but if you’re constantly checking in on the team and asking for updates, you’re going to have a hard time getting them to make their own decisions. Micromanaging doesn’t work with any employee, and it certainly doesn’t work with a sales team. To keep your sales process consistent, give your employees autonomy over their tasks and trust that they’ll get results.
Stay in touch with your customers through ongoing communication. If your company doesn’t have a system for following up with customers like this, it’s time to develop one. It will help your business grow more and keep your customers from looking elsewhere for help when they need it. Once you have developed a successful SaaS sales process, it’s time to maintain it. Track the metrics, evaluate and make adjustments as necessary.
Do you want to enhance your SaaS product’s profitability? FirstPrinciples Growth can assist you in developing lasting business growth by implementing proven frameworks. We have a team of experts who are trained to offer you one-on-one SaaS growth consultation now. Start your journey today!
Ameet Mehta
