What is SaaS?
SaaS has been understood as a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and make them available to customers over the internet.
A good way to understand of a SaaS model is by thinking of a bank. A bank protects the privacy of each customer while providing service that is reliable and secure – on a massive scale. A bank’s customers all use the same financial systems and technology without worrying about anyone accessing their system.
A bank meets the characteristics of a SaaS model!
What is SaaS Sales?
SaaS sales is a process of selling web-based software to clients. It is like an integrated service delivery system like that of airlines with all the members working in tandem to make it a coherent customer experience. It does require a motivated sales team backed by a strong service-oriented culture and a strong process infrastructure as contracted with the approach of traditional enterprise software.
Tip #1 Ruthless Qualification and Proficient Conversion
With a solid objective measures and sales process in place, focus on improving the efficiency in each stage of the sales process from click to close to increase the conversion rate as it goes straight to top line revenue. It requires both numerical measures as well as ad hoc sales rep feedback at each stage about the prospect’s level of commitment, and the qualification of the opportunity. Sound complicated? It isn’t.
Let’s understand it this way
Prospect commitment = opportunity qualification = sales investment
When you balance this equation, you efficiently utilize sales team and maximize your sales investment by deal level. Spending too much time on deals that won’t close can ruin your team moral, acquisition cost, and overall business profitability.
Tip #2 Customer Service Excellence
Client service is a critical differentiator which must be ingrained in the process of a high volume business. You can outperform the competition in a good old fashioned customer service with the strong service culture backed by right sales support systems including selling tools, your website, communication infrastructure, training, and interdepartmental coordination.
Tip #3 Lever-up Through Marketing
In a SaaS startup, it is expensive as well as difficult to drive revenue by a sales rep working alone. You may end up exploding high acquisition cost with a lot of sales investment and less of prospect commitment.
Marketing here gives you the leverage by getting you the directions and feedback necessary to create programs and bring in high quality leads, nurture the less committed prospects and accelerate opportunities faster to closure.
Tip #4 Kaizen
Kaizen is a Japanese concept of continuous improvement we can take the learning from for the SaaS sales to help drive up the sales efficiency without degrading the quality of service. While growing your business should not only improve but also adapt by maintaining flexibility and tolerance for change as you better the efficiency. best SaaS software CRM Provide salezshark.
There’s no room for hesitation or doubt. We only got to stay motivated, increase the chances of success by all means and keep facing the uncertainty that still remains.
