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Direct sales for SaaS startups – our experience and tips

blog.palabra.io

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Re: Direct sales for SaaS startups – our experience and tips

#11

Post by koolhead17 »

Most of my sales learning has come from books:

* Competing against luck

* When Coffee & Kale Compete

* Crossing the Chasm

First two books talk about Jobs to be Done. And most importantly who is your customer, someone:

* Pain

* Desire to progress

* Willingness to pay

The other book talks about finding early adopters or pitching to right customer as in the journey of product development.

In the end, early day of sales is more about you/team/likeblity. People will ask about security, money in bank, team size and what not. It will hurt, affect but after those 10 interaction, there will be one guy/team believing in you as you are and want to see you and them succeed.

Re: Direct sales for SaaS startups – our experience and tips

#14

Post by pau_alcala »

rodolphoarruda wrote: post #13

> This conversation usually starts by reaching the prospect you think your product would work for, and sharing why you think your solution would be good for them. Yeah, this reminds me of "The Mom Test" almost instantaneously.

Yes! I was heavily inspired by The Mom Test while writing this, and it's mentioned a bit later on :)

Re: Direct sales for SaaS startups – our experience and tips

#15

Post by howmayiannoyyou »

Swizec wrote: post #6
howmayiannoyyou wrote: post #4

"The biggest challenges to direct sales is finding the right prospects and knowing how to show them value as quickly as possible." Industry segmentation then targeting sales resources to segments. Those resources are your salespeople, ad materials, trade-shows, etc. The industry segmentation is prioritized for segments that benefit the most from the product and have money to spend. You don't focus on the markets or c…

> I cringe mightily reading SAAS job postings looking for someone with business development (or marketing) experience but without industry expertise. It’s ego, scrappiness, and company building. The number of times I recommended an expert we should hire as consultants to teach us how to do things[1] and the founders just don’t wanna ... it’s silly. Always the same excuses: we want to build experise in house, invent f…

Agree. The arrogance is self-destructive b/c I see a lot of SAAS that would survive and thrive with less self-obsession and an open-mind.

Re: Direct sales for SaaS startups – our experience and tips

#17

Post by keyserfaty »

cloogshicer wrote: post #16

Thanks for the post, I really enjoyed it! My problem is always, how do you get the conversations in the first place? And how do you frame it so that people really open up and tell you about their problems (not just related to your product)?

One thing that works for me (palabra.io co-founder here) for them to 'open up' is to upfront let them know that everything they can share is useful and then something like 'I really have no idea about this space, it would be great if you could share your experience and your thoughts'. I think that people usually share more when they feel they are being useful. I wouldn't say something like that on a sales call but it's great when doing customer interviews.

In terms of getting the leads in the first place, I would say connections/people you know. But would love to hear what others are doing.

Re: Direct sales for SaaS startups – our experience and tips

#18

Post by hutch120 »

This article, like so many others, seems to think enterprise B2B selling will somehow translate to startup SaaS businesses.

Ask yourself, what is your favourite paid service that you use nearly every day and then talk to your friends about? Maybe it's an awesome game, or a cool weather app, or an accounting package, or whatever... build a product/service that is so compelling that your users will sell it for you.

I'm in no way affiliated with Sabri Suby, but I recommend checking out his concepts... #1 start by giving your customers something for free and begin to build trust. Google this: "Sabri Suby Magic Lantern Technique".

Re: Direct sales for SaaS startups – our experience and tips

#19

Post by mijail »

Great engineers are also really great salespeople.

The problem is that engineers often feel like they have to put on their salesperson hat on and it all goes out the door.

Sales is a "state," the sales system you use varies greatly based on what phase you are as a company. The same tactics don't apply when you are looking for product market fit vs when you have reached it.

Re: Direct sales for SaaS startups – our experience and tips

#20

Post by cloogshicer »

keyserfaty wrote: post #17
cloogshicer wrote: post #16

Thanks for the post, I really enjoyed it! My problem is always, how do you get the conversations in the first place? And how do you frame it so that people really open up and tell you about their problems (not just related to your product)?

One thing that works for me (palabra.io co-founder here) for them to 'open up' is to upfront let them know that everything they can share is useful and then something like 'I really have no idea about this space, it would be great if you could share your experience and your thoughts'. I think that people usually share more when they feel they are being useful. I wouldn't say something like that on a sales call but it…

Thanks for your reply and advice, will try that!
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