Author: Nick Mann

How to Use Case Studies to Convert More Leads

Posted on by Nick Mann

There are about 30,000 SaaS companies in 2023, and that number is quickly growing. By 2024, some experts believe that number will more than double to 72,000. This means competition is fierce, and customers have more choices than ever. While there are numerous ways to boost conversions and bring more leads to your company, one of the best pound-for-pound is using case studies to convert more leads.

In this post, I’ll show you just how big of an impact demonstrating customer success through case studies can have on SaaS sales and offer a real-life example for inspiration.

What Exactly is a Case Study?

First, let’s start with a clear definition. In the context of SaaS, it’s an in-depth study of a customer who used your product and the measurable outcome it had.

The specifics of a case study can vary, but there are five key elements you tend to see across the board.

First, there’s the introduction that explains who the customer is, the industry they’re in, and so on. Next, is the problem they were facing before using your SaaS product. Then comes the solution, which discusses why your product was a good fit. From there, a case study explains the result, ideally using concrete data to explain the quantifiable impact. And finally, it details where the customer was before and after using your SaaS solution.

Why Case Studies Are So Effective in SaaS

It’s simple. Using case studies to convert more leads works well because it’s the ultimate form of social proof.

While there are several other effective forms of social proof, with testimonials, reviews, and ratings being just a few examples, case studies break down the results an actual customer had after using your SaaS product. Rather than just saying, “Our SaaS product works great and can make your life easier, grow your business, etc.,” a case study takes a deep dive and shows firsthand what the impact has been using a real-life example.

And this is incredibly important in an age where 1) there’s so much competition and 2) many leads are skeptical of brands.

I like what HubSpot campaign manager Siobhan McGinty has to say about it.

“Do not underestimate the value of providing social proof at just the right time in order to add value and earn their business. Case studies are extremely effective in the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey when they are actively comparing solutions and providers to solve a problem they’re experiencing.”

So when a lead is at the consideration stage, a case study can be the perfect form of content for connecting the dots and showing them why your SaaS solution is the best option.

Instead of merely taking your word for it, a lead can see how a similar customer benefited from your product and how they can as well.

Eye-Catching Statistics

At this point, you’re probably wondering just how big of an impact case studies can truly have. To answer that, here are a few compelling statistics that illustrate the value they can bring to a SaaS marketing campaign.

First, 2022 research by The Content Marketing Institute found that 73% of the most successful content marketers used case studies in their campaigns.

Next, of the top content assets that marketers used in the last 12 months, case studies ranked number four, just behind videos and virtual events, which shows the growing ubiquity of this content medium.

And third, research from Uplift Content found that case studies were ranked as the number one most effective marketing tactic for increasing SaaS sales, with 39% of marketers saying they were effective. For perspective, case studies ranked higher than SEO, general website content, email marketing, eBooks, social media, and blogging.

By these numbers, it’s clear that using case studies to convert more leads can be an excellent addition to a SaaS marketing campaign. So if it’s something you haven’t tried yet, now is the perfect time to do so.

A Real-Life Example

Now that we know what case studies are and why they work so well, let’s look at inbound lead conversion and scheduling app Chili Piper to see how they use case studies so effectively.

Chili Piper is a SaaS company that uses content as an integral part of their marketing campaign, with blogs, guides, and podcasts being a few key examples. But in my opinion, where they really succeed is with their case studies or “customer stories” as they call them.

Chili Piper even has an entire section of their website devoted solely to case studies.

One that I think is especially good is where they featured BambooHR and discussed how the company was able to increase qualified meetings by 40% after using Chili Piper.

In this case study, Chili Piper provides:

  • An introduction and overview of BambooHR
  • The inefficiencies of their previous system before using Chili Piper
  • The solution that was implemented with the app
  • The results (increasing qualified meetings by 40%)

They even provide a video featuring BambooHR company rep Mary Nelson who discusses exactly how Chili Piper helped make their meeting scheduling process far more efficient for a “straight from the horse’s mouth” perspective.

It’s a simple, straightforward format that perfectly showcases the power of this SaaS product and helps leads envision how it could help their company as well. You can see the case study for yourself here.

And if you’d like to see Chili Piper’s full library of case studies for more ideas, you can find them here.

Using Case Studies to Convert More Leads

If you’re looking for the ultimate “show, don’t tell” marketing strategy, it doesn’t get much better than case studies. And while they can work well for many industries, they pair perfectly with SaaS because they enable you to show leads firsthand how a similar company benefited from using your product.

That’s why I can’t recommend this strategy enough, and it’s one that can be a great addition to your SaaS marketing arsenal.

Looking to build an all-star team of talented salespeople? Use HireDNA to recruit and retain top reps with cutting-edge technology.

How to Use Value-Based Selling in SaaS to Drive More Conversions

Posted on by Nick Mann

When many people think of traditional sales, they often envision aggressively pushing a product and landing the deal. While making conversions is obviously important, the old-school “going for the jugular” style often does more harm than good these days, and leads are less receptive to high-pressure sales tactics than they used to be. One form of selling that’s gaining in popularity and can be especially potent is value-based selling.

To quantify, “87% of high-growth sales organizations now take a value-based approach to sales.” And many experts have gone so far as to call value-based selling “the sales methodology of the future.”

Here’s how to use value-based selling in SaaS to boost conversions and take your sales team to the next level.

Transactional Selling vs. Consultative Selling

First, let me start off by saying that value-based selling takes a consultative approach to sales where you listen and educate a lead while building a relationship with them and highlighting the value your SaaS product offers. This differs from transactional selling that’s mainly focused on the features and specs of a product, “pushing” it on a lead and making a transaction.

For perspective, here’s a comparison of transactional selling vs. consultative selling (the camp value-based selling falls under).

Now that we have a basic understanding of these two different styles, here are the most integral techniques for using value-based selling to win over more prospects.

Research Each Lead’s Unique Needs

A critical part of succeeding with this approach is avoiding a “one-size-fits-all” mentality and treating every lead uniquely.

“When researching a prospect, aim to understand their company and industry, background, and current pain points,” explains HubSpot. “By understanding these pieces of information, you’ll have a solid grasp of how to serve them best.”

While this, admittedly, does take time, it’s an essential component of the process. To ensure you’re spending your time on the right prospects, I suggest using a lead scoring tool, ideally focusing on sales qualified leads (SQLs) rather than marketing qualified leads (MQLs).

By default, this will filter through your list of prospects and ensure you’re only spending time on those that are ultra-high-quality with a strong likelihood of converting. And for the MQLs that aren’t yet ready, you can send them to your marketing team for nurturing.

Build Authentic Rapport

The initial stage of the process of researching a lead’s unique needs will come into play here, as it will set the tone as you build rapport. As I mentioned earlier, an essential part of value-based selling is acting more as a consultant rather than a conventional salesperson. So the goal is to stay personable and “human,” getting to know each lead as an individual.

One area where many salespeople go wrong is jumping into the sales discussion too early. While converting is always the goal, value-based selling takes more of a “long game” approach where you first get to know a person and build an authentic relationship so you can deliver genuine value and address their specific needs.

Clearly Demonstrate the Value of Your SaaS Product

The first two steps in the process will set you up for the most important part of the journey — where you directly articulate exactly how your SaaS product will improve a lead’s situation.

For example, marketing, automation, and email platform Mailchimp offers very specific value for its customers.

This includes:

  • Helping them convert more customers at scale by “driving more traffic and sales by setting up automations that trigger emails based on customer behavior”
  • Using automation to create “pre-built journeys that help customers cross-sell their products, recover abandoned carts, re-engage existing customers, and win new ones”
  • “Delivering personalized emails based on customers’ buying behavior, survey responses, chat interactions, and support tickets to promote loyalty and growth

Mailchimp is an arbitrary example, but you get the idea. The key here is to convey precisely how your SaaS product can help while speaking to a lead’s individual needs and pain points. If you can do that effectively, you’re almost guaranteed to succeed at value-based selling.

Use Customer Success Stories

At this point, you’ve researched a prospect, built rapport, and articulated the specific value your SaaS product offers. Now it’s time to connect the dots and bring it all home. And one of the best ways to do that is by offering customer success stories where you tell a lead about real-life examples of customers that have actually used your SaaS product and experienced genuine results.

Going back to Mailchimp as an example, they have several case studies on their website that highlight customer success stories.

You can take a similar approach, using examples of your current or previous customers that have seen serious results and tailor them to address the unique needs and pain points of the lead at hand. By seeing the impact your SaaS product has had in a real-life situation, this can be just what you need to get a lead over the hump and commit to purchasing.

Winning at Value-Based Selling

Let’s recap. Rather than taking a transactional approach, which is often the basis of conventional selling, value-based selling goes the opposite direction. It’s more about thinking long-term rather than making the immediate sale and concentrates on consulting, educating, and relationship-building.

And while it’s probably not feasible to use value-based selling for every single lead (MQLs don’t likely make sense, for example), it can have a tremendous impact when you focus on high-quality SQLs. With most of today’s high-growth organizations already using it, value-based selling is something you should seriously consider implementing into your SaaS strategy.

Looking to find A+ reps for your SaaS sales team? Learn how this sales assessment can help and why 91% of recommended candidates have positive on-the-job performance.

Preventing Lost Customers: SaaS Retention Strategies to Reduce Churn

Posted on by Nick Mann

Churn is an inevitable part of running a SaaS company. No matter how great your product is, how streamlined your onboarding, and how quality your customer service, a certain percentage of customers will inevitably leave. That said, churn is definitely something to keep in check, especially when you consider that US businesses lose around $1.6 trillion annually because of it. On that note, here are some of the most helpful SaaS retention strategies to keep churn as low as possible.

Start By Perfecting Your SaaS Onboarding

The exact percentage will vary depending on who you ask, but in most cases, poor onboarding is the number one reason for churn. In fact, a recent study found that poor onboarding accounts for nearly 23% of all churn.

For that reason, I suggest making SaaS onboarding a top priority and continually striving to make it as seamless as possible. After all, the quality (or lack thereof) of the onboarding experience will make a lasting impression on each new customer. So you want to make sure you’re getting them up-to-speed quickly and not creating unnecessary friction.

To learn the fundamentals of quality SaaS onboarding, I recommend reading this post from HubSpot and following this checklist.

Be Committed to Ongoing Product Improvement

According to the same study, the second biggest reason for churn is an underperforming product, with just under 20% of customers leaving because of this.

And this shouldn’t come as a shock. Obviously, if a customer is underwhelmed with a SaaS product, they probably won’t stick around for long.

That’s why it’s so important to take an endlessly iterative approach to product development and improvement. In fact, if you look at the most successful companies, nearly all are constantly looking to identify flaws, fix issues, and make adjustments to help their product reach its full potential.

In other words, don’t treat building your SaaS product as a one-off type of deal. Instead, be committed to ongoing product improvement.

Be Committed to Building Long-Term Relationships

Third on the list of top reasons for churn is ineffective relationship building, with over 15% of customers leaving because of this.

Just like poor onboarding and an underperforming product, ineffective relationship building is a fundamental element of the customer experience. And when it’s neglected, you’re likely to see a higher churn rate than you’d like.

So how exactly can you build stronger relationships with your SaaS customers? Here are some ideas.

  • Maintain regular communication
  • Make it simple to reach customer service through a variety of mediums (website, email, social, etc.)
  • Give customers updates on product improvements, new features, and upcoming releases
  • Ask for their feedback and ways you could improve the product and enhance the overall customer experience
  • Offer discounts and other perks to loyal customers

Practice Proactive Customer Service

Reactive customer service is when you wait for customers to come to you with their problems and questions. Proactive customer service, on the other hand, is when you anticipate problems and questions and actively engage customers to not only ensure there are no deal-breaking issues but that they’re highly satisfied.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of proactive versus reactive customer service.

Put yourself in the shoes of a SaaS customer for a second. Which type of customer service would you prefer?

It’s a no-brainer. In nearly every situation, customers will always opt for proactive customer service because it makes their lives easier, and they can get the absolute most from their investment.

That’s why I strongly suggest taking this approach if you’re not already. You can learn more about this topic in this guide from customer service software brand Tidio.

Offer Incentives for Customers to Hang Around

Getting customers to convert initially isn’t easy. But getting them to hang around for the long haul, especially when you’ve got competitors nipping at your heels is a whole other matter. One of the best SaaS retention strategies to fix this problem is to offer your loyal customers incentives to stick with you.

I like what Carly Stec of HubSpot has to say about this.

“Give customers a reason to stick around by offering them something special like a promo, discount, or loyalty program. This small effort can go a long way when it comes to showing your existing customers how much you value their business.”

If someone is happy with your SaaS product, they’ll be even happier. And if they were on the fence and potentially considering taking their business elsewhere, this can be just what you need to make them reconsider and remain a customer.

Figure Out Why Churn Happens

Finally, it’s incredibly important to understand what’s contributing to your churn because this will help you take the appropriate steps to lower it. Earlier, I mentioned that poor onboarding, poor product performance, and ineffective relationship building were the top three causes of SaaS churn across the board. But, of course, every situation is different, so you’ll want to know precisely what issues are the biggest contributors for your company.

A great starting point is to use exit surveys when customers leave, as this should provide you with a basic overview of the core causes. However, admittedly, only a certain percentage of customers will fill these out, and it won’t necessarily show the whole picture.

That’s where a retention analytics platform comes in. This is specifically designed to quantifiably measure churn to see why customers leave and what’s causing it. Further, this can also help you measure customer engagement so you can determine the behaviors that are leading to success.

There are numerous products on the market, but one of my personal favorites is Woopra which primarily focuses on the SaaS industry. For example, you can use it to determine how many users return after using a core product feature…

…or what your product retention is for mobile users.

Keeping More Customers with Winning SaaS Retention Strategies

It’s hard to stress enough the importance of minimizing churn. After all, it doesn’t matter how many new customers you gain if you can’t retain them. By using the right SaaS retention strategies, you should be able to tame your churn rate and build the foundation for a long-lasting brand.

If you’re looking to find A+ sales talent to propel your company, see how HireDNA can help.

The 4 Best Places to Find Elite Passive Sales Candidates

Posted on by Nick Mann

We’ve talked a lot about passive sales candidates on this blog. And for good reason. Over three-quarters of sales candidates can be classified as passive, and they’re often some of the most talented individuals you’ll find in your industry. That said, not all are created equal. So how do you find elite passive sales candidates? The best of the best?

In this post, I’ll share four of the top resources I recommend that can be potential goldmines for sourcing passive talent to take your sales force to the next level.

1. An Employee Referral Program

For most companies, the best place to start is by establishing an employee referral program because this gives you access to a steady supply of potentially amazing salespeople.

There are two main reasons why this can be a smart move. First, rather than having to constantly seek out elite passive sales candidates yourself, they come to you instead. Second, the overall caliber of talent companies find with an employee referral program tends to be high quality.

For perspective, Forbes states that “referrals are the leading source of superior candidates for 88% of employers,” and “referred candidates are a better culture fit than those hired through other sources.”

And it makes sense when you think about it. If you already have a team of bright, capable salespeople, odds are they’re in contact with other potential salespeople that are equally as talented.

By launching an employee referral program and encouraging existing team members to source other rockstars, there’s a great chance you can make some A+ acquisitions.

To learn the basics of how to get one set up, check out this guide from SHRM.

2. LinkedIn

Social media in general can be a great place to source elite passive sales candidates. But, in my opinion, LinkedIn is still number one because 1) it focuses specifically on professional networking and 2) it’s a simple, intuitive platform that lets you quickly search for top talent.

Say, for example, you were looking for a SaaS salesperson in the tech industry. You can simply type what you’re looking for in the search bar here.

Then, you can browse through LinkedIn’s comprehensive results to learn more about each LinkedIn member.

At a glance, you can see what each person specializes in. And some LinkedIn users even openly state that they’re looking for job opportunities.

From there, you can learn more about a prospective candidate’s experience, qualifications, current job status, and more.

If have LinkedIn Premium, you can instantly message them without having to connect first. Or, if you don’t have the premium version, you can connect and then message them.

3. AI Tools

In recent years, AI has spread its tentacles to nearly every aspect of business, and passive recruiting is no exception. Now there are a variety of AI tools that allow you to streamline and automate much of the passive recruiting process.

Not only does this save you valuable time and eliminate a ton of tedious manual tasks, it dramatically increases your odds of landing elite talent. That’s because AI can leverage sophisticated technology to match you with highly qualified passive sales candidates with the skills, experience, and personality needed to thrive in your sales team.

There are countless AI tools on the market, but a good example of one that specializes in the outbound recruiting of passive candidates is HireEZ.

With it, you can search from over 800 million candidate profiles and use over 30 advanced AI filters to pinpoint the exact type of candidates you’re looking for. From there, HireEZ helps you engage with the best of the best to facilitate friction-free communication.

And that’s just one example. You can find a list of 9 of the best AI tools for sourcing elite passive sales candidates here.

4. Industry Conferences and Local Events

In our modern era, the majority of sales recruiting is done digitally. But it’s important to remember that in-person networking is still very much alive and well. And in the right circumstances, it can be the perfect way to meet talented passive sales candidates that could be tremendous assets to your company.

One of the main reasons why I still like in-person networking is that it lets you interact with prospective candidates face-to-face and get a feel for their style and personality. If, for example, someone is particularly charismatic and has a high social IQ, there’s a good chance they would thrive on your sales team.

Also, the people you meet at these events often have a strong commitment to sales. After all, why would someone go to the trouble of attending an event if they didn’t have a genuine passion?

Besides that, these events allow you to quickly meet a high volume of people so you can make a ton of connections and exchange contact information. So within the course of a few hours, you could potentially have several quality contacts that you can reach out to later.

When it comes to finding events, a quick Google search of “[your industry] conferences” should turn up plenty of information.

Besides that, websites such as Meetup.com, Eventbrite, and CitySocializer can help you find local events. Note that many of the events on these sites aren’t specifically sales-centric, but events in general, which can nonetheless help you connect with talented individuals.

Building a Successful Team with Elite Passive Sales Candidates

With more than 75% of sales candidates being passive and these candidates often being some of the most qualified, it’s important to have a passive recruiting strategy in place. And this starts with tapping into the right resources for finding passive sales candidates.

While there are numerous resources you can leverage, these four are my absolute favorites and should allow you to cast a wide net for finding the cream of the crop.

If you’re looking to build an all-star team, be sure to register with HireDNA today. We offer cutting-edge technology that helps sales companies attract, recruit, and retain the best talent.

Don’t Make Passive Sales Candidates Jump Through Hoops: Tips for Creating a Streamlined Recruiting Process

Posted on by Nick Mann

When most people think of sales recruiting, they likely envision scouting for active candidates who come to them and apply for a job. But according to a recent survey, 73% of candidates are passive, meaning they’re not actively looking for a sales position, but would be open to it if the right opportunity came along. Given passive candidates are often the most talented, it’s vital to develop a streamlined recruiting process where they don’t have to jump through a bunch of hoops.

And that’s what I’m going to tackle in this post. Here’s a formula for swiftly moving A+ passive candidates through your hiring process without unnecessary friction.

Put Yourself in a Passive Candidate’s Shoes

First, I think it’s helpful to look at the situation from the perspective of a passive sales candidate. Most are already employed, and because they’re in demand, have plenty of leverage. Therefore, they’re not going to jump at just any offer that comes their way.

To seriously consider switching companies, it has to be a truly enticing offer that goes beyond what they have at their current job. So if you realistically expect to land elite talent like this, you need two main things — an amazing offer that surpasses what they have in their current position and a straightforward system that seamlessly moves them through the hiring process.

This brings me to my next point.

Clearly Define Why Passive Sales Candidates Should Choose You

Before you ever reach out to a passive candidate, you need to be able to quickly articulate what makes your company a better choice than their current employer — an elevator pitch if you will. While every brand’s selling points will differ, here are some specific things most passive sales candidates want across the board.

Based on this and the unique selling points your offer, I suggest creating a recruitment pitch that you can reference at any time. And if you have multiple sales recruiters interacting with passive candidates, this should ensure a consistent experience.

Use Technology to Ensure a Passive Candidate is a Good Fit

If someone has stood out enough for you to have your sights on them, odds are they can sell. But there are other factors to take into account, such as working style, cultural fit, personality traits, and so on that will ultimately determine their likelihood of success.

Before you officially reach out to a passive candidate, it’s smart to use technology like an AI tool or a SaaS sales recruiting platform to analyze passive candidates based on the specific criteria you’re looking for. This will allow you to narrow the talent pool down and find the best of the best.

That way you don’t waste the candidate’s time or yours.

Make the Application Process Dead Simple

Research has found that “60% of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications because of their length or complexity.” And for passive candidates that aren’t actively seeking employment, they’re even less likely to complete a long-winded application.

For that reason, it’s critical to boil it down to the absolute essentials when gathering information. Better yet, allow passive candidates to apply through platforms like LinkedIn or Google so they can use their existing profiles rather than filling out a new one from scratch.

Offer Seamless Interview Scheduling

Another common source of frustration for candidates during sales recruiting is interviewing. The last thing you want is for a dream candidate to sour on a position because of complications during interview scheduling.

A simple way to prevent this is to use a tool like Calendly that allows candidates to conveniently schedule an interview at a time that’s best for them.

Simply send an invite with several time slots that are available, and a candidate can have their pick.

An added plus is that this also saves your recruiting team time from having to back-and-forth with candidates.

Keep Interview Rounds to a Minimum

Many sales recruiters require candidates to have two, three, or even four rounds of interviews before officially giving them a job offer. And while you want to be sure you’ve found the right person, going overboard on interviewing can be a major turnoff, especially for passive candidates that are already employed.

That’s why I suggest keeping your interviewing to a maximum of two rounds to prevent any conflicts. However, if you can just have one comprehensive interview, that’s even better.

As long as you’ve done your research and used technology like a sales recruiting platform or AI tool as I mentioned earlier, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Offer Job Status Updates

After you’ve conducted an interview(s), it’s extremely important to keep candidates in the loop as you’re making your final decision. Ideally, you’ll provide real-time updates via email, text, or messenger so candidates instantly know what’s happening.

And needless to say, don’t drag on your decision-making any longer than necessary.

Optimizing the Passive Candidate Experience with a Streamlined Recruiting Process

Because of their skills, talent, and proven success, passive candidates are often the best candidates. And while effective recruiting is important for filling all positions, it’s especially critical when recruiting passive candidates.

By following the formula outlined above, you should be able to create a more streamlined recruiting process that results in a better candidate experience and more A+ passive candidates accepting your job offers.

If you’re looking for technology to accurately and efficiently assess sales candidates, check out The Original Sales Assessment. 92% of individuals recommended by it go on to reach the top half of their sales force within one year.

SaaS Sales Management Strategy: Tactics to Improve Underperforming Teams and Drive Results

Posted on by Nick Mann

A recent survey found only 18% of sales teams were reaching 70% or more of their quotas. And only 43% were even hitting 50% of their quotas. Further, 58% of sales teams were only reaching 20-40% of their quota attainment or less, which clearly shows there’s room for improvement in the SaaS sales management strategy of many companies.

If you’ve been feeling underwhelmed with your team’s performance as of late, this post is for you. In it, I’ll offer a simple yet effective step-by-step SaaS sales management strategy that should get your numbers to where they need to be.

Assess Your Current Team to Identify Low Performers

The first step is to gain an objective understanding of who’s carrying their weight and who’s not. You’ll likely have an idea of who your top performers are, but it’s important to look at some concrete data to identify low performers.

I like CEO and co-founder of SaaStr Jason Lemkin’s take on it. According to him, “Realistically, in most cases, the best thing to do is let some of your low performers go and reroute those leads to your higher performers. Get back to a core group of folks that can close, and then keep the bar high, and add to it. No one is happy with < 50% quota attainment.”

So how do you identify low performers?

I suggest looking at these metrics:

  • How many conversions each salesperson has made in the past six months to a year
  • What each person’s close rate is
  • What each rep’s average deal size is
  • How much their accounts have grown or diminished
  • What their overall quota attainment rate momentum is (are they trending up or down?)

Looking at these numbers should provide clarification so you’ll know for a fact who the low performers are, which brings me to my next point.

Let the Low Performers Go

Once you know for certain who’s not carrying their weight, it’s a good time to let go of your low performers. While this isn’t always pleasant, and you’ll want to take any extenuating circumstances into account, “trimming the fat” and sending leads to your top performers is usually an effective way to recalibrate your sales team and get your quota attainment rate to an acceptable level.

As Lemkin explains, “The best sales teams really do see 70% or more of their team hitting quota, or at least 70% of scaled reps (which often means 60% or so overall). It just energizes everyone, and success builds on success.”

Offer Ongoing Sales Training

At this point, you’ll want to equip your top performers with the tools they need to be their best — something that can often be done with proper sales training. While a one-off course can be helpful, I find that it’s ideal to offer ongoing sales training given the fast-paced nature of the SaaS industry.

With trends constantly changing, the teams that perform the best are usually the ones that stay on top and continually refine their collective skillset.

To find a suitable sales training platform for your SaaS company, I recommend browsing through this list from HubSpot.

They offer 36 of the top programs that can fit every need and budget.

Use Sales Tech and Productivity Tools

Sales tech and productivity tools help improve efficiency and performance with less so you can sell more without adding headcount. And with AI becoming increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous, the potential results you can get are off the charts.

A good example is using a scheduling tool like Calendly to allow leads to conveniently choose a time slot for a product demo.

Calendly kills two birds with one stone because it lets your sales team capitalize on the momentum and strike while the iron is hot while also saving your reps time. Rather than making a hot lead wait to get a response and schedule a demo, they can do it right away when they’re most interested.

And instead of wasting time back-and-forthing with leads, your reps can confirm demo times and automatically have them penciled into their calendars.

You can find a comprehensive list of sales tech and productivity tools here.

Hire Top Tier Talent

The last piece of the puzzle for our SaaS sales management strategy is to improve your SaaS sales hiring process from here on out. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll need to bring new team members on board immediately (even if you’ve let low performers go). But it’s important to fine-tune your hiring so you don’t run into the problem of low performers in the future.

Easier said than done, right?

While there is no magic bullet for finding elite talent 100% of the time, using a comprehensive sales assessment can accurately and consistently help you find top performers using objective data.

Objective Management Group’s Sales Assessment, for example, looks at critical criteria like the will to sell, how much a person enjoys selling, motivation, core competencies, and more to filter through a large pool of candidates and narrow it down to the best of the best. It can be customized for your unique selling environment and tailored to your specific needs. And it can be used for nearly any sales role.

So if you’re looking for a simple way to evaluate SaaS salespeople and pinpoint top tier talent, this is a good way to go about it.

In terms of results, 92% of the candidates that are recommended by the assessment go on to reach the top half of their sales force within their first year.

A SaaS Sales Management Strategy to Get Your Team on Track

If you’re less than excited about your current sales quota attainment rate, you’re not alone. Only 18% of sales teams are hitting 70% or more of their quotas.

But if you follow the SaaS sales management strategy outlined above, you should be able to 1) steady the ship to quickly bump up your quota attainment rate and 2) set the stage for continued success in the long run.

If you’re interested in learning more about Objective Management Group’s sales assessment, you can get the full details here.

Use These SaaS Selling Strategies to Close More Deals

Posted on by Nick Mann

As of 2023, the majority of business apps that today’s companies use are SaaS-based at 70%. And experts predict that number will grow to 85% by 2025. This means there’s abundant opportunity for SaaS companies. But to fully capitalize on it, you need to thoroughly understand which SaaS selling strategies are most effective.

That’s what I’ll be zeroing in on in this post. Without wasting any time, let’s dive into the best of the best SaaS selling strategies to close more deals.

Use Lead Scoring to Prequalify Prospects

A classic rookie mistake is approaching all prospects the same and assuming everyone is ready to buy right off the bat. This simply isn’t the case, and most experts say that only around 3% of prospects are ready to “buy now.” And with choosing the right SaaS product being such an integral part of running a business, seldom are prospects ready to instantly pull the trigger.

A critical precursor to closing more deals is first using lead scoring to separate prospects so you know who’s ready for a sales discussion and who still needs nurturing from your marketing team.

Here’s an example of how leads can be broken down based on quantifiable scores.

Those that receive a score of 10 or less are considered prospects. Those that receive a score of 50 are leads. Those that receive a score of 75 are marketing qualified leads (MQLs). And those that receive a score of 100 are sales qualified leads (SQLs).

Note that the scoring system can vary depending on the product, but using lead scoring where points are assigned based on behaviors like the ones below is one of the best ways to objectively assess where each person is at in the sales funnel and, in turn, who deserves immediate attention.

That alone can help your SaaS sales team dramatically optimize their time and put them on their way to closing more deals. As for specific lead scoring tools, you can find some of the top products on this list from G2.

Be Lightning Fast with Lead Outreach

Once you’ve developed a system for identifying SQLs, the next step is to accelerate your lead outreach so you can strike while the iron is hot. With the SaaS industry being so competitive, time is of the essence with lead outreach, and I can’t stress enough the importance of contacting SQLs before your competitors do.

For perspective, research has found that the first vendor to respond wins 35 – 50% of sales.

And to understand the correlation between outreach time and conversion rate, check out this graph.

On average, contacting a lead within 24 hours results in a 16% conversion rate improvement. However, that number increases to 36% when a lead is contacted within one hour and 62% if contacted within 30 minutes.

But hold the phone. If they’re contacted within just one minute, that number skyrockets all the way to 391%!

Admittedly, this fast of an outreach is often easier said than done, especially during non-business hours. While it’s not always feasible to have a salesperson communicate with a lead right away, you can always use an automated message on email, social media, or another platform to touch base and get your SaaS brand on their radar before competitors do.

This brings us to the next of our SaaS selling strategies.

Quickly Convey Value and Build Trust

Once a salesperson has made contact, their main objective is to show a lead why your SaaS product is valuable and that you’re a credible, trustworthy business. This could be an entire blog post itself, but some effective ways to accomplish this are to:

  • Use social proof like user reviews and testimonials
  • Offer case studies from companies in a relevant industry
  • Highlight notable companies that have benefited from your product
  • Provide customer success stories

Many leads may be skeptical of a SaaS brand initially, but this is one of the best ways to “disarm” them and lay the foundation for the essential rapport needed to ultimately convert.

Perfect the Demo

Let’s say that you’ve identified qualified leads, quickly initiated contact, demonstrated value, and built a baseline level of trust. This is the point in the SaaS sales funnel where many leads will want to check out a product demo. And it’s a point that can make or break your chances of converting.

If your salespeople consistently nail the demo, your conversion rates are nearly guaranteed to increase. That’s why it’s so important to perfect the SaaS sales demo — something that’s largely done by implementing the right formula and covering all the bases.

While the exact winning formula will vary, here’s a good basic structure to follow across the board:

  • Make a formal introduction and provide some general context, such as your UVP and the pain points your product solves
  • Explain core features and benefits
  • Cover the product interface
  • Mention software integrations
  • Explain analytics and reporting
  • Go over different plans and pricing
  • Discuss the basics of onboarding and customer support
  • Answer questions

I also suggest reading this guide from Gong.io, which is packed full of helpful information for mastering the art of the sales demo. It features concrete data on how long a demo should be, the ideal ratio of talking to listening, and much more.

Proven SaaS Selling Strategies for Increasing Conversions

There’s a lot that goes into effective SaaS selling and it requires a ton of experience and a natural aptitude to perfect. That said, when you break it all down, there are four main components — using lead scoring to efficiently qualify leads, accelerating your speed to lead outreach, conveying value and building trust, and perfecting the demo.

By deliberately working these into your SaaS sales strategies, you should be able to 1) know which leads to focus on and 2) how to best engage with those leads to scientifically increase your odds of converting.

And if you’re looking to assemble a winning sales team of elite talent, see how HireDNA can help you find the best of the best while eliminating 96% of hiring mistakes.

5 Must-Know SaaS Sales Roles and Definitions

Posted on by Nick Mann

The SaaS industry is huge and still growing. As of mid-2023, there were 17,000 SaaS companies in the US alone and over 30,000 worldwide.

And by 2024, some experts predict this number could more than double to as many as 72,000 SaaS companies. As the industry has evolved, so have the positions, and there are a variety of SaaS sales roles, ranging from basic entry-level jobs to high-ranking executive positions.

In this post, I’ll provide an overview of five essential SaaS sales roles so you can better understand the underlying structure and how the various positions come together to create a cohesive sales team.

1. Sales Development Representative

The main purpose of this role is to bridge the gap between marketing and sales. A sales development rep’s responsibility is to continually communicate with the marketing team to identify sales qualified leads (SQLs) that have a strong likelihood of buying.

Once SQLs have been identified, a sales development rep will then pass them on to a SaaS sales representative who will attempt to make a conversion (more on this in a moment). B2B sales consulting and training services company Winning By Design elaborates saying, “They have to start a conversation and provoke a decision maker into action, handle objections, and close on a call-to-action such as meeting with an account executive (AE) or attending an event.”

One of the most important traits to thrive in this position is strong communication.

2. SaaS Sales Representative

One of the most fundamental yet integral roles at any company is a SaaS sales representative. At its core, a person in this position is responsible for selling products to customers, which can include a wide variety of activities, including:

  • Reaching out to and following up with leads through email, social media, over the phone, video calls, and other mediums
  • Creating and performing sales presentations
  • Identifying the specific needs and pain points of leads
  • Providing relevant product recommendations
  • Answering lead questions
  • Negotiating product pricing
  • Acquiring new customers
  • Communicating with the software development team to relay customer feedback

SaaS sales reps are typically the ones “in the trenches” and play a vital role in getting conversions and setting the stage for a positive customer experience, which is important for increasing retention and lowering churn.

3. SaaS Account Manager

After a lead has purchased a SaaS product and a sale has officially been made, the customer falls into the hands of an account manager who’s involved with ensuring customer satisfaction and building a long-term relationship.

A SaaS account manager performs several tasks but has two primary goals.

  • Cater to each customer’s needs to sustain positive momentum, increase loyalty, and boost retention
  • Seek out new sales opportunities with existing customers

As for specific day-to-day activities, these can include:

  • Managing the account portfolio, while giving each customer personalized attention
  • Building and maintaining customer relationships
  • Serving as a dedicated point of contact for customer inquiries and questions
  • Resolving any issues that arise
  • Checking in with customers to ensure their key objectives are met
  • Identifying potential add-ons or upgrades that could provide additional customer value
  • Offering suggestions on how to improve product performance

This graphic illustrates nicely how a SaaS account manager fits into an organization.

4. SaaS Sales Engineer

First, note that this isn’t a role that’s required by all SaaS companies. It’s typically reserved for those that sell a complex, advanced product that your average customer won’t fully understand.

A SaaS sales engineer serves two main functions.

First, as HubSpot puts it, “They must be able to use their applied technical knowledge to help sales reps persuade prospects to choose their products.” That’s their job on the pre-sale side of things.

And for post-sale, a SaaS sales engineer assists with the integration of the product into a customer’s existing tech stack. This is important given the average company used 80 different SaaS apps in 2022.

To ensure the process goes smoothly, a SaaS sales engineer will oversee the integration and resolve any issues that may arise. In turn, they play a big role in ensuring customer satisfaction and maximizing retention.

5. Sales Manager

You can think of the previous SaaS sales roles as relay racers passing a baton.

The sales development rep identifies SQLs and passes them on to a SaaS sales representative. A SaaS sales representative then engages with a lead and seeks to convert them. Once converted, they then hand the customer off to a SaaS account manager who looks to further build the relationship and make additional sales to existing customers to maximize value. And throughout this process, a sales engineer is there to ensure that the technical side of things goes as smoothly as possible.

Overseeing everything is a SaaS sales manager who ties it all together. This role wears a lot of hats, but their core mission is to build the best sales team possible, establish goals and KPIs, provide motivation, continually monitor team member performance, and ultimately ensure that customers are happy.

Because of the hands-on nature of this role, a sales manager will need to possess excellent communication and leadership skills. They also need to be a bit of a psychologist where they manage different personalities to get everyone to operate at their best.

SaaS Sales Roles Coming Together to Create a Cohesive Team

Having a tight underlying structure is essential to the success of a SaaS company. Teams need to have clearly defined roles and understand how everyone works individually as well as a unified whole.

While the specific SaaS sales roles of an organization can vary slightly, the five mentioned here are the fundamentals that you’ll want to know about if you’re assembling a team.

If you want to recruit the best talent in your industry using a data-driven process, use HireDNA to post a job for free. It eliminates 96% of wrong hires and reduces turnover by 50%.

9 SaaS Sales Terms You Need to Know

Posted on by Nick Mann

The global SaaS market went from being worth just under $50 billion in 2016 to over $145 billion in 2022. With this growth comes a huge opportunity for hungry tech entrepreneurs and sales professionals. If you’re new to the industry, there are several SaaS sales terms you’ll need to know to get started on the right foot.

Here are nine to add to your vocabulary.

1. Customer Journey

Seldom do leads land on your website and whip out their payment card and buy right away. Usually, there are several touchpoints along the way where a prospect first learns about your product, interacts with content and sales materials, reviews the pros and cons, speaks with a SaaS sales rep, and so on before finally making the decision to buy.

And it doesn’t end there. Even after buying, there’s the post-purchase stage where a customer decides if they want to continue using your product and recommend it to others.

This is collectively known as the customer journey, which breaks down like this.

Having a clear idea of how the customer journey unfolds is a necessary precursor to equipping your sales team for success.

2. Freemium

An increasingly popular way to get your foot in the door with leads and motivate them to use your product is by offering a “freemium” version, which includes “basic or limited features to users at no cost and then charges a premium for supplemental or advanced features.”

While it’s not the right business model for everyone, it can be a smart move for many businesses. And training SaaS sales reps to push it can be instrumental in fueling growth.

3. Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

An MQL is a lead toward the top of the sales funnel who has expressed some level of interest in your product but not enough to be passed off to your sales team.

This type of lead may show promise but doesn’t have the same amount of intent as an SQL, which I’ll discuss next. Therefore, an MQL is a lead that still requires nurturing from your marketing team and isn’t one your sales team should focus on yet.

4. Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

An SQL is someone who has moved down the sales funnel to either the decision or action stage.

They have expressed a strong intent to buy and have a high lead score. Therefore, an SQL is a high-priority lead that your sales team would want to swiftly reach out to over an MQL.

5. Product Qualified Lead (PQL)

A PQL is a lead that has used your product, typically via a free trial or freemium version. They have experienced it in action firsthand and understand the value it offers.

Because of this level of engagement, PQLs have a much higher chance of converting than a lead higher in the sales funnel like an MQL. As a result, you’ll want your SaaS sales team to place a high priority on PQLs and perform systematic outreach to increase the odds of converting.

6. Lead Velocity Rate (LVR)

LVR is the growth percentage of qualified leads you generate month-to-month. While it doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story and can be a “vanity metric” if misused, I believe LVR is definitely something you want to be aware of, as it gives you a baseline reading of the trajectory your sales team is on.

For example, a steady increase in the number of qualified leads month-to-month usually indicates you’re on the right track and positioned for growth. Of course, it doesn’t mean much if your sales team isn’t converting leads, but more often than not, a positive LVR shows you’re in a good place.

As for the formula for calculating LVR, it is as follows.

7. Customer Lifecycle

This overlaps somewhat with the customer journey but focuses more on the post-conversion part of the process. Simply put, it’s the series of steps involved in a lead’s decision-making and extends beyond the purchase to product activation, renewal, and referral.

HubSpot illustrates the SaaS customer lifecycle perfectly with this graphic.

A big part of creating a successful SaaS company is fine-tuning your customer lifecycle so you’re able to fluidly move customers through the process while minimizing friction. To learn the fundamentals of the customer journey, I suggest reading this post from HubSpot.

8. Cohorts

Cohorts are a group of customers that share something in common, such as specific traits or behavior. A simple example would be a group of customers that purchase your product at the same time and go through the same onboarding process.

Performing cohorts analysis is important because it helps you understand what contributes to success so you can replicate it while also eliminating inefficiencies. If, for example, after experimenting with a new sales technique there was a surge in the number of customers signing up, this is likely a strategy you would want to repeat.

9. Value Gap

This is the difference between what a customer expects and what they actually get. A large value gap is problematic because it usually leads to customer dissatisfaction, which can reduce loyalty and increase churn.

Lowering the value gap requires a two-pronged approach, involving sales and the post-sale process of onboarding and customer service. The latter I won’t get into, but from the sales side of things, this means setting the right expectations from the start and ensuring your sales team provides customers with a realistic overview of product features and capabilities, as well as limitations.

Adding Key SaaS Sales Terms to Your Vocabulary

There’s been an explosion in the SaaS industry as of late. With market growth and revenue continuing to increase, there’s plenty of opportunity.

A critical starting point for breaking into the SaaS industry is having a command of essential SaaS sales terms. While the full “dictionary” is an extensive one, the terms listed above should help you get a basic grasp and ensure you focus on the right areas.

Looking to build an elite SaaS sales team using cutting-edge, science-based technology? See how HireDNA can help you find the right talent with 4x greater accuracy than traditional resumes and phone screening.

The Surefire Way to Create an Elite SaaS Sales Culture

Posted on by Nick Mann

Let’s be honest. The word “culture” has basically become a buzzword and, in many ways, is now diluted. But despite its slightly annoying ubiquity, having a strong SaaS sales culture is nevertheless highly important.

Why? Because it helps attract better reps, reduces turnover, increases synergy, and generally makes your company a better place to work. In turn, this makes your business more competitive, more profitable, and sets the stage for long-term growth.

While numerous factors contribute to an elite SaaS sales culture, here’s what you should focus on above all else.

Use a SaaS Sales Recruiting Platform to Find Top Talent

In my opinion, the first step of building a great culture starts from the top by not just finding next-level talent but finding next-level talent that’s compatible with your company. These days, a one-size-fits-all approach simply won’t cut it, and you only want to recruit candidates that check all the right boxes. This means choosing candidates based on obvious factors like knowledge, experience, and selling abilities, as well as more subtle factors like thriving in your unique selling environment and being a great cultural fit.

If you can do this effectively, you should make significantly fewer bad hires and lower turnover, which will naturally strengthen your culture.

A proven way to find top talent is by using a SaaS sales recruiting platform like HireDNA. It takes a scientific, data-driven approach where you first create an ideal candidate profile.

Based on this information, HireDNA sources top talent via a national network of active and passive candidates.

From there, candidates are screened…

…and the best ones are then given a sales skills assessment.

Then it’s just a matter of making your choice while having quantifiable data at your fingertips.

SaaS companies that use HireDNA are able to eliminate 96% of wrong hires and lower turnover by a staggering 50%. You can learn more about HireDNA’s recruiting process here.

Build a Framework That Promotes Collaboration and Communication

One of the quickest ways for a culture to turn toxic is to have reps silo information and “go rogue” where each person works individually instead of as a team. While independence is fine and should be encouraged to some extent, it’s important to create an environment where there’s strong collaboration and communication. And this won’t necessarily happen on its own.

As a leader, you’ll want to intentionally build a framework that facilitates this type of teamwork. A good example would be using Slack to create a centralized digital space where your reps can interact, share information, offer tips, and so on.

Besides that, it eliminates much of the back-and-forthing that comes from using email and is perfect for building rapport.

Encourage Friendly Competition

Another critical component of establishing a winning SaaS sales culture is creating an environment that’s conducive to friendly competition. Notice the key word here is “friendly” — not cutthroat where reps try to steal each other’s leads and outdo each other to the point that it becomes toxic.

Ideally, there will be an atmosphere where your sales team gets along and “has each other’s backs” but also has a healthy competitive spirit where everyone consistently does their best. But how do you achieve that?

Here are some ideas:

  • Offer incentives for top performers
  • Hold contests
  • Encourage reps to keep reaching new personal bests and beat their old records
  • Give kudos for achievements

Let Reps Be Themselves

Each salesperson has their own unique strengths and brings something of distinct value to the table. The last thing you want to do as a leader is to suppress that and try to put them into a box. Rather, you want to let each rep tap into their specific skillset and personality so they can fully leverage it and extract their full potential.

This, admittedly, is often easier said than done, and you want to obviously have some type of structure in place rather than letting reps “run wild.” But there are two specific things you can do that will help reps be themselves.

One is to avoid micromanaging and take a step back if you find yourself “hovering.” I think this quote from The Harvard Business Review sums it up perfectly. “Recognize that your way is not the only way, or even necessarily, the best way.” Adopting this mindset should help you avoid this common issue among many leaders.

The other strategy is to give your salespeople more freedom, which can include:

  • Letting them work from where they’re the most productive (e.g. home vs. in the office)
  • Giving them some wiggle room during sales presentations rather than following a detailed script
  • Offer support without telling them what to do

Promote Ongoing Learning

The final piece of the puzzle of building an amazing culture is making learning a habit. Here’s what Forbes has to say about it.

“One characteristic that routinely sets top-performing reps apart is their habit of always staying open to ongoing training, coaching, and development. When we surveyed more than 150 senior sales leaders, top performers earned an average score of 7.5 in this category versus 5.9 for the rest of the reps.”

Whether it’s giving them free access to innovative sales courses and lectures, having them participate in sales programs, or simply sending a team-wide email featuring an interesting YouTube video to help hone their craft, creating this type of atmosphere can do wonders for your culture.

Setting Your Team Up for Success

Given that SaaS sales culture trickles down into virtually every other area of your business, it’s something that demands top priority. While finding success will look a little different for each company, the strategies listed here address the key areas you’ll need to create the perfect environment.

And if you’d like to learn more about HireDNA and see it in action, be sure to schedule your free demo today.