Tag: saas sales

Remote vs. In-office SaaS Sales Teams: Stats That Show the Pros and Cons

Posted on by Nick Mann

In 2015, 10-15% of SaaS sales teams worked remotely, at least some of the time. In 2024, that number ballooned to 71%.

This begs the question. Is it better to have a remote SaaS sales team or stick with the traditional in-house model?

While there’s no black-and-white answer, let’s look at some interesting stats that should indicate what’s right for your company.

The number of SaaS salespeople who work remotely at least part of the time increased by 26% from 2022 to 2023.

A recent study by HubSpot found that 45% of SaaS salespeople worked hybrid in July 2022. By July 2023, that number grew to 71% — a 26% increase.

Now these stats refer to reps that work remotely part of the time (only 10% are fully remote). However, it still illustrates the huge spike we’ve seen in remote work in the past few years. The shift from in-house to remote was already underway pre-COVID. But the pandemic really threw gas on the fire and greatly accelerated the growth of remote SaaS sales teams.

Now in 2024, we’re at the point where it’s become ubiquitous. While only a small percentage of sales teams are fully remote, that number is almost guaranteed to increase in upcoming years.

84% of sales reps say working remotely would make them happier

Employee satisfaction is extremely important, as it tends to correlate with less turnover, better morale, and increased performance. A study by Owl Labs that surveyed 2,050 full-time workers found that the vast majority (84% of reps) said, “Working remotely after the pandemic would make them happier, with many even willing to take a pay cut to continue to work from home.”

You might say that “the genie came out of the bottle” during COVID. By sheer necessity, a large percentage of sales teams were forced to work online. And though it certainly has its drawbacks, the data suggests that most people consider having the option to work online as a good thing.

The fact that many are even willing to work for less shows just how popular this working arrangement can be.

90% of salespeople say they’re more productive when working remotely

One of the biggest concerns for sales managers is productivity. After all, with minimal supervision, can you expect a sales team to maintain as high of a level of productivity at home as they would in an office?

According to the same study by Owl Labs, the answer is overwhelmingly yes. “90% of respondents said they were equally as (or even more) productive when working remotely — compared to when they worked in-house. And 55% said they worked more hours when working remotely than they did in office.”

Some potential reasons for this productivity spike can be attributed to no commute time, flexible work hours, fewer distractions, and a comfortable working environment.

67% of sales managers say managing remote SaaS sales teams is challenging.

Given that working remotely tends to translate into increased employee satisfaction and higher productivity, it sounds like sales managers should go all-in, right? Like implementing most major changes in a workplace, there are also some downsides to be aware of.

One of the biggest is that over two-thirds of sales managers (67%) say that managing SaaS sales teams is more challenging than they anticipated. This stat references the work-from-home environment that was thrust upon so many companies during the pandemic.

According to a study by Saleslion, the two biggest challenges cited by most sales managers were the breakdown in communication and collaboration that often happens without a physical working environment. As they put it, “Without the ability to walk over to a colleague’s desk or hold impromptu meetings, sales teams can become siloed.”

Besides that, it can be trickier to assess a SaaS sales team’s performance and offer feedback when everyone is working remotely.

While there are plenty of tools that can measure performance to some extent and quantify progress, you just can’t get the same personal touch as you would in an in-house environment.

Remote workers are nearly twice as likely to change jobs than those working in-office.

Here’s the stat that really caught my attention. And it’s not something I had given much thought to beforehand.

One study found that remote salespeople are “twice as likely (37%) to switch jobs compared to those working in an office (21%). The top reasons for changing jobs were better pay (84%), better career opportunities (82%), and better work/life balance (78%).

And this makes sense when you think about it. Say a salesperson is working a traditional in-house position where they live in a particular area, have a home, their kids are in school, and so on. They’re fairly well-rooted and are less likely to jump at the first opportunity that comes their way.

However, say someone is working online and can easily take another position without having to uproot their life. It would be far easier to jump ship.

While giving salespeople the option to work remotely can increase satisfaction — something that correlates with lower turnover —, it also has the potential to increase turnover because of how easy it is to switch companies.

So this is something to take into consideration when deciding which approach to take.

Remote vs. In-Office SaaS Sales Teams: Which Option is Best?

With remote sales teams (at least on the partial level) becoming the norm, it’s easy to jump in head-first. But as we’ve learned, there are pros and cons to each working arrangement.

You obviously want to keep your sales force happy and productive and keep up with the competition. However, you don’t want it to hinder communication and collaboration and have to continually replace your staff because they leave for greener pastures.

If you’re considering making the move to remote, I suggest giving careful consideration to the pros and cons and doing some experimentation before going all-in. Also, you may want to stick with a hybrid model, which many SaaS companies are having success with.

Looking to recruit elite SaaS sales talent and retain the maximum percentage of your reps? Register with HireDNA and leverage our cutting-edge sales recruitment technology.

Customer Retention in SaaS: Best Practices for Subscription-Based Models

Posted on by Nick Mann

Churn, by nature, is baked into the SaaS industry. Whenever you run a subscription-based company, a certain percentage of users will inevitably churn. There’s no getting around it. That said, you want to stay on top of turnover and do everything you can to maximize SaaS customer retention.

To quantify, revenue intelligence company Gong says you should aim to keep your churn rate under 3%.

In this post, we’ll go over ultra-practical steps you can take to accomplish this, while also providing your customers with a consistently positive experience.

Start with Retention Analytics Reports to See the Big Picture

Like any sound business decision, it’s important to start with objective data so you can see what’s happening and what’s causing the bulk of users to leave. To obtain this data, I suggest using a customer journey analytics tool like Woopra.

It offers detailed retention analytics reports that let you:

  • Measure your churn rate
  • See how long customers use your product before churning
  • Determine why you’re losing customers
  • Identify specific areas of improvement that can lower your churn rate in the future

For instance, you can get a bird’s-eye view of your churn rate over time.

You can see how many customers return after using a core product feature.

.

You can see what your product retention rate is for mobile users…

..and much more.

Armed with this data, you’ll be able to diagnose any leaks that are contributing to higher-than-ideal churn so you’ll know which areas need your attention. That way, every decision you make is based on tangible evidence rather than merely going on a hunch.

Identify At-Risk Customers

Another helpful feature of retention analytics is that it can help you identify at-risk customers — those that have a higher-than-average chance of churning.

Say, for example, a particular customer hasn’t logged into their account for an extended period of time or is engaging with your product far less than most other users. They would likely have a higher chance of churning than another user who logs in every day and frequently uses a variety of product features.

By proactively catching at-risk customers before they leave, it gives you an opportunity to create a better experience and appeal to them before it’s too late, thus increasing their chances of hanging around longer.

Here are a few potential ways to do that:

  • Have a team member reach out to the at-risk customer directly to see what they can do to improve their experience
  • Provide resources to help the customer get the most out of your product
  • Offer an incentive such as a discount to encourage them to keep using your product

Note that any feedback gained through team member interactions should be logged so it can be used to prevent similar issues from happening in the future. For example, if a customer mentions that a specific product feature is frequently glitchy, you would want to fix it ASAP.

Optimize SaaS Onboarding

Research by customer success platform Retently found that the number one leading cause of churn is poor onboarding, accounting for 23% of overall churn.

And this makes complete sense. Just put yourself in the shoes of a new customer who is initially excited about using your SaaS product. However, after experiencing an excessive amount of friction during onboarding, they could quickly sour and jump ship to another competitor.

If this happens at scale, you can have a serious churn crisis on your hands. That’s why efficient onboarding should be a top priority for every SaaS company.

By making onboarding smooth and seamless, this not only minimizes early churn, it sets the tone for long-term rapport-building so you can maximize customer lifetime value and get more loyal brand advocates.

Here are some specific ways to optimize SaaS onboarding:

  • Send welcome emails with tips on how to efficiently learn how to use your product
  • Offer an extensive onboarding resource section with tutorials and walkthroughs
  • Create a detailed troubleshooting and support section for users who run into issues
  • Provide every user with a point of contact if they need one-on-one assistance

Also, be sure to continually ask for feedback so you can identify problem areas that need work.

Rev Up SaaS Customer Support

Unsurprisingly, poor customer support is another chief reason for SaaS turnover, with 14% of users leaving because of lackluster customer support.

I think this is an issue that nearly everyone can relate to. Personally, I’ve found this to be something that’s turned me off from continuing to use tools, and I’ve switched to other products because of bad customer support. After all, nothing is more frustrating than having an issue and struggling to find a quick resolution, especially after you’ve spent good money on a product.

The bottom line is that you should strive to offer A+ customer support, where users can seamlessly get assistance without jumping through a bunch of hoops.

Here are some suggestions for achieving that:

  • Offer 24/7 support through a variety of channels, including phone, live chat, email, and social media
  • Create a self-help center where users can find solutions to common issues
  • Provide walkthroughs on product updates so users can easily learn new features
  • Follow up with customers after they seek support to ensure their issues have been fully resolved

For more details on creating amazing customer support, I suggest reading this guide from Help Scout.

Making Customer Retention a Top Priority

SaaS is an incredibly competitive industry, and excessive customer turnover can make it incredibly difficult to gain any momentum. After all, if you’re on a hamster wheel of continually replacing lost customers, your progress will be minimal.

However, by following best practices like implementing retention analytics, identifying at-risk customers before they leave, optimizing onboarding, and fine-tuning customer support, you should keep churn in check and boost overall customer lifetime value. Not to mention, it makes for a more enjoyable customer experience, which sets your business up for long-term success.

Ready to build an elite team of SaaS salespeople? Register with HireDNA to attract, recruit, and retain the best of the best.

The Definitive List of SaaS Market Statistics for 2024

Posted on by Nick Mann

To say that the SaaS industry is thriving would be a gross understatement. Ever since Salesforce started its CRM platform in 1999, the concept of using software as a service has really caught on and only continues to grow. To gain perspective on where we’re currently at and where we’re heading, here’s a list of must-know SaaS market statistics for 2024.

96% of Companies Currently Use at Least One SaaS Platform

In recent years, SaaS products have become ubiquitous and are used by organizations across most industries. But in 2024, we’re at a point where nearly every company uses SaaS, with a staggering 96% of business leaders saying they’ve purchased at least one platform.

While 100% adoption is impossible, we’re about as close as we can get.

78% of Companies Use More Than 4 SaaS Platforms

Further, the same research found that nearly 8 in 10 companies use more than four SaaS applications. This shows that the vast majority of businesses are all in on SaaS and not just using it for one area of operations, but several.

With SaaS spanning nearly all aspects of business, there’s almost nothing that can’t be improved and streamlined by integrating the right SaaS platform. Here are just a handful of the top SaaS products according to Google.

72% of Organizations Plan to Spend More on SaaS Products in 2024

The question is, are sales leaders happy with their decision to go so heavy on SaaS?

Given that 72% of businesses are planning to spend more on SaaS in 2024 and beyond, it’s safe to say yes. With SaaS software being so efficient and flexible, it’s easy to see why so many companies are fully committed to SaaS.

For example, look at all the pricing options CRM platform Pipedrive offers, along with a free 14-day trial.

And with AI being more widely integrated, SaaS platforms are only going to become more sophisticated.

73% of Businesses Are Planning to Increase Their Spending By At Least 5%

Not only are most brands planning to spend more on SaaS, nearly three-quarters are planning to spend significantly more by at least 5%. This stat clearly shows that companies that use SaaS software are getting results.

The SaaS Market is Expected to Reach $282 Billion By the End of 2024

Now let’s talk revenue. There’s been steady growth over the past eight years, with SaaS revenue going from $62 billion in 2016 to $157 billion in 2020 to a projected $282 billion by the end of 2024.

This is yet another clear indicator of how successful the SaaS industry has been and that it won’t be losing steam any time soon.

The SaaS Market is Predicted to Reach $374 Billion By 2028

Looking ahead to the future, experts predict the SaaS industry will grow to around $374 billion in just four years — an additional $92 billion.

With SaaS market statistics like this showing further sustained growth with no signs of slowing down, there’s arguably never been a better time for full integration of SaaS software. And that’s great news if you’re part of a SaaS company because demand is currently at an all-time high and only continuing to increase

73% of Businesses That Use SaaS Have Seen Up to a 40% Productivity Increase

When it comes to the impact that SaaS products have for adopters, it’s substantial.

Research has found that nearly three-quarters of businesses see a minimum of a 20% productivity increase, while others see an increase by as much as 40%. This is definitely a stat worth sharing with your sales team because the productivity boost is one of the biggest selling points of using a SaaS platform.

86% of Businesses Say SaaS Improves Collaboration

Besides productivity, SaaS has been proven to have a dramatic impact on collaboration, with a whopping 86% of businesses saying it’s helped in this department. And this shouldn’t come as a surprise with improving collaboration being the chief aim of many products (Slack is a prime example).

81% of Companies Say SaaS Helps Resolve Problems Quicker

The vast majority of SaaS users (81%) also report that it helps them resolve problems much more efficiently than they could without using this type of software platform. So that too is another key selling point when trying to win leads over.

68% of Brands Say SaaS Improves Customer Satisfaction

Additionally, there’s an undeniable correlation between using a SaaS product and improved customer satisfaction. To quantify, 68% of organizations that implement a SaaS solution experience noticeably better customer service.

86% of Companies That Use SaaS Products See Increased Employee Engagement

One final area worth mentioning is the employee engagement boost most SaaS adopters see. According to data, the overwhelming majority of companies (86%) experience higher employee engagement.

I think this quote by Steve Pruden, SVP of Human Resources at Appirio summarizes it perfectly.

“Workers are much more productive (and engaged) when they have modern, seamless, integrated tools to do their jobs. Automate routine tasks and let workers focus on more strategic work. Use technologies that eliminate silos and encourage cross-functional collaboration.”

That’s the essence of SaaS.

SaaS Market Statistics: The Bottom Line

Let’s recap. The SaaS industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the last quarter century and is positioned for continued sustained growth moving forward.

More companies than ever are using SaaS solutions, and the vast majority have experienced great success by doing so. This is no doubt encouraging for SaaS companies and sales leaders, as things are trending in the right direction, and there’s more opportunity than ever.

Looking to build a team of elite sales professionals? Use HireDNA’s cutting-edge technology to find the best of the best based on core selling competencies, role compatibility, sales experience, and more.

The Art of Sales Team Evaluations: A Practical Guide

Posted on by Nick Mann

Your sales team is the lifeblood of your company. It’s that simple. Regardless of how great your marketing team is at generating leads and your customer service team is at resolving issues, it’s all for nothing if your salespeople can’t close. To ensure you A) have a team of qualified professionals and B) they’re operating at their best, routine sales team evaluations are essential.

In this guide, I’ll provide a practical strategy to effectively evaluate your salespeople to get them firing on all cylinders.

Assess Your Sales Team as a Whole

When determining performance, you’ll need to look at the macro level of your collective sales team and the micro level of individual salespeople. I recommend starting at the macro level because it should show you your team’s performance as a whole.

To do this, you’ll need to identify the specific KPIs that are most important to your sales team’s success and analyze them. While numerous KPIs play a role in sales team performance, here are some of the most fundamental.

  • Revenue
  • Conversion rate
  • Quota attainment
  • Average deal size
  • Sales cycle length

This graphic illustrates even more potential sales KPIs to look at.

Assess Individual Salespeople

Once you’ve got a clear idea of what your collective sales team’s performance is, it’s time to go more granular to individual salesperson performance.

Most of the KPIs here will look the same, and you’ll want to look at revenue, conversion rate, quota attainment, average deal size, and so on. However, there are a few other KPIs you’ll want to measure on the individual level to gain a deeper perspective on how big of a contributor each rep is to your organization.

Some of those include pipeline contribution, win-loss ratio, and activity metrics like the number of emails, calls, and meetings over a particular period.

As you generate this data, it’s helpful to create a graph that provides a visual overview of individual salesperson performance side-by-side. Here’s a simple example.

While this won’t necessarily tell the whole story and you’ll want to take extraneous factors into account, this should provide a fairly objective overview so you can get a sense of who your top performers are, as well as who’s underperforming.

Look at the Overall Growth Trajectory

At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of how your collective sales team and individual salespeople are performing. You should also have identified any specific issues that need to be addressed, such as a particular sales rep’s conversion rate being noticeably lower than other team members.

But to really get a bird’s-eye view of which direction you’re heading, you’ll want to look at overall sales growth by comparing numbers over a period of time (you’ll usually want at least one year of data). While there are multiple areas you can analyze to assess overall growth trajectory, total revenue tends to be the best starting point and should give you a good baseline reading of what your trajectory looks like.

Creating something as simple as a spreadsheet table with a breakdown of annual revenue like this usually should be adequate.

For more on calculating your company’s sales growth, I suggest reading this post from HubSpot.

Look at Customer Satisfaction and Retention

At first glance, salesperson performance may not seem like it would have all that big of an impact on customer satisfaction and retention. But in reality, there’s a significant correlation.

I like what global brand marketing strategist Angela Hausman has to say about it.

“Consistency plays a crucial role in fostering customer satisfaction across various touchpoints in a company’s interactions with its clients. Customers expect a consistent experience when engaging with a company, whether it is through product offerings, service delivery, or communication. This consistent experience creates a sense of reliability and predictability, which, in turn, helps to build trust and confidence in the brand.”

If, for example, a lead who eventually becomes a customer has a positive experience with a salesperson where the rep promptly follows up after inquiries, effectively addresses their unique pain points, and helps them choose the best product version, this is likely to build a good rapport. In turn, this should increase customer satisfaction and help retain them longer.

On the other hand, if the person has a poor experience with a salesperson where the rep is slow to respond and fails to point them to the right product version, it will likely create friction, which could be detrimental to the customer experience, and you may lose the customer earlier than you should.

The bottom line is that customer satisfaction and retention will often lend insight into sales team performance. While you will certainly want to look at other factors like product quality and customer service, I feel it’s worth taking these factors into account during sales team evaluations, as this can help you spot problem areas.

For assessing customer satisfaction, you can use a mix of customer surveys, complaints, social media monitoring, and your Net Promoter Score (NPS).

And one of the better tools for measuring retention is Woopra, which offers a comprehensive overview of your churn rate over time.

Using Sales Team Evaluations to Propel Your Company Forward

Due to the extreme impact your sales team has on your bottom line, evaluating their performance at least annually is highly important. By staying on top of it both collectively and individually, you should be able to identify minor issues before they escalate and further refine the areas you’re succeeding in.

While the specific strategies used in sales team evaluations can differ significantly from company to company, the formula outlined above should ensure you cover all the major bases.

To get started with an evaluation of your sales team check out the OMG salesperson evaluation, it provides the most comprehensive and holistic sales-specific evaluation. You can request a free sample evaluation here.

And if you’re looking to assess potential candidates to find the best of the best, check out The OMG Sales Candidate Assessment, which accurately predicts the likelihood of a salesperson succeeding based on 21 proven sales core competencies. 91% of recommended and hired candidates has positive on the job performance.

How to Optimize Each Stage of the SaaS Sales Funnel

Posted on by Nick Mann

You’re probably well aware that very few SaaS leads are ready to buy right away. According to the RAIN Group, it takes an average of eight touches to get a conversion. To move leads smoothly through the SaaS sales funnel, you need to understand how the pieces fit together and optimize for each stage.

This is essential for 1) reducing friction points, 2) creating a positive customer journey, and 3) setting your sales team up for maximum conversions. Here’s how to do that.

The SaaS Sales Funnel I Use

First off, let me say that there is no one-size-fits-all SaaS sales funnel that works perfectly for everyone. There are multiple variations, with some longer involving several steps and some shorter with only a few steps.

But for simplicity’s sake, I like this one, which involves four key steps — awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty.

Note that not all SaaS sales funnels include a post-purchase stage like loyalty. But given how critical retention is to SaaS success, optimizing for a post-purchase phase is incredibly important.

With that said, here’s how to tackle each stage of this particular SaaS sales funnel.

Awareness

The awareness stage is at the very top of the funnel where potential customers first become aware of your SaaS product and brand. For the majority of prospects, they’re simply conducting some preliminary research, or as I call it, doing their “recon” on potential SaaS products that may address their needs.

Sometimes, they’re actively searching for solutions. Other times, they just happen to stumble upon them.

While there are numerous ways potential customers may become aware of a SaaS product, more often than not, it’s through one of three ways:

  • A search engine
  • Social media
  • Content marketing (this is often found through a search engine or social network)

Therefore, these are the three main areas you want to optimize.

Search

Start with on-site optimization and technical SEO, which includes creating a sitemap, increasing site speed, and internal linking. You can find a ton of great information on this here.

Also, follow best practices when creating content, such as performing keyword research and using proper headers (H1s, H2s, H3s, etc.). This is a great resource for learning about optimizing content for search.

Social Media

Leverage multiple networks that your audience is active on to boost your brand exposure and find targeted leads.

Content Marketing

This overlaps somewhat with optimizing content for search. Having a variety of content should help you raise brand awareness and pull in targeted leads from a variety of sources. Here’s what types of content perform best in 2023, according to Semrush.

Consideration

Once your brand is on a potential customer’s radar and they’re considering your SaaS product, they’re officially a lead. To optimize this stage of the SaaS sales funnel, you’ll want to focus on lead nurturing, which can be done in a variety of ways, including:

  • Email marketing
  • Product comparisons
  • Case studies
  • Webinars
  • Testimonials

And if you offer a free trial version of your product, you can tap into product-led marketing. When done correctly, this can have a tremendous impact, not only reducing the sales cycle and boosting conversions but also enhancing the customer experience and instilling deeper loyalty.

If you’re not familiar with product-led marketing, I suggest reading this guide.

Conversion

Now is the fun part. After successfully moving potential customers through the awareness and consideration stages, you’re ready to pull the trigger and make a conversion.

There are three key strategies for optimizing the conversion stage of the SaaS sales funnel.

One is to use strategically placed, crystal-clear CTAs that encourage leads to buy. Here’s a good example from Zendesk.

Next, be transparent with your pricing so leads know exactly what they get, how much it costs, and what features each plan includes. Zendesk does a great job of this as well.

Finally, get in the habit of continuously A/B testing the content you use for conversions. You may, for example, want to experiment with different CTAs to see which gets the most clicks and results in the most purchases.

As you accumulate more data over time, you should be able to refine every aspect of the conversion stage and convert the maximum percentage of potential customers into actual customers.

Loyalty

The fourth and final piece of the puzzle is everything that comes post-purchase — the loyalty or retention stage.

As I mentioned before, retention is vital to the long-term success of a SaaS company. After all, it doesn’t matter how great you are at converting if you can’t retain customers for the long haul. And with an average annual churn rate of 10-14% annually, it’s something you need to be diligent about optimizing.

So what can you do to increase customer loyalty?

For starters, I suggest taking customer support seriously. This includes having a section of your website dedicated specifically to customer support like Zoom does…

…and making it easy for customers to get in touch with a support rep.

Next, it’s smart to send out period engagement emails to keep in touch with customers. For instance, you could provide them with tips on how to get the most from your SaaS product, information on new integrations or features, product usage reports, and more.

Third, always be looking to get feedback from users and implement that feedback to improve your product. This kills two birds with one stone because users want to know a company is listening, and it sets the stage for ongoing product improvement.

Lastly, you can use analytics such as churn reports to objectively track churn so you can determine what’s causing it and what you can do to stop making the same mistakes. Here’s an example from customer journey platform Woopra.

Fine-Tuning Your SaaS Sales Funnel

Optimizing your SaaS sales funnel end-to-end is of the utmost importance. By doing so, you should prevent major drop-offs from occurring, increase conversions, and generally make the customer experience more enjoyable. The formula outlined above addresses all four major steps and should get your funnel firing on all cylinders.

Looking to build an elite sales team? Use HireDNA’s cutting-edge technology to find the best of the best candidates.

The Art of Upselling in SaaS Sales: How to Increase Customer Value

Posted on by Nick Mann

We all know that retaining existing customers is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. But one of the best ways to really boost profitability without a lot of extra effort is using upselling in SaaS sales.

To quantify, research has found that “upselling increases revenue by 10-30% on average,” and “the probability of selling to an existing customer, with whom you have established a relationship, is 60-70%.” Those are some impressive numbers and show firsthand how big of an impact upselling in SaaS sales can have.

For this post, I’ll share with you some practical strategies, along with examples so you’ll know how to implement upselling in your SaaS sales properly.

Identify High-Probability Upsell Opportunities

Just like not all leads are created equal, neither are existing customers from an upsell perspective. By this, I mean that certain segments will have a high likelihood of converting to a more expensive product version while others will only have a low likelihood. So the first step to having success is knowing how to identify high-probability upsell opportunities.

There are a few ways to do that, but here’s what I feel are two of the best.

One is to use analytics to monitor SaaS product usage, behavior, and engagement and then target the segment of customers that rank highly in these areas. If, for example, one customer used your SaaS product daily and took advantage of most of the features, they would be a much better upsell candidate than someone who only logged into your SaaS product weekly and only used a feature or two.

After narrowing down your high-priority list, you could then have your SaaS sales team initiate outreach through each customer’s preferred channel (email, phone, text, etc.). This brings me to my next point.

Personalize Your Outreach

Once you know which customers to reach out to, you’ll need to tailor your outreach to ensure your offerings address each customer’s unique needs. Let’s look at Slack’s pricing options as an example.

Say one of their customers was using the free version. They used Slack consistently but were only running a small team where they could likely gain value from some additional features but didn’t need all the bells and whistles. When performing outreach, a sales rep would likely want to suggest the Pro or Business+ version of Slack, as it offers plenty of great benefits for small businesses.

However, they probably wouldn’t want to suggest Enterprise Grid because this is aimed at much larger companies with extensive needs.

This is a hyper-simple example, but I think you get the idea. The point here is that you should always make personalized upsell offers, as that’s going to A) increase your chances of converting and B) ensure your customers get the maximum value.

Automate Upselling with Triggers

Up until this point, the SaaS upselling outreach methods I’ve discussed have required a manual approach. But for this point, let me talk about automating your upselling.

One of the best ways to do this is by using upselling triggers that let high-potential customers know about relevant offers based on their behaviors. There are two main ways to go about this.

First, you can use native, in-app messaging to encourage customers to upgrade their plan by showing them the benefits they’ll get at the opportune time. This is something Slack does expertly by letting users know when they’re approaching the maximum amount of searchable messages.

While their policy has since changed, it used to be that free users were limited to 10,000 searchable messages. Once they exceeded that limit, some of a user’s older messages were no longer shown.

When a free user approached 10,000 messages, it would trigger Slack to automatically display this upsell that showed the limitations of their free plan.

Users who were interested could simply click “Learn more” and get the full rundown and upgrade.

Convey Value

Once an existing customer has been propositioned for an upsell, they need to understand at a glance the exact value they’ll get from it. The more concise you are about conveying value, the stronger your chances are of converting.

Most SaaS companies that succeed at upselling simply provide a side-by-side comparison so customers can see how one plan differs from the next. AI image generation platform Leonardo, for example, offers a succinct breakdown of different plan benefits.

So if a customer wanted to generate more images per month (which is done with tokens), they may be interested in making the jump from the Apprentice plan, which only offers 8,500 tokens per month to the Artisan plan, which offers 25,000 tokens.

And for customers who are on the fence about an upsell, you can always leverage testimonials or case studies that show how other real-life customers have benefited by making the switch.

Incentivize Upselling Offers

Finally, you can often increase your conversion rate even more by offering targeted incentives, with two of the most popular being a free trial or discount. This is a technique that Leonardo currently uses where they’re giving customers a percentage off when they upgrade product versions.

And to encourage customers to take action right away, you may only want to make your incentives available for a limited time to create a sense of urgency.

Succeeding with Upselling in SaaS Sales

With companies routinely increasing revenue by as much as 30% through upselling in SaaS sales, it’s hard to argue with the impact this technique can have. As long as your customers are genuinely getting more value, it’s the ultimate win-win. It’s just a matter of fleshing out your upselling strategy and taking the right steps to maximize your conversion rate.

Want to find elite SaaS sales reps that can help you close more deals? See how the Original Sales Assessment can help you find the best of the best.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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