As world over, more and more businesses are shedding legacy systems and are instead opting for cloud-managed operations, the area of Software as a Service (SaaS) has become a potent playground for entrepreneurs to prove their mettle.
However, it can be quite challenging to pitch a SaaS product, since it’s appeal, as you would have found out, is to mostly a gathering of small businesses. Such targeted sales require a solid strategy.
Apply creative story telling
Although most businesses think on the lines of problem solving to appeal to prospects, you must think a step ahead, says Ketan Kapoor, CEO and co-founder of Mettl, a SaaS-based company and talent measurement firm that enables businesses to make people decisions in talent recruitment, management, and training across industry verticals.
How Do You Grow a SaaS Startup with a Zero Marketing Budget?
“Apart from presenting your product as a solution to your customers’ problems, show them the larger picture and explain in what other ways your product can transform their life. Cases can include how a customer not only gets solution to a specific problem after using your product, but how solving that problem can improve other verticals of their life,” he explains.
Kapoor says creative storytelling can strike an emotional chord and make all the difference in this case. Initially, you can leverage low-cost mediums, such as blogs, LinkedIn, active online communities, and your business website, to share that story.
“Join active online and offline communities in the space that your company aspires to cater and make it a habit to monitor conversations. Once you start receiving traction, you can gradually increase your marketing budget,” he advises.
Hone your message
As a SaaS company you will pick your customer from a crowd. So when making a proposal, ensure that it is spruced up. As Kenneth Burke, Managing Director, Text Request, a US SaaS firm, says, get your value proposition in front of targeted prospects.
“We honed our message. Then we manually searched for businesses we thought would be good targets, and sent them e-mails. If the prospect read and liked the e-mail, they would schedule a demo (that was our call-to-action). Then they’d be in our funnel,” he says.
Press the hot buttons
Once you identify that you indeed have the solution to what is bothering a potential client, just zero in on the kill. Highlight the relief they will enjoy by using your software.
Sean Dudayev, Business Growth Expert at Frootful Marketing, says, “Sales for SaaS differs in some cases, for example, it can usually be a longer close than more standard sales processes. However, for the most part, the psychology is the same: know your product, know your customer, know their problem, and provide them with a solution. It’s all about discovering the hot buttons and the pain points your software gets rid of.”
