Pitch That SaaS Better When You Follow These 11 Sales Tips
SaaS Sales Training
The Pearl Lemon Sales team offers a wide variety of specialist sales training programs, including our popular and innovative SaaS sales training program. With the help of our expert sales trainers the sales teams representing a wide variety of SaaS solutions, from established offerings to the services offered by innovative new startups have been able to achieve the kinds of sales outcomes they did not even dare to hope were possible. We can do the same for you.
Why Choose Specialist SaaS Sales Training?
The impact of cloud computing and the expansion of software as a service (SaaS) on the IT industry has changed it dramatically. According to IBM, 85 percent of new software is currently being developed for the cloud.
Simultaneously, SaaS solutions have changed the way firms choose, buy, and implement software. SaaS companies are increasingly marketing directly to functional or business-unit stakeholders, rather than to IT purchasers.
The sales pitch focus is now on the commercial value of a SaaS product rather than the underlying technology. As a result, the nature of the sales conversation between SaaS vendors and customers differs significantly from the pitch that once sold legacy on-premise solutions.
Legacy software licensing arrangements also relied on one-time, upfront licensing costs, as well as the unavoidable (and costly and painful) deployment and maintenance services. Such acquisitions bind organizations to their decisions for a long time, typically years.
SaaS vendors must deliver an experience that gives lasting value, keeps customers engaged and delighted, and generates consistent long-term income streams in a world where pay-as-you-go pricing and very minimal deployment costs are the norm.
We understand that many sales organizations face significant hurdles as a result of this shift. To win sales, create solid relationships, and offer the long-term value that SaaS clients seek, new buyers, changing business models, and evolving expectations necessitate imaginative new strategies.
In an SaaS market where companies are constantly under pressure to remain ahead of the competition, these approaches — a combination of the correct sales tactics and dialogues executed across the client lifecycle – provide a critical competitive advantage. Which is where the Pearl Lemon Sales SaaS sales training programs come in.
What Pearl Lemon Sale's SaaS Sales Training Teaches
What makes SaaS sales training different from ‘regular’ sales training? And what can the Pearl Lemon Sales trainers offer that others don’t? Let’s take a closer look.
A Greater Understanding of the SaaS Customer Profile
If a salesperson is not specifically trained for SaaS sales the chances are that they don’t have all the knowledge they need to understand this very distinct customer profile. If the salesperson has a tech background they are probably used to dealing with other technical minded professionals.
That is rarely the profile of a customer making corporate level SaaS purchasing decisions. These decisions are usually made by C suite level or higher business executives. They have little interest in the technobabble, all they want to know is what an SaaS solution will do for the company they represent and what kind of ROI they can expect. Our sales trainers help tech-minded sales people understand this demographic, so they can be prepared for the next stage.
Learning to Speak the SaaS Buyer's Language
We all know how costly miscommunication between salespeople and buyers can be: According to Forrester Research, only one out of every ten corporate executives believes sales meetings are beneficial. This is especially true in the SaaS sector, where salespeople are more likely to speak the language of IT buyers rather than the business-unit buyers they are increasingly encountering.
It’s not only an issue of communicating in “corporate speak” or avoiding technical jargon. The capacity to address scattered departmental buying centers, frame the dialogue in terms of operating budgets rather than CapEx, and focus on productivity, flexibility, usability, and other business-related implications is also required as part of the shift to SaaS and the cloud.
Successful SaaS sales teams understand how to engage buyers in direct, honest, and transparent discussions on the capabilities and benefits of a product. A well-trained sales force will know how to discuss and illustrate the commercial value of a product without using exaggeration or making unsubstantiated claims.
They also know how to start a conversation with clients that is built on trust, honesty, and a common success goal. Pearl Lemon Sale’s SaaS sales training programs will teach your sales teams all this and more.
Developing Customer Success Management Skills
While closing the sale is significant, the ability to generate renewals, maintain cash flow, and minimize customer churn is the actual key to success for SaaS providers.
Mastering the art and science of Customer Success Management is a key activity in Pearl Lemon’s SaaS training programs. A “closed” deal in the SaaS industry is never fully closed. The sales, marketing, customer service, and product teams must collaborate to show the buyer continual value, keeping them engaged, satisfied, and successful. Customer Success Management boils down to this, and it’s a life-or-death issue for any Saas model.
This never-ending drive for lifetime value starts with the client onboarding process, but it’s much more than that. The solution supplier must act as a trusted advisor, anticipating the needs of the buyer, assisting them in seeing around corners, and allowing them to fully utilize the platform’s potential.
Successful SaaS sales teams understand that there is no such thing as a genuinely closed deal – only continuing relationships in which every interaction and point of contact contributes to the lifetime value of a customer, and we’ll make sure that your sales teams not only understand this but have the skills to deliver every time.
Many traditional software firms have transitioned to selling SaaS solutions, and many fast-growing SaaS software companies have scaled up their sales, marketing, and service teams to achieve their full potential with the help of Pearl Lemon Sales.
We usually begin by defining or optimizing the customer-centric sales process, developing the skills of frontline sales and service personnel to engage in the appropriate dialogues throughout the customer lifecycle, developing the capabilities of sales managers to coach and inspect process execution, and embedding new behaviors deep into the organization’s culture.
We have a one-of-a-kind capacity to design and provide highly customized solutions for clients in order to fulfill their particular requirements and compete in a disruptive and competitive market.
For today’s SaaS platform manufacturers, the cloud has created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it has also set the stage for a fierce and brutal competitive landscape. In this environment, having an educated, empowered, and motivated sales force — as well as one that is connected with other customer-facing roles – is critical.
Ready to get started?
Contact us today to learn more about how Pearl Lemon Sales can assist your company in developing and executing a successful land and expand sales strategy, as well as Pearl Lemon Sales’ award-winning training programs designed to execute sales strategy and improve sales performance in the technology industry.
SaaS Sales Training FAQs
SaaS sales are anything but a walk in the park. SaaS is a quickly growing industry that requires a lot of technical knowledge, so keeping up with an ever-increasing number of competitors working against you can be challenging. Further, people are constantly adding new advancements and breakthroughs to the industry, making it difficult for any company to keep up. Luckily, a good SaaS sales training program will help you with all this, teaching you how to understand your product and giving you a consequence-free space to practise your sales strategy.
A good SaaS salesperson knows their product inside and out and can communicate the benefits of their product to customers easily. Of course, a good SaaS salesperson should also possess the attributes required, such as adaptability, openness & empathy, focus, and critical thinking. You’ve got to think on your feet in the SaaS business because your customers now have access to the same knowledge of digital platforms that you do in the Internet age.
There are many things included in a SaaS sales training program, such as:
- Communication training – helping you convince clients with well-defended arguments and clear explanations of your product
- Active listening practice – learning when to talk and when to listen to a client
- Selling strategy formation – compiling a sales strategy that will work best for your company and your selling style.
- Market research instruction – learn how to best understand your customer base and what you need to emphasise when selling to them.
- Roleplaying – acting out sales situations so you can correct any shortcomings in your sales strategy.
If you’re looking for specialised, hands-on training to help you craft a personalised sales strategy, then Pearl Lemon’s SaaS sales training is perfect! We have a team of dedicated, tech-minded salespeople who are very familiar with the ins and outs of the industry, giving you insider tips and exclusive insights on how to formulate your new SaaS sales strategy. Our trainers have faced many everyday struggles in the industry, so they know precisely how to correct any shortcomings or knowledge gaps you might have selling SaaS products.
Contact us. We’d love to hear from you!
If you have any questions, please do get in touch with us! If you’d prefer to speak directly to a consultant, book a call!