SaaS sales tips: 8 Things SaaS sales reps must know

Capturing and sustaining buyers’ attention can be a real challenge in the SaaS world. With the rapid evolution of SaaS products, buyers’ expectations are also increasing.

Besides, new players are entering the market and doing all that it takes to prove their mettle.

And how can we forget the old players who are innovating and improving the user experience to maintain their position in the industry?

This makes SaaS sales more challenging, and the job of the SaaS sales rep difficult.

However, the competitors are paving their way to the top, and surely their sales reps might have some contribution to their growth. So that just means that it is possible to succeed in this competitive field.

All you need to do is take the right steps, explore various saas sales tips, and sell effectively.

Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out – Robert Collier 

8 effective SaaS sales tips to succeed

SaaS is a complicated game. It would be best if you play it smartly.

Here are a few SaaS sales tips that can help you in selling a SaaS product.

1. Persistence is key to SaaS sales

In SaaS sales, you cannot afford to miss any opportunity that comes your way. If the prospect doesn’t reply to an email or respond to a call, most of the SaaS sales reps give up without trying again.

Persistence is crucial in sales. You cannot give up easily in this challenging SaaS sales field.

You need to be like the spider who, despite falling several times, didn’t give up. The spider’s unwavering determination to weave the web helped him succeed.

If you don’t give up, you still have a chance. Giving up is the greatest failure. – Jack Ma

A similar determination is required in SaaS sales. You need to put in cent percent effort on a deal. Follow-up consistently when you do not get a reply.

Besides, thanks to the automation that most of the technologies provide, it’s easy to follow-up. The modern tools allow you to create email sequences for putting your follow-up on autopilot. This will help you in saving a lot of time for other sales activities.

2. The length of the sales cycle can be shortened

The long SaaS sales cycle is a scary sight for any sales rep. Nobody wants to miss their sales quotas, but unfortunately, many do.

79% of sales reps miss their quota and 14% never achieve even 10% of quota. 

The main problem is that the SaaS sales reps don’t do anything about this failure.

The SaaS sales cycle can be shortened if managed effectively. All the deals in the sales process should be given timely attention for a faster closure, which is why the top-performing sales reps use a SaaS CRM that offers a pipeline view of all the deals.

A pipeline view adds more clarity and helps to see where the deals are in the sales cycle. So, you can prepare for the next activities and add them to your calendar.

Besides, a SaaS CRM even reminds you about the upcoming activities through timely alerts and notifications, reducing the chances of missing any activity. This will help you in nurturing the deals quickly.

3. Technology is a SaaS sales rep’s best buddy 

We live in a world where technology is evolving at a high pace, making human life more comfortable. You’ll find many sales tools that act as an extra pair of hands for SaaS sales reps.

Using these tools, you can get yourself organized, manage your sales, increase productivity, build strong customer relationships, and save a lot of time.

So, analyze your SaaS business needs and then search for the best CRM tools for startups that can increase efficiency and add more time to the day.

Here are a few of the sales tools that can help you.

Salesmate CRM – An all in one sales solution with advanced capabilities that gives you more control over your deals and helps you in building long term customer relationships.

Doodle – It is an advanced sales tool that simplifies the task of booking appointments so that you can spend more time on closing rather than organizing an appointment.

Proposify – An easy to use tool that helps in creating professional looking proposals in minutes. Easily store important content, photos as well as logos and use it when you want. 

DocuSign – One of the best e-signature tools that speed up the process of getting signatures. Prepare and send any kind of document inside DocuSign and get them signed quickly.

4. Always be honest

In SaaS, it is important to focus on long-term success. It may seem enticing to stretch the truth or over-promise to close a deal, but that might fuel the churn rate.

Recurring revenue is pivotal in SaaS; you cannot afford to lose customers here. In SaaS, it isn’t only about hitting the quota, but it is about creating a base of satisfied customers who won’t leave you.

So do not make fake promises. Smartly present the truth.

You might offer a few features but show them how can those few features help the prospect in reaching their desired goals.

A lot can be done with a few things if you have the passion for it. The best example is the armless pilot –Jessica Cox

If she can fly an aircraft with a few body parts, I am sure it is possible to sell a product with a few features. Lying or over-promising would just jeopardize future opportunities, so avoid it.

5. Know your ideal customer profile in and out 

SaaS sales is like a puzzle where you need to connect the right prospects with your product, or they might churn, leading to wastage of time and resources. The same time and resources could have been invested in someone who could contribute to your SaaS business revenue.

It is necessary to know your ideal customer in and out, to sell to the right prospect who will stay for long.

 So, create a buyer persona after going through your ideal customer’s traits and buying habits. 

Use that buyer persona to qualify the prospects and create a base of hot leads whom you need to nurture and convert. 

Ask questions to these qualified prospects to understand their expectations and requirements. Once you gain enough knowledge about your prospect, you won’t face much problem in converting them.

6. Connect within 5 minutes 

In SaaS sales, every trial signup user must be connected within 5 minutes. 

A little delay and you might miss out on a lucrative opportunity. 

Besides, do not forget that the competitors are waiting to snatch away those profitable deals. So act quickly. If you can’t call, then atleast send and email. 

There are sales automation tools that can help. Just create an automated workflow to connect with your prospect in real-time. 

For instance, you can set criteria that send a welcome email or introductory email when a website visitor signs up a for a free trial. 

In this way, you can make the initial connection without putting in much effort. 

7. Think about the future and minimize discounts

Most sales reps rely on discounts to sell and suffer later. In SaaS sales, long term success matters. You might offer a discount and persuade a prospect to make a purchase now, but you cannot offer a discount every month. It might affect your recurring revenue. 

To succeed in SaaS sales, you must have an eye on the bottom line. Focus on the value of the product rather than the price. Be explicit about how the solution will help in making the prospect’s life easier. 

8. Win back churned SaaS customers 

Customer churn is the biggest challenge in the SaaS world. However, do not forget the customers that have churned in the past. 

Try to win them back. Learn from your mistakes. Besides, growing SaaS companies often try to improve their SaaS product by introducing new features and updating the old ones.

 So, be positive and approach churned customers. Give them reasons to return. Re-engage and highlight the improvements to churned customers.

All set to use these SaaS sales tips 

Knowledge is power in SaaS sales. You need to be well-informed in this field. Keep yourself abreast with the changing trends and the latest SaaS sales tips.

Selling in SaaS is challenging. However, if you apply the right tactics and use the right tools, you can surely create win-win situations. 

Tools like Salesmate CRM can help you in managing your SaaS sales efficiently. This high-end CRM can help in managing deals, automating time-consuming activities, tracking sales performance, and much more.