SaaS is a futuristic approach that arose from the shadows and is growing at an exceptional rate. It has become important for SaaS companies to develop their sales models with innovation interwoven in the process to keep up with the competition.
It is imperative for sales representatives and owners of SaaS companies to know what SaaS is and how to best pitch it to their target audience. In this blog you will learn about what SaaS is and what to keep in mind when doing SaaS sales.
Understanding SaaS
SaaS, or Software as a Service, is a software that is hosted by a cloud provider, making it possible for users to access the software online without having to go through the trouble of installing and maintaining the software.
Sales representatives follow a step by step process to sell their cloud product to the prospects and clients. SaaS provides the user with great value to solve their pain points that they are facing. Before setting out to directly connect with prospects, it is necessary to build a custom journey that maps out their characteristics and the pain points that they are facing. When the prospect knows their core pain, it becomes easier for them to understand the value that your software is offering in solving their pain.
This is the moment that you should make your entrance in the game as a salesperson.
SaaSsales is not simple and cannot be done only with the efforts of the sales department. The marketing and sales teams need to cooperate and create an environment where the sales funnel can be effectively followed.
Why Is SaaS Sales Different Than Other Forms of Sales
At the base of every product is a sales strategy that is applied to ensure that people buy your product. SaaS is not an exception to this. However, compared to doing sales for other products and services, doing SaaS sales is a bit more complex. This is because of its longer sales cycle due to the efforts put in by the sales rep to establish and create value for the customer in this intangible product.
The SaaS sales cycle is characterized by the longer time period required to get in touch with the relevant authorities and prospects. A challenge that a salesperson may face when doing SaaS sales is the relatively high price point of the software that they are trying to upsell and pitch to the prospects. It may need more effort to justify and explain the price by showcasing the potential of the product, giving demos to the prospects and demonstrating how the software is the solution for their pain points.
Becoming A SaaS Sales Expert
SaaS products are complex thus they require the salespeople pitching the cloud products to prospects to be knowledgeable about the technicalities and functioning of the product. You need to be convincing as a sales representative so that you can build the trust of the prospect in the product and answer any queries they may have. Thus, the salesperson has to be a true expert to describe how the features work and how to assimilate the software with existing software and hardware of the company.
This is why SaaS sales is a different ballgame than other sales cycles, being time-consuming with multiple factors kept in mind and addressed.