We are in the business of SaaS sales and to succeed here you need to first realize that selling software is very different from selling used cars or phone contracts or credit cards. People will buy 'you' first and the 'product' later.
That's why you need to think of yourself as a 'consultant' and not a sales agent or call center agent. When talking to decision makers you need to position yourself as an expert in the field so that they see you as the one with more power and influence in the conversation. Once you start thinking of yourself as a specialist, or more specifically a consultant, you start acting like one as well!
So what’s the difference between an agent and a consultant? A call center agent is mechanically making calls to reach their target, usually selling low-ticket items to consumers. A consultant on the other hand identifies the problems a company is facing, understands its needs and then come up with a solution. Basically, an agent pushes to make a sale but a consultant will try to solve a problem.
And that’s exactly what your job is: to identify problems and offer a solution for them. Every single call you make (or email you send) you must ask yourself: Am I calling to just make a call? Or am I calling to help the company out? Am I solving a problem? If you do not have this mentality you are not likely to succeed because there are probably hundreds of people calling the person you are calling to try and sell something.
In software sales, you always have to solve the person's problem. Sometimes the person you are talking to might not be aware that a problem exists! So identify the problem and offer a solution. Otherwise don't waste your time.
Thinking of yourself as a consultant is important because it also helps with ‘positioning’. Most people with a typical sales background are used to being blow off or treated with disrespect so they react by being cheesy on the phone which only makes things worse! Fortunately this is not the norm yet is SaaS sales, if you know what you are talking about people will want to talk to you (not on every call).
Luckily at ScaleMill we only work with SaaS companies that are solving real-world problems for other businesses. In fact, most of our partner companies are backed by renowned investors including Rocket Internet, Goldman Sachs, SofBank and Tengelmann Group. The point of mentioning this here is that you can be fully confident that whatever project you are working on it is 100% legitimate, at the cusp of innovation and extremely competitive.
So please position yourself as a ‘subject matter expert’. No matter what product you are selling, you already know more about it than most other people in the world - even if you are new. Use this knowledge to your advantage! In short: if you sound important people will think you are important :)
Comments