The Grim Reaper of SaaS and Why your Angel Investors can’t save you

Churn. The modern-day grim reaper of SaaS.

Sowing doubt in your customer base and preying on executives with ‘funnel vision’ — the grim reaper shows no SaaS company mercy.

He haunts B2B vendors with actual accountability for shitty customer experiences.

And with one all mighty swoop of his blade, he slashes your prices makes your CSM’s cry and cancels evergreen contracts without notice.

See, 10 years ago vendors were the grim reapers. They could haunt their customer’s dreams until they renewed. These were the on-prem days, before SaaS really took off and customers were locked into lengthy maintenance and support contracts that broke the bank (think SAP, Oracle, Microsoft).

Churn hurts. Churn even kills. Don’t let churn ruin your business because you didn’t invest in CX from the get-go.

That’s why your investors can’t save you. Only you and your leadership, and, may I say, CUSTOMERS, can save you today.

Investing in CX will give you the best shot to emerge victorious in B2B.

Here are some other helpful tips to make the most of the resources you have to stay relevant and to survive and thrive in the B2B world:

To increase your odds of staying relevant in B2B:

Play the long game and invest in product-led growth and a seamless customer experience

Build a culture that a) refuses to accept churn as cost of doing business b) where every employee knows the moment(s) they own in the Client journey and the impact it has on CX

Implement a Customer Lifecycle Management plan for all clients in year 2 and beyond (recurring revenue)

Root your growth strategy in revenue expansion and customer education vs a heavy focus on new customer acquisition

Why?

While most B2B SaaS companies scramble to grow and acquire new customers…
The SMART ones are LASER focused on GROWING the clients they have.
So think twice before you neglect your existing customer base, or they’ll neglect you.
They are the UNTAPPED GOLDMINE of revenue you’re looking for.

Remember:

How you scale matters. (New vs existing)
Conventional wisdom in Leadership tends to hurt B2B SaaS companies more than it helps.
Today Buyers hold vendors accountable by renewing or canceling their subscription for your product or service

Will you allow CHURN to be a Major Pain in your business?

—

Written by Aaron Cowell on 11/12/18

For Coaching or Advisory engagements, contact me via email.

Aaron@ChurnSafe.com
Aaron@TheB2BReport.com

Twitter: @churnhurts / @theb2breport

Instagram: @churnhurts / @theb2breport

Author: Aaron Cowell

I love helping B2B SaaS companies grow and scale for long-term sustainability. I believe: • How you scale matters. • Long-term and sustainable growth happens through mastery of customer experience. • SaaS companies are feeling the pressure to grow by any means necessary. • When B2B's are too focused on winning net-new business, it's to the detriment of their paying customers, loyal employees, and future prospects. My background / experience: • Closed over ~$1.25B in paid subscription revenue for B2B SaaS clients since 2010 (50,000+ deals and counting) • 9 years experience, in B2B Sales, SaaS Customer Success, Account Management, Biz Ops and Go-To-Market Strategy • Servitude: Over a decade in servant and global organizational leadership View all posts by Aaron Cowell

To increase your odds of staying relevant in B2B:

Play the long game and invest in product-led growth and a seamless customer experience

Build a culture that a) refuses to accept churn as cost of doing business b) where every employee knows the moment(s) they own in the Client journey and the impact it has on CX

Implement a Customer Lifecycle Management plan for all clients in year 2 and beyond (recurring revenue)

Why?

Remember:

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