Customer Experience – Page 2

Closing the Knowledge Gap in B2B SaaS

The world of business technology has changed how we sell and buy more in the last 10 years than the last 50 years. To compete and win today, professionals in tech will have to close the knowledge gap caused by the rise of B2B SaaS.

The world of B2B SaaS has changed how we buy and sell more in the last decade than the last 50 years.

B2B professionals must pivot away from conventional wisdom and own the development and growth of their core skill set to stay competitive and relevant.

I don’t know about you but I wasn’t sent the memo. I had to learn it myself. It’s why I started The B2B Report and it’s why I’m sharing this insight with you now.

So what changed?

Three things: Cloud, Customer Experience, and B2B Vendor Accountability

Cloud: The driving force behind the buyer and seller evolution started with the cloud race. Which AWS won and still dominates. Sparking a conversation on the death of on-premise (the verdict is still out on). The cloud powers the SaaS products you know, love and use.

Accountability: The cloud race gave way to technology products being offered as a monthly or annual subscription. This shift allowed buyers to expand their product offerings and get customized or tailored solutions that didn’t break the bank or lock them into 10-year maintenance contracts.

Subscription technology products, or SaaS, give buyers more options than ever before, not to mention the power to hold vendors accountable for a shitty experience or lack of value.

Experience (CX): Gone are the days you can overpromise to close a deal or keep a client’s business. Every interaction someone has with your brand impacts the likelihood they will do business with your company (and recommend to others). The customer experience, or CX, is the most important aspect of your business now. There’s good news too: it’s within your control.

The net result?

Cloud + CX + Accountability =

The birth of the Subscription Economy

(Shoutout to Zoura for coining the term)

Closing The Knowledge Gap

Today’s Tech Leader’s have the shortest path to go out and champion real change. B2B SaaS companies that plan Go-To-Market strategies around new age practices for Sales and CX will endure the long-term race to capture market share and keep it.

One of the best things you can do is to put yourself in a position to win by working at a company or for a leadership team that understands the nuances of operating a successful B2B SaaS.

Work with and for Leaders in Sales, Marketing and Customer Success who:

1) think laterally
2) practice servitude
3) invest in coaching
4) are willing to change to compete
5) lead from the trenches – they’ll get their hands dirty with you

Go work for and with people that execute and embody these 5 traits. It’s these fearless leader’s that will win the long game — not just in SaaS, but in life.

Take action or get left in the dust. Conventional wisdom is dead.

Continued B2B SaaS learning

If you’re in Sales or CX and made it this far….thank you for reading. Check out or consider reading these books to close your specific knowledge gap in B2B SaaS. All highly recommended by The B2B Report.

Bonus: Anything from the Winning by Design team.

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Join the movement. Get familiar with The B2B’s Churn Hurts Newsletter

Hail the All Mighty B2B Customer Experience (CX)

The well executed B2C buyer experience, and meteoric rise of B2B product offerings (SaaS) happens to be the perfect storm fueling today’s obsession with the ‘Customer Experience’ (CX).

The delightful B2C buyer experience and explosive rise of B2B product offerings are two drivers fueling today’s obsession with the ‘Customer Experience‘ (CX).

Why CX?

The Customer Experience, or CX, is dominating the decision criteria of today’s technology buyers.

After all, it’s never been easier to replace a product or service with a solution of similar or equal value.

That’s why:

- If you give the customer a reason to leave, they will.

- Don’t give them a reason to stay and they’ll find a better experience at a better price point.

According to the team at Sales Hacker, over 700 new SaaS businesses launched in 2017 alone and in 2018 that number surged another 15% to 830 vendors.

What this means to B2B sellers

It means even more options are available today and the ‘buyers market’ for B2B technology will only lean more in their favor.

It means clients will keep your Customer Success team accountable to the promises your Account Executive’s make.

This shift, alone, is quite the change from conventional vendor/end-user business engagements…

Worried you’ll lose? Don’t. Try this instead…

At this point, the future of who survives the next decade in B2B SaaS is mostly speculation.

To get a foothold on the trends and priorities influencing your next net-new deal or renewal sale, check out the awesome community from G2 Crowd.

Look up your company and your competitors.
Read the reviews and ratings.
Compare your brand against your competitors (features, comments, user preferences)

It’ll give you a great idea of how today’s B2B world is constantly moving more towards a B2C style of experience expectations.

For strong B2C CX think Netflix, Apple, Allbirds, Everlane, Mahabis et al.

The Main Takeaway for B2B Leaders?
You need world-class execution in one key area to WIN:

The B2B Customer Experience.

The key to long-term success in SaaS is Mastering CX.

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Nature Teaches me 3 Things Failing B2B Company’s Do

Here’s What Failing B2B’s Do: They sell products/services that overpromise and under deliver on either: Time-to-value, Desired outcomes (CS), Experience of use (CX)

Parallels for winning in the SaaS game are abundant throughout nature. I’ve talked about this before.

In the first picture — it looks like I’m experiencing a nice brisk walk with sperrydog.

B2B's cold beach experience — ***The Parallel: Branding + Net new sales***

In the second picture — you can tell how cold it is.

the B2B's cold beach experience — ***The Parallel:* *Onboarding + Deployment***

My nose even turned bright red from windchill. Sperrydog is even ‘mean mugging’ from the cold weather. So…what am I saying?

Here’s What Failing B2B’s Do:

They sell products/services that overpromise and under deliver on either:

• Time-to-value

• Desired outcomes (CS)

• Experience of use (CX)

The reasons B2B’s do this are endless. The reason I’m telling you is so you can decide if you want to be different.

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Join the movement. Get familiar with The B2B’s Churn Hurts Newsletter

How you do ONE THING, is How you do EVERY thing..

The success of servant leaders has propelled the movement of companies building brands and relationships to the forefront of the B2B SaaS World.

The success of servant leaders in today’s technology world has propelled the experience based movement of building engaging brands and companies to the forefront of the B2B SaaS world.

B2B Sales and Technology continue to shape the world around us.

Authenticity is in.
Servitude is more desirable in leadership than ever.
People are learning you don’t have to be an asshole to get ahead.
Consistency now the secret ingredient of world-class sales team’s

With changes in how people want to work and how they work, also comes changes to how they buy, sell and lead in their careers.

New company cultures built around radical transparency are coveted. Companies with a customer-centric go-to-market strategy means Customer Success isn’t just a department but an entire operational mindset for every single employee.

The customer experience must delight, time-to-value for customers and prospects must improve.

Despite all this: humans are still being starved of meaningful interaction.

People want to buy from other people (mostly).

How to win in this ever-changing digital world? Serve others before yourself.

Be genuine, be authentic, and be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Because people often suck.

The ‘thing is they / you / me’ — we don’t have to. 99% of the time it’s because of Fear. Here’s what Fear does to every level of professional:

The I Don’t care enough Person:

By not caring what others think to the point we are intolerable to work with, or

The ‘You aren’t free at all’ Person:

By caring too much about what others think we lose the ability to make decisions and execute with confidence

As human-beings, remembering where we come from matters. Roots are important.

They help define the core values we choose to live by. Those core values help us establish our mindset or ‘human operating system’.

Do you have a scarcity mindset, or an abundance mindset?

Fear is not the key to getting the most from your employees, yet it still runs rampant in the Westernized business world. Will these companies adapt or die?

Millennials now outnumber all other age groups in today’s workforce — and eventually, they’ll make up the ranks of corporate America too.

These are the changes that will come with the changing of the generational ‘guard’.

Are you ready?

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How to Spot (not stop) Funnel Vision: A Sickness in B2B Sales

Some B2B’s will capture revenue and market share as they experience growth and scale over time (some).

Product-led growth is ideal but it’s not a deal breaker in B2B selling. Begging the question, if you don’t happen to have a product like Drift, Slack, Dropbox how can you compete. That’s a good question, this isn’t about that. It’s about what look out for in your in revenue efforts and spotting funnel vision in your company.

If you’re not familiar:

Funnel Vision is when a B2B SaaS Company has a culture, leader, or sales methodology where acquiring new logos is more valued than retaining and growing the clients you have.

Being laser focused is what some executives are known for. If you think your company is showing potential signs here’s a list to get you started:

Common traits of those affected by funnel vision are:

an obsession to relentlessly acquire new customers
an obsession to serve prospects more than to obsess over serving existing (paying) customers

little regard to the customer experience,

When leadership doesn’t consider clients to be the most important asset, second only to employees
Loose product-market fit, or comprising for short term gains
History of overpromising and underdelivering value

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The Year 1996 B.C. (Before Churn)

In the year 1996 B.C. (Before Churn)… Customer Success wasn’t even a ‘thing’ yet…

In the year 1996 B.C. (Before Churn)…Customer Success wasn’t a ‘thing’ yet.

Companies instead held the philosophy we’ve all heard before…

“Give the people what they want!”

It’s this philosophy that ultimately led to the birth of the Customer Success movement.

Funfact: CS was not originally founded by a SaaS company, but it was popularized by Salesforce because CHURN HURTS.

Written by Aaron Cowell on 11/15/18

For Coaching or Advisory engagements, contact me via email.

Aaron@ChurnSafe.com
Aaron@TheB2BReport.com

Twitter: @churnhurts / @theb2breport

Instagram: @churnhurts / @theb2breport

The New Disease Killing SaaS Companies Worldwide

Are you in Sales? What about B2B Sales? Damn. If you are, you’re at risk of contracting ‘Funnel Vision’ — the worst Sales disease of modern-day business leaders.

Are you in Sales? What about B2B Sales? If you are, you’re at risk of contracting ‘Funnel Vision’ — the worst Sales disease of impacting B2B revenues since the discovery of ‘touch-base-itis’.

What is Funnel Vision?

Funnel Vision is a new-age illness that affects thousands of Sales Leaders, Reps and Executives throughout the world of B2B SaaS.

Funnel vision refers to Sales inability to see past the top of the sales funnel for the greater good of their company’s growth.

It is believed to have been contracted during the tectonic shift and evolution of new sales methodologies and buyer behavior driven by the meteoric rise of Software as a Service, or SaaS. Simply put, funnel vision affects those still running an analog sales engine in a digital world.

Written by Aaron Cowell on 11/15/18

For Coaching or Advisory engagements, contact me via email.

Aaron@ChurnSafe.com
Aaron@TheB2BReport.com

Twitter: @churnhurts / @theb2breport

Instagram: @churnhurts / @theb2breport

Tag: Customer Experience

Closing the Knowledge Gap in B2B SaaS

So what changed?