Customer Experience – Page 2

5 Ways to Scale your B2B SaaS Company without Chasing New Deals

The customer experience brings B2B SaaS leaders new opportunities to grow, scale and prosper. Here’s 5 ways you can boost revenue for your SaaS company without chasing new sales deals.

The most successful and fastest growing tech companies are seeing 30-40% of new revenue annually from the expansion of their existing customer base. (Source: ProfitWell)

Here are 5 ways to boost revenue at your B2B SaaS Company without chasing new sales deals.

#1: Cost of keeping a customer is less than acquiring new ones.

Shore up resources and segment your customer base for full coverage. Existing clients are also more likely to close upsells by purchasing new products or increasing spend for new features and added benefits.

#2. Referrals can feed top funnel and top-line revenue with leads that close faster and stay longer.

A strong renewal process isn’t only about the renewal. It’s about the client’s entire experience leading up to the event of license expiration. When the customer explicitly knows the value of your product and partnership, they tend to want the same for their peers, colleagues, and network. Would you rather have 5 warm referral leads or rather chase down 50 cold leads? Low hanging fruit right here if you’re not asking for referrals.

#3. Inside Selling roles are growing more than any other role in the sales profession today

Not SDR’s, not BDR’s, but Inside Sales. Professionals in Inside Sales now make up almost half of all sales positions. Using census data, Insidesales.com estimates of the 5.7 million non-retail U.S. salespeople in 2017, 43.5% were inside sales pros.

#4. B2B renewal sales require a hyper-focused approach, process and talent pool different from your new sales team.

This starts at the top. If the leadership at your organization doesn’t know this already you’ll struggle to perform and probably already are. Don’t erode your user base because you’re too lazy to hire the right talent to keep your happy customers, well, happy.

#5. Renewal teams are often an untapped gold mine for BOTH the company they work for and the customers they serve.

Because the subscription-based model is fueled by the customer experience and normally sold as a monthly or annual subscription, your renewal team has more access than ANYONE else to practice empathy and walk in your customer’s shoes. They should be cataloging behaviors and trends.

Your takeaway action: Establish a client feedback loop, collect the data and use it to build better products, stronger support offerings, and tailored and appropriately personalized journeys for all users.

Originally appeared on LinkedIn, written by Aaron Cowell.

What my Favorite Hotel Taught Me About CX (Customer Experience)

If there’s a big difference between The Lenox and other high-end hotels it’s the experience you have while you’re there (CX). They’ve mastered the B2C experience that so many B2B companies fail to do today that costs them long-term revenue: The Customer Experience (CX).

The Lenox crushes CX. Downtown, Boston, MA

There’s plenty of high-end luxury spots and hotels in Boston to choose from.

Why The Lenox is my favorite spot…

Easy. They provide an unbelievable customer experience every time.

They knew we are expecting a little one and had a bottle of sparkling apple cider (no alcohol) and a Lenox Baby blanket with their gold logo lightly embroidered.

If there’s a clear difference between The Lenox and other high-end hotels. It’s the experience you have while you’re there …
You can tell delighting their guests and customers is rooted in their employee and company culture.

It’s because of the strong customer experience The Lenox delivers to their guests, that I’m happy to pay a premium to stay there.

They’ve mastered the B2C experience that so many B2B companies fail to do today that costs them long-term revenue.

As I like to say, churn can really hurt. Churn is the grim reaper of the SaaS Industry after all.

My point is that B2B companies who adopt this B2C mentality TODAY and root CX into their culture will be alive and well in 50 years…

The companies that don’t, won’t.

the b2b report

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.

the b2b report

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.

the b2b report

Join the movement. Subscribe to our Newsletter.

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.

the b2b report

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

Tag: Customer Experience

5 Ways to Scale your B2B SaaS Company without Chasing New Deals

Here are 5 ways to boost revenue at your B2B SaaS Company without chasing new sales deals.

#1: Cost of keeping a customer is less than acquiring new ones.

#2. Referrals can feed top funnel and top-line revenue with leads that close faster and stay longer.

#3. Inside Selling roles are growing more than any other role in the sales profession today

#4. B2B renewal sales require a hyper-focused approach, process and talent pool different from your new sales team.

#5. Renewal teams are often an untapped gold mine for BOTH the company they work for and the customers they serve.