The number of SaaS businesses continues to rise in line with the high demand. With more companies operating in the space, it’s only natural to expect increased competition. But how can a SaaS startup stand out from the crowd? One way involves using sales consultants or a sales consultancy to improve sales and put a process in place designed to help your company grow. With that in mind, we’ve put this guide together looking at why SaaS businesses benefit from working with sales consultancy.
A third-party perspective
Startups can be chaotic by nature, especially in the SaaS field. There are often continued tweaks to the products and new features added. Therefore, getting consultancy support with relevant experience who can guide the sales side of things can be smarter than going big on a Head of Sales position. This can be helpful as it saves resources on a full-time hire and taps into the mind of a specialist with experience in SaaS. Sometimes it can be difficult to identify issues when you’re in the business. In contrast, a fresh pair of eyes can analyse and spot inconsistencies between expectations and realities.
A varied set of skills
SaaS consultants have the sales skills to help move the needle for your business. But they also understand the landscape and provide expertise in other areas such as software development. They will develop a strategy to reach clients in the SaaS field while also making suggestions regarding pricing and marketing collateral to see how these elements fit in with the sales setup. Other ways they will help evolve the business include:
- Develop an omnichannel strategy – a SaaS consultant can help devise a plan, from social media to paid ads.
- Optimise the sales funnel – stop the business from losing money due to poor conversion rates.
- Utilise SEO – recommend SEO best practices to help with organic ranking and lead generation.
The primary responsibility of SaaS sales consultancy is to drive you in the right direction and increase sales. But how they go about it can potentially involve many different skills, plus testing on various platforms to see where the best outcomes lie.
Respond to industry changes
Keeping up with the latest industry changes can be tricky when leading a company and overseeing the whole setup. A SaaS sales consultant can help narrow the focus, stepping in and offering added value by giving you insight into the latest industry trends. The SaaS landscape is evolving, so startups need to keep up and be ahead of the trends. A sales consultant specializing in the SaaS field can do just that, updating you on what’s happening in the industry and making recommendations, so the company always looks like a leader rather than a follower.
What services do SaaS consultants offer?
SaaS sales consultants will aid the business by offering a solution designed to identify, engage and qualify verified leads – and they do so by attacking the difficulties startups face in the early stages head-on. They also understand that only one or two tactics designed for lead generation are no longer enough.
New sales are vital for expanding the business, but keeping core customers happy is also vital. SaaS can tend to have higher churn rates simply because of the nature of the software and models that don’t rely on long-term subscriptions. A consultant can review current processes and look at how to increase the volume of customers staying with the service for longer.
The marketing aspect might not be the priority of a sales consultant, but they’ll understand its role in the sales cycle. Therefore, you can expect them to have input, whether helping build a strategy or recommending the right people to work with.
Using a sales consultant can get your SaaS business moving in the right direction. They bring their expertise, understanding of the sector and speciality in all things SaaS. As a result, consultants can advise and put the right strategies in place to help your startup grow.