SaaStr

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

Yes, you may still fail, of course. Maybe you were on TechCrunch or Mashable or PandoDaily or some blog, great. Don’t take all their advice, of course, don’t get distracted from the big picture. At EchoSign, our first unaffiliated customer was a distributed sales manager of a telesales team. Trust me.

SaaS 323

SaaS Churn Engineering Management 323

SaaStr

MARCH 11, 2024

So you’re hiring your first few sales reps in the early days? Before you have a great VP of Sales? So you need a very certain type of sales rep. Not during founder-led sales. The #1 trick to making sure your first sales reps work out? But I’ve just never seen early sales rep execl that do this.

Sales Hiring 234

Sales Hiring Sales Interviewing compliance 234

SaaStr

AUGUST 5, 2021

In the early days of SaaStr we put together a strawman First Sales Rep Comp Plan. Use it, modify it (or of course, ignore it) as you see fit. Without this, you’ll be lost because what you’ll need to spend on sales will be a bit of a black hole. Maybe more.

Scale 323

Scale Marketing B2C B2B 323

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2024

They discuss Sam’s learnings at Founders Fund, what the 2024 playbook looks like, hiring and motivating sales teams, and a handful of audience questions. On the sales side, people hired way too much. More salespeople do not equal more sales. Sam just finished 18 months at Founders Fund after joining in mid-to-late 2022.

Sales Hiring 259

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 259

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2020

A little while back we put together some of the top sales & marketing mistakes SaaS companies and founders make, especially in the early days. But if you see yourself making any of the mistakes below, it’s fairly easy to make a course correction. Sales: Hiring any reps you wouldn’t buy from yourself. Just do it!

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 363

SaaStr

MARCH 22, 2024

After switching to SaaS, she started as an SMB sales leader with no prior management or SMB sales experience. She wanted to jump into a full cycle capacity as a sales leader, but she said yes. Shifting from an operator and loving operations and data to a sales and revenue leadership role felt like a big jump.

Scale 243

Scale Underperforming Technical Team SMB Finance 243

ChurnZero

DECEMBER 27, 2019

I f ChurnZero were to release a greatest hits compilation of our top content, milestones, and life events in 2019, this blog post would be it. With over 70+ published blogs this year, we whittled down our list to the ten most popular posts from the ChurnZero team and friends. . Top 10 Blog Posts from 2019 .

Technical Review 64

Technical Review Software Review Churn Customer Success 64

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Companies could spend time reading competitor press releases and blog posts, and sure, you need to know some of that stuff. And, of course, you want a product that solves the right problem. You need a feedback loop between sales, customer success, and product. Round and round that feedback loop should go. It takes a village.

Scale 229

Scale Scaling Sales Hiring Construction 229

SaaStr

JANUARY 15, 2021

In this blog, we will be focusing on common demand generation mistakes and how different types of interactive content can help. In fact, Venture Harbour CEO Marcus Taylor said that he saw an 89% sales uplift & a 58% increase in average order value due to marketing segmentation. 1) Not Qualifying and Segmenting Leads. LEAD SCORING.

Software Review 190

Software Review Market Segmentation Engagement Sales 190

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

Of course, it’s down from 2021, but there has been a tremendous amount of innovation in the last year, with a lot of that driven by AI and what’s possible. That info could be: high volumes of text like blogs contracts how to respond to a customer images video We’re in the early innings of what it means to generate or have GenAI.

AI 258

AI Generative AI Venture Capital SaaS 258

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Every month, every quarter, the number needs to go up in sales. One thing I’ve seen as a result is folks in sales truly willing to trade less comp for less work. But others want a saner approach to sales, both at the AE and the VP level. Everyone for a while wanted to sell courses. For the first time in my career.

Scale 237

Scale Social Media SaaS Trends 237

SaaStr

JUNE 20, 2023

Almost everyone in sales seems to be into real estate, either “multi-family” real-estate or getting their broker’s license. And so many folks are coaches, selling courses, and more. Especially a VP of Sales, working on a big number, and with presumably, a big upside and OTE? Diversify your income streams.

Underperforming Technical Team 283

Underperforming Technical Team Scale Sales Hiring Startup 283

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

It can be a bit tricky to implement if you don’t have high alignmment between your VP of Sales and your VP of CS, but you should still try to do this. 50% of CS teams own renewals — and 50% (of course) don’t. Having Sales own them usually creates the most pain. This was helpful to see. and finally: #6.

Customer Success 303

Customer Success Headcount Churn Revenue 303

SaaStr

DECEMBER 10, 2020

I hear again and again from SaaS founders growing to $5m, $10m ARR or even more that they don’t need a certain VP — with the exception of a VP of Sales. Basically, in SaaS, everyone “gets” that they need a VP of Sales. To get to $5m-$10m ARR and beyond, we’ll need a real VP of Sales.

Sales Hiring 358

Sales Hiring CTO Hire Sales Recruiting Scale 358

SaaStr

MARCH 25, 2021

The other day, a sales leader working asked me how I got to be “so good at sales.” You might think so that after almost 3,000 answers on Quora, 300 blog posts, and 35,000 tweets. In fact, that’s why I have so much respect for the art and process of sales. The only time I was ever good at sales.

Scale 271

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Pricing 271

Buffer Resources

JANUARY 15, 2024

."  Among her favorite recent content examples is a sales multithreading playbook from Lavender that gives you the why, why, and how to without burying the lede. "  She likes the "Grow and Tell" podcast by the B2B sales, onboarding, and renewals workspace provider Dock.

B2B 111

B2B Technical Advisors SaaS Payments Underperforming Technical Team 111

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2024

We just wrote up how some of the biggest changes of SaaS are now coming, specifically in Customer Success and Sales. Sales grew a little less. So of course some people are hiring and some people are laying off. Is it the end of an era for customer success in SaaS? The number one insight back then was to put a person on it.

Sales Hiring 250

Sales Hiring Customer Success Scale AI 250

SaaStr

JANUARY 18, 2023

It’s the most common objection you’ll get in SaaS sales … Not Right Now. Every business is mostly running OK already with its tech stack, and it’s unlikely your little app, alone, is going to change the revenue/profits course of any customer. This can cut both ways, of course. And when you hire a real, great VP of Sales.

Sales Recruiting 259

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Technical Review Software Review 259

SaaStr

MAY 18, 2022

You don’t need to start there, of course. If you can’t pull off both points, you’ll mostly likely need a product with a higher price point and a sales-driven model to support it. And of course — 45% went directly to paid. For Freemium to work, you need at least 2 things: The ability to get 50,000,000+ users at scal e.

SMB 235

SMB Pricing B2B Engineering 235

SaaStr

MARCH 8, 2023

So what should earlier-stage companies do: immediately build out a big sales team or focus on product-led growth? Now they have sales reps, but still consider themselves PLG. Directly through sales teams. Unlike many sales teams, this one only engages with existing customers of a certain size. Here’s why.

Sales Hiring 224

Sales Hiring Enterprise Headcount Scale 224

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

Q: Dear SaaStr: Should We Pay Our Sales Reps on Renewals? But very few SaaS companies pay sales reps on renewals as they scale. Of course, though in the early days this is impossible You don’t have the scale or the capital or the customer base. But if the deal size is growing > 20%, they have to bring sales in.

Scale 234

Scale Sales Finance Customer Success 234

SaaStr

AUGUST 24, 2022

Of course, their margins are lower than a pure software play (more on that below). Driving up sales rep efficiency is key to driving up margins. SMB sales (most of Toast) is very tough to do without a highly efficient and effective sales force. They dominate a large market, and are growing almost 60% at $800m in ARR!

SaaS Payments 293

SaaS Payments Scale SMB Payment Solutions 293

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

You Gotta Do the Work (Of Course) Your Competition is Trying to Sell To, And Steal, Your Customers And yet, I still see so few SaaS companies doing even the most basic steps here. I get that most sales teams aren’t structured to really put in the work here, to steal a customer. What about sales commissions?

Sales 281

Sales Pricing Enterprise Revenue 281

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Together they share the high-velocity techniques they use to maximize sales, including: Sell to SMBs Use round-robin to assign accounts, but you’re not sure if it’s optimal Are stuck in a world of geographic territories Spend a lot of time manually building territories Gusto thinks of the rev ops capability as the brain center and engine builder.

Scale 215

Scale Sales Marketing Construction 215

Totango

APRIL 4, 2024

If you asked your customer success (CS) and sales leaders this question, what do you think each of them would say? Revenue retention hinges on the collaborative efforts of CS and sales teams as they collectively shepherd customers throughout the lifecycle journey, from acquisition to retention and expansion.

Customer Success 89

Customer Success Retention Revenue Sales 89

SaaStr

OCTOBER 1, 2022

Now of course some of this is a function of the boom times of late 2020 to early 2022, when lucky started were flooded with capital. VPs of Marketing, Success, Product, Sales and more that really have done it. I see so many VPs of Sales and Customer Success who don’t really want to talk to customers themselves anymore.

Sales Hiring 295

Sales Hiring Content Marketing Startup Customer Success 295

SaaStr

JANUARY 27, 2021

“Give the VP of Sales More Time” This is always terrible advice. If a VP of Sales can’t improve things in one sales cycle or less — she never will. In one sales cycle, or less. If a great VP of Marketing can double your inbound leads — of course you can afford her salary.

Part-Time VPE 302

Part-Time VPE Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting 302

SaaStr

AUGUST 11, 2021

A ways back at SaaStr, we did a post “If Your VP Sales Isn’t Going to Work Out — You’ll Know in 30 Days” At first, so many VPs of Sales I know hated the post. A great VP can’t always double sales in a month or two. And of course, that you have board or at least investor meetings at all.

Sales Recruiting 277

Sales Recruiting Scale Sales Hiring Scaling 277

Neil Patel

DECEMBER 16, 2020

You’ve poured a ton of time into creating a blog. Affiliate marketing is an effective way for anyone with a blog or social media following to earn money. Basically, it’s commission-based sales. Choosing great products to promote is about more than just picking categories that are generally aligned with your blog.

Strategy 134

Strategy Marketing Social Media Software Review 134

SaaStr

APRIL 14, 2023

Of course, building great teams and finding product market fit is critical, but don’t forget about product investor fit. Of course, this doesn’t mean there isn’t a need for great tools and products. The “right time” for sales efficiency metrics is unique to the company. That’s a mistake. Absolutely.

Development Team Review 224

Development Team Review Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team SMB 224

Buffer Resources

APRIL 10, 2024

Get started for free → How to make money on Instagram Jump to a section: Partner with brands on sponsored content Livestream and earn Badges from fans Offer paid subscriptions Sell your own products and services Take up affiliate marketing Sell digital products Develop and teach a course Join Instagram’s Creator Marketplace 1.

Payments 94

Payments Payment Methods Marketplace as a Service Payment Services 94

Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 13, 2018

Great SaaS sales reps can change your entire business. So what is it about these SaaS sales reps that differentiates them from the rest? So what is it about these SaaS sales reps that differentiates them from the rest? What do they know about the industry that mediocre sales reps don’t? of sales emails are opened.

Scale 224

Scale SaaS Sales Sales Funnel 224

SaaStr

JULY 9, 2022

The role of a VP is to own everything required to hit the goals for a functional area – Sales, Marketing, Product, Engineering, Finance, or Customer Success. The job spec will change over the course of each 6–12 months. While the answer may sound obvious, I’m not sure it always is in early-ish stage start-ups. This can be hard.

Sales Recruiting 264

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Finance Engineering 264

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

A few ideas on how to help the sales team make this your best year so far: Hire dedicated sales / revenue ops. Many of you will have little to no dedicated help in sales operations , even up to $10m ARR or beyond. If that’s you, or your VP of Sales, or even your VP of Marketing … it can sort of work for a while.

Scale 245

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Enterprise 245

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Rajeev Dham and Karan Singh, Partners at Sapphire Ventures, and Jane Lee, Vice President at Sapphire walk us through how to double your “Magic Number,” a shorthand for your sales and marketing efficiency. Magic Number is your growth in ARR over a quarter divided by the sales and marketing spend in the prior quarter. Let’s find out.

VP of Engineering 226

VP of Engineering Scale Marketing Benchmarks 226

SaaStr

APRIL 28, 2023

Typically, sales leaders are the primary focus of CRO Confidential, but increased demand for this concept of founder-led sales lands us in front of a new and powerful productivity startup called Roam. Of course, this isn’t always applicable, but be your first customer when it is. Of course, this applies to B2B, not B2C.

Scale 200

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Business 200

SaaStr

OCTOBER 23, 2021

Dear SaaStr: How do you reduce employee turnover in your sales teams? The key is a great VP of Sales combined with a very fair comp plan — and a promotion path for those that want it. More on that here: Your #1 Sales Rep Should Be Driving an M8 Convertible By Month 12. What Makes a Great VP of Sales and How to Hire One.

Sales Hiring 241

Sales Hiring Sales Management Marketing 241