One thing if you are a first-time founder in SaaS that may seem as boring as you can imagine is … webinars.

You yourself as a founder or even sales exec never go to them.  And they seem like something you do, well, later.  When you are bigger.

But I’d challenge that thinking with one simple rule:  if even 2 qualified prospects and/or 2 existing customers come to a webinar, that’s great.  Because think of webinars as scaleable ways to interact, as a human being, with groups.  Email is fine and all, eBooks have their place, but there is no human interaction there.  No Q&A.  And no chance to get to know the humans behind an application.  1-on-1 chats are also great, but not only can you only do so many, sometimes prospects don’t want a 1-on-1.  Sometimes they want a more passive experience, where they can consume a demo and a discussion without having to answer a bunch of qualifying questions up front.

I’ll take it a step further: Consider doing a webinar every week.  And just cancel it if no one shows up.  Even at little Team SaaStr, we do:

You can alternate the format every week, but doing one every week will force you to do it and level things up:

  • Some can be product demos.  Do these every week.  It can’t hurt.
  • Some can be for your existing customers.  A new feature update, for example.
  • Some can be from industry experts.  These are always popular.  More popular than you might think.

Come up with a cadence, and see how it goes.  Force marketing and sales and product to sign up to do their fair share of them (maybe this is all 1 or 2 people in the early days).

What I can tell you tends not to work is if you don’t do it every single week, without fail. 52 weeks a year (OK, take off the holidays — let’s call it 50).  If you don’t, it starts to slide.  It slips.  No one wants to do them.  And like skipping a few weeks at the gym — you just don’t see any results.

Do a webinar with decent content every single week to your customers and prospects, and worst case, you get a boost.  Another chance for a prospect to drop in before they buy.   Another shot at retaining your customers, boosting your NPS, and hearing their concerns.  Another chance to get your brand and value prop out there.  Another chance for your champion to tell others at their company to come learn.

And upcoming webinars are a great thing to add to both your sales and marketing drip campaigns.  Don’t break up with a prospect.  Instead, invite them to something that adds value.  That’s a fair reason to reach out again.  And they may just come.  Instead of Mute-ing you.

It’s one hour a week, plus a web form and an invite to your list, to do a decent webinar.  Think about it that way and it’s pretty much always worth it.

(note: an updated SaaStr Classic post)

 

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