I’ve built a SaaS and looking to learn more about Sales and Business development. I’m particularly curious about the framework enterprise software companies operate on, it seems to fit the Challenger Sale model, focusing on teaching insights and then leading towards a capability demonstration. This is done through webinars, whitepapers, and other content. However, I’m not sure as to how I can emulate what these larger enterprise software websites are doing. I’ve been trying to hack this and open to your insights.
What do you mean by enterprise? Do you mean selling to an individual at a Fortune 500, or selling to the CEO at a fortune 500, or somewhere in between?
Depending on what you mean, enterprise sales are fairly immune to hacks. They’ll take a lot of time and effort, and will take months or years to close. You’ll have little control over this.
What’s your motivation for going after enterprise? Have you dominated the rest of your niche, and there’s nowhere else to grow? Or do you view enterprise as an easier way to grow? Just get a few big sales rather than a lot of little ones?
Daniel, great questions.
Enterprise I mean 100+ head count enterprises. Fortune 5000 would be the stars.
Majority of my customers are from this demographic which is why I want to focus on it. I have done consumer segment before and all the VC money has driven down margins to negative. So I compete on the one step higher.
I’m not trying to poach elephants, just a wild moose if that makes sense.
Have you sold to any of these companies yet?
Does your SaaS need to be used by the whole company (comparatively more difficult to overcome resistance and make the sale) or can it be used by just one team (easier sale)?
If you haven’t yet made any sales, it’s worth considering doing your first sales face-to-face (if possible) or over the phone. You’ll learn a lot, and this will guide you as to the best way to move the sales process online. What questions do your customers have? Concerns? What excites them about your solution, and what isn’t important?
If you are selling 100 seats at a time, then it’s probably justified to do a higher-touch process.
Steli Efti has some great stuff to say about sales.
yes I have but im not sure what the formula is to turn a customer into a paying user.
thanks. I love Steli but find his content nothing more than superficial, it just doesn’t drill down deep enough into specifics, especially when it involves large, enterprise deals.
I’m reading SPIN and Challenger Sales but it’s just not clicking. SPIN doesn’t seem to work well and Challenger is confusing as hell.
I’m curious to know if there’s anyone else doing b2b enterprise sales of their own software and what they found.
I’m more into reading books that go into greater detail about enterprise sales.