When it comes to generating successful traffic, you want to make sure you’re using a SAAS sales strategy that’s beneficial for everyone. Spending money you don’t have on techniques that don’t work is just a waste of time and resources. So how do you go about ensuring that you’re doing everything you can to get the best and most reliable traffic that’ll lead to future success?
We’ve got the answer. Joshua Waldman—CEO and president of Billy, Inc.—tells us his top 3 steps in order to generate successful traffic, as well as giving us in the inside scoop on his most powerful SAAS sales strategy. With years of experience operating a software as a service, Billy really gives some clear-cut advice on what you should be doing and what you shouldn’t be doing. Let’s dive in!
SAAS Sales Strategy and The CLICK Technique: C for Cultivate
Before we get into the details of what SAAS sales strategy is best for you, we have to discuss The CLICK Technique. A five-day crash course in what you should be doing when starting up your business, The CLICK Technique is an easy-to-follow guide that shows you the right steps to take when you’re starting out and what you can be doing in the future to keep your success going. Each letter in the word “CLICK” stands for an individual step you should be taking to ensure that your business is on the up and up, and best of all, it’s free!
In the case of the best SAAS sales strategy, we’ll be focusing on the “I” in the word “CLICK”, which stands for an irresistible offer. Once you’ve got the potential customer interested and eagerly clicking around on your page, you want to make sure you can hold that attention by giving them something they can’t get anywhere else. That’s where the irresistible offer comes in—by giving them a special chance from the get-go, you’re already on top of your game, and on top of the competition. Giving yourself an edge up above the rest is important when trying to succeed.
How does that play into your SAAS sales strategy? Well, in the case of Billy, Inc., Josh offers potential customers a free trial of the software before committing fully to a paid membership, and the numbers speak for themselves. You want to make sure you can stay ahead of the competitive scene and give the customers something they can’t get anywhere else, and something like a free trial is perfect for small businesses owners to really get their teeth into what they’re doing, and the marketing they’re aiming for.
SAAS Sales Strategy: Top 3 Tips For Getting Better Traffic
So how do we generate the traffic needed in order to successfully sell our software? Some might think the game is easier said than done, and while running an ads campaign for something like this could work in your favor, you’ll want to approach your SAAS sales strategy a little differently.
Luckily, we’ve also found the best way to break down your traffic goals into three easy to understand steps. With these steps, and with more than one way to generate the traffic you need, your SAAS sales strategy will create itself, and the number of customers you get will—hopefully—improve with the things you’re doing and how you’re reaching out.
Number 1: Traditional Content Marketing
The first tip in creating your SAAS sales strategy revolves around a trick called “traditional content marketing”. Here, you’ll explore things you’ve probably used before—articles, blog posts, and collaborating with more popular businesses that will put you front and center, if only momentarily. Sometimes, that’s all you need, and when you’re rubbing elbows with the likes of Forbes and NPR, your work is already cut out for you.
Notably, however, I want to point out that good content—genuinely good content—isn’t full of self-promotion. It’s more research-based and comes from a place of understanding what your audience wants to see. What sort of things do freelancers and entrepreneurs care about? How can you make their lives easier? What kind of research can you provide for them? Those sort of questions leads you into generating content that has a purpose and delivers an important message.
From there, you want to work on getting those articles out into the world, hopefully in the best way possible. Generally, the goal is to put them out into a variety of websites that generate more traffic than your own, thereby exposing your content to a new audience of people. In turn, you can use Google Analytics to find websites that are making more traffic than you in order to ensure you’re doing it right and find the right—and relatable—websites that’ll give you the most benefits for your SAAS sales strategy.
Number 2: Appsumo
The second tip for your SAAS sales strategy revolves around the use of what Josh likes to call “Groupon for nerds”—Appsumo. Appsumo is a website where businesses alike can offer up deals on their content in order to generate more sign-ups and interest in the product—an irresistible offer! Many people use it in order to get a good deal on software specifically designed to help run a business, and they offer deals that allow people to use high-quality content for a much lower rate.
Here you can find an entirely new client base! In the case of Josh and Billy Inc., he made an offer on Appsumo of only $39.00 for lifetime access to his software. Immediately, he got 4,000 sign-ups! That’s 4,000 new customers in just 72 hours, and Appsumo helped him achieve this success by giving him the platform to make his offer. Of those people that signed up through the free trial, half of them were converted into a full time paying members, and if you ask me, that’s more than enough reason to give it a try.
Now, you might be wondering—why Appsumo? Well, there’s a lot of strategic reasons as to why a software company would make such a deal. One of them revolves around a big capital boost—the small price doesn’t seem to be much, but when the sign-ups stack so quickly, you’ll see a boost of operating capital that allows you for more expansion on the product itself. Beyond that, using Appsumo gives you the benefit of word of mouth. The website itself has great traffic on its own—your software being there gives you another way to generate traffic. People interested in the product and the deal will then go to your own website to see what it is you offer. It’s a stepping stone, of course, that really kicks your SAAS sales strategy into high gear.
However, you must make sure you’re offering something that can be done by your software. The Appsumo crowd is relentless—if your product doesn’t do what you say it does, they will make sure you never forget it. Collect a plan, make sure you’ve got a working product, and then we’re in business with your SAAS sales strategy.
Number 3: Get Product Reviews
The third tip for bettering your SAAS sales strategy comes down to getting reviews for your product. When someone is looking for a solution to a problem they’re having, there’s a large chance that they’re the first idea is to Google it. To ensure that your product comes up first in the list of solutions, you’ll want to get reviews of your product to show up as soon as they can in the search engine results.
The best way to optimize that is by working with higher ranking review sites, such as Capterra or G2 Crowd. These are the places that people go to whenever they’re looking for software solutions—pairing with them and having people’s reviews of your product on their site is a way to guarantee a good amount of traffic, especially since top ranking sites already get enough traffic on their own. It comes back to the idea of working with websites that have more traffic than you do!
But how do you get them to write the reviews? Usually, an email will do the job. Sending out a request to everyone who’s signed up for your program—be it through an irresistible offer or for a full-time membership—can generate a lot of reviews from people who use the product and genuinely enjoy what you’ve got to offer. From there, you’ll catch the eyes of other potential customers and other businesses, too. When other business owners say your product is really great, it really helps the selling point overall.
Once the traffic starts coming in, you can use your Google Analytics to see where the traffic is coming from. Once you pinpoint which site is working and which reviews are selling the product, you can invest your review campaign to generate an even bigger buzz with your SAAS sales strategy. Third party crowd asking does help—plain and simple.
In the end, you want to keep in mind the “three-box thinking” technique when it comes to your SAAS sales strategy. The first box is what you, as a business owner, need. The second box is what your customers need. Overall, you want to be thinking in the third box, which represents what your customer’s customers need. You have to think about how you can help your customers get paid and grow their businesses, and your content can and should be focused on what your customers can do as salespeople in order to succeed.
Working with that in mind, combined with our tips from above, should boost your traffic and bring you the success you’re looking for!
