EPISODE SUMMARY
Episode 143 of SaaS-Story in the Making
Dan discusses the unique sales and marketing experience he has had at HubSpot with Matt Wolach, host of the SaaS-Story in the Making Podcast. He also touches on the principles of the Inbound Marketing Philosophy, the need for an Inbound Revolution in the industrial space, the importance of Sales and Marketing alignment(Smarketing), the best sales strategy, and the latest inbound innovations that could be used to accelerate growth.
PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCE
? Podcast: Saas-Story in the Making
?️ Host: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS sales coach, entrepreneur, and investor
TOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
The best way to engage anyone is to help, not sell.
It is 2021. No one wants a salesperson dogging them to buy something. As a staunch supporter of the Inbound Marketing Philosophy, Dan believes that applying a humanistic approach to Sales and Marketing is the way to go. To Dan, it is pertinent that businesses adopt principles that help them treat people like human beings.
Dan advocates absolute customer-centricness. Inbound, from the marketing perspective, is that you trick out your website, you give lots of free stuff so that when people find you on social media or search, they see that you are aligned with the problem they are looking to solve.
Then, they convert, either via a call-to-action or a landing page and then you provide the information to try to nurture them until they are ready for a salesperson. The salesperson also engages them using the inbound philosophy so that there is an alignment between the prospect and the product.
Be Data-Driven.
Of course, to help someone, you have to understand them. Understanding the ideal customer is the first step in the Inbound sales process. The insights gained from the ideal customer profile and the customer persona can help companies to map out benchmarks, “to understand and compare benchmarks for successful scaling.”
Marketing and Sales need to align.
Dan says, “the traditional segmentation (between sales and marketing) is outdated, shortsighted, and most importantly, is not customer-oriented”. Sales and Marketing need to speak a common language because reaching out to counterparts for collaboration is the way to function in 2021.
Sales and Marketing need to align to reach a consensus on the best sets of leads. Dan surmises that “the only option sales and marketing has in a global pandemic is to nurture certain leads to make sure they are delivering the right information.”
The seamless integration of Sales and Marketing would eliminate the conventional friction between Sales and Marketing. Thus, the much-needed oneness in delivered information can be achieved.
Finding a Product-Market Fit is important
Dan says, “selling to the wrong person and they don’t see the value is the difference between 2007 and 2021.” While Sales and Marketing aligning matters, the person that is being sold to also matters. One size does not fit all.
Finding the perfect product-market fit is not just about round pegs in round holes. Communicating the uniqueness of your product and helping customers determine what would work for them is a game-changer. According to Dan, “Educating buyers delivers better sales.” You have to judge the salesperson-customer relationship, not by the sale but by the value created.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Inbound Marketing is the new normal
In the industrial space, if you had a supply chain that reached into the far east, you don’t have it anymore. If you had a supply chain that was outside of country borders, in the UK, in Northern Ireland or Dublin, you’ve got to hustle hence the additional focus on the inbound revolution.
Data Doesn’t Lie
As a SaaS company, people are constantly asking, what are the most important metrics we have to measure? – Dan. One of the biggest changes in the last decade is that SaaS has permeated through small businesses and general businesses.
As such, the need to garner data, and the reliance on customer data has shot up. Businesses need data to understand what the benchmark is and how to compare benchmarks to scale successfully.
The first step in the Inbound Sales Process is to identify your ideal customer, so get your ideal customer profile and your workout through your personas.
Understanding the Customer is best for Sales
Start with a very focused ideal customer profile, remember to help not sell, and ensure that sales and marketing are working together.
The Riches are in the Niches
The person you sell to matters. In the old days, you can sell your products to everybody. In 2021, everybody can weigh in in the open environment so you have to be more careful.
If Sales and Marketing are working closely together, if they are bringing high-quality leads into the sales organization, if their close rate is high, they don’t go after riff raffs.
The Best Sales Strategy for Startups
In the early days, the best strategy is always to sell to friends and family. If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re not selling to friends and family, you are not doing it right.
TOP QUOTES
[12:41] “The best way to engage anyone is to help not sell.”
[23:50] “You have to judge the relationship not by the sale but by the value created.”
[24:00] “The easy part is to get customers to buy, the hard part is making sure they are engaged.”
[32:00] “The latest innovation in the inbound revolution is putting your customers at the forefront of getting new customers.”
[34:33] “Every company is a tech company just like every business is a people business.”
LEARN MORE
To learn more about Dan Tyre visit: https://www.dantyre.com/
To learn more about Hubspot visit: https://www.hubspot.com/
Find Dan Tyre on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dantyre01/
Want to work with Matt and have him help you turn your sales process into a conversion engine? Visit his Coaching page here.
See the results others have gotten through working with Matt.
For more about how host Matt Wolach helps software companies achieve maximum growth, visit https://mattwolach.com/.
As part of the founding team in his first SaaS product, Matt owned the sales & marketing processes. But he struggled to sell and gain traction for the company. It took years of learning and tweaking before Matt created The Perfect DEAL Process, an innovative yet easy to implement method for closing more software deals. To find out more, visit https://mattwolach.com/about-matt.
