EPISODE SUMMARY
Nurturing customer relationships takes time, the right process, and the entire team’s effort to be successful. Using a good CRM and employing the perfect process can help you scale fast. In this episode of SaaS Story in the Making, host Matt Wolach and John Ferrara, the Founder and CEO at Nimble, talk about the importance of connecting to the constituency and how founders should use CRM.
PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCE
Podcast: SaaS-Story in the Making
Episode: Episode No. 205, “How To Drive Traffic and Leads Non-Traditionally”
Host: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS sales coach, Entrepreneur, and Investor
Guest: John Ferrara, Founder, and CEO at Nimble
TOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Look at Opportunities From Business Partnerships
Partnerships open many doors for your business, and it works two ways: you can fill in an aspect that the other lacked and create a connection with both of your customers. Ferrara’s company, Nimble, is partnered with Microsoft 365, and they did this same thing. And the key to this is having the right product and perfect timing when they seize the opportunity.
In creating partnerships, you should know how to provide a different perspective to your partner. Nimble saw the opportunity when Microsoft resellers were “selling plumbing to plumbers– selling IT infrastructure to IT decision-makers. They don’t sell cloud front-back office business solutions today.” And by addressing that gap and transforming the resellers, Nimble was able to build a relationship with Microsoft. Added to this, when every SaaS CEO was looking at the potential of G Suite, they were missing out on Microsoft 365. And Nimble took that opportunity to work with them.
One of the benefits of this relationship is that they can testify to the efficiency of the other and recommend it to their clients. Aligned with Nimble, Ferrara said, Microsoft is pushing their resellers to adopt Nimble, which helps transform themselves and their customers. Partnerships allow each company to be better, provide more service, and enhance client satisfaction.
Engage with Thought-Leaders
Marketers are focused on delivering what customers are interested in. They need to produce something that will drive clients. But this is not the only way to get your brand out. Ferrara shared that building relationships with thought leaders helped them grow.
Companies should learn how to engage with experts, advisors, analysts, influencers, and more in that area. Their reach puts you in the position of being talked about. And as Ferrara said, “it’s more powerful when other people talk about you than when you talk about you.” You may engage with them to review you or convince them to use your product. Not only do you have additional users, but also evangelists that help your company grow your reach. They can be one of your trusted references to uplift and drive more traffic to your company.
Put Your Customers at the Center of Your Storytelling
Understanding your customers is an essential part of a business. Because everything revolves around them and their needs, you need to know what they like and hate about your product. And be able to build around their perspective of you.
Founders should realize that no matter how great a product is, your prospects don’t care when you talk about it all the time. They “don’t buy great products; they buy better versions of themselves.” Therefore, building that connection to them and association is the key. Businesses should be close to their customers/clients to know their needs, pain, and influences. This will help you shape your product to be an aid to their needs. And when it comes to selling, talk about it and make them the center of your storytelling. Associate your product to be a solution to their needs.
Building a solid customer relationship is a decisive move to scale because it will give you access to what they desire. And as Ferrara said, “I’d get close to those customers because you need to make the decisions regarding product roadmaps and the stories that you tell. And you’re not going to feel it if you’re not in the trenches with your team.”
EPISODE HIGHLIGHT
CRM Isn’t Only for Salespeople
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is commonly used by salespeople to track customer interactions and nurture relationships with them. It is a sales tool that even most salespeople don’t use. Instead, they feed it just because they have to.
Ferrara said most CRMs are command and control reporting tools. They are supposed to bag and tag customers, but most companies stick with Google or spreadsheets and email for CRM. As a solution, Nimble was created to sync your data and every interaction from where you work. And it allows the whole company to work together using these unified data. Because with all the constituencies that a company touches, they all should be able to use CRM. And see it as a tool that allows collaboration for the entire team.
Founders should see how important CRM is to their processes. Aside from tracking, it can also be used to quickly assign tasks when the whole team uses it, allowing experts to be in charge of that matter. Founders should learn to use CRM as a tool that is used to nurture customer relationships and encourage team collaboration.
TOP QUOTES
John Ferrara
[10:33] “You want to build this brand for your company and have that brand be touching your constituency from 360 degrees.”
[13:29] “You don’t have to work for the CRM. It should work for you by building itself and working with you where you live– you live in email, LinkedIn, and whatever business application. You use it in that particular moment.”
[20:51] “Stop talking about yourself, stop talking about your products. Start talking about how you can make other people better, smarter, faster because people don’t buy great products. They buy better versions of themselves.”
Matt Wolach
[09:19] “Partner leads- anything that comes through a partner channel- have a much better chance of closing. Usually, if you track the lead sources, they close at a higher rate.”
[24:00] “You have to know your buyer and your customer to understand how to develop the roadmap. As you said, marketing, messaging, even your sales presentation, everything is mapped around your understanding of the customer.”
LEARN MORE
To learn more about John Ferrara and Nimble, visit https://www.nimble.com/.
You can also find John Ferrara on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonvferrara/.
For more about how host and SaaS sales coach Matt Wolach helps software companies achieve maximum growth, visit https://mattwolach.com/.
