EPISODE SUMMARY
Hundreds of companies create software products and launch them on the market. Though aware that success builds over time, many see no results even after several years. Why is that happening? Designing a great product is only half of the equation. How you approach your sales process and engage with your potential customers is a different story.
In this episode of Tip Top – Grow Up Your Business With Metronomics, Matt Wolach, CEO of RingBot and of Xsellus, talks about what makes SaaS special, how to differentiate through your sales process, and why SaaS founders and leaders should find a coach to guide them.
Matt is a SaaS investor, founder, and mentor with several skills, such as sales management, sales process, strategic planning, business development, and marketing strategy. He helps software founders scale quickly through a unique selling process that wins.
PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCE
Podcast: Tip Top Podcast by Metronomics
Host: Shannon Byrne Susko
Guest: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS sales coach, Entrepreneur, and Investor
TOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Plan With Your Team for the Future
In entrepreneurship, a five-year to even 10-year plan is a standard based on business school training if one wishes to build their own business. But in reality, it’s different for every business — it depends on what the situation calls for. In Matt’s previous companies, they were able to have ten years of big hairy audacious goals (BHAG’S) for everybody, but some did it backward, like starting from three years or making their plans more granular at year one.
The biggest thing that Matt recommended was, If you’re starting a company or if you’re taking over a company, start talking to your customers. Talk to the market, talk to ideal prospects, and just have those conversations about learning what they’re trying to accomplish and what they’re seeing out there. You’re going to learn so much through those conversations.
Start Learning the Best Way to Sell
Whatever you’re doing within your industry, find the best way to sell within the circle. Too many times, leaders hope that they can just hire somebody to take care of their business, but it’s the leaders who need to have that understanding, especially in a startup.
As a software founder, Matt shared his pieces of advice that one should have to know how the sales process should go. SaaS founders have to do it before others in your company can get in there and get their hands dirty.
As a founder, you need to talk to your customers. Talk to the prospects in your market then you’ll learn exactly what they’re looking for, which could be very beneficial in developing products for them. You can sync the marketing messaging to meet them and speak their lingo. You can have your sales process and messaging work for your market. It’s so important to do that. Once you turn it over and hand it off to somebody who’s going to come in and run your sales process, you will know if they’re doing it the right way.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
The Perfect D.E.A.L. Process
Conducting product demos can make or break a deal. As a sales coach, Matt has witnessed many of his clients make tons of demo mistakes. Poor execution of software demos can potentially kill a deal. With around 16 years in the software industry, Matt developed a strategy that allows SaaS founders to sell software effectively. This strategy is called the Perfect D.E.A.L. Process.
Discover
The first step in the process is Discover. This is critical—identifying your target customer and fully understanding them. It’s not just about looking for a good fit but also about your ideal customer profile, understanding your prospects, and deciding if this is somebody you want to work with.
Educate
The second phase in the Perfect D.E.A.L. Process is Educate. This is where you can share insights to help your buyer decide. Instead of just selling to them, educate your prospects about you and your service. Build a complete connection to achieve mutual understanding and gain trust. Let your prospects learn more about your service and how it can help solve their problems.
Associate
The third step is the Associate phase. Prospects don’t realize their problem until you help them see it and offer a solution. In this step, you will take your product or service to solve their problem by associating it with their goals. Make your prospects feel that your service is the only thing to help them go through their challenges and fulfill their needs.
Lead
The last step in the Perfect D.E.A.L. process is Lead. This is where you, the SaaS leader, will take control. Lead your prospect to the final step of the sales journey, closing the deal. Take charge, look through the calendar, and find the best time to meet or discuss with your prospect. Book that meeting, connect with your buyer, and seal that deal!
The Holy Grail of Recurring Revenue
The fact that you can create something that helps people out of thin air- you just write some code on a computer- is incredible. And that is called SaaS.
Now that becomes something that’s tangible that people use, and it helps their businesses. Although Matt was from another industry before becoming a serial entrepreneur in the world of SaaS, he came to love the idea that people come up with these fantastic, creative concepts that absolutely revolutionize industries and help companies leverage and drive forward.
Matt used to work in the hospitality and real estate industries. And when he decided to build his own company from the ground up with his business partners, they ended by exiting with a large sum of investment. This experience fueled his interest in exploring SaaS and building one company to the other.
Apart from that, the best thing is he can now help software founders and investors alike by coaching them to do the same thing.
Overcoming the Challenges of SaaS Companies
Building your own company and running it is not a walk in the park. That was what happened when Matt and his business partners started venturing into SaaS—their first few years were filled with struggles. It wasn’t until they began to figure out some things that they started to create some real growth. That is why now, he has made it his mission to help software companies overcome those early struggles and achieve growth much faster.
TOP QUOTES
Matt Wolach
[6:31] “Make sure you’re connecting with your prospects in a multi-channel way.”
[09:59] “The seller needs to help them get to that level to understand how bad the pain is.”
[18:05] “Differentiate your process, not the product. It’s the process that gets the sale done.”
[26:59] “So I fully believe in coaching, and a coach had helped me, especially when I got into coaching. So, having run software companies, I knew how to do that.”
LEARN MORE
For more about how Matt Wolach helps software companies achieve maximum growth, visit https://mattwolach.com/
You can also find Matt Wolach on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattwolach/
To learn more about Matt Wolach and his new SaaS for marketing agencies, Ringbot, visit:
