Recently changes in some international VAT rules caused havoc with bookkeeping and accounting software companies.  Their customers were scrambling to buy new additions, install them on various PC’s across the enterprise, deal with the new bugs and database structures.

It wasn’t Y2K … but it wasn’t a cakewalk either.

That is, unless you were a customer of SaaS company Freshbooks.com.  Freshbooks was able to make the changes to their software very quickly and the day they were done the features were available to their customers worldwide without any updates, any IT support staff, without any hassle for the customer.

Pretty awesome.

NetSuite recently had a similar win.  The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) released new rules for the tech sector that  must be adopted  in the first fiscal year beginning on or after June 15, 2010.  As of today (June 11) NetSuite is the only ERP software vendor, SaaS or not, to announce the new rules are actionable within the software.  And, again, no IT staff, no upgrades, no installs and computer crashes … it’s just there sitting on your screen ready for you to stay in business and keep the rules.

Every industry has regulation hassles, some more than others.  If one of your target industries is prone to new rules they will know the hassle of software updates and a reminder of those times may be what you need to get them off the dime.

Verio (who has major ambitions – and big funding from NTT  - to be a large cloud provider) recent released the results of it survey of 515 SMB IT decision makers.

Here are some of the key findings from the research:

• 30 percent of small and medium-sized business (SMB) decision makers are looking to minimize technology costs,
• yet still demand superior technology and servicesWHAT IS DRIVING YOUR INTEREST IN SAAS?
• 50 percent of respondents believe that the ability to share IT resources is most important to them
• 42 percent cite on-demand resources as a high priority
  (so SaaS has great cost advantages but the selling points are shared resources and on-demand systems)

Sounds like the conversation is a lot about efficiency.   So let’s throw in another interesting finding;

• 30 percent of SMB respondents would implement the solution within a year and 13 percent within three months if the benefits of cloud were clear
• 72 percent are not aware of the benefits of cloud

If you feel confused you probably should be.  Why are so many SMB’s anxious to garner the very benefits SaaS offers yet 72% of them don’t understand SaaS?

Well, for those of us out there successfully selling SaaS to SMB’s the answer is very simple; in a SMB the decision maker can either be the owner (who doesn’t understand SaaS but would certainly buy if they did) or, if the company is big enough, the IT person (who completely get’s SaaS but are threatened by it).

The lesson for SaaS providers is this:  if your sales call takes you to the CEO offer some quick education and get a fast track to a contract.  If your sales call takes you, on the other hand, to the IT department put on the brakes (don’t waste your time with the meeting), go get support from the CEO first, and then come back with that in your pocket.

A decision maker is someone who can say “yes” when everyone else says “no” (and visa versa).  Don’t sell SaaS to anyone who isn’t truly a decision maker

IdeaReboot is looking for a Cloud Computing Expert for their client from the Gaming/Casino industry.

As pioneer of the online eGaming Licensing and Hosting Industry our client has an immediate need for a Senior Data Center / Infrastructure Architect who can implement cloud computing strategy and roadmap development from a technical perspective including identification of potential obstacles and solutions regarding the use of cloud computing in a Data Center environment.

• We are looking for an architect with a strong background in data center networking and virtualization technologies.
• Strong comprehension of virtualized data center design and planning in mission critical environments that includes network and network security, servers and systems, storage as well as database and application architectures/SaaS
• Experience with Unix/Linux, distributed systems, machine learning, information retrieval, network programming, and/or developing large software systems.

Skills — Core Networking, Unix, Cloud Computing Experience in data center

Our Client is based in Netherlands and we need someone to telecommute (work from home). Tentative timeline is 9 – 12 months with a possibility of extension.
Start date — Next Monday or asap after that.

For further information, please Contact :

Vikas Kanoongo | IdeaReboot | vkanoongo@ideareboot.com | Work: 315.683.3001

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Software Security Sales Specialists are needed to market and promote IBM’s latest acquisition!

Click here for more information:
https://www.enticelabs.com/EL/eng.me?k=rK5taG

Recently, IBM acquired static application security testing (SAST) solution provider Ounce Labs, an established leader in the application security space. This acquisition continues to position IBM’s Software Group as one of the most enviable portfolios of software offerings on the market. We need a leading software sales specialist to bring this new acquisition fully into the fold of IBM’s software solutions.

Selling for IBM is no ordinary experience. Selling with the strength of IBM’s infrastructure, software suite, personnel and a history of innovation demands the highest performance from its sales executives. A history of quota attainment and overachievement is a critical attribute to be considered for this role. IBM is the market leader in Application Security Solutions. You will be responsible for selling IBM Rational Ounce product and service offerings directly to prospects and customers within the Federal business division.

We are currently seeking the best of the best. We are seeking a sales leader who is ready to combine their expertise with the support, infrastructure and history of a global leader and take their career to new heights.

Requirements:

3+ years experience selling software in the Federal Community
2 years experience meeting/exceeding sales targets for 2 of 3 past years
3+ years experience in Performing Prospect/Customer Qualification

Does this opportunity fit your future plans? Click the link below to find out more:
https://www.enticelabs.com/EL/eng.me?k=rK5taG

Not looking for a career move at the moment? Feel free to share this with your colleagues, associates, and others who might be interested.

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Senior Account Executive (Enterprise Software Sales)

About Company:
Appregatta is making adoption of cloud computing/SaaS solutions incredibly easy for mid-market and enterprise buyers, and is redefining how Independent Software Vendors go to market. Our early efforts are being hailed by influential industry insiders and CEOs of many of the most important SaaS players, with an extremely prominent industry analyst recently tabbing us the “natural evolution of the enterprise software industry, just based on the institutional economics [of our model].”

Our model enables you to sell best in class enterprise software solutions, the same products you would be selling were you to work directly for an ISV, and retain significantly larger total compensation draw that builds on an annuitized basis over time. We work with blue chip funded companies (Sequioa, Austin Ventures, HummerWinblad, Scale Ventures, Granite Ventures, etc.), that have an average of 4 – 8 years of operating experience and dozens to hundreds of customer successes. At a target plan of $1M gross license income per year, our sales executives expect to earn over $1M per year in approximately three years. Please note: the reason our sales executives are able to draw such significant earnings is in part due to the fact that their work efforts are 100% commission based. It is essentially a franchise-based model and you will be building your own book of business within named accounts.

Given our focus on selling complex business solutions to complex enterprise buyers, we look for candidates with a minimum of ten years experience (our dozens of sales executives average about 19 years of experience).

We are headquartered in San Francisco with coverage nationally. Please visit Appregatta.com to learn more.

Role requirements:
• Highly motivated self-starters, absolutely must be credible at the C Level
• Hunter mentality in first one to two quarters with the business
• Experience working with business side executives to connect technology capabilities with business pain
• Extensive experience with clients well over $100M annual revenues
• Networking skills and ability to build credibility with regional influencers
• Ability to independently develop and execute strategic account plans
• Collegial professional perspective, willing to engage peer executives in thought leadership and strategic sales conversations
• 10+ years experience, enterprise technology
• US only

Compensation:
• Commission Only. Large flat rate commissions for life of subscription deal (in perpetuity)
• Expected first year income between $250,000 and $350,000; straight line income growth from there
• Recurring revenue stream that builds upon itself month after month

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Looking for an entry level SaaS Consultant. Are you a recent graduate or just starting out in your career? This may be the job for you.

SaaS Consultant
USA-MA-Boston

Innoveer Solutions is an award-winning customer relationship management (“CRM”) consulting firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and has offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, Zurich and Mumbai. We work closely with our clients to improve their sales, marketing and customer service operations through use of innovative technology and proven business process changes. Since starting up in 1998 Innoveer has worked with over 400 clients – including ABN Amro, KPN, HSBC, Experian, Lexis-Nexis, Panasonic, Ansys, Citrix, Novell, News Corp, Genzyme and Staples — on more than 1,100 projects. We have an unparalleled level of customer satisfaction.

The secret to Innoveer’s success is its people. We work hard to hire the best and the most talented for each position and our “no jerks” hiring policy ensures that all of our teams get along well internally and with our clients. Innoveer values its employee’s individuality and continually invests in their professional growth. Our culture is collaborative, pragmatic and client oriented.

We are currently searching for a dynamic SaaS Consultant.

Qualifications:

· Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent

· Certification in one SaaS technology, preferably Salesforce.com

Requirements:

· One and a half to 3 years progressive technical experience, preferably in consulting with at least 1 year experience using CRM technologies

· Must have the ability to run workshops and run demonstrations of CRM application with little to no assistance

· Experience in script developing, using Force.com platform .NET, JAVA, Java Script and/or C#

· Must have demonstrated experience in one or more client facing functions: Opportunity/Lead Management, Marketing, PRM, or Customer Service

· Experience working in an offshore development model is advantageous

· Must be committed to self improvement and skill development

· Must be able to adapt to dynamic work environment and be creative within a team

· Must be willing and able to travel up to 100% of the time

Responsibilities:

· Assist with the translation and mapping of business objectives and functional requirements into technical CRM solutions

· Support work effort estimates for application configuration and scripting of Salesforce and other SaaS based CRM applications

· Hands on design and build of technical solutions leveraging Salesforce.com and other SaaS based CRM applications

· Work with teams of onsite and offsite technical resources

· Participate in meetings working within a technical and functional team environment to gather requirements, prioritize objectives, and brainstorm alternative solutions

Interested candidates should email their cover letter and resume to careers@innoveer.com with “SaaS Consultant, Boston” in the subject line. Direct applicants only, please, and no phone calls.

BOSTON ~ NEW YORK ~ AMSTERDAM ~ NEW MUMBAI ~ LONDON

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Head of SaaS

A Leading Organisation is seeking to recruit a Head of their SaaS practice. This high calibre individual will provide leadership for a growing strategic capability and deliver a growing P&L.

The successful candidate will manage and deliver the practice’s revenue and margin targets; provide day-to-day management of the practice capability including: sales, marketing, offerings and delivery; achieve the growth targets for the practice and implement the corresponding growth of capability; deliver continuous improvement of the operation and maintain and develop the SaaS vision for the practice and provide leadership to a dynamic team.

Required skills, experience and background:
Similar experience as stated above – the management of an SaaS practice
People management for customer focused teams
Ability to manage and deliver a P&L (£4-5M)
Ability to sustain and develop senior customer relationships
Management of a project based capability
Practical appreciation of SaaS
Appreciation of specific SaaS providers, e.g. Salesforce.com.
Sales and marketing appreciation
Senior relationship based selling

Due to the nature of the position, candidates must be eligible for UK Security Clearance.

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Demand Generation Manager– San Francisco, CA

Reporting to the VP of Marketing, the Demand Generation Manager’s primary responsibility will be developing, implementing and managing marketing campaigns designed to deliver qualified corporate sales leads.
The ideal candidate will have experience working with an online business to promote subscriptions, drive demand generation through timely and relevant messaging, and reinforce customer loyalty through newsletters, welcome programs and social media.

A key to your success will be your ability to manage projects, with minimal supervision, in a cross functional environment that will span a talented team of engineering, marketing, sales, customer support, web development, usability, legal and creative vendors.

Responsibilities:
• Develop and implement effective integrated marketing campaigns encompassing email/direct marketing, webinars, field events, and more to generate demand and qualified leads. This includes initial program concepts, execution of the creative process, database strategy, program execution, and success measurement.
• Create effective lead nurturing marketing campaigns.
• Define and report on marketing metrics. Analyze campaign outcomes in detail, draw insights and present results to facilitate sound decision making and next steps.
• Manage team resources and outside vendors to accomplish the responsibilities outlined above.
• Work with marketing team to develop, refine and manage the prospect and customer database, including sourcing of contacts from external lists, segmentation of the contact data and capture of all leads from all marketing activities.
• Excellent written skills, including ability to write succinct and persuasive marketing copy for email, landing pages, websites and ads.

Requirements:

• 5+ years experience with demand generation programs for business-to-business software / SaaS applications, focused on both large and mid-size enterprise targets
• Proven success in creating demand generation programs
• Strategic thinking, solid business judgment, strong analytical skills, and excellent organizational skills
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills, including copy writing and proofreading
• Outstanding creativity and design sense
• Self-motivated, results-oriented, and a team player
• Knowledge and experience with both Salesforce.com and marketing automation (preferable Marketo)
• Manage lead distribution and campaign ROI through Salesfoce.com
• Test, test, test, considering list, creative, and offer possibilities to increase response rates

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Developer Needed in Boston, MA

THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCIETY

Located on a beautiful 14-acre site in Boston’s Back Bay, we are the World Headquarters for the Christian Science Religion. We are also a publishing company and home of the Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor. This position designs, modifies, develops, writes and implements software programming applications. The Developer supports and/or installs software applications and operating systems. The role designs, plans, and coordinates work teams, and provides technical support to project team members.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Develops software for clients. (40%)
• Puts design recommendations into action, acting alone or with a team to develop or select software for the client.
• Implements and tests software.
• Obtains final approvals for software and puts into production.

2. Provides on-going support to clients. (25%)
• Responds to client queries and complaints and acts as technical support for systems developed or implemented.

3. Analyzes user system needs and designs software to meet those needs. (20%)
• Interviews clients about their system needs, researches both internal and external custom solutions, recommends solutions to meet client needs and designs solutions after recommendation is accepted.

4. Troubleshoots problems that can occur through the use of systems. (10%)
• Interviews users to identify symptoms of problems.
• Works through checklist of known solutions.
• Identifies proper solution and implements “fix”.

5. Performs daily operations related to position. (5%)

STAFF MANAGEMENT AND JOB CONTACTS

Reporting Relationships:
• Supervisor: Development Manager
• Supervises: None

Regular Contacts:
• This position has regular contact with employees in the Technology Services Group, users across the service domain, and outside vendors selling systems or providing support to existing systems.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Education/Experience:
This position requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics (or equivalent experience) and 3 to 5 years of experience in the field.

Knowledge/Skills:
This position requires a demonstrated “deep” understanding of each step of the software design process, and software lifecycle principles.

Required Technology Skills:
• Cloud Computing Development: Salesforce & SOA
• SaaS: Google API / Amazon S3
• Back-end Development: PHP (at least two years experience required.)
• Front-end Development: JavaScript, HTML, & CSS
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook) skills are also required.
• Additional preferred technical skills: XML, SQL, Linux, SOAP, WordPress, and EZ Publish

Work Environment:
This position regularly works in an office environment.

Support / On-Call Responsibilities:
Development provides support for online systems and is required to carry cell phone while on duty.

BRIEF BENEFITS SUMMARY:
• 3 weeks of accrued vacation
• Additional recess between Christmas and New Years
• 3 Personal Days
• 12 Paid Company Holidays throughout the year
• Health Benefits that begin from hire date
• 403b program with up to 3% salary match
• Discounted Parking in the heart of Boston
• Gym and Zipcar membership discounts
• AND MORE!

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Amazon web Services is hiring! Adding short version. Please email me for detailed one.

1. Marketing Manager
• As Marketing Manager, you are responsible for driving the success of AWS with startups, small businesses, and enterprise.
customers
• Creates and successfully drives awareness, adoption & usage of AWS with enterprise customers through innovative and effective programs including, but not limited to, broad-based awareness programs, online marketing campaigns, promotions, contests, etc.
• Plans, develops, and executes strategies to accelerate AWS adoption and usage among startups, small businesses, and in the enterprise.
• 8+ years of relevant work experience in marketing, marketing communications and/or digital/high-technology companies/products
• Demonstrated success in project management and/or event management

2. Looking for 2 Technical Sales Rep-Indian based out of Singapore and International speaker based out of Singapore.
• 2 – 5 years of technology related sales, business development, or sales engineering/consulting experience.
• A technical background in engineering, computer science, or MIS required.

3. Solution Architect
• The right person will be highly technical and analytical, possess 5-7 years of current solution architecture (implementation/consulting) experience
• Experience architecting infrastructure solutions using both Linux/Unix and Windows with specific recommendations on server, load balancing, HA/DR, & storage architectures.
• Experience architecting or deploying Cloud/Virtualization solutions in enterprise customers

4. Business Development Manager-Channel Partner sales
• The right person will possess 10 – 15+ years of sales, business development and program management experience.
Will be responsible for driving revenue thru the partner ecosystem (via System Integrators like TCS, CapGemini, etc) or via ISVs (Oracle, IBM, etc).
• Will work to develop an in country set of channel partners that implement AWS services (Patni, ThoughtWorks, NCS/SCS, etc). This must be done for all 5 APAC markets (ANZ, India, ASEAN, China, & Korea)
• MUST have experience _directly_ (not via a person that worked for them) working with the major Indian SIs (TCS, HCL, Patni, Wipro, TechSatyam, etc)
• Must already have APAC wide experience (ASEAN, India, or ANZ experience alone is not enough).

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Internal Account Manager Opportunity At Market Leading Security Vendor – Unite Executive Search

I am searching for an Internal Account Manager for a market leading security vendor based in Mainz. My client provides a full range of Endpoint, Encryption, Email, Web and NAC solutions.

• The chosen individual will manage the relationship with a group of high value customers and prospects in order to maintain, meet and exceed sales targets.
• The chosen individual will have 2+ years working in an IT commercial Sales Environment and have direct contact experience with clients Telephone, Email etc. Knowledge of sales processes including acquisition, development and retention.
• Understanding of the software (computer security market), experience and involvement in marketing programmes, knowledge of licensing, renewal dynamics and using a CRM system are desirable.

My client offers an excellent opportunity for career advancement and provides excellent working conditions for its staff.

This Internal Account Manager Position offers 60,000 Euros OTE.

If you are interested in this position please email your CV to tonyd@unite-exec.com.

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Entry Level C# .NET Developer – MRI Software – Cleveland, OH

I have an excellent direct hire opportunity for a C# .NET Developer with 0-2 years of experience to join our product team. We are MRI Software LLC in Highland Hills, OH and we offer SaaS solutions to the global property management industry as well as to corporate real estate managers.

Please apply online to the Associate Software Engineer position at:

https://www7.ultirecruit.com/MRI1000/JobBoard/ListJobs.aspx?__vt=ExtCan

Recent computer science graduates, we want to talk to you!

We are unable to offer H1 sponsorship at this time. No relocation benefits or interview expense reimbursements are associated with this position. No contractors/consultants please. No agencies please.

Thank you.

Richard Thelin
Contract Sr. IT Recruiter
MRI Software LLC
Highland Hills, OH
richard.thelin@mrisoftware.com

1. Technical Director – Essex, UK. Very senior CRM person with strong SFDC skills from a Technical Architect point of view. Also have experience of managing people, mentoring people, pre sales bids etc.

2. Salesforce CRM Consultant – Essex, UK based people with BA / PM and Technical skills on Force.com or cross trainable to Force.com.

3. Salesforce CRM Consultant – London, UK. Strong understanding of sales, marketing and client relations processes in a B2B financial services environment, preferably investment management. ​Experience of administering, developing and supporting Salesforce CRM.

4. Senior Salesforce.com Developer (Contract) – London, UK. Strong SFDC implementation experience. Experience at financial services organisations, specifically investment management.

All enquiries to rod@resourceondemand.com

SaaS sales is really more about marketing and retention than most anything else.

Let’s focus on the three key items: FIND, GET, KEEP

Send resumes to aestro@tegexecutive.com

Vice President of Business/Corporate Development: Responsible for developing strategic partnerships and/or M&A targets that allow my client to significantly expand their market opportunities through strategic partners and M&A targets that will ultimately drive significant revenue growth and expansion to compete in new markets.

• Build a comprehensive business plan that targets key alliance partnerships and/or acquisitions with a focus on Global Coverage, Cloud/SAAS market penetration, financial vertical penetration, or expansion into other new strategic markets
• Establish relationships with the key target alliances in order to determine the focused alliances that will give my client the best chance of driving revenue short and long term.
• Ultimately, formalize comprehensive relationships with the 3-5 alliance partners in order to drive “sell through,” “sell with” and “resell” of service
• Candidate must reside in either NY or VA area.

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Hot Job: SaaS Architect – Boston, MA area

My client located just west of Boston, MA is seeking a talented SaaS Architect. This is a permanent, salaried position with full benefits.

If interested, please email me your updated resume and responses to the following:

1. What is your desired salary?
2. When would you be able to start if offered the position?
3. What is your current US work status (US citizen, green card, etc)?
4. How can you be reached during the day and evening?

If not interested, please feel free to pass this opportunity along to anyone you feel might want to know about this position.

Regards,
Chris

P: (978) 824-8010 ext 110
F: (978) 824-3866
jobs@commonwealthsg.com
www.commonwealthsg.com

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Seeking a Director of Product Management
 for On-Demand (SaaS) CRM solution (west coast) with responsibility for all global product management activities

The Director of Product Management will be responsible for all global product management activities from concept/vision, to strategic product planning, to product definition, to tactical execution. This person must be results-oriented and a self-starter with a technical background not a marketing background. The ideal candidate has deep customer-facing experience that can translate user problems into a great product, while managing complex product decisions and trade-offs in a global environment.

The Director of Product Management will have responsibility for creation of the product strategy and roadmap, detailed specification of product requirements, collaboration across functional and product teams, and participation in the concept, development, launch and sustain phases of the product lifecycle.

Responsibilities include:
➢ Ongoing development of the product vision and strategy with a focus on core user needs.
➢ Work closely with multiple of functions within the company to build business cases and customer use cases.
➢ Development and execution of tactical plans. The candidate must be able to translate broad strategic objectives into specific tactical plans, and must be able to rapidly execute against specific those tactical plans.
➢ Effectively collaborate with sales, marketing, services, operations and engineering teams to develop requirements, prioritize enhancements, translate into PRDs and drive projects to completion.
➢ Conduct competitive analysis and develop a strong understanding of our customers and partners to drive development decisions
➢ Define, track and improve key product metrics.
➢ Develop a functional understanding of the key technological and architectural components of the technology and applications.
➢ Aggressively identify opportunities for improvement, and incorporate new product features on an ongoing basis.

Qualifications:
➢ 5+ years of extensive product leadership experience developing, building, and launching web-based business applications
➢ Ability to manage, work with and motivate a team
➢ A blend of management, technical, creative, business, and marketing skills.
➢ Demonstrated strong capabilities in communication – both oral and written – and presentation skills for all levels of audience
➢ Proven product management capabilities
➢ Capability to execute rapidly and efficiently in an unstructured environment
➢ Ability to translate strategy into tactical plans
➢ Outstanding team player with the ability to coordinate people and activities across multiple functional areas.
➢ Extensive track record in cross-functional collaboration
➢ Ability to prioritize among competing opportunities, balance customer needs with business priorities, and articulate the rationale behind decisions.
➢ Experience in product design or engineering background a plus
➢ University degree required. MBA or CS degree a plus.
____________________
Dan Counts
President,
Fairwinds Recruiting
(831) 621 – 3902
dan at fairwindsrecruiting.com
http://www.fairwindsrecruiting.com/company/softwarejobs.html
www.fairwindsrecruiting.com

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CallTower Account Executive

OVERALL RESPONSIBILITIES:

-Generate sales opportunities by identifying appropriate business targets, secure high-level appointments, execute a strategic sales process, and manage the prospect to close
-Create and implement strategic territory plans focused on attaining enterprise-wide deployments of CallTower services
-Develop executive relationships with key buyers and influencers and leverage these during the sales process.
-Proactively manage the end-to-end business development process
-Generate a sales pipeline, qualify opportunities, and accurately forecast pipeline
-Ensure handoff of engagements to operational/technical teams, and maintain contact as required
-Negotiate terms of business with clients to achieve win/win results that provide the basis for strong ongoing relationships and increased revenue
-Responsible for set revenue expectations and achievements

For more information submit resume to mlucia@calltower.com

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Visual Persuasion

The features and quality of your software really matter, so does the speed of your server and your ability to take care of customers (the 2nd S in SaaS) but just like the metrics that do an do not have an impact (see One Metric to Rule them All) something matters even more: do I look at your product and instantly understand what it is and what void it fills in my life/business?

Easy = True … Cognitive Fluency

The Boston Globe recently did a great story on the newer area of psychological study called cognitive fluency.  The basic concept of this new field is that in a time with either much too little or much too much information (as is the case in our society) buyers make basic decisions on their ability to quickly comprehend and categorize the information they’ve been given.

Your prospective customers:

• Are bombarded with information
• Have NO time on their hands
• Are told by every SaaS company they investigate that this is the best software out there.
• Are bombarded with opinions, reviews, and recommendations on Twitter (most of which contradict each other)
• Don’t have the time to do the research

THEY HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION ON SOMETHING SIMPLE – the more visually simple and pleasing your site the more likely they will buy.

“Neuromarketing”

Cambells Soup recently completed a two-year study which found much the same thing.  The study, covered in this WSJ article, found that small visual components make a big difference.  Campbells, for example, added steam to their soup image and updated the bowl shows to look more modern.  The results were picked up in more brain activity and subtle changes in body temperature – all pointing to a higher propensity to buy.

Habit Creation

Habit creation is one of the 6.5 core skills each SaaS company needs to master.  Your goal, is to get your prospective customer to come to your website 8 times in the first 14 days.  If you can do that studies show you have a 97% chance of retaining their business – if you cannot your chances are much slimmer.  More on this skill can be found in the [Habit] portion of our website.

Summary

While so much of your life is and has been spent developing your software, it is vital for you to pay attention to the subtleties of visual persuasion and habit formation.  Experience has taught us we have one chance with each prospect.  Science has shown us we can blow it in many more nuanced ways than we may have previously considered.  Big Mac, anyone?

Example: The job of the front desk is to get you off the phone as soon as possible AND to keep you away from the CEO if you don’t know them already. So do their job for them… say, “does [CEO first name] have an assistant?”

That get’s you off the phone ASAP and get’s you away from the CEO. It seems to simple to work but it works almost every time. Why? Because you’re doing their job for them.

Same thing for an AA/Exec. Assistant. Their job is what? … it is to act as a filter for the executive.  If you are worth it you get in, if you are not you don’t. Do their job for them. How? Try saying something like, “How would I know if my reason for meeting with [CEO first name] would be important enough for him to put me on his calendar?”

Now use what they tell you: reason it through with the AA and prove you should go through the filter … do their job FOR them.

You’re a salesperson, the AA will agree with you every time if you’re any good. Sell the AA on putting you on the CEO calendar by using questions, “data collection”, and pizzazz.

Sales is simple but it’s not easy. Never fight or try to trick a gatekeeper; help them do their job and you’ll get what you want.

We encourage SaaS companies to segment customers based on utilization.  Loyalty programs (both for trial and signed customers) should automatically kick off when unwanted utilization numbers occur.

To help you brainstorm loyalty/retention programs consider the following factors that drive low utilization:

1. High hassle factor in getting set up
2. High hassle factor in maintaining the data
3. Low level of training or orientation
4. Customer understands the application but not how it fits into their specific world
5. Low level of importance to customers’ strategic goals
6. GUI not intuitive or has too many clicks
7. Low level of automation of mundane functions
8. No “drag-and-drop” functionality
9. Does not integrate or sync with Outlook/other mission-critical apps
10. Server speed slow (or better said, server speed not lightening fast)
11. Too many changes and upgrades
12. Too cumbersome to use
13. Requires a change in work style
14. Needs engagement of several team members to have any value / no value in stand-alone
15. Customer service reps difficult to understand, not tolerant, not working to drive an exceptional customer experience
16. Too many emails from your company
17. Not enough emails from your company
18. App is not my advocate / does not help me along and encourage me to do better
19. The risk is too high if it doesn’t work
20. I can’t get in touch with you immediately when I’m stuck
21. You don’t call or email if I abandon the app or experience a crash
22. The only time I hear from you is when you hit my credit card
23. I get my credit card bill and have not been on for the last 10 days
24. I did not start my experience with you by logging on 8 times in 14 days
25. I did not start my experience with you by inputting any critical data
26. I did not let anyone know I was using your app.  Didn’t let users on LinkedIn/Facebook know, didn’t refer a friend, didn’t write a recommendation, didn’t answer a survey
27. You didn’t encourage me to upgrade
28. You didn’t spend time with me to help me use the tool to make my life vastly better
29. Management at our company doesn’t have a vision of the role this tool plays in our success
30. It takes too much time
31. It takes too long get load up /there is no mobile or desktop version
32. Every interaction with you does not make me want to buy, buy more, and buy more often
33. Any other item that raises risk
34. Any other item that raises hassle
35. Any other item that lowers (or does not establish) trust

If I could find a way to get the part of your mind that was concerned about $4.25 at the pump to make the same connection to your 10% close rate, I could make you rich. Fact is you shouldn’t just be concerned about a sub-50% close rate, you should be seeing red alarm bells going off. $4 hits you in the wallet; what about the nine (or eight, or seven, or five) prospects that didn’t buy from you? Four-dollar gas costs you an extra $100 a month; nine prospects not buying costs you $20,000. Losing $20,000 a month is the equivalent of paying $320 a gallon for gas.

$320 a gallon would have you making some serious changes in your life – shouldn’t it also in your business?

Let’s start by talking about why those prospects do not buy and what can you do about it.

The chief reason your prospects aren’t buying is that they are not “sick”.

Let me explain:  It is hard to sell a cholesterol-lowering pill to someone in perfect health. Likewise, prospects won’t buy our products and services if they don’t have an urgent need or a compelling desire. If they aren’t sick, we can’t heal them.

To raise our close percentage we must immediately stop trying to sell to healthy patients. Sit down with the senior thinkers in your company and answer this question, “which four ‘symptoms’ does an ideal target customer have?” The symptoms should not be demographics; they should be things like immanent risk, lack of an essential skill or tool, inability to keep the money they make, a glaring hole in their offering or capacity, etc.

Now use a scale of zero to ten to score each prospect on each of the four symptoms. Zero means they have no symptoms; ten means they should be at the emergency room. Add the numbers up – if your ‘patient’ does not have a score of at least a 32 you will be doing a lot of selling, but no closing. Get them out of your pipeline and replace them with someone that actually needs you.

KEY POINT: Score every prospect every time you start working with them. Don’t go more than two meetings into a deal if they aren’t at least a 32.

Those prospects don’t buy because you didn’t dollarize.

People make money to spend it – but companies make money to keep it. Companies don’t buy products for entertainment value or to keep up with the neighbors. Companies buy things so they can make more money. If you haven’t shown the prospect how they are going to make money with your service, they are going to have a very difficult time separating themselves from their money.

To dollarize is to put things in dollars and cents. Businesses speak in dollars and cents. They speak in return on investment and profit and loss. Businesses don’t speak in value; they have a hard time putting dollar figures around things like “you’ll have more time on your hands” or “you’ll have a faster network.” Put it in dollars and cents and raise your close percentage.

KEY POINT: If you only talk about the expense (otherwise known as price), your customer will never see you as a novel way to make more money – to be profitable. Stop selling people on how much money they lose by buying from you; start dollarizing.

Four-dollar gas is no fun, but it is nothing like prospects walking away without buying. Prospects buy when they are sick and you can heal them; show them how and you win. Let me dollarize it for you: take the average revenue from a new customer times the number that don’t buy each month … add the loaded cost of your sales rep times the percent of prospects that don’t buy: that is your dollarized loss. Convinced you need to work on your close rate? Good, I can assure you these two principles work – my clients have a close rate much closer to 85%.

The trick is to gray-out features of your code that are not available without an upgrade.  Keep the (gray) link active, but just have it launch a page asking the user to upgrade to activate the feature.

It’s a small tip, and easy to implement … but it makes a big difference.  And remember, an upgraded customer has a 35% longer life cycle as your customer than a ‘basic’ user.

But there is hope, one thing we know for sure is that change is possible, if not highly likely, when the person decides on their own to change.  Here’s how this works:

1. Change comes from a need to fix pain, or achieve pleasure.
2. A need to change comes from being aware of a alternate outcome.
3. An awareness of a more favorable outcome comes from a state of realization,
4. then a state of concern,
5. then a state of crisis about the current situation.

(Jeffrey Thull is his excellent book, Exceptional Selling, calls this ‘The Bridge To Change’)

Many (if not most) of the prospects you’ll be working with are only starting to discover there may be better alternatives available to them.  They are not ready to buy until that discovery feels like a crisis.  When they realize they are spending 10 hours a week or $20,000 more than their competition – for example.

One of the most difficult things to do in sales is to SLOW DOWN and let the prospect drive the pace.  The best way to do this is to spend an inordinate amount of time working with them on realization, concern and crisis.  Move them along the path and you are moving them to a sell.  Try to sell them before they feel ‘crisis’ and you are trying to get someone to change without their buy-in.

What’s that mean to their top line results? Well, they charge in the $50 a month range.  They lose about 1500 customers a month.  The average customer life-cycle (if you eliminate the attrition in the trial period) is 38 months.  So that means that every month $2.85 mm walks out the door.  They thought they were doing great with almost a million in new top line coming in every month until we realized that’s one fourth of what it could be.

So we looked more closely at the problem.  Why were people leaving?  Was the product no good?  No, actually people that use it love it.  Was the server too slow.  Again, no.  Were people just signing up for kicks?  No, when we did an actual measurement we found very high levels of ‘intent’ in the trial users.

The problem turned out to be the usability of the software.  Good news and bad news.  Good news because we knew the problem but bad news because a) this was a $7-$8mm problem to rework the GUI and b) the existing users didn’t want us to change the GUI.  So we had to get creative.

The solution was simple, yet novel, and un-complicated enough for you to try in your SaaS practice.  The solution was the training department.

We realized that, even thought the desire was high when people signed up, and the product was absolutely killer … it was very difficult/time consuming to learn.  It wasn’t intuitive so people, busy with their days, put it down after trying to use it for 15 minutes … and they washed out of the trial period.

Here is what we did.

1. We included the cost of training in the sign up fee by raising the cost of the system $39 per month.
2. We then offered a $50/month discount to anyone who took the training and could pass a test.  You had to pass the test, but if you did you got your discount.

We watched attrition drop from 75% to 22% in two months.  We gave up $500,000 per month in discounts and added $1.5mm in top line revenue.

Not bad.

Here are three things to do to fix that.

GOOD: Jeff Thull, in his book Exceptional Selling, talks about moving from a “source of value” perspective on your pitch (I’ll explain in a minute) to a “use of value” and ultimately an “absence of value” frame of mind.  Source of value defines why you are so good, ‘We have 250 years of experience’ .  Use of value describes how your customers USE the value you create, ‘Customers of Franklin Covey Plan Plus time management software add an average of three hours of discretionary time to their week’.  Absence of value (the nirvana of sales pitches) focuses on what is missing in their world without you in it.  ‘You have enough stress in your day -  business is tough.  Don’t add to it by working all night on a contract for the boss only to find out in the morning you were modifying the wrong version’ could be a pitch for CentralDesktop

Move from explaining why you are so great to explaining what life is like without you.  Focus on providing more sleep, not the engineer who designed the bed.

BETTER: Get market feedback.  Often we’re so in love with our software we are blind to the difficulties others are having using it.  Sit with a series of prospective customers and experience their sign-on issues, their set up and on-boarding pain, the inefficiencies they run into when they try to use it every day.

Look, Oracle has a basic philosophy which can be roughly translated as ‘change your business to fit our tool and everyone will be happy.’   Yes, they’ve done very, very well and have made a lot of money but customers HATE Oracle.  I mean they hate them.  One may even be able to argue that the hatred of just that one company sparked the market need necessary to for the SaaS market to develop.

Companies that are coming to you are tired of the difficulty of using the software of the 80′s, 90′s.  Give them something that works and they’ll stay with you.

BEST:  A prominent researcher once described his conundrum with poor measurement equipment as “being in a vast library at midnight … without a flashlight”.  Your tool may, indeed, offer your customers everything they need to improve their world but if they don’t see it, don’t understand it or simply don’t have the time to change their habits and processes … well they are in your library, late at night in the pitch black and all you’ve given them is useless.

This is a very tough nut to crack.  One suggestion we’ve recommend and seen successfully implemented is described in this article about getting higher adoption in your training programs.  If your customers become highly trained users they become proficient users.  A proficient user actually USES your system and as we’ve pointed out in various articles, the more a customer uses your tool the longer they stay a customer.