Whether moving upmarket or creating a category, an innovative product means finding creative ways to get in front of customers.
By Amy Ingraham on July 15, 2019
If you’re creating or breaking a category in the B2B SaaS market, outbound sales could be the key to unlock expansion. Some of the most powerful software companies in the world, including inbound-king Hubspot, have rapidly scaled up by creating seamless, personalized, and effective outbound strategies.
This is part two of a series of five articles breaking down common problems seen in SaaS.Check out the post below to find out if your product needs outbound sales to come out on top.
Your Target Market Doesn’t Know Your Solution Exists.
Great inbound marketing helps growth within categories, but how do you create stellar content for a keyword that people aren’t even searching for yet? An innovative product means finding creative ways to get in front of customers.
An innovative product means finding creative ways to get in front of customers.
B2B SaaS marketing channels like content and paid search are overflowing with saturation. Even if you’re in a more mature category with already-educated consumers, an “I want what I want, and I want it yesterday” mindset means many buyers can’t be bothered coming to you to make an inquiry.
We’re not saying it’s inbound vs. outbound, but you are going to need both.
Category Creators
They can’t keep you inside the confines of a category. You’re breaking the rules and making your own way. Nice job! However, your potential customers haven’t even figured out they have the problem to which you’ve got that unicorn solution.
Mike Troiano of Actifio tells us, “Category creation is in some ways the opposite of Inbound Marketing.”
Disruptive innovators find success by changing the topic of an everyday conversation to a whole new idea. For example, no one was talking about customer success before Gainsight came on the scene.
Now, it’s a significant part of a proactive growth strategy. Our direct experience with clients shows that in disruptive tech, 80% of leads come from outbound sales, while only 20% come from inbound.
Our experience with clients shows that in disruptive tech, 80% of leads come from outbound sales, while only 20% come from inbound.
Enterprise
Another situation where consumers aren’t likely to seek you out is enterprise. If you don’t have a strategy for infiltrating the big names you should hop to it. Your competitors are likely already seeking out ICPs to contact through their networks.
Saastr’s Jason Lemkin states that the big dollars, contracts of $1500 and up per month, come from outbound sales. The higher the ACV, the more you have to direct sell. What’s more, an outbound team member is a very sustainable cost in this situation. You can pay a rock-solid commission with a lower close rate when they’re closing upwards of $100,000 deals.
The harder it is to contact an ICP, the more market research you’re going to need. A dedicated MR role in your outbound team prepares you to talk to the VP of sales of a Fortune 500. Free trials aren’t going to cut it in the enterprise world. It’s about preparation, targeting, outreach, and a little bit of patience.
The Fix
Think about this: buyers are typically 70% into the process before they reach out about your solution directly. Moreover, 83% of B2B buyers are likely to put a purchase decision on hold because of changing company needs.
Get in front of your future clients now before they have the chance to change their minds or look elsewhere. Outbound solutions position your B2B SaaS product in front of consumers and allow you to build rapport before your competitors.
The Takeaway: Your customer can’t look for you if they don’t know you exist. Get in front of them now using outbound sales.
