When planning to grow your SaaS business, start with your customers.
A significant portion of a customer success manager’s role is to expand the service business. This is true regardless of whether or not you are a profit center, but especially if you are one. And the key to growing your business successfully is to concentrate all planning efforts on customers and prospects. They are, after all, the ones with the funds. These individuals will purchase your services.
Although it seems logical, many people continue to act in the same manner:
- They initially determine what they will sell.
- They spend considerable time determining how to commercialize the idea.
- They are finally surprised when their sales projections are not met.
3 Distinct Avenues to Pursue to Grow Your Saas Business
When planning to increase revenue, you can simultaneously pursue three distinct avenues:
1. Have an accurate understanding of your organization's service business capabilities
This refers to the services they can and cannot deliver, the satisfaction of your customers with the current service delivery, and the profitability of your business’s delivery.
This data comes from the following sources:
- Responses from post-transaction surveys
- Conversations with your customer-facing technicians and support personnel
- Comments from your partners in sales
- Comments you have heard during customer meetings
2. Obtain an objective perspective of the services your customers and prospects desire and require
- Be keen to know the importance of each service to them, and the price they may be willing to pay for each service. Multiple one-on-one meetings with key customers who represent a cross-section of your customer base are the optimal approach.
- Similar to 1 above, consulting sales and your customer-facing technicians and support engineers will get you to the core of understanding what your customers desire and require. These sale and technical personnel spend most of the time interacting with the customers. Communicating with them serves as your channel to perceive the kind of service that will meet the needs of your customer base.
- Do a smart internet research and attend trade shows to have a broad and in-depth understanding of your customer base.
3. Do internet research and attend trade shows
Do a smart internet research and attend trade shows to have a broad and in-depth understanding of your customer base.
Customer Segmentation Based on Product Families and Service Requirements
Utilize your CRM and Service Management Systems to identify important service drivers, such as total outcomes per unit of time. Some car owners, for instance, travel between 0 and 50 miles per day, while others may travel over 100 miles per day. Each segment will have unique service requirements. Other variables include internal maintenance, maintenance performed by the vendor, and channel partners. And, it is always beneficial to be aware of their internal cost of downtime, e.g., semiconductor equipment downtime may result in revenue losses of over $100,000 per hour.
Combine the segmentation data with the data from steps 1 and 2 to gain a thorough understanding of the services your customers want and need, as well as the services you can easily provide.
You are now able to estimate what new service products your customers may purchase and how much they may be willing to pay for them. Obviously, the list will only include services that your team can currently provide or can learn with minimal investment.
- You must now become (or hire) a service marketer and begin testing your ideas with prospective customers. These discussions should be structured so that you receive identical responses to the same questions, allowing you to compare and evaluate the feedback you receive. This is also an opportunity to discuss prices with your customers to determine their willingness to pay. In addition, you should gather feedback regarding the skills your team possesses that will be utilized to deliver the new services.
- When sufficient information has been gathered, the previously determined key service drivers can be implemented. You must determine if different customer segments desire unique products or similar products with minor modifications.
- You must obtain agreement/approval from the other business constituents. Included in this are sales, marketing, finance, and the CEO. Undoubtedly, a ROI calculation and a margin analysis will be expected.
- You should consult with the Customer Experience (CX) or Customer Success (CS) team to forecast the effect of these new services on Customer Retention.
What to do when all the boxes have been successfully checked:
- Enhance the business website
- Train the individuals who will sell and provide the new services.
- Forecast the change in your company’s revenue and profitability
- Either bask in the glory of success or conceal yourself when things go wrong.
- Good luck and expect success as you grow your Saas business!
Are You Ready to Grow Your SaaS Business?
Equipping yourself with all the smart solutions can help you achieve business growth. Always employ smart business decisions and apply strategies to real-world scenarios. As there are many Saas companies launching every day, you’ll have to grab your share of the pie for this industry. Keep your existing customers happy and renewing. But don’t forget to acquire new ones at the door.
