IN THIS ISSUE
We're coming down the home stretch for the first half of 2021.
Thanks for taking time from your busy schedule to dip into Driven.
Today's Driven brings you a solid lineup of both timely and evergreen topics:
- A solution for information overload. You'll read how the mind maps that in today's issue will save you precious time. More substance, less reading. You'll also learn what to expect of the mind maps you'll see in future issues.
- How to satisfy digital expectations of buyers. B2B buyers expect more from their digital buying experience. For SaaS vendors that sell higher-end products, these rising expectations present new challenges. How can you create effective digital sales and marketing content that moves complex buying decisions to a faster close?
- How to close big, complex sales through effective discovery. The key to closing big SaaS deals at good margins is conceptually simple. First, find plenty of prospects who badly need the value you provide. And second, gather plenty of accurate information about them. But neither is easy to do, and many sellers cut corners. The results are lost sales and higher customer acquisition cost (CAC). This big mind map tells you how to run an effective discovery process that helps you win more big SaaS sales.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
More substance, faster reading
If you missed the prior issue of Driven, you may be surprised to find mind maps here today. For an explanation, read lssue 64 here.
If you've read the prior issue of Driven, you'll note some new directions in this issue:
- You'll see mind maps in every issue of Driven going forward. I produce the new mind maps with a cloud-native SaaS product called MindMeister—not with MindManager as I said in the prior issue.
- Each new issue of Driven will provide a balance of both timely and evergreen topics.
- Articles about timely topics will be short. For the evergreen topics, you'll find thorough and comprehensive mind maps.
- You can view the mind maps with the links you find in Driven, but you can't copy or edit them. The evergreen maps are works in progress. I will continue to improve and update them after publishing early versions here.
- Two weeks after each new issue of Driven, the evergreen mind maps will disappear behind a pay wall. You'll no longer be able to view them in detail. If you want access after 2 weeks, you'll be able to download them, edit them, and subscribe to updates for a fee.
If you're interested in one of the evergreen topics in this issue, click on the link to the mind map immediately. You won't have long to view the map at no charge.
Dave Vranicar at Driven
SALES & MARKETING TEAMWORK
Create better digital content to help close complex B2B sales
Challenge
For many B2B SaaS companies that sell high-priced products, it's gotten harder to win complex sales.
In making complex buying decisions, your prospects and customers typically raise dozens of questions and concerns.
If you don't provide satisfying responses, you're likely to lose the sale.
With remote selling, it's harder than ever to provide satisfying responses to buyers' questions and concerns. You're sellers aren't present or available when many of the questions and concerns arise.
Timing is everything. If you don't provide the right answers at the right time, you could be dropped from consideration.
Further, your remote sellers may not identify everyone who influences a complex buying decision.
Today few companies have prepared digital sales and marketing assets they can easily share with prospects at the right times throughout their buying decision.
Most content marketing has focused on delivering more sales leads to the top of the funnel.
Why? Three main reasons:
- The need for detailed, later-stage sales assets is new.
- Some marketers think it's not their job to create content that helps in later stages of a buying decision.
- It's likely that neither marketers nor sellers know how to create and manage such assets.
Why it matters now
In some countries, business is returning to a semblance of normal after Covid-19.
But many experts say it's unlikely that face-to-face selling will ever return to its prior levels. Sellers will have to continue relying more heavily on remote selling.
Now is the time to create digital assets that will help your prospects make good decisions through their entire buying process.
Ideas to consider
- Sales people use about half or less of the content B2B marketers create. Several studies support this finding. It points toward a huge waste of money and many lost opportunities.
- Many B2B marketers think it's their job to provide marketing-qualified lead (MQLs) to Sales. Once they've done so, the responsibility for closing the sale shifts to Sales.
- Few B2B marketers know how to create effective sales-support content for use during the middle and late stages of a buyer's decision process. They don't know how create it because they don't understand enough about the mental process behind complex buying decisions.
- Even so, you can create digital assets that are useful throughout an entire buying process. To do so, you must make important changes in the way your sellers and marketers work together.
More
To view an evergreen mind map on this topic, go here.
The map is for both marketers and sellers because it provides ideas to make work life better for each group.
For marketers, it offers a better understanding of buyer thought processes behind complex buying decisions.
The map contains more than 50 topics and subtopics. It also contains diagrams and links to resources.
The detailed version of this map goes behind a pay wall after 2 weeks.
Then for a fee, you'll be able to copy, download, share, edit, and collaborate on future versions. You will also have access to ongoing updates.
mm.tt
SALES & SELLING | EXECUTION | SKILLS
Effective sales discovery: The key to winning complex B2B deals
Challenge
Many higher-end B2B SaaS companies struggle to achieve their revenue goals.
An effective discovery process is among the most important foundations of a good sale.
A good sale is one that...
- Satisfies the needs of both your company and your customer
- Provides a good customer buying experience
- Closes at an acceptable customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- Earns solid profit margins
- Leads to happy customers with low churn and strong referrals
Why it matters now
It's hard to find experienced sellers who know how to close complex deals. Besides being hard to recruit, such sellers are also expensive.
Early-stage or expansion-stage SaaS companies may find themselves trying to close big deals with sellers who have less training or experience.
It takes a lot of training and experience to run an effective discovery process. And the process is likely to vary from one company to the next.
Even senior sellers may not be playing their best discovery game as they adapt to selling remotely during and after Covid-19.
In the current environment, it's easy to disregard or overlook the essential elements of an effective discovery process.
But your company is likely to pay a high price for doing so.
Ideas to consider
- Many B2B sellers rightly look for the shortest, fastest route to closing sales. But in many cases, the shortest and fastest route is the most thorough and deliberate one. It's not the easiest. Cutting corners on your discovery process can burn you badly. The bigger the deal, the worse the burn.
- Many less-experienced sellers tend to conflate the discovery process with the qualification process. Both are important. But qualification occurs mainly at the beginning of a new relationship with a prospect. Discovery happens throughout the entire relationship.
- The depth and complexity of the discovery process should depend on the size of the deal, the complexity of the buyer's decision, the complexity of the solutions you offer, and the amount of risk for both parties.
- Discovery is a key element of all value-selling sales methodologies.
- Some sellers rightly say their prospects don't want to be grilled with too many questions. No worries. You can conduct a thorough and effective discovery process without making prospects feel they're being interrogated.
More
To view an evergreen mind map on this topic, go here.
The map is likely to be useful to these groups:
- For sellers new to complex sales, it offers a solid introduction and overview of discovery processes.
- For sellers highly experienced in complex sales it provides useful reminders and maybe useful new tips.
- For revenue leaders, it provides background and resources for use for training and coaching.
The map contains more than 40 topics and subtopics. It also includes diagrams and links to resources.
The detailed version of this map moves behind a pay wall after 2 weeks.
Then for a fee, you'll be able to copy, download, share, edit, and collaborate on future versions. You will also have access to ongoing updates.
mindmeister.com
WRAP UP
That's it for this issue.
Driven continues to evolve through experimentation and your feedback.
If you don't share your feedback, I'm left to guess what you want.
If you've enjoyed this issue, please share it with a friend or colleague.
See you next on July 3. (Yikes. That means Q2 and H1 will be done.)
Good luck in finishing your half strong.
Best,
Dave Vranicar
Dave Vranicar at Driven
ABOUT DRIVEN
Driven is a fortnightly digest for busy revenue leaders in business-to-business (B2B) SaaS.
It's likely to be most useful if your company sells higher-ticket products that require moderate to heavy involvement of professional sellers.
Driven is here to help you:
- Achieve your revenue goals
- Overcome your obstacles and challenges
- Fix expensive problems
- Be the best version of yourself.
You'll find an online archive of back issues 12 through 43 at this link.
About links, commissions, and endorsements
When I provide links to articles from vendors, does it imply an endorsement?
Only of their content. Not necessarily of their products or services.
In most cases, I get nothing from providing links to products or services.
That's starting to change. I tell you when I get a commission if you buy something through a link you find in Driven.
Dave Vranicar at Driven