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By Eric Morse April 12, 2013

SaaS Sales Team not Meeting Expectations, Look to Segmentation


course_imageSegmentation may apply to prospects with differing needs or attributes. For example, the sales process may differ depending on the budget of the prospect.

Additionally, segmentation involves the identification of segments of your possible customer base that possess the greatest chance of paying for its services. This allows you to market to specific groups of clients to optimize for future revenue and profit.

SaaS Sales Segmentation

At Sales Result Inc., we work with companies in the software as a service (SaaS) industry. Part of our work with these clients is to improve sales and at the same time lower costs through segmentation.

Improving SaaS sales segmentation can help you to close more deals by enabling you to more effectively transfer your focus away from potential customers who do not need or want services.

Segmentation also increases the longevity of your client relationships. By segmenting, you tailor your sales approach, messaging and offerings to each segment. During the sales process your future clients will feel as if you understand their needs leading to better expectations, better solutions, longer relationships and repeat sales.

There are powerful tools that add to the power of sales segmentation. Social media communities like LinkedIn provide inside sales pros the opportunity to implement social selling as another way to connect with prospects.

Identifying Segments

Every marketer would ideally market to each prospect individually, but it’s typically inefficient to do so.

However, you can segment your prospects into groups that allow you to assign the proper sales process and service to the right clients.

For example, if a segment of your prospects come to you with questions you can often get past their objections by offering a free trial period or a risk-free guarantee of money back if they aren’t satisfied in the first few months.

You will also have clients eager to get started. They don’t need a free trial. To close the sale with these prospects you could offer a longer-term contract with a price reduction to reward their commitment.

Additionally, the inside sales team can segment by industry and the size of the prospective company. Most SMBs have small inside sales teams. Most of these teams have room to grow and segmentation is part of a solution that can make inside sales more efficient and more effective.

Boosting your understanding of the different segments can help you to identify when changes to marketing messages are needed. It can enable you to recognize which segments are less profitable and consider implementing measures that could increase their profitability, for example product changes or altering sales approaches.

Competitive Advantage

Targeting services to specific segments gives you a competitive edge. By offering the right services and the right process to prospects, you appear more knowledgeable of what prospects need.

Improving SaaS sales segmentation results in closing more deals, which means more money coming into your business and a greater degree of success.

Stay tuned to our next blog on SaaS sales…

Do you have experience with SaaS sales segmentation? Share your story in the comments.

Topics: Sales Strategy, SaaS


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