The Latest from SaaStr: 71% of You Are Doing More Outbound

So the recent survey we did above took me a bit by surprise.  Since the earliest days of SaaStr, we’ve pushed founders to do more outbound, earlier. 

We’ve pushed the point that outbound — done right — always works. 

Done poorly, it often just ends up a bunch of expensive spam, however.

And it does seem like with times a bit tougher for many, dialing up outbound could be the answer.  I just wasn’t expecting quite such a strong Yes to that question.

The marketplace in 2023 prioritizes emerging technology and instantaneous communication. B2B founders and sales agents feel pressured to keep up with the rapidly evolving market.

It can be both costly and exhausting to stay privy to the latest trends and able to predict the next big thing. SaaS companies must implement flexible and innovative sales strategies that can weather the future.

Mary Shea, Global Innovation Evangelist at Outreach, shares her vision for the future of B2B sales and provides actionable advice for leaders to thrive in today’s dynamic marketplace. 

This edition of the SaaStr Daily is sponsored in part by SAP

Revenue has always been at the top of list of "Things Businesses Want More Of."

But not like this.

A global SAP survey shows companies are seeing beyond traditional growth tactics and are shifting focus on sustainability as a critical way to boost revenue, increase efficiency, and mitigate risk.

The most common objection you’ll get in SaaS sales, which will drive you nuts at first, is … Not Right Now.

I Don’t Have Budget. It’s Great, But Not This Quarter.

Let’s de-pack this for a minute.

No one needs another piece of business software. No one. Every business is mostly running OK already with its tech stack, and it’s unlikely your little app, alone, is going to change the revenue/profits course of any customer.

Instead, the reason most SaaS purchases are really made are initiatives. Companies have decided to improve a functional area this year. The decision may be made strategically in a big company, or sort of by the seat of the pants in a small one … but still, it’s an initiative.

A company can’t do everything, every year. It can’t strategically improve sales software, financial software, quoting software, recruiting software, QA processes, call center software, etc. Certainly not all in one year. It’s too much business process change in one year.

So that means statistically, you may be the odd man “out” at any big company. Yes — we’re interested. Just not this year.

What does that really mean?

A few telltale signs of a rep that isn’t going to succeed:

Immediate, massive discounting. Because they have no other idea how to close a deal or create urgency.

Doesn’t understand the product. Way too many AEs don’t even really understand, let alone use, the product they are selling.

Fear of the competition. This is different than respect. The best salespeople respect the competition, and see it as a game to beat them. Even sometimes where maybe they’d otherwise lose.

Blames others. They blame marketing, or the leads, or the lack of support. It’s usually all true, but still.

No updates or the exact same updates again and again. A terrible or even mediocre salesperson just plain has no updates to share.

This edition of the SaaStr Daily is sponsored in part by LARK

Lark is a collaboration tool designed to improve team productivity. Get chat, email, video conferencing, calendar, and docs together in one place.

I’ve invested in 5 start-ups that had a $1,000,000,000+ cash exit or IPO.

The CEOs were all quite different. Some extroverted, some introverted. Some wicked smart, some merely very smart. Some direct, some warm and friendly.

But what made them great:

• Ability to attract amazing co-founders and execs. Almost all of them had an amazing CTO or CPO, and hired a simply epic VP or two. Not just great, but epic.
• Ability to iterate pretty darn quickly. Good but not great CEOs just can’t find a way to iterate fast enough. When the competition does, you get left behind. Not overnight. But eventually.
• Never, ever, never quitting. Ever. Good not great CEOs don’t necessarily resign but sometimes they stop being 100% committed. It’s rational when it ends up harder than anyone expected. Which it always does.

Up Next: Wednesday, March 8th @ 10AM

Topic: Founder-led Sales: Lessons learned on the path to $100m ARR

Speaker: Tracy Young CEO and Co-Founder @ TigerEye 

Workshop Wednesdays is new series where we’ll be bringing some of the best SaaStr speakers to you LIVE, every Wednesday. 

Each workshop will be hosted in a live, interactive 30-minute format at 10am Pacific each and every Wednesday. This workshop will be 100% LIVE, not pre-recorded, and will be hosted in an, interactive 30-minute format, including Q&A.

For first-time CEOs, here’s my top list:

Budget 24 months to get to initial traction. It always takes longer than you’d ever think, especially in B2B / SaaS.

Somehow, you have to find a way to fund it, hack it, do whatever it takes to budget at least 24 months to build a real business.

Way too many founders don’t really have a way to make it 24 months in the early days.  If you don’t … maybe don’t startup yet.

And maybe don’t do it if you can’t commit for 10 years. It’s OK to have optionality in the early days.

But if you deep down aren’t sure you want to do this startup for 10 years, assuming it does even just reasonably well … then you don’t have the fire. At least not this for this one.

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