The real challenge for technical founders of SaaS businesses – sales & marketing

With the recent trends in Europe where we have seen over 150+ exits and a growing funding stream and support from the European Commission and countries, the whole technology and SaaS sector is ramping up to its golden age, so maximising this opportunity by adding a strong sales & marketing approach to the great technology already in place feels essential for any founder.

It is not a shock to learn that the majority of founders of SaaS businesses have a technical background. They will often grow the business through their network and getting initial positive news about the product they have built. However, this is a strategy that only works for a while and eventually, all SaaS or technology businesses need strong sales & marketing and for most tech founders, this is a real challenge.

As with so many things in life, Apple is the exception that proves the rule. Steve Jobs was a technical founder, but he also happened to be a marketing genius, this is rare. One imagines the history of Apple would have been very different if Steve Wozniak was the sole founder!

So if we assume most founders are not once in a lifetime product marketing gods, then what techniques and processes can they follow to help grow their business.

What Makes YouDifferent

At the start, it’s a new product, everyone is excited to see it and you are selling to early adopters that love to take risks on new technology. This is shown perfectly on the innovation adoption lifecycle, pioneered by Everett Rogers. In the graph below, you can expect to sell aproduct without the need for sales & marketing during the first two phases, but not after this.

At this stage the first rule of sales & marketing must be followed – know what makes you special. The art of marketing any technology business is showing the world what makes your product different from others and ensuring that this is something your customer cares about.

In a world where very few things are genuinely unique, what makes something special is normally a combination of things, a mixture that no one else can match. The mistake non-marketing founders make is focusing on features rather than benefits. People buy benefits. They want to know theproblems you solve. Clearly define these at the start.

Know Your Customer

Talking about your customer and what they like, mistake number two is assuming that everyone is the customer. People want this to be true because it means their potential reach is massive, but no business can afford to market to everyone. You end up marketing to no one because your message will not resonate with anyone.

Using avatars made websites 2-5 times more effective and easier to use by targeted users - HubSpot

The goal is to build an avatar you know as well as your best friend.

-         Know where to find them. This means you focusing your marketing time and money in the right places. Failure to do this costs some businesses millions

-         Know how to talk to them. For example, if your ideal customer looks for value, then you focus on pricing or the ROI. If they love trying new things, you talk technology

-         Avoiding time wasters. Marketing is as much about the people you repel as the ones you attract. Don’tmarket to people that won’t buy from you

-         Content is king. Ifyou understand your customer, you know the content that will attract their attention

Ultimately, by truly understanding your customer you can focus your marketing. Technical founders will be off coding, reviewing new product as well as running the business. They don’t have time to talk to everyone, so this focus is critical.

Case Studies

As a business grows it meets more businesses that won’t have heard of them. It requires more than a good product to close deals at this stage, it will need facts, figures and social proof. Evidence that other customers have used the product.

66% of b2bmarketers say case studies are the most effective means of attracting customers

This is where understanding the customer and marketplace becomes so important because these case studies must include information and data these customers care about. That might be the time your product could save them, maybe they prefer to read about the ROI of their investment, whilst others will be focused on the potential uplift.

The Technology Founders Role in Sales

No founder should drop out of the sales arena altogether. They always have a role.

-         Have a good sales funnel in place. This will enable monitoring of performance, spot problems and be able to assess the area that needs input. Run sales based on data, not feelings.

-         No one will be more passionateand articulate about the product in a vital pitch than the technology founder. They should continue to be used as support to the sales process, often used as part of closing larger deals

-         Hearing from prospects and clients is key to evolving your product in the early days. Ensure a feedbackloop is in place to enable this communication

Ultimately, any founder, should know what is happening in sales & marketing, but the technology founder should use expertise and technology to make sure they don’t become the bottleneck and this allows themto focus on the things that make them special.

Technology and Automation

Like most disciplines, sales relies heavily on technology. Finding the right fit is not easy, but it is important to see that your choices work well together. For example, any SaaS business will need a CRM system and a marketing automation platform. Ensure they integrate, there is no time for manually syncing up these systems.

Look for the technology that can remove time-consuming manual tasks in the sales process. Automation has to be the watchword. The ability to create something once and then have it work without the need forhuman intervention is the goal.

Finding Good Salespeople

Deciding when to take on marketing and sales professionalsis tough. They are expensive and take time to make an impact. But recruiting them is key. Finding good sales people is not easy, so remember the following rules:

-         Self sufficient. They need to have a proven background in selling a product, so get them to demo a product to you to judge how good they are

-         Experience is key. Only hire people that have worked in SaaS before. Let more established businesses spend the money training them

-         A fighter. You are looking for someone with a point to prove, that values making money and who has never been handed anything in their life

And remember, some of the best technology businesses in history were achieved through co-founders. The aforementioned Jobs &Wozniak is obvious but also look at Microsoft, where the combination of Paul Allen with Bill Gates is what helped them grow. So don’t be afraid to find that sales & marketing skillset through a potential co-founder or at least a board advisor working for equity.

With the potential for SaaS business in 2023 and beyond, now is the time to take some chances and to really put a focus on your sales setup. Get good people involved, work with good technology and ensure sales is given the focus in your business it needs to succeed.