Selling Your Twilio-powered Apps to Businesses
Download as PPTX, PDF10 likes76,742 views
This document provides tips for selling software using both low-touch and high-touch sales approaches. For low-touch sales, it recommends optimizing marketing, free trials, and email campaigns. For high-touch sales, it notes that decision-makers are often not the end users and purchasing cycles are longer. It also suggests focusing on value over cost, establishing expectations, and providing additional services like SLAs, training, and custom integration that enterprises are willing to pay more for. Overall, the document offers advice on optimizing different sales channels and overcoming common objections.
Selling Your Twilio-powered Apps to Businesses
- 1. SELLING TWILIO APPS Patrick McKenzie – Kalzumeus Software
- 2. My Business
- 3. Two Ways To Sell Software Low-touch sales Demand driven Convert customers at scale: web, email, etc End-user is buyer Lower price points High-touch sales Supply driven Convert customers one at a time End-user probably is not buyer Higher price points (up to $GADZOOKS)
- 4. The Curious Case of Modern SaaS Monthly billing is a core innovation. $X,000 LTVs can be acquired at low-touch Hybrid models are possible $200/month for small businesses … but you need an SLA? Talk to sales team.
- 5. A Brief Primer On SaaS Pricing Price based on value, not on cost. Anchors matter! Do NOT anchor on Twilio cost! Segment to capture customer value. The 4 plan pricing page Evolutionary maxima for low-touch SaaS. Not necessarily optimal for high-touch sales. Interesting ways to play with it. Always remember: it is not their money.
- 7. Single Most Actionable Tip at TwilioCon Offer Annual Billing
- 8. The Six Figure Email Offer discount (“1 month free”) if they switch to annual billing. Offer it to “loyal customers” over email One click + confirmation to switch. Conversion rate from 10% to 25%+ Immediate revenue of $200 per email sent
- 9. Low-touch Stuff That Works SEO / AdWords / marketing site / etc Olark / chat widgets / etc Fully-functional free trials Funnel optimization Product tours Email. Email. Email.
- 10. Let’s Talk Product Tours 40 ~ 60% of 1st time users won’t ever come back First experience of app has to rock Customization screens do not rock Empty dashboards do not rock Productivity apps (w/o team) do not rock
- 11. Three Goals Of A Tour 1) Demonstrate one awesome improvement to the user, immediately. 2) Establish a reason why the user should come back. 3) Ask users to invite anyone appropriate into the app.
- 12. Appointment Reminder Product Tour Problem: Customers require 4 ~ 6 weeks to perceive value from product … and the product has a 30 day trial … and 60% of users abandon on Day 1 Solution: Demonstrate value on Day 1
- 13. Tour Script Customer first listens to reminder on their phone. Then, they learn how to schedule appointments. Then, they learn how to manipulate appointments. Then, they learn what they should do next. This would be a great point to sell sell sell. Or to ask them to invite their co-workers into the app.
- 14. Ugly As Sin But It Works
- 15. Single Best Tour Tip Introduc e Sticky
- 16. Email Customer s
- 17. Low Conversion To Trial? Sell Via Email Conversion from visitor to paying signup: ~1% Conversions to free email submission can be 20 ~ 40%, particularly if you offer a decent incentive Send people a drip campaign “One month free course, delivered over email, about $TOPIC” 6 ~ 8 emails Educate. Persuade. Then, and only then, sell. Absolutely prints money.
- 18. Sample Landing Page For Email Submit Offers immediate incentive for signup Asks for permission to contact, with the course offering Describes what they’ll get if they opt-in http://speed.wpengi ne.com
- 20. More Advanced Uses Of Email Client starts using software? Send “personalized welcome” from the CEO. Client looks like they’ll cancel? Send a rescue email. (“Write back and I’ll extend trial.”) Client doesn’t use a particular feature? Send a getting started guide. Client getting to decision point? Send them an ROI calculation!
- 21. Weekly Checkup (“Get Them Promoted”)
- 23. Core High-Touch Sales Insights You are not being bought by the person using the software. Customers can “request” high-touch sales with questions or behavior in trial. Expectations are very different.
- 24. Who Is The Decisionmaker? Business owner? Typical for SMB Head of IT? Head of Ops? Project lead lower in the organization?
- 25. Dealing With Purchasing Cycle Purchasing may have adversarial relationship with users. Purchasing is scored on discounts. Purchasing hates rejecting work, wants you to reject them. Lead -> Call -> Meeting -> Proposal -> Formal Quote -> Deliver -> Invoice -> Heat Death of Universe -> Check Arrives
- 26. Purchasing Has A Checklist Lacking certain things will auto-kill deals. SLA Support/maintenance contract Industry-specific compliance (HIPAA, etc) “Sign our standard vendor contract” You need to have and mention that you have these things. Charge through the nose for these things.
- 27. Enterprises Have Money. Take It! SLA Maintenance / support Custom integration work … and maintenance! Training Delivered in person Delivered scalably (videos, etc)
- 28. Key Sales Anchors “The fully-loaded cost of one employee” Wasted time with hard costs associated with it Truck rolls High-value employees Low-value employees who are monitored effectively Lost business / missing revenues / etc Missed appointments Missed opportunities for sales Case studies make this much more credible
- 29. Have A Question You Can’t Answer? Roleplayin g Exercise
- 30. Dealing With Pricing Objections Never compromise on unit prices. Purchasing needs a discount. Give them one: Bundled extra, “normally” charged $X, for $Y instead Nominal discount for pre-payment or commitment.
- 31. Unfortunate Necessities Corporate shield Insurance Lawyer (ideally, on standby)
- 32. More Goodies! LifecycleEmails.com : 5 hour video course, with annotated examples, of how to use email to sell SaaS better. kalzumeus.com/blog : ~6 years of posts training.kalzumeus.com : Free video on improving first run experience of app [email protected] or @patio11 I love talking about this.