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Patrick McKenzie's presentation from TwilioConf 2012 about selling software to businesses.
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SELLING TWILIO APPS
Patrick McKenzie – Kalzumeus Software
My Business
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)
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.
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.
Pricing Page Teardown
Single Most Actionable Tip at TwilioCon
OfferAnnual Billing
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Ugly As Sin But It Works
Single Best Tour Tip
Introduce
StickyFeature
s
EmailCustome
rsMore
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.
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.wpengine.com
Drip Marketing Example
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!
Weekly Checkup (“Get Them Promoted”)
EveryoneCan
Do Sales
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.
Who Is The Decisionmaker?
Business owner? Typical for SMB
Head of IT? Head of Ops? Project lead lower in the organization?
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
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.
Enterprises Have Money. Take It! SLA Maintenance / support Custom integration work
… and maintenance! Training
Delivered in person Delivered scalably (videos, etc)
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
Have A Question You Can’t Answer?
Roleplaying
Exercise
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.
Unfortunate Necessities
Corporate shield Insurance Lawyer (ideally, on standby)
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 patrick@kalzumeus.com or @patio11 I love talking about this.
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