What is a CPQ? What are its benefits?

CPQ (Configure Price Quote) is a type of sales software that allows sales reps to quickly and easily configure products and services, generate accurate pricing, and create quotes to be sent to customers. 

Here are some of the key advantages of using a CPQ:

1. Accurate Product Configuration: It’s easier for sales reps to build a customized package of products and services depending on a prospect’s specific needs and requirements. Since these are configured into the system, CPQs also reduce the chances for errors or misunderstandings. 
2. Automated Pricing: Sales reps don’t have to manually calculate the pricing estimate each time they’re doing a quote because pricing information is already built into the CPQ. This ensures that quotes have accurate and up-to-date pricing.
3. Professional-looking Quotes for Prospects: CPQs often have customizable templates that can standardize the appearance of quotes, making them easy to understand for prospects and customers. This improves your chances of closing deals faster. 

When is it time to use a CPQ? 

Businesses typically consider a CPQ system when they want to achieve the following, after hitting a certain point of growth: 

1. Price compliance and consistency among sales reps
2. Streamlining quote creation and management 
3. Shortening overall sales cycle

These are all especially important for when your sales team is getting caught up in more administrative tasks than they can take on, and for when you want to implement scalable processes within the organization. In addition, price compliance and consistency is important for when you want to ensure that your sales team isn’t making unauthorized changes to pricing in order to hit quotas. 

However, what most people don’t know is that CPQs can be expensive, complex, and difficult to implement and maintain. 

What are some disadvantages of using a CPQ?

Here are some disadvantages when it comes to using CPQ systems: 

1. It can be expensive. There are upfront costs when choosing to implement a CPQ, as well as ongoing subscription fees, which can lead to it being a major investment for organizations. 
2. Implementation can take months. Because of the complexities surrounding CPQ software, it can take months to implement it and usually requires specific consultants to get it off the ground. 
3. Complex to use and maintain. CPQs can be inflexible and difficult to customize, and often requires a really strong RevOps / Operations team to maintain it. It often requires dramatic rework anytime pricing or packaging needs to be updated. 

Although CPQs can be advantageous especially when enforcing price compliance and consistency, the difficulties to implement and maintain the tool might be at the expense of your sales reps’ and operations teams’ productivity. 

So, do you need it?

Generally, CPQs are designed for large enterprises with a more complex product catalog. However, there are a few factors to consider, especially for small-medium businesses. 

1. Size and Complexity of Sales and Operations Teams 

• If you have a small sales team, implementing a CPQ may not be necessary. The system might be too much for what you’re trying to do; all the more if you don’t have a strong operations team to back up your sales team. The success of CPQ software heavily relies on its implementation and maintenance, often done by your Revenue Operations / Sales Operations team. Having a strong RevOps / Operations team is key to making the most out of a solution like CPQ. 

• However, if you have a large sales team and a strong RevOps team to maintain your CPQ solution, then it could potentially make sense. 

2. Product and Service Catalog 

• If you sell simple, standardized products or services, then a CPQ may not be necessary. A tool like CPQ is best utilized for complex products or services that require customization and configuration per account. However, there are other tools that can provide this benefit without going the full route of implementing a CPQ. 

What’s the alternative? (Especially for SMBs)

Depending on the use case, there are a lot of alternative tools that you can use for your business. 

Typically, SMBs can greatly benefit from using a dedicated quoting software, which can help in generating quotes quickly and accurately. A lot of these quoting softwares already offer many features such as product and pricing databases, customizable templates, and the ability to handle complex configurations – which are mostly the key things you’d want from a CPQ software anyway. It is oftentimes a more scalable and efficient tool compared to using a manual spreadsheet program. For a list of comprehensive quoting tools, you can check out HubSpot’s list here.

However, one tool in particular that gives you most of the core benefits of a CPQ tool is FastSpring IQ. 

FastSpring IQ (which stands for Interactive Quotes) is a lightweight CPQ alternative that’s specifically designed for small-medium businesses. 

For sales reps, IQ provides an easy way to create, customize, and manage sales quotes, as well as keeping track of deals and integrating everything into your CRM platforms. 

For RevOps and Operations teams, it’s a more flexible solution to implement price compliance and consistency among your reps, and provides a good approval workflow for your quoting process.

It also offers real-time analytics, eSignatures, and payments, for a simpler and more effective quote-to-cash process. 

The best part is that you can get started right away and test the platform out as much as you want – IQ is free for up to 2 users, core functionalities and unlimited quotes included. Find out more information here.

The post What is CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote)? Does your business need it? appeared first on FastSpring.

One of the most important parts of your store is the checkout page. Working with a website checkout page that will convert more visitors will help you increase sales. Knowing what to track and how to meet your guests’ concerns proactively is even better.

And that’s what we’ll go over today. Here’s what you’ll learn:

What Is a Checkout Page?

The checkout page is the second to last page your visitors see in their shopping journey. It’s also the last step before they commit to making a purchase. 

Cart abandonment and second-guessing can be big issues here, so you want to take steps to encourage customers to continue.

The best way to do so is by reassuring customers. Provide confirmation on the following information on your checkout page:

• The customer’s information
• Shipping details
• Billing details
• Order number for tracking
• Price and payment information

By providing that information in an easy, clear-to-read format, customers can verify the information they need to continue with their purchase. 

In most cases, you’ll want a one-page checkout to make customers feel at ease. The number of pages can, however, vary based on product type. Just make sure the submit payment button is easy to find at the journey’s end. 

Why Checkout Pages Should Be Optimized 

Optimizing your checkout page helps provide a seamless checkout experience. It concludes the customer’s purchasing journey and helps you continue to build trust. Therefore, you want to create high expectations for your customers and meet them. 

Not doing so could be costing you sales. The average cart abandonment rate is roughly 69.82% across all industries.

Moreover, research from the Baymard Institute on cart abandonment found that many reasons a customer doesn’t complete their purchase are also related to the checkout page. 17% of respondents said the process was too long or complicated, and 16% said they couldn’t calculate the total cost upfront before purchasing. 

In contrast, optimized website checkout pages offer a streamlined checkout experience that addresses customer concerns and improves conversions.

It’s important that each step of the checkout process is logical and doesn’t waste the customer’s time. For instance, a simple change such as going from separate first and last name form fields to a single full name option could help.

Also, you shouldn’t add new, weird fees or last-minute charges that differ from your product pages. That catches customers by surprise and deters them from making purchases.

Other design steps can help optimize your website checkout page too. For example, are you taking advantage of white space? Is your call to action (CTA) above the fold? 

And more importantly, does your checkout process flow well in mobile and desktop design?  

Barilliance found that 85.65% of mobile device shopping carts were abandoned compared to 73.07% of desktop carts. As more traffic comes from mobile, you need to ensure their experience is great, regardless of screen size.

At the end of the day, if your design is too complicated, customers will abandon their carts. The easier and more attractive the checkout process is, the more likely you are to convert these visitors into customers. 

What KPIs Should You Track When Creating a Checkout Page

You can see how your checkout page performs by tracking the right KPIs. While these can’t always answer every question, they should help you identify what you should change about your website checkout page or user experience.

Just remember to be skeptical about your metrics by double-checking these numbers when possible.

That said, here are some metrics worth tracking:

• Shopping cart abandonment rate: If this is high, something is probably wrong or confusing with your checkout flow. Try comparing to others in your industry as well.
• Conversion rate: The higher your conversion rate, the better. SaaS companies might need to be aware of their unique challenges when calculating this.
• Cost of customer acquisition: Represents the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. The worst thing is if this is more than the value a customer brings in.
• Customer lifetime value: How much does the average customer spend overall throughout their relationship with your company.
• Average customer order value: How much does the average customer spend per order.
• Average duration on page: How long did check out take?

5 Checkout Page Templates and Examples

Now that we’ve gone over the basics of checkout pages and why you want to optimize them, here are a few examples to give you a visual idea of what to aim for. 

These checkout page templates are simple, clear, and provide the information customers need to complete their purchases. 

1. Photobucket

Photobucket is an online photo storage service for users who need extra cloud-based storage. Its checkout page template is simple, with only the necessary form fields shown. 

Pricing is clear, and it’s easy for users to know which payment method they’ve selected and when their payment will be processed. The whole thing has been simplified into only a few clicks, which helps reduce cart abandonment.

2. Sketch

Sketch is a UX design-focused SaaS company. While most of its website is full of bright colors, videos, and eye-catching graphics, its checkout page design is deceptively simple.

Sketch asks for only the necessary information and shows the pricing at the top and bottom of the checkout page. Everything is in black and white. Only a few details like credit card logos offer a dash of color.

3. Adobe

One of the most famous design software companies worldwide, Adobe also has one of the easiest checkout pages to complete. It highlights the savings you can take advantage of while making it easy to tell how much your total is.

The payment forms are easy and allow for many different choices. Lastly, Adobe has a bright blue CTA asking you to complete your purchase.

4. FreshBooks

Freshbooks accounting software offers a fun twist on the website checkout page. FreshBooks has a bit more color than many other brands on its website checkout page, but it uses it effectively. 

The credit card-shaped payment form fields are a fun touch, especially for a financial platform. Besides blue, they offer a contrasting pay now CTA and easy-to-understand pricing.

5. HubSpot

Last but not least is HubSpot, the CRM software company. HubSpot also uses minimal colors, a simple layout, and easy-to-read forms. The checkout design is similar to the rest of its website, keeping everything on brand. 

Pricing is clear, but if users have any questions, they can use the chat option right on the screen.

How To Use FastSpring for Your Online Checkout

FastSpring offers a modern, intuitive, branded checkout experience that drives conversions, improves revenue, and reduces cart abandonment. These layouts are great for straightforward pricing, but things can get complicated when your company offers quote-based pricing. 

In cases like these, you might want to look for solutions like FastSpring’s Interactive Quotes (IQ) to help make these custom checkout options easy for customers. For example, you can integrate FastSpring IQ  with HubSpot CRM to populate interactive quotes easily.

FastSpring’s Interactive Quotes (IQ) add end-user-adjustable sliders and checkboxes that allow prospects to update options and pricing in real-time to suit their needs. The changes are easy to track and make understanding your quotes simple, making it easy to align on pricing. 

What To Do Post-Checkout?

After optimizing your website checkout page, it’s time to work on the post-checkout process. That may involve the following:

Send a Confirmation Email

Email is important for every stage of marketing your product, even if web visitors don’t complete the purchase. Barilliance found that 15.22% of cart abandonment emails were opened in 2021, helping businesses close even more sales. 

You can also send a confirmation email after the checkout process is complete. That way, the customer can feel secure their transaction went through. Some email services automatically send these emails with all of the details from your checkout page.

That includes:

• Order number
• Order details
• Cost
• Name
• Other important information

Templatize Your Email

To save time and reduce the chance of errors, create a few email templates you can reuse. These also work great with CTAs to connect with customer support if needed, building continued trust with your customers.

Provide All Communication Methods

Nothing builds trust faster than making it easy to get in touch. Add an email address for customer support, a business phone number, and even consider working in a ticketing system if applicable.

This is also an excellent time to work on some subtle upselling. You want the customer to feel connected, so add social media links and provide a newsletter signup option.

Allow Refunds or Cancellations

Allowing refunds helps improve the customer experience and builds trust between you and the customer. If it’s too difficult to cancel an order, the customer might never want to shop on your site again.

While it can be difficult to lose the sale, the customer will appreciate a frictionless refund policy, and it will reassure them that they can trust you and your website in the future. 

They’ll also be more willing to come back if they know refunds are a hassle-free experience.

Provide a Method for Feedback

Post-checkout is a good place to ask for feedback from customers. After all, your brand is fresh on their minds. Create a contact form or survey which allows customers to provide feedback after important touchpoints. 

These touchpoints may include times like after a sale, after a refund is issued, or after speaking with a customer service representative. You can learn why the customer chose to ask for a refund or if they found the product satisfactory. 

Act on That Feedback

Don’t just let these forms pile up. Make sure all of the data you collect is stored safely. Then use the feedback and the KPIs we mentioned above to continue to improve your website overall and the checkout features you provide. 

Final Thoughts: The Best Checkout Page Templates for Your Brand’s Website

While a checkout page template looks simple, there’s a lot of thought into what goes onto each page. You want to provide a last-minute confirmation of the process for your customers, but you don’t want to overwhelm them. 

Design trends for checkout pages have continued to veer towards simplicity, making it easy for customers to verify the information without getting distracted by flashy graphics. Additional features like email sign-ups and a refund policy can fit in, but try to keep them in line with the rest of the page.

You want to keep track of how your checkout process flows and get feedback from customers who completed a purchase. An easy way to take care of all of these concerns is to use a service like FastSpring. We take the guesswork out of more complicated sales processes so you can focus on your products.

The post The Best Checkout Page Templates for Your Brand’s Website appeared first on FastSpring.

The state of proposals is currently ineffective. However, proposals are still important in the B2B purchasing process. Their overall buying experience heavily influences your prospect’s entire decision. The most effective sales proposals are all about the customer, their pain points and how you’ll solve their problems. 

What does a winning proposal look like now? How can a customer-focused proposal close deals faster? And how do you reclaim control of the proposal process?  

Challenges with Traditional B2B SaaS Proposals

The B2B SaaS buying experience isn’t as smooth as shopping online for a t-shirt. The process currently is clucky and lengthy for both buyers and sellers. The proposal process currently faces the following challenges:

1. Version control is difficult
2. Proposals can be confusing to navigate 
3. Traditional proposal lack interactivity for your prospect, and you, the seller
4. Pricing is one of the most essential parts of a B2B SaaS proposal 
5. Proposals can be a lot of information 
6. Prospects know how to buy

The Anatomy of a Great B2B SaaS Proposal

It is time to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. Forget lengthy documents, and odds are no one is going to read 100% of the words. Put your customer first when building a winning B2B sales proposal. Create a proposal that answers all their questions and proves your product will solve their problems.

Introducing the new way of B2B proposals:

1. High-Level Overview
2. Highlight Your Solution
3. Pricing
4. Optional Add-Ons
5. E-signature & Direct Payment 

Want to compare the traditional format to the new successful format? We made that easy for you. Download the Guide to Writing B2B SaaS Proposals That Close Deals Faster. 

The Steps to Create a Winning B2B SaaS Proposal 

Proposals are what stands between you and a new customer. Creating a winning proposal doesn’t have to be a complicated process. The buyer’s experience with your proposal should be fluid, simple to grasp, and consistent with the rest of the buying process. Here’s a quick summary of our 13-step checklist for creating a winning B2B SaaS Proposal: 

1. Organize your key details
2. Speed-up workflow
3. Design with intent
4. Focus on the buyer
5. Highlight your solution
6. Make it engaging and interactive
7. Make it actionable 
8. Clarify your message
9. Watch your tone
10. Get approvals
11. Proofread and polish
12. Monitor engagement 
13. Plan your follow-up strategy 

Level-up Your Proposals

Let’s talk about step 6, “Make it Engaging and Interactive.” By creating an interactive proposal, you are streamlining the buying process directing through your sales funnel. FastSpring Interactive Quotes clearly outlines your proposal process to close deals faster. Better understand your prospect’s needs while successfully communicating and engaging with them throughout the entire process. 

Interested in creating winning B2B SaaS proposals that are not only engaging and interactive but close deals faster, set up a time to chat with FastSpring IQ. 

The post How to Create a Winning B2B SaaS Proposal appeared first on FastSpring.

But when your prospect is moving in the right direction, your SaaS sales questions need to be sharp to get the deal accelerated to close. It’s critical to evolve your SaaS sales questions list to match the ever-changing needs of your customers. Here’s our list of the 9 SaaS Sales Questions that will save you time and get you to close faster.

Advice from Our SaaS Sales Expert, Taylor Bond:

“Selling SaaS is no easy task, it takes a lot of research and prep-work to understand your buyer’s needs and wants. Whenever I hop on a phone call or Zoom, I want to go in with open-ended questions that will give me insight into what the prospect is looking for and how I can help them. I use these ten SaaS sales questions and have noticed I have seen a huge increase in engagement and interest with my prospects”

— Taylor Bond, Head of Growth at SalesRight

(Make sure to read all the questions, we saved the best for last!)

SaaS Sales Questions

1. What is the number one thing you want to get out of this call?

This should always be one of your first questions. The important detail of our phrasing? Asking them to nail down their top priority for your conversation. That way, you immediately identify the best use of your limited time. 

2. I’d like to start by hearing your understanding of our product so I can fill in any gaps or clarify any of your initial questions.

You don’t want to repeat what your prospect already knows. If they’ve done their homework, or have found your product through referral, then they may know a lot more information than you think. 

3. How do you solve [problem that your SaaS solves] today?

Gain insight into what the prospect is currently doing, make sure to listen to, and not assume, what their pains are. This will help you key in on the most relevant benefits of your SaaS. 

4. If at any time during this discussion you feel like this isn’t a fit, are you comfortable telling me no?

This question accomplishes two points: it offers your prospect a sense of control from the beginning of the buying process (this is proven to help deals close faster), and ensures that you are both making the best use of your time. 

5. How would this purchase impact your team’s ability to meet their goals and KPIs?

Connect the dots with your prospect about the quantitative impact your solution could have for them. By asking this question you’re positioning the value of your product in a way that will make your SaaS an irresistible solution. 

6. Are there other decision-makers on your end that we should engage in these conversations?

Many times when you book a call or demo with a prospect you may not be speaking with the only decision-maker. Identifying any other players is important to creating the most realistic timeline to close, where everyone has had a chance to be looped into the conversation. 

7. How does your team typically evaluate software purchasing decisions?

Every purchase decision team is different: some want to just into a trial to conduct a self-evaluation, some want numerous demo calls to dig deep into the product, and some have many hoops to jump through. Understanding their process as soon as possible will help you prioritize your work and create realistic timelines to close. 

8. If we can solve [the problem your SaaS solves] by [timeline your current customers start experiencing results], what would it mean for your business?

This question shows a realistic timeline for seeing results, which can increase your prospects’ motivation to close. It also paints a picture for your prospect of how their future could be positively impacted with your SaaS as part of their day-to-day. 

9. What level of support and involvement from our team would help your team reach peak performance with our software?

Asking questions about the type of support that is needed gives you an understanding of how to charge for onboarding and support and how to provide a seamless transition from sales reps to your customer experience team. For your prospects, it proves your commitment to helping them achieve their goals.

Bonus Advice: Building a relationship is always step one to closing a deal successfully. How can you make your SaaS sales questions even more personal to you and your prospect? Never underestimate the value of dedicating time to additional research ahead of conversations. As much as SaaS sales is all about business, it’s still a person with just as much depth and interest as you on the other side of the call.

Applying SaaS Sales Questions to your Style

It’s cliche to say, but being yourself is one of the best strategies to keep prospects talking and interested. Give yourself grace and room to be yourself, and prospects will feel the difference in your tone and approach. While there are always best practices and guidelines you should follow, your own twist and style is what will make you a top-performing SaaS sales rep. Finding your unique style and arming yourself with the right questions will help you close SaaS deals faster. 

Asking the right questions is just one piece of the SaaS sales puzzle. How you present your pricing has a huge impact on your ability and timeline to close deals. Learn how you can save over 10 hours a month by changing your pricing presentation to Interactive Live Quotes by clicking here. 

The post 9 SaaS Sales Questions to Help You Sell Remotely appeared first on FastSpring.

Displaying your pricing is the easiest way to make upselling SaaS go smoothly. You never want your pricing strategies to stall your sales process or prevent potential expansion opportunities. That is why allowing your pricing to upsell on its own is crucial to your success. 

Using FastSpring Interactive Quotes, you can do just that: let your Quotes do the upselling for you and your sales team. 

Here are five ways to upsell SaaS using Quotes:

Upselling SaaS with Analytics

Discover what’s going on behind the scenes of the deal using Interactive Live Quotes. Quotes are not only live and engaging for your prospect but also for your sales team. Quotes give your team insight into the back end of the deal, allowing your reps to learn how your prospect is interacting with the pricing and tell if they are choosing different options for the pricing you’re offering. For example, if they continue to click the same add-on to see the pricing with and without, send over a message and talk about how the add-on would benefit your prospect. By having a view into the deal’s back end, you can understand more of your prospect’s needs and land on a deal that best serves them.

Upselling SaaS with Interaction

Static pages create more questions, more questions lengthen the sales process… the longer the sales process, the fewer chances of upselling SaaS. Adding interactive elements to your sales process will energize your prospect to close deals faster. Prospects have the opportunity to compare and contrast their options with interactive elements while also getting a sense of control in their buying experience. By using Interactive Live Quotes, you’re providing a transparent, engaging and control environment they want. This is how you build momentum and gives your sales reps the opportunity to upsell your SaaS.

Upselling SaaS with Chatbots

Lights, camera, action: Quotes are LIVE! Adding Chatbots to your Quotes bring interaction to the next level and allow your prospects to engage with sales reps in real-time. There is no need to have endless email chains or back and forth Zoom calls that only extend the sales process. You have the option to set up chatbots to communicate with your prospects directly through the Quote. Chatbots allow you to build relationships with your prospects by interacting with you and asking questions when they come up during the pricing process. You can use these opportunities to identify upsell opportunities and build rapport with your prospect. 

Upselling SaaS with Testimonials

With the testimonial widget added to your Quote, you’re tapping into sales psychology by adding social proof to your prospect’s buying experience. Everyone loves to read authentic reviews from your customers, it adds credibility during the deal. It shows your prospect how they can also become a success story. Pro-tip: To choose a testimonial that will help you upsell your SaaS, have a customer talk about the benefits of add-ons and upgraded packages that your prospect can choose. 

Upselling SaaS with Growth Opportunities

As you are closing the deal, it is essential to show a future path and strong relationship with your prospect. Identifying this path with prospects is another way to upgrade the deal.  Quotes can demonstrate to your prospect how the immediate future will look by using your software, and can also show what is available beyond the contract (IE, how your pricing can change long-term or what better deals may be available now). Having your pricing show a path to growth sets a clear expectation for the future and can identify upselling opportunities for you. Additionally, as the prospect experiences their own growth, they will need to see how your software fits into their growth and if that will impact what they pay over time. This will create a picture within your prospect’s mind that they can see how you and they will be working together for the long haul.

Quotes make upselling SaaS very easy. There are many tools to use when displaying your pricing; that is only possible when you no longer use static software. Having an interactive tool to display your pricing allows your sales teams to easily upsell prospects into receiving the best package for their needs. 

Learn more about how you can upsell your SaaS by using Interactive Quote, click here to book a demo with our pricing experts.

The post Upselling SaaS Tricks: Scaling Your Sales with Quotes appeared first on FastSpring.

Pricing is the element that can make or break a deal. There’s no room for SaaS pricing to be the grey-zone in your deal –– for your prospects, the experience they have with your pricing is the difference between a mediocre sales process and the beginning of an excellent relationship. 

Giving them this experience involves understanding their needs: do they need a breakdown of all the details, or are they seeking the quick, hard-hitting facts about price? These mindsets require different presentations to make your prospect feel like you can fulfil their needs. That means that proposals and quotes are both essentials to closing deals… there’s just a time and place for each. 

So the question becomes: when is creating a SaaS sales proposal the best option versus a SaaS pricing quote?

When to Use a SaaS Sales Proposal

A SaaS sales proposal is a great tool to use during complex enterprise deals when your prospect needs extensive details about your company, offer and potential for growth. 

It typically includes the following elements: 

• Cover Page
• About Us
• Problem (outlining the prospect’s problem or challenges)
• Solution (how your company fits into the prospect’s future, including product offerings and service breakdowns)
• Case Studies & Testimonials
• Team Overview (key executives and team members)
• Contract Value (including terms and agreements, scope of work, timeline and pricing)

The content of a SaaS sales proposal should not be a surprise to your prospect. However, it ensures that no detail is left behind in the decision making process. 

Factors you should consider when deciding to use a proposal include:

• How much information has already been covered with the prospect? 
• What new information needs to be communicated?
• What is the most efficient way for my prospect to understand the new/detailed information?
• Are there new/other stakeholders who will be reviewing this information before the deal closes?

Depending on your answers to these questions, you may decide a proposal is needed to ensure the details are transparent to all involved. However, sometimes adding a document of this length to your process will add unnecessary time to the process before the deal closes.

When to Use a SaaS Sales Quote

SaaS sales quotes make your pricing conversation seamless for all involved. They provide a transparent breakdown of your pricing and include key details of the deal, which can then be effectively circulated amongst stakeholders. 

Quotes can be interactive when developed with pricing software. Interaction has proven to assist the SaaS sales process, helping accelerate deals to close by providing prospects with a similar buying experience when buying public-facing packages from a website. 

Factors you should consider when deciding to use a quote include:

• Are the details of my pricing displayed clearly? 
• Have I provided a clear summary of the key needs indicated by the prospect?
• Can the prospect engage or interact with any of the documentation I’ve sent?

Depending on your answers to these questions, you may determine that a quote can clearly display all of the information you need to close. However, you should make sure your quote is developed and sent in a format that is clear, transparent and built to support the complexities of SaaS pricing — otherwise, you may sacrifice the quality of the document.

How to Use a SaaS Sales Quote to Close Deals Faster

You can use a quote without a proposal, but you can’t have a proposal without a quote. Whether you’re selling a basic or enterprise package, quotes are crucial to your sales process and should be used 100% of the time. 

Just like your team likely has a proposal template, software or building process in place, it is important to have a streamlined quotes creation process in your sales funnel. Quickly building and iterating on custom pricing is a key way of accelerating deals to close. 

There is software that you can use that will handle this piece of the process for you, while aligning your sales team and providing your prospects with an interactive experience. FastSpring Interactive Quotes is the perfect compliment, or replacement, to your SaaS sales proposals and sales process. With FastSpring’s Interactive Quotes, you will:

• Save 10+ hours a month in your deal pipeline
• Provide a sales-psychology backed buying experience for prospects
• Accelerate SaaS deals to close

Take a look at this Live Sample Quote and see for yourself how Interactive Quotes can help you close deals faster.

For more information on Interactive Quotes, click here.

The post Displaying SaaS Pricing: Proposal vs Quote appeared first on FastSpring.

The dreaded words no one in SaaS wants to hear when closing enterprise SaaS sales.

‘We’ll see’ usually means ‘don’t get your hopes up’ — aka get ready to be left waiting until you (hopefully) back off. 

Too often do prospects take to the ‘we’ll see’ approach and leave you hanging when you thought you were about to close an enterprise SaaS sale. They seem interested, they’ve tried the product, everything is going great – until they won’t commit to the purchase. 

These delays to closing, to say the least, suck. Not just for you, but for the prospect who is missing out on the value of your product.

These are the 6 most common delays to closing enterprise saas sales that you need to know about, and our tried-and-true solutions to stopping them.

1. Not Personalizing Your Pitch

With a different client comes different needs and solutions you can provide them. 

They may be very interested in your product, but if you don’t put in the effort to tailor your pitch to them, you’re going to lose them pretty quickly. In fact, this isn’t something that slows enterprise deals down as much as it prevents them from actually happening.

To Avoid It: This problem requires a mindset fix. Steli Efti (Close.io) says of sales reps in this blog post, 

“[They] should customize [their] pitch and sell how the prospect wants to buy, not how [they] feels comfortable selling.” 

Changing your approach to fit this mindset will be game-changing to your success closing enterprise saas sales. Evaluate your current sales method — who is it serving first? You, or your prospects? If your answer isn’t your prospect, take a few steps back and re-evaluate your method.

2. Not Closing All of the Stakeholders

Just because the CEO likes it, doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. Decisions are also made by the people using it, not just the people that push your product down onto them.

To Avoid It: Prioritize time to sit down (or at least have a phone call) with all of the major stakeholders involved in your deal. This is key to influencing every aspect of the decision-making process in your favour. Steli Efti from Close comes in clutch again with a great breakdown of the stakeholders you will come across in your sales in this blog post.

3. No Sense of Urgency On Both Sides

Enterprise companies aren’t going to be in a massive hurry to sign the deal — if they were, they would have committed to one of your standard packages. They want to make sure every single small detail is worked out before they put pen to paper.

But this leisurely rate doesn’t help your conversion rate. You need to push a pace that balances everyone’s needs and keeps everyone happy. 

To Avoid It: Attach a deadline to a ‘limited time offer’ to help give the client an incentive to commit. Whether it’s a discount or a free offer, make them feel like they have the upper hand. This does not mean you should rush the customer into committing — it does mean you give them more reason to believe your product or service is the right choice, and the right choice right now. A great resource for this is The Lift Model by Chris Goward at WiderFunnel. 

4. Not Knowing Your Competition

As Earnest Sweat explores in this article, “The answer is never ‘I have no competitors’”. There’s always someone out there doing something similar to what you do, and that counts as competition. They don’t have to be a direct competitor, they can also be indirect.

To Avoid It: Before you start trying to sell, you should already know who your competition is. If you don’t, how do you know that there isn’t someone out there doing exactly what you do? Do your homework before engaging with potential buyers, you don’t want to get blindsided by someone asking “What makes you different from [insert similar product here].” You can consult Brandwatch’s Complete Guide to Product Positioning for help on this one. 

5. Not Qualifying Your Timeline 

You haven’t provided them with any information on where to go from here, so they can take all the time that they want. The ‘ball is in their court’ so to speak. This goes hand in hand with point number three – not having urgency. 

To Avoid It: Create a follow-up timeline for yourself and inform the prospect of when you will next follow up to get a status report, and you can go from there. This holds them accountable and puts a date on when they should potentially be making a decision by.

On top of this, finding a compelling event is also a great strategy to qualifying a timeline. Sales coach Richard Harris says usually a sale is tied to some sort of event that the prospect needs the solution for. He outlines a great example of what qualifying a timeline for a sale should sound like in this blog post.

6. Being a ‘Yes Man’

Saying yes to everything a prospect says can make them feel like they can walk all over you, get whatever they want, and are in complete control of the situation. 

To Avoid It: Set boundaries before you engage in the sales process to clarify what you are able and unable to provide. Agreeing on some kind of ‘Upfront Contract’ we discussed in this previous blog post about closing enterprise deals is also a great strategy for ensuring the client doesn’t force you into the ‘yes man’ hole.

To recap, there are 6 delays you can identify in your enterprise sales:

1. Not personalizing your pitch
2. Closing all of the stakeholders
3. No urgency — on both sides
4. Not knowing your competition
5. Not qualifying your timeline
6. Being a ‘yes man’

A poor SaaS salesperson will understand the reasons for these delays and accept them. But that’s not you — you’re ready to use these solutions to overcome them. Start closing enterprise saas sales!

Click here to learn more about how FastSpring Interactive Quotes helps close enterprise deals while doubling conversion rates and saving 10+ hours a month on preparation time. 

The post 6 Delays to Closing Enterprise SaaS Sales appeared first on FastSpring.

We listened and asked industry leaders featured at events like #CollisionFromHome to share their advice — here is what they had to say:

Started from the Bottom: Startup Growth Hacks

As Drake said, “started from the bottom, now we’re here.” 

For startups, it’s crucial to remember that growth doesn’t come overnight. Working your way through challenges and focussing on the process is the path to “unicorn greatness”. One of the best ways to learn is to listen to leaders who have been in your shoes and built their success from scratch.

Here is what experts advise focussing your time and resources on:

Hack 1: Evaluate and Prioritize

Now is the time to identify what processes, systems and software are critical to your day-to-day. Zero-down on what accelerates your work and don’t overwhelm yourself with the need to do everything at once.

“Evaluating processes and systems for inefficiencies has been critical to success in 2020. Know the North Star metric you are trying to move the needle on.” 

— Leela Srinivasan, CMO at SurveyMonkey

Hack 2: View Current Constraints as Opportunities

Startups are forced to jump through many hurdles to find success. That tenacity is setting them apart in 2020 and beyond. Your current problems and constraints may not define your company forever, but your approach and attitude towards them will.

“Using constraints to fuel creativity is our superpower as startups. We are good at fighting battles we were never supposed to win, [and we’ll win by] using thoughtful practices to amplify our superpowers.”

— Laura Hale, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Ladder

Hack 3: Lead with Creativity

As the saying goes — modern problems require modern solutions. Embrace creativity in your problem-solving, don’t just stick to prescribed solutions. The best innovators didn’t innovate by playing by the rules.

“Work ten times as hard as everyone else and be ten times as creative when coming up with solutions. I believe there will be opportunity for all of us on the other side of this.”

— Rob Frohwein, Co-founder & CEO at Kabbage

What you can do now: 

Being at the beginning of your journey offers many advantages — don’t overlook the benefits of being the small fish in the pond. You have the chance to watch what people have done successfully, and better yet, learn from other people’s mistakes so you don’t recreate them. You have the opportunity to go outside of the box and be creative without restraints. And of course, never underestimate your own or your company’s potential.

Putting Authenticity in Branding: SaaS Growth Hacks

What does branding have to do with software? Everything.

Growth is dependent on relationship building, and your brand is one of your first touchpoints with prospects, making its development critical. Your brand should amplify the solution you offer to your prospects, and speak directly to their needs. A great brand will assist every aspect of your sales funnel while cementing your place in the market. 

Here’s what today’s top CMOs and CEOs advise focussing on:

Hack 1: In a Crisis, Play Offence AND Defence

During any crisis it is critical to have a strategy for your brand to come out stronger on the other end. While you must swim to stay afloat, keep in mind your destination and what moves you can make now to serve you once you get there.

“[Brands] need to play offence and defence. Yes, you have to survive, but you have to play offence. You have to be innovative during a crisis. Focus on how you can apply your purpose and help people.”

— Frank Cooper, Global CMO at BlackRock.

Hack 2: Back Up Your Brand

Be real and authentic. The benefit startups have is that they are new and fresh, and not many structures exist to hold you back. Show your audience who you are and what you stand for.

“The difference between a brand and commodities is meaning and the story and experience behind them. Be authentic, understand the ecosystem and the role in it. Startups have an advantage: they can write new stories with no legacy systems and processes.” 

— Margaret Molloy, Global CMO at Siegel+Gale

Hack 3: Build Value with Purpose

Be more than a storyteller, be a StoryDoer. Put actions to your words. People want brands that will actually help solve problems.

“[I define] a “StoryDoer” as a brand that isn’t just positioning to make the product look better — but to have a tangible, positive impact on the world. People want this from brands — to intervene and adapt to help [their] communities.” 

— Neil Parker, Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer at co:collective.

What you can do now:

If you haven’t already, start building your brand. It is never too late, but the longer you wait the harder it will be to establish and build. 

Figure out what your company’s purpose is. How can your purpose (product) help your audience? — if you have that answer, you have the starting block to build your brand. Your next move is to share your story by building out content to solve your audience’s problems.

There are so many ways to learn startup and SaaS growth hacks from experts. Take the time to follow experts on social media, participate in their company’s webinar, attend an event like Collision, or even send a direct message on LinkedIn. Find out what their SaaS growth hacks are. 

If you’re looking for pricing experts, you’ve come to the right place. We pride ourselves on being SaaS pricing experts. Click here to learn more about Interactive Quotes.

Quotes in this article were pulled from #CollisionFromHome.

The post Startup and SaaS Growth Hacks: Experts Weigh In appeared first on FastSpring.

What is a SaaS Sales Quote and Why is it Important?

A SaaS Sales Quote clearly communicates personalized pricing to your prospect through an organized, custom layout. They are not a proposal, spreadsheet or addition to the end of a slide deck. They have their own purpose in your sales process: to provide your prospect with an interactive experience that closes the deal.

What does a SaaS Sales Quote include?

SaaS Sales Quotes may include elements such as:

• Tiers of pricing 
• Features and sub-features
• Selectable add-ons
• Descriptions of elements
• A calculator that populates a final price

SaaS Sales Quotes go beyond the numbers to provide your prospect with a pricing experience. Quotes provide you with an easy and transparent way to broach pricing. They can be used through multiple stages of the sales process, from first conversations and demos to signing on the dotted line.

Your Quote should allow prospects to easily compare and contrast their options and see a clear path for growth. Their transparency helps build trust with prospects, which is critical to building trusting relationships that will be mutually beneficial when they become your customer. 

3 Key Factors You Need to Consider:

1. Quote Organization

A lack of organization results in confusion, which prolongs your deal length. A Saas Sales Quote should provide well-organized details of your entire offer. Your formatting should clearly display both the birds-eye view of your Quote and also as the granular details of the deal. This means that you need to consider the presentation of your pricing and eliminate any potential causes for confusion. 

Hint: If you’re not using a software meant to display SaaS pricing, you will never be able to organize your Quote efficiently. 

Experts know that organized pricing is the key to maintaining the momentum of the deal.

“When SaaS pricing is easily understood, the entire sales process benefits. The time you invest in organizing your pricing and making sure it’s displayed as clearly as possible is time you save down the line during key conversations with prospects.”

Taylor Bond, Account Executive at FastSpring and formerly the Co-Founder and Head of Growth at SalesRight (Now FastSpring Interactive Quotes)

2. Customizability & Personalization

Your prospects don’t want to feel like all you did was click copy, paste and send. They want to see their needs reflected in the Quote you present them with. SaaS Sales Quotes should include personalized details that prove you took the time to listen to their needs and carefully created options that are optimized for them.

Customizations are also key to building transparency with prospects. Prospects will trust information that leaves no details left behind — which means your Quote must thoroughly and clearly address every need and associated dollar. 

One simple strategy is to create an email template you can then edit and customize alongside your personalized quote. This helps you move faster while still delivering strong, personalized messaging.

Experts say this level of customized detail is necessary to building a long-term relationship with prospects.

“As a prospect, you never want to feel unheard, or that you weren’t shown all the details upfront. Understanding all the options early on and building that open, transparent relationship with prospects is huge.”

Meg Kucey, Director, Customer Experience, FastSpring

3. Engagement in the form of Interactive Elements

A SaaS Sales Quote should do more than present words and numbers on a page. It should empower your prospects by providing an interactive experience. 

To create an interactive experience that will energize prospects, pull the levers of buying psychology and give your prospects a sense of control. Being able to perform “what-if” analysis by comparing and contrasting options in an interactive manner, and not just reading them on a screen, will keep your prospects engaged in the conversation and prepare them to close. 

Your prospect wants to have the best buying experience possible. By incorporating a SaaS Sales Quote throughout your sales process, you’re providing them the transparent, controlled experience they want. This is how you build momentum in your sales process and ultimately close deals faster. 

Experts have watched SaaS Sales Quotes add momentum to your sales process.

“Static pages only create more questions. SaaS Quotes allow prospects to dive deep into details that you’ve clearly displayed and provided them with. The transparency saves everyone time and maintains the momentum of the deal.”

Bill Wilson, Director of Product at FastSpring and formerly Co-Founder and CEO at SalesRight (now FastSpring Interactive Quotes)

To Sum it Up: What does the Modern SaaS Sales Quote Look Like? 

SaaS sales quotes are designed to deliver pricing to your prospect in a clear, customized, and interactive way. They should be as painless for your team to produce as they are for your prospect to receive and interact with. 

The modern SaaS Sales Quote should incorporate these three elements: 

1. Organized: Make sure the details of your Quote are displayed clearly to avoid confusion. 

2. Customized: Prove you paid close attention to your prospect’s needs by incorporating notes on all their desires in your Quote.

3. Engaging: Create an engaging buying experience with your Quote that empowers your prospect to close the deal.

Trust and transparency are key when talking about pricing. By continuing to build your relationship with your prospects during the sales process will make it easier to discuss your Quote. Closing deals faster and saving time for your sales team are outcomes of a transparent SaaS Sales Quote.

So, how do you build a SaaS Sales Quote?

The key is to use software that enables you to be organized, customized and energized. 

You don’t have to look far for a place to start. FastSpring’s Interactive Quotes makes it easy to build sales quotes in minutes. Get it for free.

The post What is a SaaS Sales Quote? appeared first on FastSpring.

Pricing is a key way of building trust with your prospect, and when done right, builds momentum in your sales funnel. It can be one of the most personalized, interactive and measurable portions of your process.

The first step to creating this experience is evaluating the methods you use to create, display and share your pricing.

Meet the ultimate villain in this scenario: your standard Office Suite software.

If you’re using the following Office Suite software to display SaaS pricing, it’s time to give your pricing a refresh. Read on for expert advice on how to make the change. 

What NOT to do: Traditional Ways of Displaying Pricing

1. Using Sheets for Displaying SaaS Pricing

What you should change: Using sheets does not show professionalism. They are dull and extremely manual – and your pricing should be anything but. There is nothing personalized when using a sheet, and personalization is critical to building relationships with prospects. It is easy to get lost in the numbers, and they’re time-consuming to build.

Advice from a Seller Who Switched: Mike Wright, Co-Founder and CEO at MESH/diversity, switched from using spreadsheets to an interactive pricing tool. He says:

“Leveraging a pricing tool is a game-changer because it allows you to be consistent, it allows you to have the history of how you’ve evolved at your fingertips, and it allows you to make decisions as you move forward based on that historical data, in a much easier way than trying to remember digging up old proposals or looking back through old versions of your sheets.”

Read Mike’s full experience by clicking here

What you should consider: Try incorporating personalized options that allow your prospects to pick the right package for them when displaying SaaS pricing structures. To avoid the labour of a spreadsheet, use a software that saves all your previous quotes so you can easily pull in pricing and automatically populate calculations for prospects. That way, you no longer need to spend your time creating sheets and manually doing the math for every new deal.

2. Using Slide Decks for Displaying SaaS Pricing

Next slide…next slide… NEXT pricing strategy, please.

What you should change: Sending decks to prospects seems like an easy way to showcase your pricing in a pretty format. Although they seem engaging, decks are one-dimensional. By using slide decks you are throwing away an opportunity to gain insights and create informed follow-ups. Your pricing should give you the upper hand and share with you how many times your prospect views your pricing, and ensure they fully understand the pricing that is being displayed.

Advice from a Seller Who Switched: Stefan Kollenberg, Co-Founder of Crescendo, switched from using slide decks to a pricing tool that provides insights and real-time analytics. He says:

“I would have my pricing in the back of a sales deck just on one slide. I never knew if [the customers] were going into the deck to kind of change it up, choose different options or look through the different tiers that we were offering. It’s like you need to get as much data you can on what pricing worked, what didn’t.”

Read Stefan’s full experience by clicking here

What you should consider: Without data from previous deals, you will not be able to adjust for prospects and know what works best for your future customers. Consider using a system that allows you to gain insights in real-time and keep track of all things pricing.

3. Using Email for Displaying SaaS Pricing

How many emails do you get in a day? We all have the same answer: too many.

What you should change: Scrolling through endless emails to try and find the correct information is time-consuming, and frankly annoying. Talking about your pricing via email extends the length of time it takes to close the deal, as it is one of the most ineffective ways to communicate pricing.

Advice from a Seller Who Switched: Jack Hannah, Sales Team Lead at LinkSquares, switched from using email to communicate pricing to an interactive pricing tool. He says:

“A lot of the conversations were taking place verbally and would be followed up with an email summary in an effort to make sure both parties understood what we were actually talking about. [Now] we’re able to actually share our screen and have a much more professional, structured conversation around price, which I think [helps create] much clearer conversation that requires much less back and forth.”

Read Jack’s full experience by clicking here

What you should consider: Avoid the headache and create seamless communication with prospects by using a tool designed for quick and easy communication. Not only will it allow your prospects to find the information they need quickly, but it will also display all of their custom pricing and relevant information clearly.

4. Using Collaborative Software for Displaying SaaS Pricing

Collaborative tools and software have irrefutable value in your sales process, but if you’re misusing the software as your main pricing display tool, you’re in for a mess.

What you should change: Collaborative tools such as those used for internal communication and brainstorming are not functional for displaying SaaS pricing. Misusing tools in an attempt to display your pricing is a sure way of creating a disjointed presentation and confusing your prospect. There are many amazing tools made to help, but using a tool for a pricing purpose that wasn’t created for pricing you are automatically going to run into many issues that could possibly ruin the deal.

Advice from a Seller Who Switched: Mike Pinkus, Partner at ConnectCPA, once used collaborative software to create an interactive pricing experience before he switched to a pricing platform designed with interactivity at its core. He says:

“We were using a platform [that] wasn’t specifically designed as being a sales platform. It definitely lacked professionalism because we were using it for the wrong purpose. Now [after switching], we have that cleanliness, the professionalism, everything is clean and it’s designed in a way that suits the purpose for sales.”

Read Mike’s full experience by clicking here

What you should consider: Misusing software may seem like a time and cost saver, but in the long run, it will actually create more problems than it solves. Moving your pricing processes into software created to cater to its specific needs will support you while also creating a better buying experience for prospects.

5. Using PDFs for Displaying SaaS Pricing

We’ve all resorted to using the good old classic PDF. Sure, you had your designer make it all branded and pretty, but unfortunately, it is really a stagnant and ineffective way to display SaaS pricing.

What you should change: Prospects can’t engage with the PDFs you provide them – much like using a slide deck. Once your prospect downloads the PDF, there is no way of measuring how the document has been received or how many times it has been opened. Making edits or changes is a tedious process that eats up unnecessary time.

Advice from a Seller Who Switched: Ross Simmonds, Founder of Foundation Marketing, brought his pricing to life by switching from stagnant PDFs to interactive pricing.

“We had a PDF showcasing three different pricing tiers around how we would be able to service our clients. We would edit [that PDF] every time a client came knocking. We always tried to make ourselves and our spreadsheets pretty, but in doing so you can’t give as much information. We no longer need to ruffle between all of these different tools to put together a package, we can just use FastSpring Interactive Quotes.”

Read Ross’s full experience by clicking here

What you should consider: The only interactive benefit PDFs offer is the ability to sign on the dotted line — but a truly interactive experience has to offer more than signing to close. Use pricing software that will give your prospect an interactive and personalized experience from first pricing conversations to the final signatures.

How Should I Display my SaaS Pricing?

Pricing shouldn’t feel confusing, messy or boring for your prospects.

The future of displaying SaaS pricing is an active, personalized experience that is easy for prospects to engage with and understand. This means your relationship with office software to display SaaS pricing needs to come to an end in order to totally refresh your SaaS pricing strategy.

To refresh the way you display SaaS pricing, focus on finding a pricing tool that fits your needs. The three areas we suggest prioritizing in your search for the right tool:

1. Using a tool that will make your work easier by saving you time, increasing your productivity and your team’s efficiency when delivering your pricing to your prospects

2. Creating an interactive and engaging buying experience for your prospects

3. Gaining insight into your pricing’s performance through real-time analytics.

Now more than ever, it is important to save time and work efficiently. So forget old outdated and confusing pricing. It is possible and easy to step into a new pricing process that will help you work smarter, not harder, while increasing your ability to close deals faster.

Click here to learn more about the pricing tool that checks off all the boxes.

The post How to Best Display Your Pricing: Interactive vs Traditional appeared first on FastSpring.

Price Intelligently reports SaaS companies only spend 6 hours on their pricing strategy in the entire history of their business. It’s clear that pricing is an overlooked component of the SaaS sales cycle. When strategically coordinated, pricing can pack a powerful punch to boost opportunity to close rates. 

Updating your SaaS pricing strategy for 2020 can be a daunting task. What tactics are hot, and what tactics are not? The last thing your SaaS pricing strategy needs is an outdated approach that adds nothing to your sales process.

To help you get started, here are our expert-identified SaaS pricing strategies to leave and launch heading into 2020. 

Leave: Your Website’s Pricing Page

Begin your SaaS pricing strategy refresh with a relaunch to the front lines of your pricing: your website. Your website is your prospect’s first impression of your company and product — and pricing acts as your first conversation with prospects. Your pricing page is one of the most critical pieces of your website: it needs to be clear and engaging with a compelling call to action. 

If prospects view your pricing page as hard to navigate, overly complex or outdated, it’s a poor reflection of your company and product. To avoid this, carve out time in 2020 to update your pricing page with clear information and powerful messaging that drives more leads. You can (and should) bid farewell to your current pricing page, and start the new decade with a fresh page that really starts the conversation. 

Launch: A New Strategy for Enterprise Deals

Once your pricing page is upgraded, it’s time to examine the buying experience prospects are having. In a self-serve model, prospects are empowered by buying experiences they can navigate with ease. This experience typically allows prospects to compare and contrast options, evaluate different price points, and consider how they can grow with your product. This process is backed by psychology that explains how to create sales processes that convert. 

But is this buying experience emulated in your enterprise sales process? If your enterprise pricing strategy looks nothing like your self-serve model, your prospects are likely not having the buying experience they want. 2020 is the perfect time to launch a new sales experience that will empower, not confuse, enterprise prospects.

Leave: Hidden Friction in your Sales Process

Everyone wants to believe their enterprise sales process is working as efficiently as possible — but pricing can cause friction at multiple points of the sales process. It’s one of the only points of conversation broached in first discussions and lasting until a contract is signed. As it’s such a critical component, it needs a critical eye to ensure it is functioning as efficiently as possible.

If your prospects are…  

• Re-asking questions on pricing points discussed in previous conversations
• Requiring clarification on features and add-ons
• Requesting follow-up conversations with decision makers so you can re-explain or clarify pricing points

…Your pricing isn’t standing on its own, and is adding friction to your sales process. It’s time to leave friction behind once and for all, and enter the new decade with a truly efficient process.

“SaaS pricing is naturally complex — but that doesn’t make friction inevitable. When pricing is easily understood and championed, the entire sales process benefits. It’s an overlooked piece of the sales process that can remove friction on multiple fronts.”

— Taylor Bond, Account Executive at FastSpring

Launch: Live SaaS Pricing Proposals

One of the biggest hurdles for SaaS sellers to overcome in 2020 is streamlining the enterprise sales process. The last thing sales reps need is repetitive processes, like creating and communicating complex pricing and proposals, taking them away from selling. 

An easy way to accelerate the enterprise sales process is by using a live pricing proposal. Live pricing proposals clearly display complex SaaS pricing, giving prospects the ultimate buying experience while informing follow up strategies with real-time analytics on their interactions. When sales reps are empowered with live pricing proposals, they save more time and improve their conversion rates (see how live pricing proposals changed these SaaS companies). It’s the perfect strategy to kick-start Q1 of 2020 with.

To prepare your SaaS pricing strategy for 2020, take these four steps:

1. Refresh your website’s pricing page
2. Launch a new enterprise experience
3. Identify hidden friction in your sales process
4. Harness the power of live pricing proposals

FastSpring Interactive Quotes can accomplish this and more — click here to see how we help sales reps increase their conversion rates and save 10+ hours every month. 

The post Is Your SaaS Pricing Strategy Ready for 2020? appeared first on FastSpring.

Q4 also means end-of-year budgeting, which can impact even the hottest leads. Shoestring budgets may be perceived as the enemy of goal fulfilment, but with the right approach and mindset they can be navigated successfully. 

To make the most of Q4 pricing strategies, we asked sales leaders to share their top tips for success. We broke their advice down into the four categories: 

Broaching Pricing

Challenge the instinct to avoid the pricing conversation. There are many advantages to broaching pricing with prospects, including encouraging needs prioritization and risk assessment.

Mary Rogul, VP Sales Strategy & Engagement at Crayon, notes that broaching pricing does not mean providing a final price point. “In the first conversation, you don’t know enough to give a succinct number,” she says. “My answer is usually “Based on what I know today, if I had to give you a price point at this juncture it would be in this range.”’  

Hannah Brennen, Account Executive at Diligen, says that bringing up ballpark figures early on can help shift the conversation to the prospect. “Try to get prospects to qualify themselves a little bit — make sure you’re on the same page — but then have in-depth discussions later in the process”

Best Practices for Q4 Pricing Strategies

Grounding your conversation in the needs of your prospect can save you time and create higher quality conversations. To do this, start considering what value means for both you and the prospect.

Lisa Schnare, Director of Sales Development & Head of Halifax Operations at Influitive, advises that value needs to be transparent from the get-go. “Ensure you understand the problems you’re solving for and how they impact the company’s objectives,” she says. “If the prospect can’t tie the need for your solution back to a company objective they are at a higher risk of either not getting executive sponsorship internally and/or churning when the contract is up for renewal.” 

Sales representatives play a significant role in helping prospects identify these needs, according to Rogul. “[Pricing conversations] are all centred around what do I know about the prospect, and what do I understand is valuable for you using our software,” she says. “If I see that it brings incredible value to you then ill start talking the best price point and package that moves you forward, but I have to understand what the priorities are with software alignment prior to those discussions.”

Major Faux-Pas for Pricing Discussions

While pricing talk can be a great opportunity for building trust and transparency, it can also be a slippery slope when navigated aggressively. 

It may be tempting to pull all the stops you can to close — but this strategy can miss the mark entirely in Q4. Rachel Shi, Account Director at eSSENTIAL Accessibility, encourages resisting the urge to discount right off the bat. “Understand the “why” behind the ask,” she notes. “Maybe it’s not the dollar value that’s the issue but where the customer is at in their budgeting cycle – in which case maybe you can get creative with terms instead.”

If you are hearing sticker-shock in the late-stages of closing, take a step back and evaluate if you’re hearing an objection to pricing or simply a complaint. Brennen explains that a prospect’s reaction to pricing is rooted in their perceived value, so sales reps should be ready to assess reactions as a misunderstanding of value. “If you’ve qualified your prospect properly, then any reaction shown to pricing should be more of a complaint than an objection,” she says. “A reaction doesn’t necessarily mean they object to price as long as they understand the context of value.”

Leveling Up Your Q4 Pricing Strategies

Advice is best taken when paired with personal development. Here are some recommended pricing resources from our experts:

Reading 

“Chris Voss’s book Never Split the Difference is invaluable for negotiations.” — Rachel Shi

(Click here for more recommended sales reads)

Training

“I was fortunate enough to take part in ValueSelling Training last year and it is incredible. I use what I learned in their training every day!” — Lisa Schnare

Tools

Using the right pricing tool can increase your deal velocity and help you close deals faster. Learn more about FastSpring Interactive Quotes, the ultimate SaaS pricing tool, by clicking here. 

The post Q4 Pricing Strategies from Sales Experts appeared first on FastSpring.