Chronicles of a startup. How we sold

Hello comrades! On Habré, I have long been asked to write an article about how we sold and sell our SaaS service. Finally found time for this post. I hope it will be useful. I tried to make the post not boring and suitable for Friday. So, gentlemen, let's go!

Introduction

It is probably right to say that when selling a new product, you need to choose those niches where the solution can bring great benefits and where it can obviously cope with the problems of potential customers. Our product Copiny is a company's Internet communications system with customers (a project with its audience). We have chosen the following niches for our, then still inexperienced, look: startups, Internet services, applications and games in social networks, Internet providers. We only had to dream about major brands, retailers and banks, since the product had not yet solved their problems, and we had neither successful cases nor experience in conducting transactions with large companies.

Autumn Syndrome

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The first niche we decided to touch was Internet startups. A small database of potential customers was created. Base recruited from open sources and directories, all this is brought to Excel. After numerous correspondence with potential customers, as well as after participating in several startup points and crash tests with the original slogan “Startup for startups”, we realized that we were not going there. Our product, of course, solves the problem of effective user feedback and allows you to prioritize the development of a startup. But there was one catch: we initially did not even think about making a free tariff and were naively focused on fast profit generation and self-sufficiency in a few months after the start. That is, we had to look for niches in which there is money. Start-ups, as it turned out, simply had no money for paid software.

We decided to go to another niche.

In October-November 2010, there was a peak in the development of companies producing games and applications for social networks. The audience at the games was huge, these projects brought huge profits to developers. We decided to “ride the crest of a wave” and we even managed to find innovators - customers who decided to try a new product. In particular, the game "Divers" began to use Copiny to support users, by the way, uses to this day. But there were also a number of problems in this niche. Firstly, it was a niche of developers, and developers are extremely hard to sell software, because, forgive my irony Habrazhiteli, “developers are the coolest of all and can make any product for less money”. Secondly, there were market problems: the market was new, most companies were young and often the developers themselves were at the helm, which was not enough for marketing and user support. In addition, the big profits that the games brought, let me think that everything is fine. Customer care was the tenth case. Having crammed the cones, we decided to seize Internet providers.

Winter fight

In January 2011, gritting his teeth, we began working with Internet providers. To such large companies, we have not knocked. Presentations were made, all kinds of studies were carried out, which we could be capable of, we even made an ROI calculation for providers, which calculated the impact of customer loyalty on the company's profits. From the open directories, the technical director of Kopini courageously made a base of providers. And off we go. A huge part of their time had to spend on cold calls. It was very hard for us to go to work, like in the last battle.

There were many problems, here are the main ones:
1. It was necessary to sell the service by phone, since it was not possible to meet with companies due to geographical reasons: the majority of clients were in large cities (Moscow, Kiev, Minsk).
2. We did not understand very well what kind of employee you need to knock on (to the IT director, the marketing department, the commercial director). We started with the commercial directors, who described the main profit for the company with profit growth. Of course, one had to hear these conversations when a guy from an unknown company, from the little-known city of Bryansk, knocks on the directors of a large company and tells them about the increase in the number of loyal clients some kind of innovative internet service.

As a result, they came to the conclusion that it is best to knock on the marketing and advertising department, where communication with customers is not the last thing for employees. A lot of time and nerve cells disappeared: we developed all sorts of call scripts, methods of circumventing the secretaries, worked out objections, finished the service in accordance with the wishes of the providers. More than 300 providers managed to make contact. Fortunately for us, there were several of them who saw the utility and prospects of the Copiny service. One of the first were Stork and Infolada . So began the capture of this niche, which, by the way, continues to this day.

Summer relief

Copiny brings real benefits to providers, this is seen by other companies in the industry and service is also beginning to be used. To date, Copiny has introduced more than 20 Internet providers in Russia and the CIS. We hope for the so-called "Tornado Effect" - an avalanche-like growth of this figure in the near future.
In parallel, we began to knock on other niches (brands of cosmetics, shoes, food). There, too, it was possible to get 1-2 clients for the intended scheme. They introduced, asked to tell about the results, made cases and went with them to others from the same niche. Currently, there are already major brands of various niches in customers (Coffee House, Danone, X5Retail, Evernote).
Many difficulties had to be overcome. But we did it! We have already begun to actively receive incoming requests from customers, agencies and partners. We received investments, began to participate in exhibitions. By the way, in the photo, our sales department at RIW2011 is trying to start a partnership with friends from the webinar service :)



Things got easier, and we are currently working on building a “proper sales force” that will put the closure of deals on stream.
By the way, just a couple of minutes ago, a well-known bank paid for the service! Here is a new niche!

Findings. Strategy and tactics

What should be done in a strategic plan?

• You need to clearly understand who your customers are, and make a product that solves their tasks 100%.
• Find innovators in this niche and offer them this product.
• When you get to sell, make a case / success story. Clearly in numbers to show how much money brought (or saved) your product to customers and how much it made them happier.
• Show it to the rest of the niche.
• When the niche is exhausted, go to the next.

What needs to be done tactically?

• It is necessary to clearly identify or form the business initiative of the client. The client should be willing to understand the product, find out details, etc.
• Then you need to create a value proposition, i.e. specific business benefits in numbers. The client must clearly understand what benefits he will receive. Benefits may be different for different decision makers (decision makers) within the company. In parallel, you need to work out the objections of potential customers.
• Make a specific commercial offer, which includes a value proposition, implementation approaches, etc.
• Receive confirmation of intent (from all decision makers), make sure that the budget is allocated.
• Further formalities: agree and sign an agreement, implement, etc.

Note: The process for personal b2b sales is described. It is not always necessary to sell this way, some companies simply register on our site , test and buy without any questions.

Friends, I have everything for today, I hope you do not fall asleep! If you have questions and additions, write, discuss!

upd: in the near future I will lay out cold call scripts, maybe something else is interesting?