SaaS Sales Training: 11 Ways to Improve Your Sales

52 percent of SaaS companies increased their spending on customer retention in 2020. Why? How? 

SaaS market saturation is high. This means that you have to work at great lengths to stand out among your market. You have a lot of competition, and potentially just as much of a high customer churn rate. Customer acquisition may not be as tough, but customer retention? That’s a whole other ball game. 

To keep up with those other SaaS companies that are investing in customer retention, you have to invest in SaaS sales training. 

You have multiple sales training companies to choose a sales training program from. These companies might focus on sales skills training, online sales training, or B2B sales training. But you have to get specific to accommodate your specific company needs. You need the best sales training that is available. 

More than that, you need SaaS sales training that addresses the right areas for you to improve your customer retention rates. 

What is Software as a Service (SaaS) Sales?

Before you know how to pick the perfect SaaS sales training program, you need to understand just what SaaS is. 

Software as a Service (SaaS) is how you can remotely host, manage and secure software. Back in the day, you had to buy expensive and unwieldy hardware onsite, wherever you needed it. But SaaS uses the cloud to host software now, instead. 

SaaS has fast become a key player in the world of subscription-based services. 

And this is where SaaS sales comes in. You have a bit of a harder time selling on occasion because there is not a physical product that you sell to promote high-volume sales. Instead, you end up with high-dollar sales from a smaller number of closed deals. 

There is also the matter of whether you are working in B2B or B2C SaaS sales. 

B2C SaaS sales plays on the concept of the freemium model. In this model, customers will receive a free trial where they have to pay a membership fee to continue after the time their free trial runs out. On the other side of it, your entire SaaS may be free to use, but additional add-ons or upgrades cost money. 

For B2C SaaS sales, you would be hard-pressed to find a rep calling users to upsell. But with B2B SaaS sales, your sales cycle is much longer than that of B2C, where a lot more can go– well– not according to plan. 

And this is one of the prime reasons why you need to expect the unexpected with a little help from a SaaS sales training program. Training for sales, in general, is important. As we said, you have a lot of sales training programs out there to pick from. This could include in-person or online sales training programs. 

But a SaaS sales training course will zero in on certain obstacles you need to overcome to be successful in your SaaS sales. 

How Can You Improve Your SaaS SalesHow Can You Improve Your SaaS Sales?

There are certain things you want to ensure your selected SaaS sales training program covers. As you discover the various sales classes and sales training courses available to you, make sure your particular sales training course touches on the following 11 techniques. 

1. Perform SEO on Your SaaS Platforms

You might be quite familiar with using SEO for your internal blog posts. You use hyperlinks, keywords that you come up with through keyword research, and more. 

But you may not realize yet that you need to use SEO principles on your website in its entirety. 

SEO is a critical component of lead nurturing, which could be an area you are lacking in as far as customer retention. 

Here are some other steps you want to adhere to as you optimize your entire site: 

  • Market research, especially when it comes to your audience/ideal buyers. 
  • Keyword research. 
  • Metadata reviews. 
  • Backlinks. 
  • A/B testing. 

Uncomfortable with those SEO principles? Not sure where to start? No worries. Look for sales training programs that teach you the ropes of SEO, and how to best use it on each of your site pages. 

2. Use PPC Marketing

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing and advertising is key element to your success in SaaS sales. Of course, you have to do it right. And if you do (which you can learn through the best SaaS sales training), you will see a massive ROI in a short period of time. 

Here are some of the steps you can take with your PPC marketing strategy: 

  • Top-of-the-funnel (TOF) lead targeting. 
  • Trust and relationship building. 
  • Competitiveness. 
  • Landing page optimization. 
  • Consistency. 
  • Clear-cut communication methods. 

3. Incentivize Your Referrals

Have you ever received those pesky emails from other companies that prompt you to “refer a friend today!”? 

You probably thought something along the lines of: “What’s in it for me?” 

And your market is no different. You cannot expect someone to refer a friend to use your service without giving them a reason to do so in the first place. Referral marketing is in fact one of the most effective ways to acquire new customers. 

But you have to learn how to do it effectively from the start. 

4. Boost Your Average Revenue per User (ARPU)

Your Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is how you measure the amount of revenue that every one of your customers/users generates over a selected timeframe. 

Measure it by dividing monthly recurring revenue by the number of users for that time period. 

Your SaaS sales training should cover a mix of the following tactics to improve your ARPU: 

  • Product improvement and product placement. 
  • Pricing adjustments as needed. 
  • Cross-selling and upselling. 

Increase Your Sign-Up Rates

5. Increase Your Sign-Up Rates

What does your sign-up process look like right now for your customers? 

If you answered that question with anything other than “Simple!” then it’s time for a change. The fact that you offer free trials will not be enough to keep or acquire a customer if your process here is too complicated. 

Keep it simple, easy-to-understand and to-the-point. 

6. Boost Your Social Media Presence

Everyone is on social media. And you might be, too. But with so much of that SaaS saturation to contend with, your presence there has to shine. 

Actually, it has to glare

Have you aligned your channels yet? Are you interacting with your followers? Find some sales programs that teach you how to do both of those things consistently. 

7. Build Your Credibility

Trust goes a long way, does it not? In your personal life, you go to a reliable and trustworthy confidante for advice. And when you make an investment, for a new SaaS or anything else, you need it to be from a credible company. 

Here are some ways how to build your own: 

  • Real testimonials. 
  • Legitimate seals of approval. 
  • Case studies. (And don’t skimp out on the details.)
  • Constant availability from your support team. 
  • Awards that you display on your site. 

8. Offer a FREE Trial Period

Maybe you saw us mention “free trials” multiple times already, but you do not have one. You should! 

Without one, you are missing out on recurring revenue from countless potential users. 

You also want to be sure that your free trial period does not last too long, which is something your sales training should cover as well. 

Personalize Your Email Marketing9. Personalize Your Email Marketing

Email marketing is insanely helpful for converting your leads and turning them into long-standing customers. But not if you don’t customize your email marketing campaigns for them. 

We all want to ignore emails that look like they came from the hands of a robot. Respond actively to any replies, use customer names and give your emails a voice of their own. 

10. Optimize Your Content

Content marketing is a surefire way to win in your SaaS sales strategy. So you have to optimize your content to reap the full benefits. To do this, find out who your audience is, their characteristics, and preferences. Also, look at their buying behaviors. 

For example, in order of most to least preferable, here is what those between the ages of 18 and 24 prefer from content marketing:  

  • Videos. 
  • News articles. 
  • Social media posts. 
  • Social photos.
  • Research reports. 
  • Email content 
  • e-books. 
  • And the list goes on. 

11. Make Your CTAs Clear and Visible

Your call-to-action (CTA) is how you communicate what you expect of your customers in your content. 

It is the specific action you urge them to take with your brand. But remember, it has to be specific. Your CTAs are vital to your business growth, as they help you direct your market to take the actions that will benefit your company. 

Keep them short, easy to follow, and in plain sight. 

Conclusion

Finding the right sales training program for your business is not far out of reach. 

In fact, you can find it right here, when you come to Selling Revolution to level up your selling system

Our Selling Revolution experts will help you to get better leads, higher conversion rates, and sales training that lasts. 

Book a call with Selling Revolution today.