The Harsh Reality of Prospecting in SaaS Today

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This post isn’t meant to put a damper on your Holiday vacation, but rather shed some light on the harsh truths around prospecting in today’s SaaS ecosystem.

Let’s start with the sheer volume of competitors. The amount of competition has exploded exponentially with the amount of B2B solutions providers in the market.  The number has grown from just a few in the Early 2000s to over 30,000 now in 2023.  With the additive explosion of a.i. solutions, this number is probably already outdated.

You might ask yourself “How the game has changed”? Well, it starts with the ease of access to information and the amount of buyers that are much more savvy (conducting their own online research) and unwilling to devote time without a real need.  Next, buyers can’t possibly meet with all their prospective vendors who might be able to solve their problem, so they need to “Filter” their results down to a smaller subset to engage with…so if you aren’t on the “short-list” of the buyer, you have no shot.

Buyers conducting their own research is the reason 42% of Salespeople say prospecting is the most challenging stage of the sales process. 45% (almost half!) of prospects admitted they wanted to evaluate their needs and look for solutions themselves, before contacting any salesperson.

-94% of buyers use the internet to “make their own research” before making purchases.

Another added complexity layer to prospecting into organizations is that company corporate structures and roles are getting more and more complex. There are new roles popping up constantly (a.i., sustainability, data) and it has never been harder to know exactly who is the right person to evaluate your solution. You are literally searching for a needle in a haystack.

We all know that prospecting is important because 9 times out of 10, the prospect isn’t going to approach you and say: “hey, I need your software solution please”. Prospecting is a numbers game and the more attempts you have to open an opportunity and run a sales cycle, the more deals will close.  In our business about 25% of our Stage 2 opportunities we will win.  About 50% of Stage 4 opportunities and so on.  You need to fill up the top of your funnel in order to have more attempts at moving opportunities forward.  

So how can you get ahead of all your competition and make sure when your prospects are looking for your solution, that you are at the top of the list?

1. The most important concept is to build as many executive relationships as you can. Let them know what you do, and how you can help them. Bring forward a perspective on other customers that have similar problems and how you have solved them.

2. If you don’t have the relationships at the top (C-suite), then work with contacts who are living in the weeds of the problem you are trying to solve. This can help you build your point of view (perspective) on how your solution can help the customer. Once you have a compelling point of view and solution, you can then bring that up the chain to the executives. I like to validate my POV with my champion prior to bringing this to a C-Level Executive.

3. Is there a large consulting firm that partners with your prospect? Think Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, EY(the big 4). If you can have conversations with the Client Account Lead, you can gain a wealth of information. Just remember there has to be something in it for them too. Can you introduce them to other areas of the business or perhaps other customers of yours that they are trying to get into?

4. If you are prospecting into an organization you have no relationship with, start building out a point of view: What are some problems similar organizations had, and how did you solve them? What were the benefits or business metrics that your solution impacted? If you leverage LinkedIn, make sure you are connected to all your organization’s leadership. You never know who is connected from your organization to your prospects. I have seen just 1 connection to someone on the board change the entire relationship for a Sales rep. Look at mutual connections and find any/all reasons to connect.

   **Pro Tip: You can usually find someone who has done business with your company (or evaluated your solution) by if they follow your organization on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. So try to find leads who follow your company.

5. Become a Resource: Send them a note and share helpful information (even if it’s not geared towards your solution), and be a resource for them. I send things to my customers all the time…” hey, I saw this and immediately thought of you and that problem you were talking about last month”. This is the quickest way I have seen to get out of the “Vendor” relationship and transition into the “Trusted Advisor” pedestal.

Now, this list isn’t comprehensive but will get you on the right path in navigating this competitive and flooded market. We would love to hear your additional ideas on how to gain traction in a more difficult landscape than ever.