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SELLING TWILIO APPSPatrick McKenzie – Kalzumeus Software

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My Business

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Two Ways To Sell Software Low-touch sales Demand driven Convert customers at scale: web, email, etc End-user is buyer Lower price points High-touch sales Supply driven Convert customers one at a time End-user probably is not buyer Higher price points (up to $GADZOOKS)

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The Curious Case of Modern SaaS Monthly billing is a core innovation. $X,000 LTVs can be acquired at low-touch Hybrid models are possible $200/month for small businesses … but you need an SLA? Talk to sales team.

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A Brief Primer On SaaS Pricing Price based on value, not on cost. Anchors matter! Do NOT anchor on Twilio cost! Segment to capture customer value. The 4 plan pricing page Evolutionary maxima for low-touch SaaS. Not necessarily optimal for high-touch sales. Interesting ways to play with it. Always remember: it is not their money.

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Pricing Page Teardown

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Single Most Actionable Tip atTwilioConOfferAnnualBilling

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The Six Figure Email Offer discount (“1 monthfree”) if they switch toannual billing. Offer it to “loyalcustomers” over email One click + confirmationto switch. Conversion rate from10% to 25%+ Immediate revenue of$200 per email sent

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Low-touch Stuff That Works SEO / AdWords / marketing site / etc Olark / chat widgets / etc Fully-functional free trials Funnel optimization Product tours Email. Email. Email.

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Let’s Talk Product Tours 40 ~ 60% of 1st time users won’t ever comeback First experience of app has to rock Customization screens do not rock Empty dashboards do not rock Productivity apps (w/o team) do not rock

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Three Goals Of A Tour 1) Demonstrate one awesome improvementto the user, immediately. 2) Establish a reason why the user shouldcome back. 3) Ask users to invite anyone appropriate intothe app.

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Appointment Reminder ProductTour Problem: Customers require 4 ~ 6 weeks toperceive value from product … and the product has a 30 day trial … and 60% of users abandon on Day 1 Solution: Demonstrate value on Day 1

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Tour Script Customer first listens to reminder on theirphone. Then, they learn how to scheduleappointments. Then, they learn how to manipulateappointments. Then, they learn what they should do next. This would be a great point to sell sell sell. Or to ask them to invite their co-workers into theapp.

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Ugly As Sin But It Works

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Single Best Tour TipIntroduceSticky

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EmailCustomers

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Low Conversion To Trial? Sell ViaEmail Conversion from visitor to paying signup: ~1% Conversions to free email submission can be20 ~ 40%, particularly if you offer a decentincentive Send people a drip campaign “One month free course, delivered overemail, about $TOPIC” 6 ~ 8 emails Educate. Persuade. Then, and only then, sell. Absolutely prints money.

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Sample Landing Page For EmailSubmit Offers immediateincentive for signup Asks for permissionto contact, with thecourse offering Describes whatthey’ll get if theyopt-in http://speed.wpengine.com

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Drip Marketing Example

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More Advanced Uses Of Email Client starts using software? Send “personalized welcome” from the CEO. Client looks like they’ll cancel? Send a rescue email. (“Write back and I’ll extendtrial.”) Client doesn’t use a particular feature? Send a getting started guide. Client getting to decision point? Send them an ROI calculation!

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Weekly Checkup (“Get ThemPromoted”)

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EveryoneCanDo Sales

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Core High-Touch Sales Insights You are not being bought by the person usingthe software. Customers can “request” high-touch sales withquestions or behavior in trial. Expectations are very different.

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Who Is The Decisionmaker? Business owner? Typical for SMB Head of IT? Head of Ops? Project lead lower in the organization?

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Dealing With Purchasing Cycle Purchasing may have adversarial relationshipwith users. Purchasing is scored on discounts. Purchasing hates rejecting work, wants you toreject them. Lead -> Call -> Meeting -> Proposal -> FormalQuote -> Deliver -> Invoice -> Heat Death ofUniverse -> Check Arrives

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Purchasing Has A Checklist Lacking certain things will auto-kill deals. SLA Support/maintenance contract Industry-specific compliance (HIPAA, etc) “Sign our standard vendor contract” You need to have and mention that you havethese things. Charge through the nose for these things.

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Enterprises Have Money. TakeIt! SLA Maintenance / support Custom integration work … and maintenance! Training Delivered in person Delivered scalably (videos, etc)

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Key Sales Anchors “The fully-loaded cost of one employee” Wasted time with hard costs associated with it Truck rolls High-value employees Low-value employees who are monitoredeffectively Lost business / missing revenues / etc Missed appointments Missed opportunities for sales Case studies make this much more credible

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Have A Question You Can’tAnswer?RoleplayingExercise

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Dealing With Pricing Objections Never compromise on unit prices. Purchasing needs a discount. Give them one: Bundled extra, “normally” charged $X, for $Yinstead Nominal discount for pre-payment orcommitment.

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Unfortunate Necessities Corporate shield Insurance Lawyer (ideally, on standby)

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More Goodies! LifecycleEmails.com : 5 hour videocourse, with annotated examples, of how touse email to sell SaaS better. kalzumeus.com/blog : ~6 years of posts training.kalzumeus.com : Free video onimproving first run experience of app patrick@kalzumeus.com or @patio11 I love talking about this.