How to Drive SaaS Outbound Sales With Customer Engagement Marketing
Customer engagement marketing (CEM) is a marketing strategy used to engage and retain customers. It is designed to create a two-way dialogue with customers, understanding their needs and desires and then satisfying them. By doing this, companies can drive SaaS outbound sales.
According to Help Scout, a customer-centric sales approach is one that is designed to drive revenue and profitability through an ongoing dialogue with the customer.
In another study made by Gallup, SaaS companies that engage their customers successfully achieved over 60% reduction in customer attrition and 50% more revenue. Moreover, they observed more than 50% increased productivity within these SaaS companies.
In this article, we will discuss a few ways on how to use CEM to your advantage. But before that, let’s talk about some basic terms and terminologies…
What Is Outbound Sales?
Outbound sales involves generating leads for your company and then closing deals with them directly. The goal of this type of marketing is to generate new business opportunities that can lead to revenue in the form of contracts or subscriptions with your customers (i.e., “an agreement where one party agrees to pay money only if certain conditions are met”). Outbound sales is a sales technique mainly used by B2B companies.
Unlike inbound sales, you don’t have to first find your customers’ needs and then propose a solution for them to buy. Outbound sales is generally faster than inbound marketing because you are selling directly to your prospects, which can be quicker and easier, depending on the situation.
It is also important to note that when you use customer engagement marketing (or CEM) to drive outbound sales, you are targeting the right person at the right time. This can be referred to as the “right person at the right place.” For example, if your SaaS product is used by a large number of engineers, you could target your sales efforts to IT managers who are responsible for engineering budgets. This type of marketing is often referred to as “cold calling” because it involves contacting customers without them having an existing relationship with your company.
At the other end of the spectrum, you can target your SaaS sales efforts to customers that are likely to become repeat customers. In the geospatial industry, some of your customers are likely to be members of specific organizations that would benefit from purchasing your products and services. For example, if you sell a SaaS product that is used by the military and intelligence community, you might choose to target your marketing efforts to those individuals.
If you want to save money by targeting the least expensive prospects, you can obtain a list of all customers from the companies where your SaaS company has existing relationships with.
Why You Need a Different Approach for SaaS
SaaS is a very different product than other B2B products, and it’s not just the way that you sell it that makes it unique. It also has unique features that make it difficult to deal with as a sales person in traditional ways.
For example, if you’re using a traditional CRM system like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics (which both offer some SaaS integrations), then your customers have access to their data from any device and at any time. That means that they may access their records even when they’re not working on their computers or laptops.
Using traditional sales and marketing methods, you’re going to have to reach out to your customers in some way, shape or form. This is a lot of work, especially when you consider that you may get one email response per month out of 10,000 customers.
Customer engagement, on the other hand, doesn’t require you to do any work. You simply send a message that is relevant to the potential customer, and once they’ve read it, the conversation is over. You don’t have to contact your customers again until they need some sort of service or product that you offer.
Customer engagement is the complete opposite of traditional sales and marketing. Customer engagement allows you to use technology, such as email, social media and chatbots to promote your business without having to go out and make cold calls or send out newsletters. This type of marketing is a subset of account based marketing that focuses on building relationships with individual customers, rather than selling through mass media or cold calls. Account-based marketing requires a different set of skills than traditional outbound sales methods, but it can be very effective in winning new business.
The Art of Customer Engagement
Customer engagement is the process of interacting with customers to understand their needs and desires, and then providing them with the appropriate service or product. It can be used on inbound or outbound marketing channels, but its ultimate goal is to increase customer loyalty and reduce customer churn.
Customers engage with companies when they have a need and desire for their products or services. Thus, the most effective companies make a meaningful effort to engage with their customers to understand their needs and desires, and then provide them with the appropriate or desired changes to their service or product.
Customer Engagement Benefits
Customer engagement benefits include the following: increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and even qualified lead conversion. Additionally, customer engagement marketing can help increase brand awareness, improve customer communication, and drive better business decisions. All of which can result in increased revenue for your company.
1. Increased Customer Satisfaction. By engaging with customers on a regular basis, customer success teams can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. In turn, this can lead to higher retention rates and more referrals.
2. Increased Loyalty and Repeat Purchases. Customers you engage with are more likely to become loyal customers and they’ll be more likely to buy any of your future SaaS products.
3. Increased Revenue. Customers you engage with are more likely to become repeat buyers. There’s a good chance that they will purchase new add-ons you put out or upgrade to the next pricing tier.
4. Customer Advocacy. Customers you engage with are more likely to advocate for that SaaS product to others.
Customer engagement encompasses a wide range of activities, from being able to connect with customers via social media to having meaningful conversations with them that involve specific knowledge about their needs and desires.
How to Optimize Customer Engagement
SaaS outbound sales is a key pillar of customer success. Successful SaaS sales teams rely on a strong outbound process to connect with potential customers and close deals. Here are essential tips for implementing an effective outbound sales process that engages customers:
1. Establish a strong relationship with your customers
Start by building a strong relationship with your customers. This means understanding their needs and wants, and then providing them with the best possible service or products. Make it easy for them to contact you, offer helpful support tools, and reply promptly to any inquiries. For example, if you are a SaaS company, your customers will want to contact you via the live chat tool or email.
2. Focus on outbound content marketing for SaaS
Outbound content marketing is a great way to get leads and build relationships with every prospect. It also helps educate prospects about your SaaS, which can lead them to buy from you. Outbound content marketing is effective because it provides value in the form of education or information, which means that it’s likely to attract attention from those who might not have found out about your product otherwise.
In addition, outbound content marketing has the added benefit of being able to help build trust between yourself as a business and your customers by showing them how much you care about their needs and wants-and ultimately making them feel more comfortable trusting in what you’re offering than any other option available at this point in time (or even later). A good way to think of outbound content marketing is as a salesperson who uses a variety of different methods to talk to and connect with potential clients in order to sell them on the idea of buying your product or service.
3. Create SaaS-specific sales collateral
Sales collateral is a set of documents that are used to provide information about a product or service. It can include anything from brochures and books to videos, whitepapers and social media posts.
It’s important for your outbound sales team to have relevant sales collateral for their customers because it helps them understand what you’re offering before they even contact you. If the content isn’t specific enough, then it will be hard for them to use it as an effective tool in their own marketing efforts-and this means less business!
For example: A SaaS company might have different types of sales materials depending on whether they’re selling directly or through an agency partner (e.g., CPA).
Social selling is an opportunity for your SaaS company to build relationships with people who are already interested in what you offer (in this case, a SaaS tool). This is because it already has something they want so they’ll be willing to buy from you later down the road.
5. Hire the right outbound sales rep
There are many reasons why you should consider hiring the right SaaS sales development representative to optimize your sales.
First, if you have the wrong people on your team selling your software, you’re going to struggle to get leads and close deals. Second, if your SaaS sales reps aren’t qualified or don’t have the necessary skills, they won’t be able to effectively sell your software. And finally, if they don’t have the right tools and resources available to them, they won’t be able to do their jobs effectively.
If you want to maximize your SaaS outbound sales results, it’s important to find a team of skilled SaaS sales reps who can help you sell more software. Hiring the right talent is key in order for them to be able to identify and connect with potential customers and closed deals.
Important Things to Remember
An Outbound sales strategy works in B2B SaaS, but you need to be smart about how you do it.
- Remember that outbound sales is a good way to generate leads and close deals. You can’t rely on just one channel of communication with clients; they want all their options available when they’re considering a solution, so make sure that your website has an easy-to-navigate navigation bar, which will help them find exactly what they’re looking for: a way to communicate with you and be heard.
- Be clear about what value your SaaS product will bring them (and why it’s worth paying for). This should be visible from the beginning. Don’t wait until after getting someone interested in doing business with you before explaining why your software is important and valuable for their business’ needs!
- Find the right lead generation channels. Outbound sales methods vary depending on the type of product a company offers. For example, some companies use email marketing to generate leads, while others rely more heavily on social media and PR outreach. Try different marketing channels, and then once you have determined which channels work best for your company, focus your efforts there.
- Set clear objectives and goals. Before embarking on any outbound sales activity, establish specific goals that you want to achieve. This will help you stay focused and prevent your efforts from becoming diluted.
Final Thoughts
Customer engagement marketing is a critical part of driving SaaS outbound sales. To reap the full benefits of customer engagement marketing, it’s important to start by engaging with your customers on a personal level. This means building relationships with them that go beyond transactional interactions. It also means providing valuable content and services that meet their needs and interests.
By engaging with customers on a personal level, you can drive them to become advocates for your SaaS product and increase the likelihood that they will recommend it to their friends and colleagues. Whether you are using social media, email marketing, or even in-person interactions, make sure to focus on creating a strong relationship with your customers in order to drive them to purchase your product.
Another key factor in achieving success with customer engagement marketing is effective communication. It is important for you to understand the needs and desires of your customers, as well as their social networks. This will help you identify what information they care about, and create a strategy that will effectively reach them.
Need more tips on growing your SaaS business? Don’t forget to check out our blog.
