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Unless your business startup is linked to a very famous brand already, making it popular and profitable would be very challenging. No business would ever thrive if no customer would patronize it. That’s why getting a few dozens of them in the first few weeks could define the outcome of your company for the years to come – if it’s lucky enough to stay that long.
Here are 5 tips that can help SaaS startups close deals with their first batch of clients.
Solidifying your online presence
If you own a SaaS business, you should have already established your online presence. But because of the very stiff competition that exists, having your website would never be enough. You need to truly solidify your presence on the web, and this could mean that you need to own any or all of the following:
A blog site – One of the traits that increase the appeal of an online business is the existence of a digital publication area where engaging, high-quality articles about their products and services can be posted. It can make a SaaS business appear very trustworthy.
A video-streaming portal – A vlog channel on YouTube or other similar platforms where interviews and testimonials from people can be viewed by the clients, as well as those who might be interested to sign up for your business could be a great means of advertising.
A forum – This is where your clients and subscribers can communicate with each other, where they can reach out to you and where they can ask questions.
Making the above-mentioned portals is surprisingly cheap nowadays. Any SaaS business should highly exploit them. Even during the first few days after launch, getting a few dozen viewers should be attainable already. In the next weeks or months, hundreds could be visiting them regularly. Even in this first step, you should be getting your first 100 customers already.
Through relentless cold email outreach
Cold email outreach must never be removed from the task list that your company should perform. It is the means by which person-to-person marketing can be done.
Advertising is still the best way to make your business known to people. And although appearing in the ad boxes of websites and publications is still very helpful, reaching out through cold email campaigns could still generate the same level of impact.
You could commission your staff to do it, or you could hire a cold email agency to do it for you. Either way, such a method must never be removed from the task list that your company should perform. It is how person-to-person marketing can be done.
Because emails can be read from the inboxes of your potential clients, the communication that takes place between you and them could appear to be very personal. In this process, you could poke into their emotions even more, as your email message could lead to a phone call, or a video call, which could result in a live demo of your products. In no time, you could end up gaining sales because of the cold email messages you’re sending to people that you have no prior connection.
By being present on all prominent social media platforms
The good thing about social media sites is that they can be signed up for free by almost anyone. Furthermore, nearly all of them offer a business-type account in which you can promote your products and services to a wider audience.
You may have a Facebook page already, but have you signed up for LinkedIn yet? It is a social media site built specifically for businesses. Many multi-million dollar companies are leveraging the advantages that they can give. Some online entrepreneurs even claim that if you have no thriving account on LinkedIn, you shouldn’t be labeled as a serious businessman. How about Twitter? How about Instagram? Are you setting up a digital representation of your business on those portals?
Of course, it would be very hard to maintain your fame equally on all those platforms. The main point is that in every social media platform that exists, you should have some presence. Even though the number of potential clients that you can get from some of them would just be very few, they could still help with the spreading of your brand.
Because joining social media sites is easy and is mostly free, then you should utilize them to further the renown of your business. There are a lot of them. There might even be some that you haven’t heard of before. Utilize them to the fullest to truly maximize your reach.
By being clear on how your clients’ problems will be solved
As a SaaS business, you are meant to provide IT solutions to people. And if you aren’t clear enough in how you might do it, your clients would find you to be very unappealing. According to online publishing experts, the fact that only very few websites make it to the top of Google searches, not too many can solve people’s problems.
If your clients can clearly see that you are the answer to their deepest concerns, there is no reason that they would refuse your offers.
Any type of media that you publish on the internet should be focused on one reason only – it has to help people make their lives better and easier. And since you are a SaaS company, you should be very clear with your goals on how you will provide solutions to the difficulties that your clients are experiencing.
Some companies make their products appear to be very flashy and elegant to the point that they look expensive and top-class. However, no strategy is better than emphasizing the efficiency of your software products. If your clients can see that it is the answer to their deepest concerns, there is no reason that they would refuse your offers.
By giving satisfactory services to the first few clients
The most successful businesses are often those that give the best kinds of products along with the best customer services – this is a fact that must never be forgotten. In handling your very first customers, even if there are just 10 of them, you have to make sure that they are given the best treatment, the friendliest conversations, and the quickest troubleshooting responses.
Bear this in mind: How you treat your first clients can greatly define how well you’ll do in the next few months of your business. If they are well-treated, your first happy customers will surely spread the word about how good you are, and will surely refer you to their friends.
If you can handle 10 clients well enough, it will only be a matter of time before your mind is conditioned to handle the next 100 of them well, which could become a thousand… if you never allow the quality of your services to get downgraded as your business grows exponentially as the days roll on.
You may also like: Simple Content Marketing Playbook for SaaS companies
