domeet webmaster

This seems to be inconsistent with the perception of most ToB entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship has only two outcomes: growth and development until IPO, or entrepreneurial failure, and what determines this outcome is growth. As for the track, technology, products, funds, etc., it is only a necessary condition to support growth. Achieving growth is the goal that entrepreneurs always pursue.

However, the growth of ToB’s entrepreneurial process is not only difficult, but also very boring; there are various pitfalls in the growth path, making ToB’s road to entrepreneurship even more difficult.

“The headline rule of entrepreneurship is that there is no law.” Although there is no inevitable success model for ToB, if you can identify and circumvent the traps on the growth path, it will be closer to success.

Second, the growth model of revenue

Growth does not happen automatically. To achieve growth, you need to understand the laws and models of ToB growth and how growth is generated.

Performance growth can have many metrics, but the most representative indicator of growth or revenue, we look at the following two figures:

The first one is traditional software Marketing Funnel-Revenue Model, which is a funnel-shaped, one-time marketing revenue ends at the bottom of the funnel, To grow, you have to do more new customers.

The second is SaaS’s marketing funnel-revenue model, which is an hourglass. In addition to a single income, marketing and services throughout the customer’s lifecycle will generate ongoing revenue, such as renewals, purchases, and purchases, which are the lower half of the hourglass. It can be seen that this is a self-accelerated income model, called the ToB growth model, and all the company’s activities are built around the growth model.

It’s not hard to see from the comparison: the funnel model can only grow by continuously developing new customers. This is almost impossible for ToB; and the hourglass model is easier to grow. Growth is not entirely dependent on the development of new customers, but on the continued contribution of old customers.

Obviously, the income of the SaaS revenue model is very predictable, and the company can obtain a higher valuation premium in the future; therefore, the high valuation of foreign SaaS companies is not a bubble, it has high growth rate and expected income support. of. This is also the goal that domestic ToB companies can expect, but our growth has not yet reached this stage.

Third, establish a path of growth

Growth does not happen casually, and it doesn’t matter to luck and hard work. Just as any business has a business approach, SaaS growth also requires designing a growth path to avoid running away and running away.

The so-called growth path, from the lead to the revenue (LTR = Leads To Revenue), the design of the growth path must support and serve the growth model, the typical LTR is shown below.

In the beginning, we didn’t have to do a lot of data analysis. As long as we follow the growth model of SaaS and grasp the corresponding three-stage goals, there is a basic guarantee for growth. The three most important goals for growth are:

1.Generate more SQL

There are quantities and quality requirements for generated leads, which is not difficult to understand. However, because of different marketing methods, the quality and quantity of generated leads are different. You must choose and mix multiple marketing models to make it possible to generate more clues.

2. Sign more quality contracts

A good contract guarantees that one income is profitable and that future income can be expected. However, not all contracts are profitable, and even some contracts simply cannot perform, basicallyThere is no guarantee of income, let alone renewal and purchase.

3. Increase customer lifetime revenue

Properly generate revenue by extending customer lifecycles through good delivery and customer success.

The three phase goals on the growth path are nothing special. They are meant to enhance collaboration and improve business efficiency to ensure growth.

We will follow these three stages to bring in growth tasks and roles, to the greatest extent possible to reveal possible growth pitfalls, giving possible circumvention and resolution recommendations.

4. Marketing: Inflow to generate growth models

The entry flow of the so-called growth model, the SQL generated by marketing, is an important lever for inciting growth. An effective way to get high-quality sales leads is market team’s important contribution to growth.

1. The main way to generate leads

Although there are many marketing methods, the basic marketing methods for generating sales leads can be summarized into three types:

1) Collection Marketing

Collection of customer marketing is one of the most commonly used marketing methods on the Internet. It generates sales leads through one-to-many marketing activities, such as online advertising, social media, online and offline activities.

The advantages and disadvantages of customer marketing are also very obvious: the number of sales leads obtained is large, but the quality is not high; it works for small customers, but has little effect on medium and large customers.

2) Push marketing

Push-to-market marketing is a one-to-one marketing campaign, which is targeted and proactive marketing, such as SDR and direct marketing.

Advantages of push marketing:

Establish the active mindset and skills that startups must have to avoid the passive mentality of customer marketing dependence;

By increasing sales force, you can directly increase sales performance;

The marketing method necessary to grow a customer.

Pushing marketing is good, but it is often misused:

With untrained customer service, even interns, without the ability to talk to customers;

No clear target customers, call or email without a goal;

The product introduction sounds like it’s no different from the opponent, or it’s hard to understand, and the customer immediately loses interest.

3) Seeding Marketing

The so-called seeding marketing must have seeds, including customers, investors, partners and employees who get value. Seeding marketing is based on word of mouth or relationships, allowing products to spread quickly among potential customers, leading to sales leads.

In my big customer sales practice, I have repeatedly proved that sowing marketing can bring the most quality sales leads: high single rate, fast transaction speed, and continuous renewal. .

For a long time, influenced by the traditional CRM concept, the purpose of successful customer existence is to improve customer satisfaction. Looking at it now, this is the biggest misunderstanding of customer success.

If the customer is satisfied, will it not continue to buy? This kind of thinking may come from the traditional consumer service industry. For ToB customers, there is really no sufficient evidence to prove that there is a certain logic between the two.

In fact, investment customers succeed in order to grow. All the tasks and performance appraisals of the client’s success are set around this goal: reduce churn and increase revenue; rather than saying in general terms whether the customer is satisfied.

Summary

The only thing that ToB must do is growth. The growth of the SaaS growth model is not a positive growth, and the growth path will not be biased and run away;

It’s not difficult to grow, because growth has no secrets and flaws, respect for the law, adhere to the growth model and the growth path principle;

It’s hard to grow, because there are so many pitfalls in the LTR process, the need for such complex coordination, and the need for high self-discipline, which is beyond the institutional and managerial capabilities of most startups;

There is also a burden of responsibility that cannot be overcome in growth itself: no one is truly responsible for growth, everyone is responsible for their own KPIs, and it is difficult to challenge human nature, and startups need to transition to institutionalization as soon as possible;

Capital change from gambling track to gambling growth, and the growth rate will determine whether it can be financed or rejected by capital.