This is part one of the four-part series of SaaSy Thought Leadership wherein we break down the anatomy of a sale. Starting with enterprise sales. What is it all about? Its role and its importance.
Enterprise sales allows you to procure big contracts for longer terms, longer, sales cycles, has many many decision-makers, and holds a greater degree of risk than SMB sales.
To put it another way, enterprise sales are sales of large-scale corporate products. It’s worth noting that many startups start with transactional sales because they’re lower cost, have shorter sales times, and are motivated by marketing and sales.
Is enterprise sales right for your startup?
The enterprise sales model isn’t correct for any startup; in reality, it’s most popular in established companies that have already grown significantly (more on this later). The enterprise sales model, as previously discussed, has longer sales periods and higher risk, making it less than an optimal model for many startups in their early stages of growth.
However, in some cases, the enterprise sales model is the best sales model for a startup. For example, corporate revenues would be appropriate for your SaaS startup if you’re developing a solution that might be deemed vital to the survival of major companies, or if your solution has a strategic effect on company operations.
Why is the enterprise sales model important for your business?
Enterprise sales are where your SaaS company’s “true money” is made. Enterprise customer contracts can be big, even while the customer acquisition expense is exponentially greater, the return in terms of sales and business value is too tempting to pass up.
The enterprise sales model is based on building long-term relationships with customers, which means longer sales times and greater risk than most sales models. When it comes to attracting and keeping corporate clients. At the end of the day, it’s all about how you structure the sale strategically, tactically, and financially.
Stay tuned for the continuation of this four-part series podcast as we dissect and dig in deeper with this sales example.
About the Hosts:
Edward Golod, Founder & CEO of Revenue Accelerators, and co-Founder of Technical Thought Leader (.com). Ed is a C-Suite Sales, Marketing & Value expert, as well as the revenue architect for clients in three continents and 10+ countries. Ed has personally been responsible for closing $265M in Enterprise sales throughout his career and has grown two startups, had two exits, and grown on to $40M. Ed regularly is renowned for his unique ability to create, articulate and leverage executive and value-based messaging that has reached the C-Suite at Fortune 100 companies, creating new opportunities at Viacom, JPMC, Citicorp, Cablevision, Voya Financial, HBO, Lowes, Under Armor, Dicks Sporting Goods just to name a few. Ed’s sales systems have generated $100’s million of dollars and $3.4B in value for him and his clients.
Ed can be reached at ed@revenueaccelerators.com or on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/edwardgolod
Gloria Gunn is the CEO of TechnicalThoughtLeader.com and has personally developed thought leadership selling strategies for technology companies that have been responsible for 7- figure deals. Gloria has personally had a front-row seat to over 1 million LinkedIn messages. Gloria’s businesses have generated over 8 figures by selling our products and services from LinkedIn. Clients, customers, & subscribers have successfully generated 10s of millions of dollars for themselves and their clients from our systems, packages, & products. Gloria also successfully positions her clients as experts with authority so that they can go upmarket and close real business.
Gloria can be reached at gloria@technicalthoughtleader.com or on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gloriagunn