This is an abridged, just-the-facts version of our previous article: Why Buyer-Led is the Next SaaS Sales Model

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• Ahead of launching buyersjourney.ai, we spoke to 31 B2B SaaS buyers:  

• ~ Enterprise, mid-market and start ups
• ~ Europe, Australia, US
• ~ Technical evaluators at different levels of seniority

• Here’s what we learned about how technical buyers view the sales process for complex technology solutions.

"Software Buyers Have Changed, the Sales Process Hasn’t"

• Today’s SaaS buyer is digital-first:

• ~Does their own research: Google, communities (reddit, stack overflow), review sites (G2, Gartner), and consultants/peer recommendations
• ~Is used to async communications (distributed teams, Slack / MS Teams)
• ~Gartner: 44% of millennials don’t want to speak to a rep; HBR: 54% of millennials and 29% of baby boomers

• The sales process hasn’t evolved:

• ~Meeting-centric (“can I have 15 minutes of your time?”)
• ~Emails back and forth to deliver crucial information (cost indication, differentiators, best practices, how to build a biz case)
• ~Multiple qualification calls (SDR, AE, SE)

The Future of SaaS Sales is Buyer-Led

• Buyers are frustrated with the current process
• What they want is:
• ~ Ideal first touch: Async discovery to build a requirement table.
• ~~"Do you solve my problem, at what price, and how much a fit?
• ~Then explore each of your feature based on "importance" . and rate the "performance" and give pros and cons.
• ~Compare yours with other solutions. See their perspectives. add or delete requirement if needed
• ~~"Static battle card not helpful. The ability to edit is key"
• ~Fast track to technical expertise to ask PoC-specific Qs
• ~Access to current users for their perspectives.
• ~Access to a community for support (or gamify and create fun challenges).
• ~Sales can facilitate and guide on the commercial/business case.

1. Asynchronous discovery to build a requirement table

• Async first. Once relevance is there. then Sync
• ~Before Buyers qualify the vendor and become 70% confident there is a fit, they rather not to commit to a Sales call,  trial or demo.
• ~Buyers want an asynchronous discovery they can complete anytime and anywhere. (much like remote work these day!)

• What buyers want from the discovery
• ~Transparent and objective guidance (cost indication, what should be considered based on my business drivers/needs, where you're best suited, where you are not suited, your unique differentiators)
• ~Fill in the gaps left by website / marketing buzzwords (eg. best, unique AI, most accurate etc)
• ~How to build a requirement table
• ~How to build a business case
• ~Next steps in the buying journey by similar companies.

• How can Vendors leverage?

• ~Position yourself as a transparent thought-leader.
• ~~Common Vendor stereotype is biased, withholding info and rigid sales process.
• ~Provide both Async and Sync discovery options for the stage buyers are in
• ~Help them build interactive decision criteria and business case
• ~~Which serves as a map to eval/trial effectively and quickly
• ~~Where they Compare competitors, score and note down feedback, ask Qs and collect rewards.
• ~~Next missions to progress into : PoC, Commericial talks, Legal/Finance checks and Onboarding
• ~~ easily shared format among stakeholders

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2. From Sales Qualified to Buyer Qualified - The Buyer Wants to Own the Process

• Frameworks such as MEDDPPIC, Command of the Message - sales reps extracts the info from the buyer to ‘qualify’ them
• Attending a demo is a chore, especially when many busy stakeholders in different time zones need to be gathered
• Buyers want clarity:
• ~Create a business case to share with their team, manager and buying committee
• ~~project background, impact, timeline and justifications
• ~Define success metrics and decision criteria - Must haves, Nice to haves
• ~Compare vendors and show due diligence - Pros and Cons

• How can Vendors leverage?‍

• ~Allow buyers to self-qualify over a business case-oriented survey. 
• ~Align the Questions per MEDDPPICC and present the input in a project-overview format that benefits the buyers
• ~~In turn, every time buyers update, eg. timeline, You are updated.
• ~Allow buyers to finish the survey on desktop or mobile
• ~Show examples how similar companies justified the ROI and what features they valued
• ~Give a cost indication right away - even its RRP. otherwise buyers tend to assume it’s expensive and even lose interest to investigate further.

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3. Access to Best Practices and Expertise is Crucial

• Buyers might not want to sit through demos, but they do want to talk to vendors:
  
• ~Ask technical Qs and custom integrations (SE teams)
• ~Help building the business case (AE)
• ~Connect with users in similar companies
• ~Learn best practices, integrations, industry trends, and how others are achieving the metrics

• How can Vendors leverage?

• ~Leverage the buyer’s thirst for knowledge but sequence it based on the stages they are in. so it's logical and relevant.
• ~Constantly offer time and progress based rewards, swag, access to users and discounted offers as ‘hooks’ to keep the buyer engaged throughout the process.

• Will buyers really give you the information? Yes, they told us that:
• ~Need to write everything down anyway for the evaluation
• ~Access to technical expertise and how similar companies do it gives the most values

4. A Paid Trial is Better than Free

• Vendors love offering free trials, marketing tends to view it as a very compelling CTA (“they get a free solution!”)
• But Buyers know that free trials aren’t free:
• ~Runs on their infrastructure
• ~Cost engineering time/labour on configurations
• ~Other departments are required 
• ~Engineering processes are disrupted
• When the solutions were complex, buyers were mostly indifferent to free trial offers

• How can Vendors leverage?

• ~Instead of pushing for free trial, explore a discounted paid trial
• ~Offer discounted professional services as a reward for speedier evaluation / broader adoption in line with Dan Martell’s idea of Challenge Funnels).

Summary: BLG and BQL

New SaaS Model is Buyer-Led Growth and Filling Your Funnel with Buyer-Qualified Leads

• What we learned talking to buyers:
• ~They will modify the static competitive battle cards and tables.
• ~They think lengthy demos and qualification calls are a waste of time 
• ~Want a fast track to technical expertise, best practices, and current users
• ~Buyers come to a sync communication (eg. demo call) after they’re 70% confident on your solution. 
• This might sound scary or overwhelming. The good news is, buyer-qualified leads are much more likely to convert

• That’s why we launched buyersjourney.ai:

• ~Single tool for asynchronous discovery, Buyer-Led qualification, MEDDPPIC capturing, Progress tracking, Q/A, Rewards to guide the modern SaaS buyers journey.
• ~~can be used in outbound emails as a value-add to build a requirement table
• ~~or imbedded on Vendor's website as another CTA/funnel
• ~Simple and intuitive interface where vendors and buyers can get on the same page re: project goals and metrics, compare solutions, centralized commercial and paperwork, and manage the lead-to-customer-to-ambassador process. (Buyer-Led Growth)
• ~Progression through the process is rewarded with access to best practices and additional information - rather than another unwanted sales call.

• ~Watch this video to see

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