7 strategies for B2B software owners to increase their sales
Every software owner wants to grow their business. Your market is large enough. Your software is great. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. We find that companies can sometimes struggle to maximise the economic potential of their products.
You might ask: how do we maximise the economic potential of our software solution?
In most cases, B2B software solutions are sold by sales representatives. The sales representatives have certain systems in place, a process to follow, and are ultimately assessed by the business they generate.
When we think of the efficiency of a sales division, we measure this in terms of Return on Time:
Return on Time = (customers acquired per year x value of a customer) / time invested
Any adaptation to the sales process, or any inclusion of a new technique, should improve the Return on Time. In the long-run, sales should follow the Return on Time and the overall Time Invested in sales activities.
From the countless conversations we have had with businesses, and the experiences we have gained from operating software units ourselves, we summarise seven practices that have led to sales improvements:
1. Landing Pages – your virtual salesperson
Owning software businesses, we are well aware of the benefits that our software brings to the organisations we serve. We sell software because it works 24/7 and it is great at solving repeatable problems and automating mundane processes.
So why don’t we use software for our advantage by using landing pages as a virtual sales force? Using multiple landing pages to display varying features of the software, we can address multiple problems that our target customers may face and even focus our marketing efforts towards different industries. Customers will understand the direct link between their problems and our solutions and are more likely to pursue a business relationship. This has proven to be very effective in the past.
Once the landing pages are set up, organic traffic can be funneled into a sales system. This is where a sales person can take over. A landing page increases organic traffic without spending significant amounts of time or resources.
Time invested – Low
Customers acquired per year – Higher
Value of a customer – Unchanged
2. Track and measure to perform
Sales performance can only be improved if measured. Oftentimes, we have found ourselves investing in marketing channels that generated little sales, while underinvesting in huge sales opportunities.
We can increase the overall sales impact by calibrating the effectiveness of various sales programs. The corresponding time and resource allocation helps to increase the customer acquisition rate and the return on invested time/money.
Time invested – Low/Medium
Customers acquired per year – Higher
Value of a customer – Unchanged
3. Build a community of loyal customers
Selling software in an SME environment is generally about solving problems. People purchase software solutions from competent companies they feel comfortable with. Offering customers a platform to communicate with a support team, and a centralised knowledge hub, only increases customer retention and organic traffic generation.
Writing blog articles, posting videos and sharing solutions online can lead prospective clients to value your software offering more than that of the competition.
Time invested – Medium
Customers acquired per year – Higher
Value of a customer – Higher
4. Free Stuff – who would say no to that?
The psychology behind free things is clear: freebies make people happy. Customers feel like they’re receiving a gift; this makes them feel appreciated and shows your interest and gratitude. By showcasing the strength of your software as a demo version, or over a free trial period, the customer builds trust, which can increase the chances of continuing the business relationships.
There are multiple ways to structure freebies. It ultimately depends on your monetisation method and the nature of your product. As an additional side note – the conversion rate of marketing campaigns for free products is typically higher than for paid products.
Time invested – Low
Customers acquired per year – Higher
Value of a customer – Unchanged
5. Personalised Emails – making prospective clients feel targeted and valued
Personalised emails stand out from the inbox as highly relevant, tailor-made material. A personalised email is more likely to be opened and clicked on. They also strengthen customer experiences by sending the right content to the right people, at the right time.
Minimise manual work by setting up automated email campaigns. Emails can even contain dynamic content that is based on data collected in real-time from the recipients’ onsite behaviour.
Once a customisation pattern is defined and an email campaign is drafted, the automation takes little time. Similar to a landing page, an email campaign generates passive traffic that is forwarded to your sales team.
Time invested – Low / Medium
Customers acquired per year – Higher
Value of a customer – Unchanged
6. Increase pricing, increase sales
It is one of the most obvious choices: Increase prices to increase sales. But it is also one of the scariest options an owner can choose, because of the inherent fear that customers might leave and the net effect is an overall decrease in sales. It is essential that one understands the criticality a software bears in the customers operations and their ability to pay more.
Equally important is how you communicate the price increases. It is typically better to contact customers directly and well in advance. Additionally, the increase in prices should be linked to an increase in quality of service. Depending on the specific software solution, there are multiple choices an owner can make.
Time invested – Low
Customers acquired per year – Unchanged
Value of a customer – Higher
7. Solve more problems for existing customers – increase the share of wallet
Last but not least, targeting complementary problems your customers may face is a great way to increase sales. Most businesses we speak to know their customers really well and have built relationships over many years, sometimes decades.
Developing solutions on request, and monetising new software products separately, cost little sales effort and come with lower execution risk. Furthermore, solutions can be sold to the entire customer base. Lastly, providing multiple solutions to a customer only strengthens the business relationship and increases client retention.
Time invested – High
Customers acquired per year – Higher
Value of a customer – Higher
In conclusion
All of the above strategies are merely ideas. Some will work, some won’t. Some will suit your company, others won’t. However, the overarching takeaways and learnings that we have had in the past are the following:
• Measure to improve
• Know what you are measuring and why
We have found that time invested in our sales efforts is the most critical input factor for revenue growth. This is why most of our decisions are based on maximising the Return on Time. Automating tasks and increasing conversion rates are great ways to increase efficiency.
We know that many of you already implement most, if not all of the strategies outlined. Nonetheless, we hope some of you might find one, or maybe even two ideas interesting. Some food for thought.
We would be more than happy if the time we invested into putting these ideas together yielded some returns for your business!
About Software Circle
Software Circle is a UK publicly listed company with a long history of providing software solutions to various SMEs across the world. We introduced a new corporate strategy in 2021 with the aim of building a Group of independent software companies, servicing different industries and benefiting from a shared pool of resources in terms of talent, knowledge, and capital. Software Circle wishes to be a permanent home for software businesses, continue the legacy of its owners and capitalise on both organic and inorganic growth opportunities that may present themselves.