5 Steps To Your Best Year in SaaS Sales

This article is part of the?BFLG?series, where I publish performance learnings based on taking a nontraditional and holistic approach to strategic sales.?Subscribe here?and?follow me?to read upcoming newsletters.

It's going to be a new year.

Why not a new you to come along with it?

Maybe you'll be starting a brand new SaaS sales role at a new company? Or, maybe you're ready for a reboot in your current one?

Either way, following these five steps will help shape your strategy to ensure you set yourself up for the most successful year in your career.

Let's go...

1) Think like a CEO

The beautiful thing about being in sales is that we are like mini entrepreneurs. It's important to operate like one every day.

As you start a new role or redefine your current one, you'll need to be effective in developing strong internal relationships, understanding your product, becoming an expert in solving challenges for customers, and managing a system for generating consistent new business.

CEOs don't shoot from the hip, they have a plan. Before you can develop a plan, you need a set of personal guiding principles. What do you stand for? What makes you unique? How have you achieved success?

Knowing these things about yourself will allow you to think more like a CEO. Take the quiet time before things get hectic to write out your own core principles.

Need inspiration? Here are my 17 Guiding Sales Principles.

2) Be disciplined with your "launch" strategy

Once you've developed the CEO mindset, now you have to get ready for your "product launch." In the case of starting in a new role, your company's product is brand new to you. You, selling this new product is also new, so you need to "productize" how you do that. Don't wait and be reactive. Take a proactive approach to ensure you launch yourself successfully.

Here's how you do it: Take a week before your official start date and comb through your new company's website. Write out a detailed memo on your findings. What does your company really do? How is it different from other suppliers in the space? How have other companies benefited from using the product? How can you put your personal spin on it? Dive deep in answering these questions. This will allow you to show up to your orientation and onboarding one step ahead of the pack.

Before I joined LivePerson back in 2018, I did just that. I also leveraged my existing network, including contacts on Apple's Business team who connected me on my first day to an executive that went on to buy from me in my first year. We were able to launch something special, but it would have never happened if I wasn't proactive in teaching myself about the product and leveraging my network.

Also (this is REALLY important), when you start, don't be tempted to work around the clock to speed up the onboarding process and get results fast. What that will do is reward hustling and trick your mind into thinking that's the only way to succeed, leading to burnout later in the year when you least expect or want it.

Be thoughtful and intentional in monitoring your sleep, optimizing your energy, and managing specific blocks on your calendar for strategizing on your account list, while keeping the rest of your calendar open for meetings (internal and external) and training.

Remember, treat this upcoming year like you're going to run a marathon. You don't want to sprint out of the gates, otherwise you won't even finish the race.

3) Make your account list mean something to you

I have averaged earning seven figures a year for the past three years. I did it in a unique way relying on a personal operating system, but more importantly, I took control over my destiny.

If you're in strategic SaaS sales like me, you'll likely have the benefit of SDRs helping to build your pipeline and set appointments for you. But if you want to earn the big bucks, you need to take more control with your account list.

Back in 2019, when I earned over a million dollars for the first time, the best thing I did was to refocus my account list and align it with the things that were important to me, including my strengths.

This will allow you to better team up with your SDRs on outreach to your top pursuits, and also allow you to directly pursue key accounts that are meaningful to you, like I did with winning Delta Air Lines in my first year.

Check out how I created my Diamond Account list, and try it for yourself.

4) Don't wait for perfection to have business conversations

Balance the discipline in planning your launch approach with the flexibility ("flexipline") to engage with prospects right away.

You don't need to be a product expert to learn what your prospects need. Say yes to every meeting, and learn key insights from those conversations.

The worst situation you can put yourself in is to waste the first 90 days to get fully comfortable in knowing everything about your product. By that point, it's too late. You should already have a few strategic opportunities in your pipeline that you can count on closing in the second half of the year.

Besides, it's better to get all of the "bad" calls and meetings under your belt early so you can fine-tune your approach. As you eventually find your feet, then you can be more thoughtful about what you say yes to.

Remember, it's about progress, not perfection.

5) Act like a content creator

Now that you've been having several conversations with business executives, start to systemize those learnings and get really good at addressing the things you hear are a problem for everyone.

Then, start acting like a content creator. This will be the foundation for your personal operating system that helps you to become a thought leader in your industry and have opportunities start coming to you, rather than you constantly having to chase them.

To do this effectively and easily, this is what you should do:

• Write down the top 3-5 things your prospects tell you are a problem
• Begin creating content and writing articles on LinkedIn talking about how you can solve these problems with your company's solutions
• Be consistent, and post every day

Do this for six months, and the second half of the year you'll start seeing amazing results. And by being an active content creator, you'll naturally become an expert in creatively solving challenges using your company's product. That will come in handy when you're meeting a C-Level executive for the first time or negotiating to close that massive deal in Q4.

Need help with becoming a content creator or developing your personal operating system? Text "ADVISE" to +1 (917) 810-2325 to book time with me 1:1.

I hope you enjoy a restful end to the year and you're just as excited as I am in making next year the best one yet!

Brandon

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