My First SaaS Sales

A Pay TV operator published an RFP for a new Content Discovery & Recommendation solution. The company I worked with had the system, so I've responded to the RFP. Four other vendors did the same. One of the bidders was a company that already provided services to this prospect, and even had people working at their premises; another was a well-known startup with Tier One customers and innovative product. Tough competition.

For 8 long months, the main discussion with the CMO and her team was about the quality of the recommendations and with the CTO about the ROI model (he owned the budget). I had to do something to advance the sale. I asked to talk to the CTO, and learned that he had no motivation to budget the project as it was just too risky to invest up-front in an innovative product that no one could tell for sure when it will return the investment.

I returned to my company and asked to change the way we are deploying the product. From on-premise installation to a cloud based solution. The first response was, we can not do it. I was not ready to accept this answer, and after a week, the professional services team managed to deploy the product on a cloud environment. Then, I returned to the prospects and offered them to purchase a SaaS service: monthly payments, 12 months contract, and 30% increase of service price if they will decide to keep the service after the first year.

I won the deal, and was the first at my company to sell it as a standalone cloud service and not as part of a bundle. During the first year, the customer more than doubled his investment in change requests and professional services.

I can do that for your company as well, as an employee or a freelance. Helping you to grow your business globally. Contact me: [email protected]