Outsourcing and delegating in the pre-launch stage

All of us have only 24 hours a day but when you are a SaaS founder your to-do list is almost endless. Let's talk about what and when can be outsourced or delegated. As well as what you should do on your own as a founder in the pre-sale stage of your SaaS.

Don't outsource initial wireframing

Is it worth it, to hire a professional designer to create your mockup and wireframe? The short answer is yes, it is worth it, but not at the very beginning. Why? Because at the very initial stage, you will have too many iterations. And too many changes will be needed on your mockup and even on your wireframe. Therefore it's not smart to spend money on professional design at this stage. Especially when you as a SaaS founder can do initial mockups with such tools as Balsamiq, Mockflow, Claritee, or any other of your preferred tool. There are a lot of them in the market, they don't cost a fortune, and aren't too difficult to use even for newbies.

So as a founder, do your initial mock. Test it with potential customers. Figure out what are your main roadblocks. Find out where is the highest potential for users to drop off your SaaS or platform. And then address these critical aspects with a professional designer, especially with UI (user interface) or UX (user experience) designer. Try to come up with a solution that is good enough for users to keep using your software or platform.

Sometimes, what the software does and what result it provides is the most important thing. But actually, it's not less critical HOW it does, how it delivers the result. If you are a good salesperson, you can sell your software once. I mean, you can do the pre-sale and it won't be a problem to get initial traction. But you want users to keep using your software. Don't you? You want to charge a recurring fee, therefore, it must be convenient. That's why I suggest using professional UX and UI designers to create the final versions of your wireframe and graphic, as well as the overall user experience design.

Outsource lead generation but not sales closing

Can you outsource the process of selling your SaaS or especially pre-selling your SaaS? Well, if someone would ask me this question somewhere in the street, my answer right off the bat would be "probably no". But if we would think better, we would see that there are two major functions in the sales process and one of those functions can be outsourced quite successfully. There are two main functions: lead generation and sales closing.

1. Lead generation means that somebody takes care of getting inquiries from potential customers who are interested in what you are building. This function could be outsourced to virtual assistants, sales development reps, or even to a digital marketing agency to generate leads through sales funnels. This is a viable way, but that's not sales yet.
2. If you want to have actual sales, you need a sales closer or so-called deal closer. Somebody has to talk to your customers, do the wireframe product, or even do a product demo if it's already built and launched into the market. The hard truth is that you as a founder will have to be the first sales closer. No matter if you like it or not. You can delegate sales closing only when you have developed a process on how you can close deals efficiently. Only then it makes sense to outsource this function to somebody else.

If you don't know how to sell your product, how to make potential customers say "yes" to your offer, how and why do you expect that somebody who comes out out of nowhere will be able to sell your SaaS efficiently? They don't know your product as well as you do. Most likely they don't know your customers the way you do.

Like it or not, your task as a founder is to become a really good sales closer, or at least win a few initial deals. If you do that, you can create SOPs (standard operating procedures) for outsourcing or delegating this function. You write down the action steps and script on how you made these deals a success. This way somebody else can replicate your success and grow your sales. Based on these SOPs, you can train your employees and freelancers.

When you should start creating your SOPs?

When you notice that some of your processes start bringing really nice results in sales, i.e., you found a way how to generate leads, get inquiries, book appointments or demos, start documenting these processes.

But we are not talking about becoming a nerd trying to write down the instructions that nobody is gonna read later on. No, that's not the case. Instead, write a short and simple instruction.

Imagine a colleague or a new employee asking you "how should I do that" or "what is the best way to do that". And then you start by instructing key steps of what and when needs to be done. You don't even have to sit at the computer and type everything. You can click the record button on your phone and record a video or audio instruction. You can also record a screen of your computer where you show the exact steps of using specific software.

You as a SaaS founder are not a superman and you can't hold all corners of your business especially when it starts growing. Nor you should try doing that. Delegate or outsource it by creating one SOP for each major task or process.

Which SOPs to prepare first?

Let's acknowledge, you are not a traditional company. You're not a well-established company that has multiple processes and many employees. You are a SaaS startup, and that's why you should initially focus on these three areas where SOPs could help you a lot:

1. Lead generation. The first group of SOPs should be about your lead generation - how you attract potential customers, how you generate leads, and how you get people interested in what you have to offer. Even if it is a single SOP but the process is continuous and repetitive, create this SOP - it will save your time and help scale your business.
2. Sales closing. How do you convert leads into paying customers? How do you make them say yes and vote with their money?
3. Customer success management. How do you make sure that customers get the desired result with your software? If you can't make sure that they get the result they expect, you will have a high churn rate. It means customers will abandon your software and you definitely don't want that.

Recap

If you want to do successful sales, there are two key functions: lead generation and sales closing. You can outsource lead generation, even initially, but you need to be good at sales as a founder, and only then you can successfully outsource it to somebody else.

When you start creating your SOP, you want to focus on three types of SOPs: how you generate leads, how you convert these leads into paying customers, and how you make customers happy.

Join me on a live webinar

Want to create a pre-sale offer for your SaaS or platform? Join me on a live webinar on How to create an irresistible offer to pre-sell your SaaS and get access to the replay.

In this live webinar you will discover how to:

?? structure your SaaS pre-sell offer so that it is almost irresistible

?? handle main objections so there are no reasons to skip your offer

?? present your offer at the right time and in the right way

Register here