The Overview #6

This week: buying car = buying SaaS, positioning AND messaging, delivering value for a niche

👋 Hey there. This is The Overview, a weekly roundup of noteworthy B2B SaaS stuff. You'll find interesting tweets and articles from around the internet, plus highlights from my personal swipe file.

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It’s simple.

Andrew Allsop @AndrewAllsop

This is my favourite quote from Zero to Sold: "It was a product that solved one critical problem for a well-defined audience" Because it's really all that matters.

A reminder for something that we can often forget. It’s easy to get bogged down in the details, in the optimizations, in ‘trusting the process’.

But at the end of the day, your product has to solve a critical problem that is valuable to a well-defined, niche audience.

SMB and midmarket sales should be like buying a car

Brad Halverson @BradHalverson

A good view into how SaaS for smaller and mid-market B2B sales could go. Enterprise is more involved. But opportunities will exist for the most customer centric. #CX #retail #Grocery

Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt

The future of the enterprise sales process will look like the best modern car dealership. Connect via the website, but then text directly with an expert. Conduct all business on the buyer's terms. Meet for a test drive (demo). Follow up via text. Then sign paperwork.

I really like this analogy from Dave Gerhardt, although agree with Brad that it’s probably more suitable for SMBs and mid-market sales.

Most SaaS is a similar level of investment to a car. You’re going to be using it for a while, so it needs to be comfortable to drive. You’re probably going to have a kid or two, so it needs to grow with you. And it’s probably about the same price.

I’ve written before about sales demos, sales decks, and collateral. But what about the rest of your buyer journey? Are you making it seamless for prospects to buy - or is it optimized for being sold to?

It’s positioning AND messaging

James Doman-Pipe @JDomanPipe

The 'positioning statement' device has been the BEST and WORST thing to happen to businesses trying to communicate their value.

This came up when recording a panel for next week’s Product Marketing Festival.

Positioning statements were useful - they gave a simple framework for a non-expert marketer or founder to try and define who they were, who their customers were, and why they were different.

Except… now everybody and their grandmother began to recite the positioning statement as gospel in sales deck talk tracks, website homepages, in ‘about us’ blurbs. Everybody forgot that the positioning statement has to be messaged.

And messaging is a whole other art form, from stereotypes and tropes to in-jokes, tone of voice, and phraseology.

Register for our panel next week on Positioning & Messaging Achieving & Measuring Success at the Product Marketing Festival.

Bonus example of how bonkers positioning statements can be:

Ben Fletcher @BenFletch

@JDomanPipe For companies that need customers, the positioning statement is a useful tool that helps them articulate their differentiated position. Unlike a mission statement, the positioning statement clearly articulates their competitive position.

Buyers are human

Brendan McAdams | B2B Sales Guy @brendanmcadams

B2B Sales Tip - We may think that purchase decisions are based solely on key product features and benefits. That supposes that people are consistently rational and logical. They aren’t. At least not consistently. Emotional factors play a huge role. Are you paying attention?

Don’t forget that your buyers aren’t just rational robots - they have a soul!

Make sure your positioning and messaging has both logical and emotional aspects. I call this a heart and brain narrative. If you can, give your buyers an economic incentive… and an emotional enemy.

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That’s the Overview for this week

Hope you found some interest in this edition.

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Thanks for reading, and happy building.

James