The Modern SaaS Podcast

How simple changes to coaching can elevate performance: Aditya Kothadiya

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Erin Hartje) — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 23:04:54 +0000

The Importance of Coaching (00:45)

Role of Coaching Across Teams (03:10)

Where to Start with Coaching (4:34)

Implementing Best Coaching Practices (07:25)

Personalization in Coaching (10:39)

Building a Coaching Culture and Hiring (19:55)

Continuous Coaching (26:10)

Keeping Accountable with Coaching (27:44)

Top Coaching Advice from Aditya (31:23)

How to win in a competitive market: Sujan Patel

aditya@avoma.com (Sujan Patel, Aditya Kothadiya) — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 23:57:40 +0000

Get ready for a power-packed episode as we sit down with the incredible Sujan Patel, Founder and CEO of Mailshake, to unravel the secrets to standing out and winning in a competitive market. Today, competition is popping up all around us, vying for the attention of the very few buyers ready to buy. Sellers need to up their game. Join us for a casual chat where Sujan shares insights on standing out to modern buyers, crafting a killer pitch and what Sales leaders must know and do in order to win. Whether you're a seasoned SaaS leader or just starting out, this episode is your fast track to success in the hustle of the competitive market. Let's dive in and start winning together!

Creating modern buyer experiences that convert: Natalie Marcotullio

aditya@avoma.com (Natalie Marcotullio, Aditya Kothadiya) — Thu, 4 Jan 2024 21:34:18 +0000

Are you delighting or frustrating buyers? Are you keeping pace with the latest trends buyers expect when they land on your website? Are you staying top of mind? 🤔 Aditya and Natalie Marcotullio, Head of Growth and Operations at Navattic, kick back to chat about the best practices for creating modern buying experiences that actually convert. Discover strategies to turn visitors into customers, beginning with your website's explainer video and how you present (or hide) pricing. Make sure you're effectively showcasing the true value of your product, making it a no-brainer for potential buyers. Aditya and Natalie also dive into some additional tips for PLG companies when choosing the right channels for your audience, how to build nurture campaigns and starting your own influencer program to keep your brand top of mind.

How to build your community from the scratch: Lloyed Lobo

aditya@avoma.com (lloyed lobo, Aditya Kothadiya) — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 08:57:45 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Lloyed Lobo, the founder of Boast.ai and Traction, joins us to discuss how to go about building a community. Lloyed is also the author of the book "From Grassroots to Greatness" which gives you 13 rules to build an iconic brand with the help of comunity.

Through this episode, he shares with us the insights he's gathered from years of experience in building startups, communities, events, and conferences, and distills community building into a framework called CAMPER.

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦

00:00 - Intro

01:53 - The problem discovery for Boast.ai

04:42 - Startups are built in phases

07:11 - The two major gaps that startup community solves

08:25 - How to identify which problem to tackle

12:40 - How the Traction conference came into being

16:13 - Building social proof

25:15 - Budgeting and ROI planning when building a community

28:00 - Overcoming setbacks

30:25 - Need to communicate value regularly

32:10 - Lloyed's inspiring story

39:00 - The CAMPER framework for community building

39:48 - How concepts become a cult

41:21 - 6 core values

53:30 - Where should you start?

55:00 - Types of communities you can build

1:00:00 - Enabling customers to run your community

1:07:37 - Why host the cool parties

1:12:57 - Closing notes

💌 Connect with Lloyed Lobo💌

➟ Linkedin 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloyedlobo/

Also, please listen to the episode on:

➟ Apple 🔗

➟ Spotify 🔗

✨ Subscribe to Avoma's Channel✨

🔗https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpSiDrsEUx2Qywfb1V3CII

✨About Avoma✨

Avoma is an end-to-end AI meeting assistant for customer-facing teams. Its AI-powered technology helps customer-facing teams capture important customer information, before, during, and after important meetings.

🔗 https://www.avoma.com/

🎥𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝘆 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀

➟ The game-changing shift in SaaS sales | Mona Akmal | The Modern SaaS Podcast | Ep #23 🔗 https://youtu.be/hYRTP5eVlow

➟ How to close deals faster in the current economy | Mor Assouline | The Modern SaaS Podcast | Ep #24 🔗https://youtu.be/l5JISfmFUFk

𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗢𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹

➟ Linkedin 🔗https://www.linkedin.com/company/avoma

➟ Twitter 🔗https://twitter.com/AvomaInc

#saas #community #communityconnection

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀:

community building

community l

loyed lobo

grassroots to greatness

How problem defining helps you close deals faster: Aman Singh

aditya@avoma.com (aman singh, Aditya Kothadiya) — Tue, 5 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Aman Singh, founder of The Curious Consultant explains how problem defining and problem solving are two different facets of sales and customer success.

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦

00:00 - Intro

01:16 - The story behind 'The Curious Consultant'

04:10 - The taboo behind talking about failures

07:27 - The hypothesis of inefficient meetings

08:40 - Failing your way to success

11:33 - The need to be vulnerable

16:10 - 80% of your sales is won and lost in discovery calls

16:26 - Lead with fear

18:42 - Why extreme ownership is important for sales

19:17 - Problem defining

25:23 - Problem defining vs problem solving

29:34 - How to know you've moved from symptoms to disease

32:04 - Understanding introversion vs extroversion

38:58 - Gender biases in sales

44:30 - Selling to different geos

49:04 - Do not use presentations, have conversations

52:35 - Closing notes

💌 Connect with Aman Singh💌

➟ Linkedin 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/thecuriousconsultant/

Also, please listen to the episode on:

➟ Apple 🔗

➟ Spotify 🔗

✨ Subscribe to Avoma's Channel✨

🔗https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpSiDrsEUx2Qywfb1V3CII

✨About Avoma✨ Avoma is an end-to-end AI meeting assistant for customer-facing teams. Its AI-powered technology helps customer-facing teams capture important customer information, before, during, and after important meetings.

🔗 https://www.avoma.com/

🎥𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝘆 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀

➟ The game-changing shift in SaaS sales | Mona Akmal | The Modern SaaS Podcast | Ep #23 🔗 https://youtu.be/hYRTP5eVlow

➟ How to close deals faster in the current economy | Mor Assouline | The Modern SaaS Podcast | Ep #24 🔗https://youtu.be/l5JISfmFUFk

➟ How Onboarding Shapes Churn & Expansions | Srikrishnan Ganesan | The Modern SaaS Podcast | Ep #25 🔗https://youtu.be/V4Ug50Z9SVg

𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗢𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹

➟ Linkedin 🔗https://www.linkedin.com/company/avoma

➟ Twitter 🔗https://twitter.com/AvomaInc

#saas #sales #problemsolving

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀:

problem defining

modern saas podcast

problem solving

customer churn

sales discovery

How onboarding shapes customer churn & expansions: Srikrishnan Ganesan

aditya@avoma.com (Srikrishnan Ganesan, Aditya Kothadiya) — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Srikrishnan Ganesan, the CEO of Rocketlane, joins us to discuss how customer onboarding shapes churn and expansions.

He shares with us the insights he's gathered from years of experience, and explains how onboarding can help your company avoid costly churn and help you build the base for account expansions.

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦

00:00 - Intro

00:56 -True churn happens in onboarding

03:22 - The story behind Rocketlane

06:32 - The customer shareability gap

09:48 - Purpose built software vs. all-in-one solutions

15:19 - Need for customer status update

18:13 - Common mistake: Not sharing implementation timelines with customer

22:42 - Have a pre-kick off call

27:43 - Shifting responsibilities in the product-led sales world

31:06 - Role of community in shaping the product

34:30 - How building a community helps

38:06 - Where does community fit in the org chart

40:04 - What's a great buyer journey

43:53 - Focus on brand from early

44:46 - Closing notes

💌 Connect with Srikrishnan Ganesan💌

➟ Linkedin 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/srikrishnang

Also, please listen to the episode on:

➟ Apple 🔗

➟ Spotify 🔗

✨ Subscribe to Avoma's Channel✨

🔗https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpSiDrsEUx2Qywfb1V3CII

✨About Avoma✨

🔗 https://www.avoma.com/

🎥𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝘆 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀

➟ The game-changing shift in SaaS sales | Mona Akmal | The Modern SaaS Podcast | Ep #23 🔗 https://youtu.be/hYRTP5eVlow

➟ How to close deals faster in the current economy | Mor Assouline | The Modern SaaS Podcast | Ep #24 🔗https://youtu.be/l5JISfmFUFk

𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗢𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹

➟ Linkedin 🔗https://www.linkedin.com/company/avoma

➟ Twitter 🔗https://twitter.com/AvomaInc

#saas #customerexperience #onboarding

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀:
customer onboarding
modern saas podcast
modern onboarding
customer churn
account expansions

How to close deals faster in the current economy: Mor Assouline

aditya@avoma.com (Mor Assouline, Aditya Kothadiya) — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Mor Assouline, the founder of FDTC, shares with us some his insights on what it takes in the current economic conditions to have a better deal close rate and how to create successful customer journeys.

He shares actionable tips on how to do forecasting better, set the right expectations, and what high quality sales discovery and demo looks like.

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦

00:00 - Intro

01:40 - Is it a market issue or sales issue?

06:42 - How to arrive at sales quota

10:27 - Setting expectations upfront

11:29 - The need for sales coaching for the current environment

11:14 - Why sales needs so much coaching?

15:16 - Building a buyer scenario matrix

18:10 - How much should reps know about their product

24:30 - The frustrations in buying experience

29:30 - Qualifying the demos booked

32:16 - Optimizing the demo to close experience

33:31 - Things not to miss when you give a demo

36:48 - Case example: How to do a disco+demo

39:45 - The narrative is more important than the feature

41:28 - Building a culture of learning

46:52 - Habits to get the most value of meeting insights

52:00 - Build familiarity before your do your outreach

52:34 - Closing notes

💌 Connect with Mor Assouline💌
➟ Linkedin 🔗https://www.linkedin.com/in/morassouline/

Also, please listen to the episode on:
➟ Apple 🔗
➟ Spotify 🔗

✨ Subscribe to Avoma's Channel✨
🔗https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpSiDrsEUx2Qywfb1V3CII

✨About Avoma✨ Avoma is an end-to-end AI meeting assistant for customer-facing teams. Its AI-powered technology helps customer-facing teams capture important customer information, before, during, and after important meetings.

🔗 https://www.avoma.com/

🎥𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝘆 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀
➟ The game-changing shift in SaaS sales | Mona Akmal | The Modern SaaS Podcast | Ep #23 🔗 https://youtu.be/hYRTP5eVlow

➟ 7 creative prospecting tips to stand out in tough financial times | Ep 22 | The Modern SaaS Podcast 🔗 https://youtu.be/8VAE892WQCw

𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗢𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹
➟ Linkedin 🔗https://www.linkedin.com/company/avoma
➟ Twitter 🔗https://twitter.com/AvomaInc #saas #sales #selling

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀:
sales quota
modern saas
modern sales
forecasting

The shocking truth about selling SaaS in today's market

aditya@avoma.com (Mona Akmal, Aditya Kothadiya) — Thu, 6 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Mona Akmal, CEO of Falkon AI, joins Aditya Kothadiya on the Modern SaaS Podcast to talk about the game-changing shift in SaaS sales. In this episode, Mona discusses the shocking truth about how SaaS sales works in today's world.

If you're looking to improve the buyer experience and sales conversion, then this episode is for you.

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦

00:00 - Intro

01:17 - The Falkon journey

03:36 - Sales and pivots based on feedback

05:44 - Why sales win rates go down upon transition from founder-led?

07:10 - Founders should never hire sales until...

11:14 - Why sales needs so much coaching?

16:20 - Sales acumen is key

18:24 - The sales decision tree

19:45 - Executing the sales decision tree

22:22 - Bad sales advice vs good advice

27:54 - Sales now is different from last 5 years

33:00 - Improve sales efficiency

34:28 - Don't bring your sales engineer on your first demo

39:50 - Don't offer this kind of experience

40:46 - The mistake while we sell

47:06 - How is Falkon different

52:17 - Stop chasing product market fit

💌 Connect with Mona Akmal💌

➟ Linkedin 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mona-akmal/

Also, please listen to the episode on:

➟ Apple 🔗

➟ Spotify 🔗

➟ Google Podcast 🔗

✨ Subscribe to Avoma's Channel✨

🔗https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpSiDrsEUx2Qywfb1V3CII

✨About Avoma✨

🔗 https://www.avoma.com/

🎥𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝘆 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀

➟ 7 creative prospecting tips to stand out in tough financial times | Ep 22 | The Modern SaaS Podcast

🔗 https://youtu.be/8VAE892WQCw

➟ Modern Prospecting with LinkedIn Social Selling | Episode 21 | The Modern SaaS Podcast

🔗 https://youtu.be/YT73xDcWOHY

𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗢𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹

➟ Linkedin 🔗https://www.linkedin.com/company/avoma

➟ Twitter 🔗https://twitter.com/AvomaInc

#saas #sales #selling

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀:

sales

modern saas

modern sales

growthmindset

7 creative prospecting tips to stand out in tough financial times

aditya@avoma.com (Kris Rudeegraap, Aditya Kothadiya) — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Kris Rudeegraap (Co-founder & CEO, Sendoso) and Aditya Kothadiya (Co-founder & CEO, Avoma) discuss modern prospecting with creative gifting strategies -- i.e., how you can prospect creatively where your creativity can supersede the budget constraints. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:00 - Intro 03:20 - Prospecting approach during the economic downturn 05:10 - Good and bad cold outreach experiences 09:30 - The need to be informative than being overly salesy 12:15 - Use sales engagement tools sensibly else it becomes spammy 15:22 - The modern trends in prospecting 20:00 - It's about getting the tools & strategy combination right 24:05 - The role of gifting while prospecting 26:07 - Personalize your gifting with meaningful notes 31:49 - Gifting is about impact, not the $$ spent 35:40 - Humanize the outreach and relationship 39:25 - How to think about gifting based on ROI 41:08 - Key takeaway ➡️ The Modern SaaS Podcast Take a look at our other podcast episodes - https://www.avoma.com/podcast

Modern Prospecting with LinkedIn Social Selling

aditya@avoma.com (Collin Cadmus, Aditya Kothadiya) — Tue, 7 Feb 2023 05:27:59 +0000

In this episode, Collin Cadmus (Revenue Growth Coach, Collin Cadmus, LLC) and Aditya Kothadiya (Co-founder & CEO, Avoma) discuss modern prospecting -- i.e., how to prospect in the modern SaaS era. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:00 - Intro 01:31 - What Collin Cadmus is upto, these days 04:05 - Make human sales more valuable than AI 07:52 - Recent bad experience when prospecting wasn't done well 15:58 - Why you don't recall great outreach experiences 18:56 - The mindset due to which prospecting fails 24:13 - How to get started with social selling on LinkedIn 27:07 - Start doing before selling it 32:00 - How building authority with authenticity works 39:33 - Converting the thought leadership into booking meetings 43:00 - Why it takes long for best practices to change 46:05 - Transition from dollars to value 54:02 - What does a forward looking SDR compensation model look like? 1:01:02 - Key highlights & takeaways

Driving the right curiosity behavior with data for CSMs

aditya@avoma.com (Mark Stagi, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Mark Stagi (VP of Customer Success, Avoma) and Yaag discuss how to drive the right curiosity behavior with data for CSMs. Mark shares his experience on the do's and don'ts in QBRs and check-in meetings, how to make it valuable and relevant to the customer, and a lot more. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:00 - Intro 01:31 - Curiosity - a super power in tech 03:05 - Assessing curiosity of CSMs during interviews 04:36 - How curiosity helps in objection handling 07:03 - Leveraging curiosity in QBRs and check-in meetings 11:03 - Adding real value to your success conversations 12:56 - Preparation going into QBR meetings 16:13 - Keeping a tab on relevance and stickiness 21:05 - Not all questions are created equal 26:07 - What is the right amount of curiosity? 29:20 - Key takeaways

When to challenge a prospect?

aditya@avoma.com (Yaagneshwaran Ganesh, Stephen Cann) — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Stephen Cann (Director of Enterprise Sales, Avoma) and Yaag discuss how and when to challenge your prospect during a deal? Stephen shares his experience on how to challenge the prospect across stages such as prospecting, discovery, indecisive moments, and more. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:00 - Intro 01:37 - Challenging the prospects all the time 03:05 - Challenging at the prospect stage 04:15 - The key is to understand the problem 04:35 - Qualify and turn down meetings 06:10 - What to look for in the discovery stage 07:59 - Challenging during prospecting vs discovery 08:30 - Need to identify the perceptions of the prospect 10:20 - Helping to surface the problems 11:37 - Digging into the problem 2-3 levels deep 14:40 - Go beyond symptoms to understand the pain 15:40 - Don't be a Labrador rep :) 16:18 - Getting something in return for specific requests 19:48 - What to do when you sense indecision? 22:56 - What gives you the authority to challenge? 26:34 - Key takeaways

How to win competitive deals?

aditya@avoma.com (Nathan Hymas, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Nathan Hymas (VP Sales, Avoma) and Yaag discuss how to win competitive deals by truly understanding the rules of the game. Nate shares some brilliant perspectives on how the discovery works differently in a competitive deal, the evaluation process and roles, success metrics and a lot more. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:00 - Intro 01:06 - How is discovery done differently in a competitive deal 03:01 - Controlling the narrative 05:19 - Understanding the rules of the competitive deal 07:55 - Agreeing on the evaluation process 9:39 - What moves the needle? 11:30 - Identifying the success metrics 17:39 - Humanizing the conversation to win trust 20:25 - Key takeaways

Should Customer Success Ops be under Customer Success or RevOps?

aditya@avoma.com (Mark Stagi, Naquiyah Cash) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Naquiyah Cash (Gainsight Admin and CS Ops Consultant, Zywave) and Mark Stagi (VP of Customer Success, Avoma) discuss who is best positioned to own CS Ops. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:52 - It's not just about implementation, but about the process, enablement and strategy 02:16 - Should CS Ops sit within CS or RevOps or overall Ops? 05:10 - The key takeaway from Gainsight Pulse ➡️ The Modern SaaS Podcast Take a look at our other podcast episodes - https://www.avoma.com/podcast ➡️ Related resource https://www.avoma.com/blog/should-you-charge-a-fee-for-customer-success

The shift in Customer Success approach to drive customer outcomes

aditya@avoma.com (Mark Stagi, Shrenik Mhatre) — Fri, 2 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Shrenik Mhatre (Senior Manager, Customer Success Architects, VMware) and Mark Stagi (VP of Customer Success, Avoma) discuss the shift in the customer success approach to drive customer outcomes. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:00 - Intro 00:48 - The change in Customer Success focus in the last couple of years 01:05 - The shift from reactive and feature focused CS to customer's outcomes 02:28 - The struggle in making the shift ➡️ The Modern SaaS Podcast Take a look at our other podcast episodes - https://www.avoma.com/podcast ➡️ Related resource https://www.avoma.com/blog/should-you-charge-a-fee-for-customer-success

Should you do Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) with your customers?

aditya@avoma.com (Jane Chowaniec, Mark Stagi) — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Solving for the customer with an all-in-one approach

aditya@avoma.com (Yaagneshwaran Ganesh, Aditya Kothadiya) — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Aditya and Yaag discuss how despite the plethora of SaaS tools available today, customers still end up having broken experiences. They discuss what it means to really solve for the customer, with an all-in-one approach. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 01:14 - The philosophy behind 'why we take an all-in-one approach" 02:20 - The unconventional wisdom that truly helps startups in their early stages 03:15 - Learning from customer workflows 04:00 - Why solving for workflows is important for SMB and mid-market 04:50 - All-in-one doesn't mean several problems randomly 06:24 - All-in-one isn't solving for different customers, but adjacent problems of your core customers 10:10 - Example 1: Solving for meeting workflows 15:10 - Visionary, evolutionary and expansionary approaches to solving customer workflows 19:38 - The scope of best-in-breed solutions 21:58 - Key takeaways 22:40 - The art is in identifying the 20% pains that impact 80% of the outcome 26:20 - The philosophy goes beyond software platforms ➡️ The Modern SaaS Podcast Take a look at our other podcast episodes - https://www.avoma.com/podcast ➡️ Related resource https://www.avoma.com/playbooks-category/sales-playbook

Mapping how businesses buy software

aditya@avoma.com (Carl Ferreira, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Tue, 9 Aug 2022 07:25:36 +0000

In this episode, Carl Ferreira (VP Sales, Refine Labs) and Yaag discuss how businesses buy software, how sales reps and the entire buying experience needs to adapt according to buyers in different maturity stages, and a lot more. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:00 - Intro 01:35 - Questions to ask yourself before you are ready to invest on a SaaS tool 03:57 - What makes or breaks the buying experience 06:30 - The need to understand the buyer's maturity stage 08:05 - How to design a relevant inbound buying experience 12:18 - What makes someone shortlist a software among the choices available 15:06 - Little annoyances build up and compound as a bad buying experience 19:30 - Why it makes a lot of sense to give a glimpse of the product during discovery 21:20 - The stage that a seller thinks a buyer is in, and what the buyer thinks is usually different 25:24 - How you sell is how you win 28:30 - Tackling competitive positioning with proof 30:49 - Key pillars of a buyer experience ➡️ The Modern SaaS Podcast Take a look at our other podcast episodes - https://www.avoma.com/podcast ➡️ Related resource https://www.avoma.com/playbooks-category/sales-playbook

How to run pipeline reviews effectively

aditya@avoma.com (Nathan Hymas, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Nathan Hymas (VP Sales, Avoma) and Yaag discuss how to run pipeline reviews effectively by truly understanding what matters. Nate shares some brilliant perspectives on how pipeline reviews aren't just about metrics, how inputs matter more than outcomes, and a lot more. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:00 - Intro 01:30 - The modern way of running a pipeline review 03:10 - Pipeline reviews are not just about metrics 05:10 - The need to prioritize inputs over outcomes 07:11 - Encouraging the right habits contributing to buyer experience 10:40 - The difference between transactional and enterprise deals 11:51 - Create. Advance. Close Model 17:23 - Controlling the overall narrative 24:55 - Key takeaways

How to improve the sales discovery & demo experience

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Mon, 30 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Aditya and Yaag discuss how to improve the sales discovery and demo experience for your prospects by truly understanding their buyer journey and pain points. Aditya throws light into 4 key aspects of a sales discovery and demo conversation including: small talk, questions to ask during discovery, how to personalize and make the demo valuable to the prospect, agreeing upon the next steps, and a lot more. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:00 - Intro 00:50 - The components of a sales discovery and demo conversation 01:58 - How to do small talk without being lazy about it 07:45 - Doing discovery -- who should do it & how to do it meaningfully 09:35 - Need to have discovery and demo in the same meeting 11:45 - The concept of SPIN Selling 15:11 - The true purpose of a demo 21:23 - Handling objections by truly understanding the customer 28:40 - Agreeing on the next steps after discovery & demo 34:25 - Establishing the key differentiation & value proposition 35:50 - Need to sum up the key takeaways from the conversation 41: 12 - Key takeaways

Should you charge a fee for customer success?

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Mark Stagi) — Tue, 3 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, Aditya (CEO, Avoma) and Mark Stagi (VP Customer Success, Avoma) discuss whether or not should you charge for customer success, the factors that go into deciding 'when to charge for customer success' and more. ➡️ Key Points⁣ covered 00:00 - Intro 00:50 - What goes into deciding whether or not should you charge for customer success 06:23 - Isn't offering customer success in the interest of the vendor? 07:59 - When does CS become worth paying for? And what's the value proposition? 13:46 - What CS services to provide out of the box, and what services can you monetize valuably? 18:24 - The role of sales enablement in empowering the customer 22:25 - How to bake CS services into pricing tiers offering value 27:20 - The need for listing the pricing line items clearly on the website 28:20 - Customer success - cost center vs growth engine 31:36 - Key takeaway: Keep it simple as much you can

Thoughtful meeting scheduling habits to improve buying experience

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 08:28:52 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Aditya and Yaag discuss the thoughtful meeting scheduling habits modern SaaS companies can build to improve the buyer experience. They discuss the balance between optimizing for efficiency and customer experience. Some of the key points discussed in the episode include 1. How to use meeting scheduling links more thoughtfully 2. Sharing a clear meeting agenda & how to minimize no-shows 3. The need to allow meeting participants to join the meeting and not make them wait until you join 4. Offering the best experience in Scheduling, rescheduling meetings, including shifting ownership for meetings and a lot more...

Collaborative Selling: Winning with a system of collaboration

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Fri, 8 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Aditya and Yaag discuss Collaborative Selling -- how to win with a system of collaboration. They discuss how the old world view of collaborative selling focused only on collaboration with prospects and how 'team selling' focused only on the collaboration amongst internal teams. The key points discussed in the episode include: 1. Talking to a prospect alone isn't selling, but there's a whole gamut of things that happen before, during, and after that conversation. 2. How it takes a village to close a deal. 3. Collaborating with prospects, peers, managers, leaders, and cross-functionally 4. Collaborating with AI and Tools 5. Building a system of collaboration (People, process, and tools), and a lot more...

Myths about Product-led Growth

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Aditya and Yaag discuss the myths around product-led growth in the SaaS world. The myths discussed include: 1. PLG is the most popular go-to-market motion 2. PLG products grow on their own without Marketing 3. PLG doesn't need a sales team 4. Buyers are entirely self-sufficient and want self-serve product experiences 5. The product team alone is responsible for the execution of the PLG strategy 6. PLG isn't for enterprise companies

Can we be purely product-led or sales-led? Or are we misled?

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Aditya and Yaag discuss whether we in SaaS can call ourselves purely product-led or sales-led? All growth motions primarily have 2 parts -- acquisition and conversion. They highlight how different growth motions help you in various stages of the growth lifecycle across acquisition, conversion, and retention.

What to do when a big account churns

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Mark Stagi) — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Aditya and Mark (VP of Customer Success, Avoma) discuss what to do when a big account churns. They discuss why churn matters, the key metrics to measure, and, more importantly, the things to do when a big account churn happens, such as: 1. Trying to meet the customer in person and attempting to remedy the situation 2. Sharing churn insights with everyone in your company 3. Validating churn data with existing customers 4. Implementing the learnings to improve the experience of existing customers 5. Focusing on Net Retention Rate, landing-and-expanding as a key SaaS metric, and a lot more...

How to build revenue predictability

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Aditya and Yaag discuss building revenue predictability. The first question that comes to mind for most is—Can we predict revenue? They discuss a process to build predictability: 1. Predictable revenue needs a predictable pipeline 2. Predictable pipeline calls for predictable prospecting 3. Predictable prospecting needs a dependable salesperson 4. Dependable salesperson means they have a predictable process 5. Predictable process needs predictable habits and a lot more...

SaaS pricing gimmicks to be aware of

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Thu, 3 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Aditya and Yaag discuss how SaaS pricing is tricky. And how your product pricing should reflect the value that your product offers and make it easier for your buyer to decide. They discuss some of the gimmicks often used in the SaaS world, such as: 1. Forcing buyers for an annual commitment without offering monthly subscription options. 2. Offering pay-for-what-you-use, but having a minimum threshold 3. Charging for collaboration 4. Charging Platform fees in addition to subscription fee 5. Charging Customer Success fee 6. Having minimum no. of seats as a requirement, and a lot more...

How to fix the broken SaaS buyer experience

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 08:00:00 +0000

In this episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Aditya and Yaag discuss how many SaaS businesses offer a rusty buying experience that’s reminiscent of the 2000s. And how the broken buyer experience is not limited to sales-led or product-led companies. They discuss six ways to improve the buyer experience: 1. Offering a rewarding trial experience 2. Making demo booking easy with easy calendar access 3. Offering sales assistance (in-addition to product-led nurturing) to reduce friction 4. Being upfront and transparent about pricing 5. Offering flexible pricing options 6. Shortening the sales cycle, and a lot more...

Best-of-breed vs. All-in-One Platforms: which one should you buy?

aditya@avoma.com (Aditya Kothadiya, Yaagneshwaran Ganesh) — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 06:40:45 +0000

In this first episode of The Modern SaaS Podcast, Aditya and Yaag discuss whether you should go for the best-in-breed solutions or is an all-in-one platform a better choice? The discussion throw light on: --> The collaboration pains when using a best-of-breed solution --> Why is an all-in-one solution the preferred choice? --> How did ClickUp become successful despite jumping into a red ocean of productivity tools? --> How to execute the all-in-one vision for your platform, and a lot more...