SaaS Boss

In this episode of SaaS Boss show I interview Rod Sloane about cold outreach on LinkedIn.

Things we discussed:

Hidden value of prospecting is testing your message

Benchmarks and metrics of cold prospecting

How to make your LinkedIn profile prospecting-ready

Developing your message (hint: ask your clients why did they buy your product and what would they miss if you take it away from them)

This episode of SaaS Boss show is Part 2 of my interview with Carole Mahoney and we switch from talking about about how SaaS founders can get first 10 sales to what happens after first sales. And that's hiring and managing your first sales reps.

Hiring process, what characteristics should we look for

How to write ad for SaaS sales role

Why you should make it a tough interview process

Real costs of making a bad hire (opportunity costs)

How to predict the success for SaaS sales person

How to maximize changes of the new hire being successful in this role

What can you as the founder do to help set them up for success (hint, you play bigger role than you think)

When do you know it's not working

Issues due to poor hire (low close rates, longer sales cycle, high churn).

In this episode of SaaS Boss show I interview Carole Mahoney about how SaaS founders can get first 10 sales.

Things we discuss:

At early stage SaaS companies that are trying to get traction, get their first sales, the founders need to do outreach to their ideal potential customers to get first few sales. We shouldn’t rely on inbound or seo to get first sales if we dont have any case studies yet.

What steps founders need to take in order to get their first 10 paying customers

Why so many founders struggle with sales

Basic steps to help make progress

Mindset (its not about you)

Productivity

Goals

Actionable step by step for outreach process

Most common problems and how to fix them

In this episode of SaaS Boss show I interview Lee Colan about team accountability, why we need our teams to be accountable, how to encourage accountability, and what to do to fix existing problems with lack of accountability.

Accountability is like rain – everyone knows they need it, but no one wants to get wet.

Things we discussed:

What is team accountability and why is it accountability important?

How is it conected with productivity?

Why does accountability seem top be a challenge with SaaS founders?

What actions should we take to improve team accountability and things that can be fixed with improved new employee onboarding process?

What are they key elements of team accountability and when should you communicate it?

What are some tools a start-up leaders can use to improve it?

In this episode of SaaS Boss I interview The SaaS CFO Ben Murray about Coronavirus and how it will affect your SaaS.

Ben Murray is known as the SaaS CFO and he helps software companies achieve financial improvement and transparency by partnering with stakeholders to link operations and finance.

Things we discussed:

Our take on Coronavirus and current economy situation

How Coronavirus and volatility affect your financial strategy

Why you should take it seriously

How to up your accounting game and why consider tightening your budget

Look at your major expenses, consider switching annual renewals you have to monthly to have more cash

What founders can do now to mitigate risks of what's to come

How to start with forecasting SaaS metrics

In this episode of SaaS Boss show I interview Jennifer Musselman about existing teams issues and how to make system-level improvements in your team when you already have a team and things aren't going that well.

Two moving bodies in contact with each other create friction, so expect that you as a founder will need to put in work into developing your team.

Reason for teams being ineffective.

Mission, vision, company goals.

Social Styles & Communications needs.

Why poor communication of vision creates problems.

What Workflows and Processes need to have in place.

Deliver feedback early, don't wait for it to pile up before sharing it with the team.

What steps can founders take today to improve their communication?

Steps when we have existing team issues and trying to make improvements:

1. Create environment where we communicate values. why are we all working togetehr and what are we trying to achieve. Vision need to be communicated often.

2. Employee performance review once a year isn't enough, need give immediate feedback

3. Encourage dialogue amongst employees and create safe environment to hold each other accountable.

4. Self management for executives to handle their stress level...

In this episode of SaaS Boss show I interview Tyler Barron about steps that founders should take to build and scale SaaS revenue.

The 3 steps are:

Successful Architecture of Revenue Model

Product/Market Fit

Strategies to Accelerate Revenue

Tyler will be a panel speaker at the SaaStock Dallas local event I'm hosting on March 26th 2020, for more info check out https://local.saastock.com/dallas/.

Connect with Tyler on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerbarronmba/

In this episode Natalie interviews Sid Mohasseb about measuring and improving performance of a founder, their teams and their startup as the result.

Things we discuss:

What is a high performing founder and the difference between?

What mental/personality characteristics successful founders have in common?

What are the measurements of success?

Processes you need to put in place to be a high performing leader and team.

How much time do you spend managing people vs. working on the product?

Spending hours on things that don’t add value to your bottom line.

Learn more about Sid here: mohasseb.com

In this episode Natalie asks leadership coach Tracy Washington question from the audience about being the youngest person on the team who is also CEO.

Learn more about Tracy here: getrelationshipcurrency.com

In this episode Natalie shares her Supercharged Month technique that will help increase our productivity. It's something that Greg McKeown mentions in his book Essentialism, and there's another book The 12 Week Year that you can also find useful for this topic.

So, the exact steps that I recommend you to have your supercharged and highly productive 4 weeks:

1. Set your goals for the next 4 weeks

2. Dump all tactics and tasks that are sitting in your head and prioritize those tactics for every day of the week

3. Execution. Setup 5 minutes at the beginning of each day to review yesterday's progress and plan that day's activities. Time block your calendar and prioritize what really needs to be done. Do not end the day until the tasks you set out to do for each day are accomplished.

4. Process control. Make sure nothing derails you from this single most important activity.

5. Measurements of Results. Accountability - focus more on action than on the results.