The Martell Method w/ Dan Martell

Exclusive Download: Customer Experience Planner™

Imagine taking the stage for the opening keynote of your own customer conference.

Hundreds (or even thousands) of your users in front of you.

Enjoying that super cool inflection point where you can literally see the community you’ve built right in front of your eyes…

And at the same time, unlock a hidden series of growth levers that your competitors (who shied away from the whole conference thing) will never have a chance to pull.

Pretty cool, right?

Here’s a short list of what a successful conference can do for your growth:  

— Higher engagement, deeper commitments, and raving fandom.

— Build and solidify community amongst your users (driving retention/slashing churn)

— Bump up your trial-to-paid conversions (through amazing case studies that close the deal)

Despite the crazy upside, most founders will never pull the trigger.

The time… the cost… the energy… all seem way too much.

But did you know that it’s possible for your event to actually turn a profit?

In this week’s video, I draw from conversations I’ve had with companies like Leadpages and Bucket.io to give you the 5 steps for running an amazing (and profitable) customer conference.

At a high level, here are the steps:

1. Upsell Tickets (Leadpages nailed this)
2. Customers Present (and you get the case studies)
3. Record all videos (and add’em to your nurture sequence — or sell them)
4. Present Awards (and show your users what’s possible)
5. Sell Sponsorships (so you can turn a profit and create future partners)

Pay special attention to that fourth step.

It’s one of those things that may seem a bit frivolous on the surface…

… but it’s actually a super ninja and highly sophisticated marketing strategy when you dig a little deeper.

If you’ve seen things like Clickfunnels’ “2 Comma Club”… that’s step #4 in action.

Running a customer conference may not currently be at the top of your 2018 goals list (or it might)…

… but I’d love it if you could give this video a quick watch and then drop me a comment letting me know a) if you can see yourself planning a conference and b) if not, what’s still stopping you?

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter

+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell

Exclusive Download: The Weekly Sync™

If you run a small team of just 5 employees/co-founders…

Your weekly meetings are likely costing you well north of 50k/year.

Simple math…

… average hourly rate x number of people x 52

That’s how much you’re spending to run your weekly meeting.

If the most productive thing that comes out of it is a self-portrait of your front-end designer sketched in an intense bout of boredom…

… then these meetings are crushing your company.

And it’s not that hypothetical front-end designer’s fault.

It’s on you as the leader to design your meetings so that they’re highly focused and optimized for growth.

In this week’s video, I show you the 5 steps for maximizing the ROI on the 50k/year investment you didn’t even know you were making.

At a high level, here’s what a highly productive meeting comes down to:

1. Time to celebrate
2. Measure to manage
3. Focus on the few
4. The obstacle is the way  
5. Give it a score

While all of them are critical to maximizing your ROI… number 4  is the hallmark of every successful B2B SaaS company I know.

(shoutout to Ryan Holliday)

Essentially, if you use your meetings to address and pre-empt the biggest and scariest obstacles in your path to growth, you set the stage to come together and blast through them as a team.

Nothing unites a team faster while building a winning culture than overcoming challenges that your competitors would likely back down from.

Do that 52x/year and you have a recipe for some serious, compounded growth.

Give this episode a quick watch and then drop me a comment letting me know 1) how many team members you manage and 2) what you do to keep everyone dialed in and excited to grow.

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter

+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell

Exclusive Download: Trial Conversion Campaign

25%.

That’s the magic number you gotta obsess over.

At least when it comes to your trial to paid conversions.

If you’ve yet to have a virtual drink clink with your team for hitting that benchmark…

Then it’s hands down your biggest (and most urgent) opportunity for growth.

In this week’s video I break down the 5 steps needed to achieve that *magic number* by this time next quarter.

At a high level, here’s how to achieve trial-to-conversion nirvana:

1. Get them situated
2. Highlight the money moves
3. Show them what’s possible
4. Teach and support them
5. Create a trial feedback loop

Most B2B SaaS companies do a pretty good job at nailing number 1.

Number 2 is where people get stuck.

Number 3 is where people get lazy.

And number 5 is where people put on the blinders and get scared.

The biggest mistake you can make is to put too big a focus on traffic (via partners, ads, content, etc.) before you have your trial-to-conversions dialed in.

If you do, it’s like trying to fill a leaky bucket.

Great way to burn cash and piss off your strategic partners in the process.

Instead, focus on these 5 key steps to soar past the 25% benchmark, and then enjoy the freedom of pouring more leads into a system proven to convert.

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter

+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell

Exclusive Download: Customer Creation Model

Watch: New Sales Models - David Sacks

Ever hear of a guy named David Sacks?

He has a crazy gift.

Essentially, he doesn’t know how to get involved in a startup and NOT have it turn into a billion dollar success story.

We’re talking about…

… Paypal (sold to ebay for 1.5B)

… Yammer (sold to Microsoft for 1.2B)

… dozens of companies he was an angel investor in (Airbnb, Facebook, Uber)

He’s as close to a “tech oracle” as there is…

And if you have billion dollar aspirations for your startup… you better be taking his advice as gospel.

I was lucky enough to attend a private keynote that David gave a few years back where he singled out the 5 things that MUST be true to hit the 10 figure mark.

This week’s video is the detailed breakdown extracted from my personal notebook.

At a high level, here are the 4 things that must be true:

1. Market need
2. Product hook
3. Scalable distribution model
4. A non-copyable moat

Even if you’re not crazy enough to have billion dollar aspirations, building your company as if you do will set you up for massive scale.

If there’s one element that has to be true for ANY company (not just billion dollar startups)… it’s the market need.

I  know… obvious on the surface…

… but still a mistake that way too many founders make.

Falling in love with our technology will do that ;-)  

Give this episode a watch, and then reply to this email letting me know the ultimate aspirations for your startup.

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter

+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell

Exclusive Download: Top 5 Productivity Hacks

Today I’m gonna talk about this super advanced technology that any founder can use to boost their energy, be more productive, and crush their workday.

It’s not a state of the art nootropic.

It’s not bulletproof coffee with heaping scoops of grass fed ghee.

It’s your sleep.

I see you eye rolling through that sleep mask ;-)

But here’s why we’re gonna upgrade your sleep quality in this week’s video.

If it’s taking you until 2am to fall asleep, chances are…

… you’re sleeping through your morning routine  

… you’re cancelling plans with your team, your friends, and potential clients or partners

… you’re operating at a fraction of your fullest potential as a leader and creator.

Not exactly the hallmarks of a high-performing SaaS founder.

And definitely not a fast track to scaling your company.

That’s why I created this special episode to help you dial in your sleep quality so you can wake up refreshed, focused, and ready to crush your daily goals.

At a high level, these are the 5 steps I use  to go from a midnight bout with an ADHD mind… to a deep state of rest and recovery that sets me up for an action packed day of growth and impact:

1. Prep it
2. Dump it
3. Breathe
4. No phones or TV
5. Read

Some of these may seem obvious… but pay special attention to how I re-contextualize them for SaaS founders (we’re a special breed) ;-)

If you want the “quick  fix”, check out the special breathing technique that “Guru Dan” prescribes in Step #3.

It knocks me out in 60 seconds flat… and is the sole reason those “sheep” I used to count are currently out of work.

Learn it and try it tonight and then let me know the results in the comments.

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter

+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell

Exclusive Download: Partner Pipeline Framework

Leadpages used *this* strategy to scale their growth at a ridiculous rate.

So did my company Flowtown.

As well as a recent SaaS Academy client who hired an army of over two thousand “salesmen” to promote his accounting software… for free.

If you haven’t caught on…

We’re talking about strategic partnerships.

Partnerships are one of the fastest and most efficient ways of scaling your software business.

It’s essentially outsourcing your customer acquisition… and only paying a pre-negotiated  commission if the user converts.

Predictable acquisition costs?

You’re not gonna get that from google or Zucks ;-)

Thing is… there is a darkside.

The wrong partner can flood your company with thousands of unqualified leads, inundating your entire team and straight jacketing your ability to grow.

Worse… if you’re not hedging your bets, you’re pretty much putting a silver bullet in the barrel of another company that can take your SaaS biz to the back of the barn at a moment’s notice.

In this week’s video I break down the 5 steps for recruiting an army of “salesman” to promote your product… without letting your company fall victim to “silver bullet syndrome”.

At a high level, here’s what it takes to create profitable strategic partnership that fuel your growth without burning out your customer success team with thousands of sh*tty customers:

1. Find shared customers
2. Profile partners for growth
3. Create a hit list
4. Connect to fit
5. Invest in the channel

If you like the idea of ethically hitching a ride on someone else’s growth curve… the deep dive on step #2 will blow your mind.

But like any strategy, if you’re gonna commit to building partnerships… you gotta REALLY commit.

It takes a level of detail and foresight that most founders avoid.

Watch this video to implement this strategy like a pro.

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter

+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell

Exclusive Download: Revenue Retention Cheatsheet™ - Stop The Bleeding & Scale Your Marketing With Confidence - http://bit.ly/2sbvqLU

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I was recently working with a SaaS Academy client who had a serious churn problem.

So serious that he was letting 18% of his accounts disappear without a fight.

Couple that with skyhigh acquisition costs and flatlining expansion revenue… and let’s just say that this company was playing with some serious fire.

“Scale” wasn’t a word you could use with a straight face.

Make no mistake…

This was a survival game.

In this week’s video I breakdown the 5 key initiatives we took to get this company off of life support, shrink churn down to 4%, and achieve net negative churn – aka the holy grail of any SaaS company with serious plans to scale.

At a high level, here’s what it takes to activate your customers and keep’em around for the long haul:

1. Build an onramp
2. Create a support network
3. Project a future
4. Monitor for lows
5. Flip the cancellation

That last step tends to get a lot of pushback from my coaching clients… until they implement it and see how powerful it is for keeping customers in the fold and turning potential ship jumpers into raving flag bearers.

Short story:

It involves NOT letting a customer cancel through a single click on your website…

But bringing the cancellation to a call where you can dive deeper into the reasons, see where your product failed to deliver, and in more cases than not, win back the account by vowing to fix things fast.

At the very least, you’ll get the rich feedback that in the long term is worth 100x more than the account you lost.

Watch the full episode to get the complete list of “activators”, and then drop a comment letting us know what you’ve implemented in your own biz to activate users and keep them around for the long haul.

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell

Exclusive Download: Revenue Retention Cheatsheet™ - Stop The Bleeding & Scale Your Marketing With Confidence - http://bit.ly/2sbvqLU

Download: Customer Case Study Creator Worksheet - https://bit.ly/2uXXpPR

Have you ever tried to collect a case study only to find yourself stumbling over the “ask” before mercifully aborting mission?

Yep.

Happens to just about every SaaS founder.

Even when we get epic results for our customers…

… asking for a case study turns otherwise confident SaaS founders into the chess club captain trying to ask the head cheerleader out to prom.

*awkwaaard*

But it doesn’t have to be.

In fact, it can’t be.

If you want to scale up and have case studies that attract and convert new users…

… then collecting case studies is something you NEED to master.

More specifically, it’s something you need to have a repeatable system for.

Not just to do when you’re feeling extra bold after downing an IPA during your lunch meeting.

In this week’s video I cover the 5 steps to capturing impactful case studies that inspire and convert new users.

If you nail down the perfect timing… and go in with a solid plan… the “ask” becomes easy, and you quickly build up a bank of case studies that you can draw on to close more sales.

Here are the 5 steps:

1. The Moment
2. The Problem
3. The Search
4. The Solution
5. The Result

It’s important to remember that a compelling case study includes the ENTIRE customer journey… not just the end result.

A “result” without the full context does nothing to move your prospective customers into taking action.

But follow the entire 5 steps, and you’ll have a smooth process for gradually building up one of your business’ most important marketing assets.

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter

+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell

DOWNLOAD: Revenue Expansion Maximizer -http://bit.ly/2qjJfTM

A SaaS Academy client recently asked me what SINGLE metric I would look at if I had to bet on the future success of a software company.

It all comes down to this…

Net negative churn.

Simply put, if your expansion revenue is growing faster than your contraction revenue (from downgrades and cancellations)…

… your momentum pretty much becomes unstoppable.

This week’s video goes deep into the 5 key areas that put you on a collision course with this “holy grail” of SaaS growth.

(Hint: having a $7 unlimited pricing level isn’t how to get there.)

As you may have guessed… it all starts with reducing churn.

Can’t expand your relationship with customers who jump ship ;-)

But once you get your churn fixed… there’s a sweet science to increasing LTV’s while bringing MORE value to your customers.

Here’s a high level rundown:

1. Fix your churn
2. Redesign your price plans
3. Price on value
4. Create add-ons
5. Offer partner solutions

Watch this video and then leave us a comment sharing any strategies and tactics you’ve personally used to expand LTV.

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter

+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell

WATCH: $100M+ ARR in 7 Years With Jason Cohen (Founder of WPEngine.com) - https://www.danmartell.com/jasoncohenvideo

Few things can shatter a founder’s confidence quicker than a poorly managed board meeting.

At best…

… you’ll get glossed over stares and “checked out” investors who secretly hate you for wasting their time.

At worst…

… you’ll accidentally knock over the first domino in getting kicked out of your own company.

Pay special attention to Step #4 in this week’s video to make sure that never happens.

After dozens of successful board meetings for my own software companies, as well as helping hundreds of SaaS Academy clients run their own…

... I’ve distilled it down to 5 key steps that impress even the most impatient and demanding board members, while getting you the support and buy-in you need to continue growing your company.

I break down the 5 steps in this week’s video.

At a high level, here’s the flow you should be using to run effective and highly productive board meetings:

1. Big Picture
2. Calibrate
3. Company Building
4. Working Sessions
5. Close the Session

If you implement this flow while asserting yourself as a LEADER, I can guarantee you that you’ll never have another sweaty palmed or unproductive board meeting again.

Better yet, you’ll be able to put your investors to work instead of feeling like you’re constantly trying to impress them.

At the end of the day, your investors will thank you for it — and be excited to help you keep growing.

Give it a watch here and then drop a comment letting the community know what tips or tricks have proven successful in your own board meetings.

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Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.

Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter

+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell