The Modern SaaS Podcast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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