3 ms·

i'm the ceo of a company that sells b2b software. we never sell a product for less than $2k annually, and our contracts are frequently in the 5 figures annuall

by davmar 15y ago

i'm the ceo of a company that sells b2b software. we never sell a product for less than $2k annually, and our contracts are frequently in the 5 figures annually. our current sales cycle includes a lot of the negatives that you point out. however, we're up front with our pricing while our competitors aren't. we actually created a product that did nearly exactly what you said. we didn't get nearly as many customers with that method. people would sign up (sometimes) and when they did, they tended not to pay once their 30 day free trial was up. our conversion rates sucked. we ended up canceling that product and removing it from our site after 8 months. when we have a webinar with a sales call, our closure rates increase dramatically. customers tend not to pay by credit card even when given the option. i actually think you're 100% right for many, many products. but i don't think it'd work in my boring b2b industry. edit: we probably didn't do enough experimentation on the small product as we should have, so i take some of the blame for that.

gruseom 15y ago
Thanks, that is a great comment based on experience. Can you say more about your industry and/or path to success? What was most surprising? Do you have salespeople actively soliciting business or do most prospects find you? What advice would you give to startups planning to break into the b2b world?
- davmar 15y ago
  gladly. i think the single biggest contributor to our success has been the fact that we are in close contact with our customers. if we lose a sale, we have the opportunity to learn why we lost. during a webinar, we hear the reactions of customers. with RFP's we get a list of the features they want. when we win, we stay close to them during implementation. we learn what works/what doesn't work with our products. based upon this feedback, we're able to constantly refine our products and messaging to what our customers want. we started with a product guy who could pump out code (me), and a phenomenal sales guy. the two of us essentially built the initial business. we never took any funding. the most surprising thing is how long it takes to build a solid product. how long it takes to get momentum. everything just takes a lot longer than you'd expect. it's also a funny thing. once you've achieved a small amount of success (and mine is small), people start thinking you actually know what you're talking about. in my experience - apart from geniuses like jobs, gates, musk, etc - there's nothing that separates you from me. it just takes time, dedication and hard work. edit: most people find us. we also have business associates who resell to their customer base and customers sometimes give us nice referrals. advice: b2b is great because people actually pay for shit. lots of b2b software is just awful, i think you can differentiate by providing an excellent product. it'll stand out and give you a solid niche. i'd also say that you should not give your software away for free in b2b. but you should give it to a trial set of customers initially who can help you work out the kinks. stay close to the customers, they can help guide you and tell you where they look for software like what you're selling. online advertising works great. use landing pages, a/b test them. all the things that you probably already know, just put them into practice. they exist because they work.
  - secret_target 15y ago
    Would love to get your take on what sorts of online advertising has worked and not worked for you in building your company.
    - davmar 15y ago
      obviously google adwords. remarketing pixels are good. adsense blew away a ton of cash with few results. but check out other directory listings. www.capterra.com is HUGE for us. our conversion rates there are about 12% (!!!!). organic conversion rates are about 2.5%. which is much more reasonable. but we spend a lot of $$$$ with them. edit: a conversion for us is a lead.
      - jules 15y ago
        What do you mean by adwords and adsense? AFAIK adwords is the advertiser's side of the coin and adsense is the content publisher's side of the coin.
  - edwinnathaniel 15y ago
    Would you mind to provide examples of B2B software that we rarely heard of? I have interest in B2B more than B2C occasionally but don't really have a lot of domain knowledge. Would you happen to know a few general tricks how or where to get such knowledge?
    - davmar 15y ago
      sure. first of all, if you're a cs major (like me) it's doubtful that you'll have the right domain knowledge. in my case, my father and family friend approached me and asked if i could build something. our co-founder said "all the software in this (hr technology) industry sucked". can i build xyz? over a long period of time, i did. so my general trick would be - find people who are in completely opposite industries as you are right now. doing totally different, non-technical work. often times they're consultants that are reselling other companies products. and they know - since they've been implementing products and speaking to customers on a daily basis - where the customer pain points are. hope that helps. it only happened for me once, so it's hard to replicate, but i hope you get the chance.

by davmar 15y ago

gruseom 15y ago

Thanks, that is a great comment based on experience. Can you say more about your industry and/or path to success? What was most surprising? Do you have salespeople actively soliciting business or do most prospects find you? What advice would you give to startups planning to break into the b2b world?

davmar 15y ago
gladly. i think the single biggest contributor to our success has been the fact that we are in close contact with our customers. if we lose a sale, we have the opportunity to learn why we lost. during a webinar, we hear the reactions of customers. with RFP's we get a list of the features they want. when we win, we stay close to them during implementation. we learn what works/what doesn't work with our products. based upon this feedback, we're able to constantly refine our products and messaging to what our customers want. we started with a product guy who could pump out code (me), and a phenomenal sales guy. the two of us essentially built the initial business. we never took any funding. the most surprising thing is how long it takes to build a solid product. how long it takes to get momentum. everything just takes a lot longer than you'd expect. it's also a funny thing. once you've achieved a small amount of success (and mine is small), people start thinking you actually know what you're talking about. in my experience - apart from geniuses like jobs, gates, musk, etc - there's nothing that separates you from me. it just takes time, dedication and hard work. edit: most people find us. we also have business associates who resell to their customer base and customers sometimes give us nice referrals. advice: b2b is great because people actually pay for shit. lots of b2b software is just awful, i think you can differentiate by providing an excellent product. it'll stand out and give you a solid niche. i'd also say that you should not give your software away for free in b2b. but you should give it to a trial set of customers initially who can help you work out the kinks. stay close to the customers, they can help guide you and tell you where they look for software like what you're selling. online advertising works great. use landing pages, a/b test them. all the things that you probably already know, just put them into practice. they exist because they work.
- secret_target 15y ago
  Would love to get your take on what sorts of online advertising has worked and not worked for you in building your company.
  - davmar 15y ago
    obviously google adwords. remarketing pixels are good. adsense blew away a ton of cash with few results. but check out other directory listings. www.capterra.com is HUGE for us. our conversion rates there are about 12% (!!!!). organic conversion rates are about 2.5%. which is much more reasonable. but we spend a lot of $$$$ with them. edit: a conversion for us is a lead.
    - jules 15y ago
      What do you mean by adwords and adsense? AFAIK adwords is the advertiser's side of the coin and adsense is the content publisher's side of the coin.
- edwinnathaniel 15y ago
  Would you mind to provide examples of B2B software that we rarely heard of? I have interest in B2B more than B2C occasionally but don't really have a lot of domain knowledge. Would you happen to know a few general tricks how or where to get such knowledge?
  - davmar 15y ago
    sure. first of all, if you're a cs major (like me) it's doubtful that you'll have the right domain knowledge. in my case, my father and family friend approached me and asked if i could build something. our co-founder said "all the software in this (hr technology) industry sucked". can i build xyz? over a long period of time, i did. so my general trick would be - find people who are in completely opposite industries as you are right now. doing totally different, non-technical work. often times they're consultants that are reselling other companies products. and they know - since they've been implementing products and speaking to customers on a daily basis - where the customer pain points are. hope that helps. it only happened for me once, so it's hard to replicate, but i hope you get the chance.