Seeking out software vendors has become the primary method of adopting the latest technologies or addressing gaps. For most use cases, the days of building in-house solutions for every use case are long gone.

Instead, businesses of all sizes seek out Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms to address any lacking areas or stay competitive by leveraging the latest technologies. Rather than a single purchase, SaaS calls for recurring billing and predictable revenue.

The nature of SaaS sales highlights one critical point — a single successful sale can result in years of steady revenue. As a result, building a strong sales enablement process for SaaS sales teams can significantly benefit building lasting revenue and company growth.

Understanding the Software Sales Landscape

Typically, software vendors offer Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) rather than a locally run solution purchased once. This allows enterprises to benefit from ongoing development and maintenance rather than taking on in-house responsibilities or making larger recurring purchases for new versions.

An effective enterprise software sales process can make the difference between growing a lasting business or continually struggling to land new customers. Strengthening the entire process is critical, from adopting effective pre-sales software to conducting engaging software demos.

The current SaaS landscape is also increasingly competitive. Knowing how to generate leads is important, but turning those leads into loyal customers requires mastering every stage of the sales process. 

Stages of the B2B Software Sales Process

You might be familiar with the overall sales process, but let’s explore it with a focus specifically on the software sales process stages, which are:

1. Finding leads: Finding leads is an entire field consisting of effective SEO, social media marketing, paid ads, and professional networking. For now, we’ll simply highlight that the process begins by having visitors complete a lead capture form.
2. Making contact and qualifying: Once a new lead is earned, reaching out to them is critical and typically should be done within 24 hours. Don’t go right for the sale, but aim to understand their pain points and ensure your SaaS platform is the right fit for them.
3. Conduct the product demo: As the lead learns more and is ready to proceed, the next step is to showcase the product in a live, one-on-one demo. These demos let the lead see the SaaS platform beyond what’s available on the website, including giving them hands-on experience.
4. Making the sale: Exactly how you close the sale depends on the type of platform, price point, and each lead. Closing the sale typically includes overcoming objections based on everything the salesperson has learned about the lead.

Ways to Improve the Software Sales Process

Improving the software sales process involves strengthening several aspects, including communicating leads and managing behind-the-scenes processes. So, let’s break down how you can effectively convert leads into loyal customers.

Nurture Leads

Nurturing leads is the overall process of moving leads from brand new to ready to become a customer. Some new leads may want to quickly move through the process, while others will spend more time evaluating options or waiting for other factors like the available budget.

Understanding how to nurture leads is a powerful way to improve the software sales process. Finding the right cadence of reaching out, creating a mailing list with well-crafted campaigns, and allowing leads to contact an expert all help leads move through the sales process.

Bring Marketing and Sales Together

The sales process begins before a visitor becomes a lead, meaning marketing teams are integral to finding leads and the entire process.

However, it’s too common for marketing and sales departments to become siloed, rarely communicating on campaigns and sales techniques. This disjointedness results in marketing campaigns that don’t always align with how the sales teams will nurture and aim to close the sale.

Bringing these teams together goes far in creating cohesive messaging and a unified user experience. Explore ways to increase communication and collaboration between these departments.

Automate Key Tasks

Software sales automation doesn’t remove sales teams from the process but offers tools that make everything from lead nurturing to sales demos more efficient.

Typically, sales automation tools are presales assets, such as helping sales teams quickly create virtual environments based on templates with some customization per lead. SaaS products need data, so automation tools can also fill demo environments with faux customer data to showcase the platform better.

Exactly where you integrate these tools with your processes is up to you and will vary between companies. It’s important to remember you’re not automating salespeople out of the process but using powerful tools to make them more efficient and effective.