Ep. 55 - A mini master class on M&A to grow your SaaS with Ari Kahn, President and CEO of Bridgeline Digital

As a seasoned sales expert and popular sales podcaster, Brian Burns has more than a few opinions about how companies are selling to the enterprise today.

Most notably, because reps haven’t been taught the difference, they try to make up for the lack of pipeline by increasing outreach activity.

That may have worked in 2011 when the Predictable Revenue Model gained prominence (and our inboxes weren’t flooded with sales pitches). 

But today, the compartmentalization of prospecting and closing won’t result in more complex deals, where decisions are ruled by committees and often end in “no decision.”

In this episode, Burns talks about how today’s reps should be learning about selling in the enterprise, such as working with champions and how to continuously move the deal forward.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• Why much of the complex deal is counterintuitive and relies on guiding the sale instead of reacting.
• Why measuring outcomes that lead to revenue generation is more important than tracking activities that may not directly contribute to sales.
• Why you shouldn’t hire salespeople based on their Rolodex (or industry connections for the youngsters).

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

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Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free content audit.

We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.

And the best part? It’s absolutely free.

Get started today!

Originally, the founders of Plytix set out to create an analytics platform for e-commerce that measured the performance of a product (instead of a website) so brands could see how end users interact with them, even when sold on a third-party website. 

But even after positive early traction and investment, they were stalled—many of the brands didn’t have their product information at the ready.

So, they built a simple source of truth—a Product Information Management (PIM) so they could get access to the product information that they needed. 

As it turns out, that was the larger need from SMBs—a PIM they could afford. 

After realizing the broader market opportunity, Plytix leaders made some hard choices and pivoted. 

Key takeaways from this episode:

• The nuances of being a European-based SaaS targeting the US market
• The importance of understanding the customer creation engine before implementing an attribution model.
• The challenges of scaling beyond the ceiling of just in-market leads.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---

Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free content audit.

We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.

And the best part? It’s absolutely free.

Get started today!

Having moved from a miserable culture in investment banking to an incredibly positive one at tech startup ZipRecruiter, Jonathan Fields learned early in his career the profound impact culture has on an organization.

So inspired, in fact, that he and his co-founders worked nights and weekends to create a platform that could make those elements scalable and easy for companies to adopt.

The result is Assembly, a platform that focuses on creating opportunities for coworkers to connect beyond work-related tasks has enhanced the overall employee experience and fostered a sense of community within organizations.

Initially, when they surveyed people about what they want from work culture, there weren’t a lot of surprises: they want to feel recognized, appreciated, and acknowledged for their hard work. They also want mentorship and career development opportunities.

But as companies moved to more hybrid work during the pandemic (and remain so today), one new concept dwarfed the others in comparison: the “work best friend.”

So, to emulate those types of interactions in their platform (beyond Zoom happy hours), they created channels for culture ideas, such as pets, volunteering, and favorite company moments channels, to facilitate interactions between coworkers beyond work-related tasks.

Profitable since day one, Assembly has successfully positioned itself as a thought leader by focusing on content development early and today has attracted $14.5M in funding.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• How investing in thought leadership and content creation early helped establish credibility and drove sales inbound.
• How to position your SaaS as a “must have” versus a “nice-to-have”
• The importance of researching the landscape, competitors, and buyers before diving into a venture.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---

Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free content audit.

We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.

And the best part? It’s absolutely free.

Get started today!

Are you making one or more of these mistakes in your messaging?

Given the number of websites that we review regularly, chances are that you are—and that means leaving revenue on the table.

In this episode, Ken and Jason from Austin Lawrence Group discuss the eight common mistakes that SaaS companies make with real life examples.

So if you’re revisiting messaging and content strategy this year, or you’re frustrated with the quality of leads coming through your website, this episode is for you.

A few key takeaways:

• How to avoid making vague statements that cause cognitive dissonance with some prospective buyers.
• Why you shouldn’t lead with AI 
• Why it’s crucial to gain problem agreement by clearly identifying and addressing the problem they’re trying to solve.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---

Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free content audit.

We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.

And the best part? It’s absolutely free.

Get started today!

Business development poses big challenges for today’s SaaS.

It becomes twice as ineffective every year as people learn how to ignore you.

And it’s such a grind that it’s hard to find good people who want to stick with the sales development rep (SDR) position over the long term.

To get engagement on the phone today takes the right experience, technology, and triggers.

That’s why we sat down with Gabriel Lullo, CEO of Alleyoop, an outsourced SDR service that specializes in lead generation and relationship management to talk about the future of outbound prospecting and whether or not it’s a good idea to outsource this function.

They realize that clients may want to move this function in-house, and so they train their SDRs to eventually take a full-time position in that role.

Key takeaways from this episode: 

• While cold calling is not dead, the skill sets required to make it work are paramount—they must be prepared, sound human, and sell the appointment rather than the product.
• Whether through marketing or an SDR function, nurturing leads is critical to long-term success and will probably not be done adequately by an account executive on quota.
• Gabe also shares his vision for the future of SDR, where nurturing and following up with leads will continue to be crucial, and where AI will serve as an enhancement rather than a replacement for human interaction.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---

Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free content audit.

We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.

And the best part? It’s absolutely free.

Get started today!

We’ve all been frustrated by those pesky ads that pop up when trying to read an article.

We understand that publishers are trying to capture more of that lost ad revenue, but the solution is not to create such a poor experience that it drives consumers away.

And the rise of ad blockers is not the only problem for publishers.

The decline of traditional tracking methods due to privacy regulations and browser changes, such as the death of the cookie, threatens the business model even more.

Dan Rua, CEO of Admiral, believes that both publishers and visitors need to care more about each other. 

Through their Visitor Relationship Management platform (VRM), publishers can offer visitors different value exchanges based on their preferences, such as ad-free experiences, email relationships, or subscriptions. 

The results for publishers are a no-brainer, receiving an almost immediate return on investment for many. 

Other key takeaways from this episode:

• Focus on solving specific problems first – Admiral started with ad block recovery as their beachhead and became the best in the world.
• How they went from founder-led sales to a scalable machine once they’d achieved product-market fit.
• The benefits of having a strong product team as founders and how they understood everything that’s needed to contribute to revenue early on. 

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---

Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free content audit.

We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.

And the best part? It’s absolutely free.

Get started today!

In this episode, SaaS Backwards host Ken Lempit switches places to the guest seat to discuss upcoming trends in SaaS marketing for the new year and what companies will have to do to be successful.

Ken is the Chief Strategist of the Austin Lawrence Group, a growth marketing agency specializing in B2B SaaS, and has a 30-year track record in software marketing.

The key areas discussed include:

1. As outbound prospecting gets harder, how will companies be successful?
2. How will sales and marketing KPIs shift toward more meaningful measurements?
3. Will traditional techniques like postal mail and custom publishing make a comeback?
4. And will generative AI take its place as a tool instead of a replacement for people?

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---

Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free content audit.

We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.

And the best part? It’s absolutely free.

Get started today!

Pricing is often the most overlooked “P” in the SaaS marketing mix. We see it in our marketing practice often.

Companies may be averse to raising prices for fear of losing customers, focusing on other priorities like product development, or simply don’t understand the impact on the business.

In this episode, we caught up with Pat Meegan, Senior Partner at Maple Street Advisors, who talks about assessing the opportunity for pricing growth regularly by looking at four key indicators: 

1. Leadership doesn't have a clear pricing strategy that everyone can point to and have confidence in.
2. Inactivity in pricing for a significant period (six months to a year).
3. Market data that indicates the potential for better pricing or an optimized pricing structure.
4. Value-added to the product without corresponding pricing adjustments

And given the risks such as customer churn or dissatisfaction, Meegan provides insights into how companies can approach pricing to drive growth and satisfy both their customers and investors.

Key Takeaways from this episode:

• How to evaluate a DIY approach to pricing or bringing in an external advisor
• How to determine if pricing is a lever you can pull for growth and profitability
• How to pressure test new pricing strategies to mitigate churn risk

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---

Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free content audit.

We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.

And the best part? It’s absolutely free.

Get started today!

When going through a repetitive and time-consuming mortgage application process in 2017, Mang-Git Ng was surprised that the process wasn’t automated.

He realized that there were many industries that still operated in the internet dark ages and that moving all these PDFs and paper documents to online forms could solve a major problem.

But after he and his co-founder had built their initial product, they struggled to gain traction, especially with limited sales and marketing experience. 

Through much experimentation, they started identifying patterns in their customer base and certain industries (like human resources workforce management and insurance) that had a need for generating, processing, and signing documents, and their product was a great solution. 

By focusing on these verticals, Anvil was able to deeply understand the challenges and language used in these industries, allowing them to speak to their target customers more effectively. 

Six years later, Anvil is a seven-figure ARR SaaS company that has raised $10M in funding.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• Finding patterns in your customer base that can be exploited for niche-based selling
• How to sell to companies that are resistant to change
• Why you should focus on sales and marketing early in the process

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---

Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free content audit.

We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.

And the best part? It’s absolutely free.

Get started today!

Because of the challenges in the current financing environment and the cautious approach of strategic buyers and private equity firms for SaaS companies, we invited Marty Magida on to discuss practical strategies to enhance company value and navigate the complexities of the M&A market.

Magida is the managing director of Berkery, Noyes & Co an independent investment bank providing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory to middle-market leaders in the global information, software, services, and technology industries.

Marty advises listeners to stay informed about industry trends, cultivate relationships with potential buyers, and pay attention to the metrics that drive acquisitions.

It’s a must listen for all SaaS leaders that plan to raise funding, exit the business or participate in a merger or acquisition.

Key Takeaways from this episode:

• Manage risk profile by reducing concentration and striving to be asset light.
• Improve consistency of results by focusing on recurring revenue and making it costly for customers to switch.
• Maximize value by building a strong management team, ensuring reliable financial reporting, and cultivating relationships with potential buyers.

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.

The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.

And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

---

Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free content audit.

We’ll look at your website’s messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today’s buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos.

And the best part? It’s absolutely free.

Get started today!