"The biggest challenges to direct sales is finding the right prospects and knowing how to show them value as quickly as possible."
Industry segmentation then targeting sales resources to segments. Those resources are your salespeople, ad materials, trade-shows, etc. The industry segmentation is prioritized for segments that benefit the most from the product and have money to spend. You don't focus on the markets or company sizes you want. You focus on who really needs your product because it really makes a difference in their bottom line.
There have never been more brick and mortar, grey haired experts available for hire to SAAS providers. These folks have the domain expertise to look at your product and provide the message, network and outreach to grow your user base.
I cringe mightily reading SAAS job postings looking for someone with business development (or marketing) experience but without industry expertise. Is it agism? Not sure, but I had this experience interviewing for a Marketing Director role with a major Valley SAAS firm who opted for a generalist and who I understand hasn't seen more than 10% growth since. Sometimes the hard way is the right way.
This was a bit ranty, but it's been on my mind for some time.
> I cringe mightily reading SAAS job postings looking for someone with business development (or marketing) experience but without industry expertise.
It’s ego, scrappiness, and company building.
The number of times I recommended an expert we should hire as consultants to teach us how to do things[1] and the founders just don’t wanna ... it’s silly. Always the same excuses: we want to build experise in house, invent from first principles, we need employees not experts, we can’t pay that much, we’re disruptors and old advice doesn’t apply ... bleh.
So you get marketing departments run by folk who have never made a buck online on their own. All the book knowledge, none of the visceral experience. It’s ridiculous
[1] I hvae a network of those because of my sidehustling
I agree on segmentation, but at an early stage it's really hard to figure who your ideal prospects are. We're working towards that after our 1-1 conversations helped us identify who are the people we can provide value for.
Not sure I follow you on job postings, but also agree on domain expertise as an important trait, and think ageism is a big problem in the tech industry
Industry segmentation then targeting sales resources to segments. Those resources are your salespeople, ad materials, trade-shows, etc. The industry segmentation is prioritized for segments that benefit the most from the product and have money to spend. You don't focus on the markets or company sizes you want. You focus on who really needs your product because it really makes a difference in their bottom line.
There have never been more brick and mortar, grey haired experts available for hire to SAAS providers. These folks have the domain expertise to look at your product and provide the message, network and outreach to grow your user base.
I cringe mightily reading SAAS job postings looking for someone with business development (or marketing) experience but without industry expertise. Is it agism? Not sure, but I had this experience interviewing for a Marketing Director role with a major Valley SAAS firm who opted for a generalist and who I understand hasn't seen more than 10% growth since. Sometimes the hard way is the right way.
This was a bit ranty, but it's been on my mind for some time.