EPISODE SUMMARY
Reaching $1 million in MRR can seem like a long way ahead for new SaaS founders. But with the right mindset and framework, this goal is perfectly attainable. Fortunately, the best SaaS coach will share his tricks so that fellow entrepreneurs can also hit this huge milestone.
In The First 100 podcast hosted by Asteya Co-Founder Hadi Radwan, B2B SaaS Sales Coach Matt Wolach gets down to business and shares his Perfect DEAL Process. He also emphasizes staying confident and how this will keep entrepreneurs on top of their game. Watch the podcast and become one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies out there!
PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCE
Podcast: The First 100
Episode: The First 100 With Matt Wolach, SaaS Sales Coach
Host: Hadi Radwan, Co-Founder at Asteya
Guest: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS sales coach, Entrepreneur, and Investor
TOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Behave Like a Pro
Even if you are new to the field, you must exude the confidence levels of a veteran. It’s not faking it ’till you make it. After all, an entrepreneur will always have some degree of anxiety. But you have to realize that you are already doing your best. All that’s left is to act like a leader to inspire your team and customers alike.
Keep in mind that your behavior is contagious. If you are hesitant or nervous, your stakeholders will pick up on that. Your prospects will go to someone else since they can’t trust you to solve their problems. Your sales team might doubt the product, which will impact how they deliver the demo. But if you believe in yourself, so will everyone else.
Apply the Perfect D.E.A.L Process
In terms of framework, Matt advised that his Perfect D.E.A.L Process really changed the game for him. As a newbie founder back then, Matt had also experienced struggles when it comes to scaling. He was able to close many deals but his own sales team could not do the same. He eventually crafted The Perfect D.E.A.L Process, and the sales took off.
Matt explained that D.E.A.L is an acronym that stands for Discover, Educate, Associate, and Lead. He says that discovery means truly digging deep into the client’s struggles beyond what’s in the script. This is followed by education, which is giving value to the customer. Association is when your product becomes the solution for the customer while leading is guiding them to reach that point.
Keep Sharing Value
The content strategy that Matt used when he was starting out was to frequently give value. Contrary to expectations, he ended up growing his client base this way. He explained that this is due to his customers believing that his products are going to be amazing since he gives such valuable information for free.
Up to this day, Matt is still using this same tactic and he has widened his reach by delving into multiple channels. Matt started out by posting a tip or his realizations about SaaS on LinkedIn. Now, he’s the proud host of SaaS-Story in the Making, a sales podcast with 234 episodes as of this date. It’s safe to say that his investment in people compounded and he has become a better person on top of being a better coach.
Implement a Lead Magnet
An easy way for a software founder to reach their first 100 customers would be to have a lead magnet. According to Matt, not a lot of people are successfully implementing this very simple yet powerful tool. He explains that despite being a high funnel, it’s low commitment as prospects only need to input their email address.
One example of a lead magnet is a free downloadable PDF that gets sent via email. Keep in mind that getting their email does not equate to spamming them with sales pitches. Matt explains to give them further value so that the prospect becomes more connected to your brand. After that, people will realize your worth and commit to your product on their own.
Maintain Your Confidence Even Through Failure
Confidence has to be kept up all the time even after failing according to Matt. A lot of entrepreneurs tend to become hesitant after failing and it affects the way they execute their ideas. The next thing they try usually doesn’t work out well. What happens after this is a downward spiral which can be fatal for a startup.
As a founder, Matt had his own share of failures and he’s had a lot of them back when he was still letting his failures affect him more than they should have. He assures that all one needs to do is use failure as a motivator to do better. This single move alone usually shifts the sales momentum back to success.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
What You Give, You Get Back
While this may sound cliché, Matt can attest to this principle. When he was starting out himself, he decided to go against a popular limiting belief. Instead of withholding information for the sake of sales, he kept giving out value for free. Eventually, people started returning the favor by becoming his client or appearing in his podcast. It’s safe to say that Matt is basking in good business karma and he will keep on doing so in the future.
You’re Unlikely to Close After Losing a Deal
Have you ever had a losing streak in sales to the point that the rage of quitting your software business slid into your mind? It actually makes sense that you are least likely to close after failing a previous deal. After all, the reverse is also true as studies show that you are most likely to close after winning a deal. Matt says not to sweat the failures too much as it only means that the next upswing is right around the corner.
Anxiety Can Be a Good Motivator
This may sound counterintuitive as a lot of us tend to be negatively impacted by anxiety. Matt, however, has a brilliant perspective on this unpleasant emotion. He explains that if we are always comfortable, we probably won’t be reaching as far as we do now. This means that a little bit of fear is actually healthy as it pushes us to work hard and helps us better ourselves and our products.
TOP QUOTES
Matt Wolach
[1:40] “I love the grind of SaaS startups. It’s super, super exciting. It’s great building teams, building processes, determining how you’re going to be able to do anything, and then hiring the people to be able to do that and running that team. And all of that is super fun.”
[6:59] “And so I realized, I need a process. And once that happened, and that was kind of a lightbulb moment; created a process, brought in two guys who didn’t have the same background or same experience but because they followed the process, they crushed it.”
[26:40] “I’ve seen mediocre products be super successful. I’ve seen great products not be successful. It’s about your sales process.”
Hadi Radwan
[29:14] “When you’ve got this demo or service, you have to be the expert. And it’s almost like your product or service is kind of filling this– like this gap.”
LEARN MORE
For more about how Matt Wolach helps software companies achieve maximum growth, visit https://mattwolach.com/
You can also find Matt Wolach on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattwolach/
To learn more about Matt Wolach and his new SaaS for marketing agencies, Ringbot, visit: https://ringbot.io/