Best of forEntrepreneurs
forEntrepreneurs is focused on writing about pressing topics founders are encountering and sharing the best resources and advice we can find to help you build your company. Based on readers’ feedback, we’re sharing the top articles from forEntrepreneurs in the …
A Shockingly Common Way that Sales Misses Plan
It’s just after the end of a quarter, and for VC’s that means many board meetings to review how portfolio companies have performed. Over the years of doing this, I’ve been shocked and surprised how many times I’ve seen good …
Bridge Group 2015 SaaS Inside Sales Survey Report
Survey results from 342 B2B SaaS companies on key inside sales metrics including group structure, ramp and retention, quota and compensation, activity & technology and leadership.
Intro
The SaaS model has become mainstream, and is everywhere. Gone are the early …
Sales Predictability with a little bit of Glengarry Glen Ross
The following is a guest post by Tim Bertrand. I have the pleasure of knowing Tim since the late 1990’s when we worked together at my last startup. Tim now heads up world wide sales and field operations at …
Reaching Your Highest Potential Customers – Outbound Prospecting
As most of my readers know, I am a big fan of Inbound Marketing. However there are times when inbound leads aren’t either enough, or the right kinds of leads needed to reach your best potential customers. In those situations, …
Growth Hacking: Creating a Wow Moment
This article is part of a series titled “The Art & Science of Growth Hacking” that will be published over time. My thanks to Gail Goodman, the founder and CEO of Constant Contact for introducing me to this concept.
(In …
That’s a nice little $40M ecommerce company. Call me when it scales
It will surprise a lot of entrepreneurs to learn that building an e-commerce business with $10 million to $20 million in revenues is not that hard. It also surprises many to learn that it’s not actually that valuable. This is …
SaaS Inside Sales: What you need to know
The Bridge Group have recently published a report titled:
Inside Sales for SaaS
Metrics and Compensation Report for B2B technology companies
The report is based on a survey of 197 B2B technology companies, and covers topics such as:
- Ramp
An Argument for Specialized Sales Teams — An Interview with Aaron Ross
In this article I interview Aaron Ross, co-author of a new book, Predictable Revenue. Aaron discusses his experience at Salesforce.com starting a new group that used an innovative outbound prospecting approach (involving no cold calls) to create new leads. …
Do you know your Customer? Buying Cycle & Triggers
This article looks at why customers expect different interactions with you depending on where they are in the buying cycle. It also examines how specific events trigger them into a buying mode. It then explains how you can use this
…Inside Sales Best Practices: HubSpot – A Case Study
Best practices for inside sales managers. An interview with Mark Roberge, VP of Sales at HubSpot, discussing how he blends science and process with the art of selling.
HubSpot is a SaaS company selling Inbound Marketing software. HubSpot has grown …
When Selling is the Worst Way to Win Customers
Customers hate being sold to.
Customers hate being sold to. They don’t mind getting expert help when they want to buy something. But much of the time they are not ready to buy, and one of the most irritating things …
Measure Customer Engagement: Increase Conversion and Lower Churn
The goal of a SaaS CEO should be to increase the profit they make from each customer (LTV), and lower the costs in sales and marketing that it takes to acquire each customer (CAC). Measuring Customer Engagement is a key …
The Science behind Viral Marketing
The Science behind Viral Marketing is a look at the key factors that drive growth in viral marketing. (Hint, the most important factor is not the one everyone expects.) It also looks at what is needed to get virality to …
How Investors Validate Your Bookings Forecast
We have just gone through the time of year when startups present their 2011 plans to their boards for approval. In many ways, these meetings are very similar to the meetings we have with new startups that have projections for …
