Selecting the appropriate sales model is critical as it defines your customer interactions, your target audience, and the approach to securing their business. Knowing when your organization should adapt its model is equally essential. There are three prevalent models to consider:
Self-Service Model:
In the self-service model, customers autonomously complete their purchases. They select a product or plan that aligns with their needs, make payments through the platform, and onboard themselves with the help of knowledge bases, tutorials, and product documentation.
This model is ideal for high-volume sales of lower-priced SaaS products, such as Spotify subscriptions, Medium memberships, or phone plans. It assumes a low average selling price (ASP) while enabling substantial revenue generation.
Common strategies for attracting customers in the self-service model include freemium offerings and free trials. Comprehensive customer service is typically not provided, and this model does not require a full sales team. Instead, websites encourage individuals or small teams to sign up online.
Transactional Sales Model:
The transactional sales model comes into play when a prospect independently selects a tool but still requires assistance from sales or customer support for implementation and onboarding. This type of sale often occurs with products that have a higher price point or require some configuration before use.
Transactional selling is the most prevalent and scalable of the three models. This software is typically sold to small and medium-sized businesses over the phone and occasionally in person.
Given the generally higher associated costs, buyers in this model expect more personalized service to make a purchase, necessitating the involvement of a dedicated sales team.
Software sold using the transactional model should also be customizable to suit various use cases. Contract prices typically vary, and sales representatives are empowered to offer discounts and share tiered pricing models.
These salespeople maintain a pipeline fueled by a marketing team and are expected to undergo training, demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the product, and meet monthly or quarterly sales quotas.
Enterprise Sales Model:
Reserved for software with low sales volume but high pricing, the enterprise sales model is suited for full-scale, highly specialized, or cutting-edge solutions. Enterprise salespeople often spend extended periods working closely with prospects, answering questions, providing software demonstrations, and meeting with executive stakeholders.
This model is popular for complex or niche SaaS products that cater to larger companies or corporations with budgets capable of supporting these higher-cost solutions. Sales teams are frequently organized by territory, focusing on a specific set of prospects.
Given the intricacies of this sales model, representatives collaborate closely with product marketers and engineers to access the information needed to secure high-value deals.
A crucial factor to consider is your Average Selling Price (ASP). A higher ASP implies that your prospects will anticipate comprehensive customer service, a more robust business relationship, signed contracts, and invoicing. Understanding your ASP before engaging sales personnel or embarking on a SaaS sales career is vital for building better customer relationships.
With these models in mind, let's delve into effective strategies for selling your SaaS product, whether you're representing a company or working as a sales professional.
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