OV | Weekly – June 9, 2018
Hi Friend of OpenView,
Hope you've got a fresh cup of coffee in hand ☕️ Today's OV Weekly is chock full of important info you won't want to miss.
Here's what we're reading: how to price your SaaS product, why sales closing techniques are dead, churn reduction strategies, bridging the diversity gap and more than we can fit in this little blurb. Drink up!
It's time to make customer retention part of sales compensation plans.
We all know that customer success teams are tasked with keeping churn low, but without help from the sales team, you're doomed to fail. Too often, sales reps focus on bringing on new customers to hit quota no matter if they're a good long term fit for your product or not.
Instead, you should build customer retention into your sales comp plans. Here's how.
Sales closing techniques are dead. This data explains why.
Gong.io analyzed over 1 million (yes, you read that right) sales calls. Of those calls, nearly 50,000 were closing calls. After analyzing all of this data, they determined that what you do in closing calls won't actually influence the outcome of your deal.
Instead, the actions you take earlier in the sales process define your outcome. And not even the fanciest closing technique can change that. It's time to forget closing techniques and instead master discovery calls. Learn why here.
When pricing your SaaS product, here's what works & what doesn't 💸
Based on years of experience and after pricing literally dozens of SaaS products, the folks at thoughtbot have figured out a thing or two about different SaaS pricing models. Get their take and learn from their experience on various models including: pay what you want (fail), pay per project (better), tiered pricing and more.
Get all the juicy pricing lessons here.
🎧 BUILD Podcast | Diversity: How to Create Open and Inclusive Workplaces
Building diverse and inclusive teams is a goal we should all strive towards. But how do you actually create an environment that fosters diversity? Ginny Fahs, co-founder of #MovingForward, explains how VCs can create a plan to foster diverse, inclusive and harassment-free workplaces. Applied's co-founder & CEO Kate Glazebrook also joins us to discuss actions startups can take to remove hidden biases in the hiring process.
Listen to the latest episode here.
Here's what else we're reading 📖
Here's what else you need to know this week:
- This is your last chance to learn how your company stacks up before our 2018 SaaS Benchmarks Survey closes. Take the survey now to benchmark yourself against your peers and to receive early access to the results. You can view last year's report here.
- Do you 💖 our BUILD podcast? Help us make it even better by filling out this quick survey here. Let us know what you like and don't like and who you want to hear from on Season 3.
That's it for now. See you back here next week! In the meantime, say 👋on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
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