With the SaaS market expected to reach a valuation of $307 billion by 2026, it’s safe to say that not only is competition for SaaS companies on the rise, but so is the potential for organisations to scale and grow.
The customer demand for software is consistently growing; in the last year alone, as of September 2022, there have been 377 new SaaS companies founded, and the cloud application market is valued at approximately $146.6 billion.
Understandably, startups and SMEs are now looking to scale their businesses to keep up with market growth.
So, how should business leaders best approach and achieve their growth plans?
1. MAINTAIN A CUSTOMER-FIRST MENTALITY
In order to ensure your product is always in demand, it’s vital that you keep in mind exactly what it is that your customers want. The projected future growth rate for software developer jobs is 22%, meaning that if your customers want additional features or an improved experience, it is possible to meet their needs.
If your SaaS company remains hyperfocused on an original or outdated business model, it is likely that your target audiences will either:
- Use additional tools as opposed to investing more into your platform, or
- Look elsewhere for an entirely different piece of software that encompasses all their requirements in one place.
Maintaining a customer-first mentality is a vital element to scaling your SaaS business; ask for regular feedback from your customers and ensure any trending comments are taken on board, and changes are implemented.
2. HIRE THE RIGHT PEOPLE
Investing in the right people is crucial. Not only do you need tech experts, digital masterminds and savvy salespeople, but it’s likely that as your company grows you’ll need critical thinkers, commercially-aware business leaders, and marketing specialists.
In order to ensure your software is being sold in the most effective way, you need to focus on one or all of the following:
- Hiring experienced salespeople with demonstrable, successful experience
- People who are new to sales, but are keen to develop a sales career with heaps of potential
- Experienced sales managers who have the ability to coach and guide their sales teams
There are various challenges that come along with SaaS recruitment, which is why it’s best to work with a specialist software sales recruitment company. Understanding how best to organise your people structure during periods of growth is vital; if you put time, money and effort into the wrong areas of the business, you’re unlikely to scale at the rate you want.
3. FOCUS ON BUSINESS STRATEGY AND PERFORMANCE
Establishing a clear business strategy and growth plans are imperative to having full visibility of scaling a SaaS company. Without a strategy in place, it’s impossible to monitor and measure performance.
Make note of the following:
- Why your software exists
- What you are offering your customers
- How you will target your key audiences
- Targets you need to work to
- How often you will review performance
- Who will be responsible for implementing changes and updates
- How often you will update your strategy as time goes on
By understanding the bigger picture, you will be able to better serve your customers as well as improve your ROI and achieve your growth objectives.
4. MONITOR COMPETITORS FOR POSSIBLE OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS
Understanding what your main competitors are offering their customers doesn’t just tell you who and what you are up against; it keeps you up to speed with market trends, evolving customer demand and how you can improve your USPs.
Keep an eye on their website to see exactly what it is that they’re providing, but also keep an eye on their salespeople’s LinkedIn pages. When you see how they manage their personal brands and engage with their networks, this will give you a clear picture of things your employees both should and should not be doing. Not everything your competitors are posting on LinkedIn is something your workforce should try to emulate; it could be the complete opposite.
5. INVEST IN MARKETING
Providing your sales team with multiple lead streams will maximise the number of deals they can close, and a key way to do achieve this is to invest in your marketing function. Whether you hire internal marketing professionals or you outsource your marketing to a specialist agency, lead generation is one of the best investments SaaS companies can make in order to scale.
If you can’t afford to spend hundreds of thousands on marketing (yet), your best bet is to ensure your marketing team is, at the very least:
- Sharing regularly on social media, and positioning your software in front of your target audiences
- Updating your website to ensure it’s SEO-friendly and will appear high up on SERPs
- Directing people back to interesting and/or informative content on your website that is relevant to your audiences
- Regularly including CTAs and data capture forms (where necessary)
- Investing in paid advertising
As time goes on and your business scales to plan, you will be able to invest more in marketing in order to further your business growth plans. One mistake many SaaS companies face is focusing 90% on their sales team and 10% on their marketing function, whereas the split should be almost equal in order to scale fast.
GET IN TOUCH
Here at Strive, we source top tier sales talent for scaling and hypergrowth tech companies. To learn more about how we can help your business scale, contact our team on 0203 983 0770 or email hello@scalewithstrive.com.
Adam Richardson
Co-Founder and Director
