Video: How Sales Can Impact SaaS Customer Retention

Transcript: Hi, I’m Anna Talerico with Married2Growth and this is a topic I am pretty passionate about. How sales can impact customer retention.

You already know, in a recurring revenue company, customer retention is everything and should be the responsibility of every function. But for now, let’s just focus on what sales can do to help.  Because customer retention starts with closing the right customers.

One, your sales team needs to understand your ideal buyer profile. Because they need to close the types of customers you are most likely to retain.

Two, they need to know what types of customers to avoid. There are indicators of the types of customers you are least likely to retain and sales needs to know how and when to sidestep those deals.

Three, sales needs to be setting realistic customer expectations for the problems your product and service solve. No overpromising (that’s a sure way to lose a customer) or sugar coating. Creating an educated customer, without slowing down the velocity of the deal, is a required alchemy for the modern sales team.

And four, sales needs to understand ideal contract terms and have a narrow lane for variance. They need guidance on how contract terms can impact retention. A customer who gets a free implementation? They have no skin in the game, and it is easier for them to walk away early. That customer is going to be harder to retain. A customer who has an out clause at 90-days? Harder to retain. Without a clear definition of what types of customers and contracts are most likely to be retained, it’s hard to avoid the wrong ones. Sales leadership needs to document and educate the sales team constantly on these four things.

Sales is the most on the front line of selling to the right customers and avoiding the wrong ones. You just need to teach your team how to do it and reinforce that every day in your values and your leadership. And that’s really it. Get this in motion and you’ll find you are closing customers that you are much more likely to retain.

And as always, thanks for watching!

Want more insight on this? Read the article that inspired this video.