Meeting Madness.This week, I moderated an exclusive and lively panel session on “Scaling Success: Deploying IIoT for Maximized ROI” on behalf of IIoT World, the leading IIoT events and media hub (full disclosure: I am also on their Board of Advisors). If you’re in that space, you can register to rewatch it. I was also involved in a Pricing & Packaging workshop for an on-premise software firm that is transitioning to a SaaS model. Pricing seems to be popping up on my radar all the time at the moment, so I’m making it my business to get a better handle on it. It’s a complex topic and is definitely not something you can just “set and forget.” I’ll be writing more about it in the coming weeks, so if there’s a pricing topic you’d like me to focus on, let me know! |
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SUPERCHARGE YOUR FOUNDATION: Banish Bad Meetings I used to think that because most of my B2B SaaS clients operate remotely, meeting overload would not be much of an issue. How wrong I was. If anything, it’s worse than the physical office equivalent. Not only are there too many meetings, they’re often held for the wrong reasons and rarely run efficiently. Here are my Top 10 tips on how to radically overhaul your meeting culture: Only hold meetings to make decisions, never to share information. Insist on an agenda distributed in advance. Live by this: “Is no agenda, me no attend-a.” Ensure relevant information is distributed in advance, and try sending a video instead of a document. Use an AI tool to transcribe the conversation (but consider using a meat-sack note-taker as a backup). Focus on interactive discussion, not death by PowerPoint. Ensure attendees bring all their questions with them – no second chances. Six attendees maximum. 25 minutes maximum. The meeting must result in a decision, even if you decide not to decide yet, in which case a new deadline must be set. Attendees who disagree with the decision must agree to accept and execute on it – don’t tolerate anything less.
You won’t be able to apply this 100% of the time. But enforcing these principles should be the norm, not the exception. |
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SUPERCHARGE YOUR ACCELERATION: Build Branding Earlier I see a lot of B2B SaaS companies waiting to focus on brand building until they have gained significant market traction. I think that’s a mistake. Here are five advantages of building a strong brand as soon as you begin your growth journey: You’ll look more trustworthy – buyers are nervous about trying new solutions. Go the extra mile with your branding, and they’ll believe you’ve done the same with your product. You’ll stand out in the crowd – Most B2B SaaS branding sucks. Make yours good, and you’ll likely get noticed. You’ll attract better candidates – Talented people want to work somewhere cool. Make them feel your business is polar. You’ll get more interest – The more robust and more attractive your branding, the more likely it is you will generate a butt that attracts prospects. You’ll impress investors – Yes, you need more than slick presentation to secure funding. But you won’t get any without it. And believe me, being better than the rest is much easier than you think.
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SUPERCHARGE YOUR DOMINATION: Don't get lost in translation In some markets, it’s easy to globalize early. With B2B SaaS solutions, it usually happens later, especially in markets like legal tech or healthcare, where regulations vary significantly between countries. Expanding geographically often doesn’t make sense until you’re at €20-30M ARR. But if you’re ready to make the leap, it’s the country-specific adjustments, rather than general strategy, that usually trip you up. Here are three ways to avoid a faceplant: Deep dive on market analysis: Knowing the competition is essential but not enough. You need to understand how the buyers in your new market tick in terms of desired outcomes, product experience, working styles, feature and benefit preferences, cultural differences, behavioral norms, etc. Get clued up on compliance: It’s not just the basics of registering your business and tax codes; it’s everything. Workers councils, prize draw rules, board liabilities, and data privacy laws. There are likely at least a dozen things you have no idea about. Get yourself a decent local lawyer, and don’t take any chances. Don’t rinse and repeat your sales and marketing: You can’t just translate everything into the local language; hire a native sales rep and assume everything will be rosy. Your buyers will have different preferences, priorities, and perspectives. For example, US B2B buyers want a sexy story before they worry about your technical chops. Their German peers want all the technical details, and they want them now. And they had better be perfect.
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SUPERCHARGE YOURSELF: Ramp Up Your Productivity Read This: The 12-Week Year, Brian Moran & Micahel Lennington - Get more done in 12 weeks than others do in 12 Months. Watch That: Building a Second Brain creator, Tiago Forte explains how to get more value from your reading by taking better notes. Do The Other: Constantly switching between tasks, apps, and activities is not multitasking. And multitasking is simply the best way to screw up more than one thing at the same time. Stop it. Instead, start batching similar tasks into fixed blocks of time. Emails, phone calls, meetings, creating, thinking, hiring, firing….you get the picture. My clients usually free up half a day a week with this tactic alone. |
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P.S. When you're ready, here are 4 ways you can work with me: 1) Book a FREE discovery Call: In 30-minutes, we can talk about your growth challenges and see if I can help. Even if I can't, I'll connect you with someone who can. 2) Audit your Growth Efficiency: We'll take a look at the 3 Ps - Performance, Processes & People - to identify where the biggest opportunities for improvement are, and prioritize them. 3) Get your Growth Motoring: We'll build and and execute a plan that will deliver massive gains in your growth efficiency. 4) Join a SaaS Growth Circle: Meet with a select group of your SaaS Founder or CEO peers and grow your businesses together. BOOK A CALL WITH ME TODAY |
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