Categories: Sales Transformation | Sales Qualification | MEDDICC | Selling Technology
With funding comes responsibility. In the SaaS world, you don't have time to wait. The global SaaS market is growing more rapidly than even optimists projected (18%), and we’re right at the center of it. Over half of the SaaS firms in the world are located in the US.
The crowded marketplace makes for fierce competition. According to McKinsey, only one of five SaaS startups survives past the first five years. But the ones that make the cut have a great chance to thrive. The global SaaS market surpassed $300B this year and will double before the end of the decade.
For those tasked with meeting revenue goals, standing out from the crowd demands an airtight strategy. Rising above the competition will require not only a great product, but also a great mode of engaging with potential customers. Here’s some food for thought as you consider what’s next for your revenue-driving initiative.
Gain an Edge by Improving How Teams Qualify Deals
The keys to a revenue transformation likely include shifting who you sell to and how you engage them. Making that shift means ensuring your teams know where to invest their time and efforts.
Growth strategies depend on some combination of collecting new logos, retaining customers, and expanding accounts. MEDDICC (or MEDDPICC) is the decades-long gold standard for qualifying new opportunities. In the current climate where subscription and consumption models are standard, Customer Success teams employ the method to qualify for renewals and identify expansion opportunities. When used effectively, MEDDICC helps teams forecast accurately, maintain healthy pipelines, and rank opportunities consistently. Leadership gains the ability to predict the business and manage growth.
MEDDICC: Stages of Growth and Maturity
For large-scale organizations and enterprise teams, installing the MEDDICC approach to qualifying might be part of a larger effort that refines an entire selling motion, a qualification method that’s interactive with sales messaging and informs selling activities. Enterprise teams invest in integrated technology that applies MEDDICC to live opportunities in the CRM while providing manager insight into adoption, consistency, and how to coach-up their teams on proper application.
But what about smaller or growing teams with leaders working to scale the business? In a recent discussion, Force Management founder and President John Kaplan sat down with Chief Operating Officer Dave Davies to present the MEDDICC Maturity Model: what it is and what it means to growing companies adopting the trusted method. As Davies points out for younger and smaller companies early in their MEDDICC journey, “There’s value at the bottom of the model.”
Watch the entire MEDDICC Maturity Model Discussion here
How an SMB Used MEDDICC for Growth and Impact
Liquibase is an example of a smaller company that leveraged an entry-level point with MEDDICC for game-changing results. The company provides the largest database management tool in the world, open source, and used by Fortune 500 companies in highly regulated industries. Widespread use of its open source version was a good starting point, but Liquibase’s leaders saw the opportunity to shift focus upmarket.
“It's tough to delineate an open-source lead from a commercial lead,” says Mike Runco, Liquibase’s Senior Director of Sales. “What was happening was a lot of poor pipeline. We had reps focusing the wrong time and the wrong resources with the wrong prospects. We saw a lot of deals that were qualified for open source, which is okay, but not qualified for a commercial offering, which is how we make our money.”
Liquibase used an Ascender® Teams subscription as surrogate enablement, obtaining seats for more than a dozen RSMs, AEs, BDRs and RevOps team members. Each team member obtained MEDDICC Certification from Ascender, Force Management’s sales acceleration and eLearning platform. The certification pathway is part of Ascender’s Elite Selling™ Curriculum.
To supplement the improved approach to qualifying prospects, Liquibase removed the geographic territory boundaries and had teams obtain Ascender’s Sales Planning Certification. Reps focused on building strategies for landing companies that matched their commercial offering’s ideal customer profile. Runco states, “We've seen better strategy with giving reps free rein to make account lists. We've seen an increase in productivity.”
The results: 40% YoY revenue growth, record annual revenue, and the healthiest pipeline in company history. “Going through the forecast now is a breeze,” Runco reports. “We have tighter alignment as an organization.”
Read the full Liquibase-Ascender Case Study and watch the interview with Runco here.
The Right Plan with the Right Partner
Markets as competitive as the present-day American SaaS market are rare, but so is the opportunity. Your competitors are surely using every tool at their disposal: convincing the board to allocate budget, shoring up their weaknesses, and bringing in expertise whenever possible.
When crafting your plan for staying ahead, consider bringing in an experienced and reputable partner known for helping HiTech and SaaS organizations achieve goals. Check out these Case Studies of Force Management client success across SaaS subverticals and dive into these MEDDICC resources designed to enable revenue teams of every size and growth stage.
We’d like to help put these concepts to work for you; let’s talk.
