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Best way to Prospecting/Sales pipeline?

So I'm wondering how many indies have gone the route of building full-on sales pipelines where you spend 1-2 hours a day, reaching out to people on LinkedIn, emailing them personally, and/or phoning up companies to sell a larger size b2b ticket item?

I'm currently working on a billing system for SaaS companies that'll they'll be able to plug in to their system. I'm thinking 1-2k per month for a hosted version and think it's something where I would really need to spend a lot of time pitching it to companies to get anywhere. So I'm wondering the best way to start building up a sales pipeline?

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    Building a robust sales pipeline for your SaaS billing system is essential for success. Begin by clearly defining your target audience and crafting a compelling value proposition that highlights the unique benefits of your product. Establish a professional online presence on platforms like LinkedIn, engaging with relevant groups and sharing content to showcase your expertise. Leverage content marketing to create valuable resources related to SaaS billing, attracting potential customers and establishing yourself as an industry authority. Actively network through both online and offline channels, attending industry events and participating in forums to build relationships within the SaaS community. Implement a strategic cold outreach strategy through personalized emails and LinkedIn messages, emphasizing the specific solutions your billing system provides. Offer product demonstrations or trials to interested parties and consider implementing a customer referral program to harness the power of satisfied customers. Invest in sales automation tools to streamline your outreach efforts, and continually analyze and optimize your approach based on feedback and performance metrics. Building a sales pipeline is an ongoing process that requires consistency, adaptability, and a customer-centric focus to achieve success in the competitive B2B SaaS market.

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    Share w/ some CFO, CPA , corp finance folks (10-20 or so) what you are building and ask them if they would find it helpful and see if they'll take the time to try it out. Trying to price the thing before getting it built, users migrated to it, and real user experience might be a tad premature. If they see the value in taking a look at it, great. If not, it might be worth a deeper look as to overall viability/PMF.

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    I think one of the biggest challenges indie businesses have is lack of reputation/credibility/existence.

    Before using any tool, I want to know it's been around a while and has existing customers.

    So, before starting a sales pipeline, how can you get your first 5-10 customers?

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      Well, I am kind of confused as to how I would get 5-10 customers without selling it to people and I feel like I would need to reach out to people to sell it to them.

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        Try giving it for free for at least two customers. Then do a case study.

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          Yes, this kind of stuff. It's a learning experience to improve your product, do more hand holding and also get first customers on board.

          So instead of finding people to sell to, seek people (perhaps in indie/tech type communities) who need help with setting up billing/payments.

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    Build a sales pipeline by regularly reaching out to potential clients through personal emails, LinkedIn outreach, and phone calls.

  5. 1

    Очень интересно.

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    Building a solid prospecting and sales pipeline is crucial for the success of any business. Here are some tips for creating an effective pipeline:

    Define your target audience: The first step is to identify your ideal customer. This includes understanding their pain points, needs, and how your product or service can help them.

    Build a list of prospects: Use various channels to gather contact information of potential customers. This can include networking events, referrals, social media, and cold calling.

    Qualify your leads: Not all prospects are created equal. You need to determine which ones are the most likely to buy from you. Qualify your leads by asking questions to determine their level of interest, budget, timeline, and decision-making process.

    Nurture your leads: Even if a prospect is not ready to buy right away, it's important to continue building a relationship with them. Use email marketing, social media, and other channels to stay in touch and provide value.

    Make a pitch: Once you've established a relationship with a prospect and determined they are a good fit for your product or service, it's time to make a pitch. This can be done through a phone call, email, or in-person meeting.

    Follow-up: After making a pitch, it's important to follow up with the prospect. This can include sending additional information, answering any questions they may have, and addressing any concerns.

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    Hey Iain,

    My two cents from nearly 20 years of creating, marketing & selling - the issue you're going to run into is that cold emailing/phoning a product is an extremely ineffective way to build a sales pipeline.

    The problem is that the majority (99%) of your target audience isn't actually looking to buy a new billing system. This isn't specific to your product - it's the case with any product and any target market.

    The majority (if not all) of the people you'll be reaching are going to be in this group - as such, pitching them your product (which is what you are going to be doing) is not going to get you very far.

    Can it be done? Sure, I've done it myself, but it's incredibly difficult because you're just plowing through tons of different prospects looking for that needle in a haystack which is an "active buyer" - aka someone actively looking to buy your solution.

    Instead, I advocate using a strategy that enables you to persuade those not actively looking to buy that they need to buy and buy now.

    To do this you need to not sell them a product but instead sell them a new belief system (which leads back to your solution but doesn't require them to buy it to implement the belief in their lives).

    A number of companies have done this - from small indiehackers like Bullet Journal to large companies like Salesforce, Apple, HubSpot and more.

    It's incredibly effective - to quote a sales rep from Zuora (another company that has used this strategy) it creates a "sales nirvana" where the prospects are convinced they need to buy before you even speak to them.

    Rather than turn this into an even longer reply I'll just link you to the entire breakdown of this strategy and case studies of some of the companies that have used it right here - www.thebluntmethod.com

    Best

    Chris

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    Sales prospecting requires making contact with that list of leads to determine if they would be a good candidate for buying your business'
    https://nhsp-login.info/

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    I would get some Appointment Setters, get some companies to start Pitching, and give them a 15-day trial or a Free trial (for the amount of time you want). With that, you can get some customer experience and some results to show to future Clients, or Even for the ones you gave the free trial.

    Lmk what you think!
    Good Luck!

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