Exclusive Download: Trial Conversion Campaign
25%.
That’s the magic number you gotta obsess over.
At least when it comes to your trial to paid conversions.
If you’ve yet to have a virtual drink clink with your team for hitting that benchmark…
Then it’s hands down your biggest (and most urgent) opportunity for growth.
In this week’s video I break down the 5 steps needed to achieve that *magic number* by this time next quarter.
At a high level, here’s how to achieve trial-to-conversion nirvana:
Most B2B SaaS companies do a pretty good job at nailing number 1.
Number 2 is where people get stuck.
Number 3 is where people get lazy.
And number 5 is where people put on the blinders and get scared.
The biggest mistake you can make is to put too big a focus on traffic (via partners, ads, content, etc.) before you have your trial-to-conversions dialed in.
If you do, it’s like trying to fill a leaky bucket.
Great way to burn cash and piss off your strategic partners in the process.
Instead, focus on these 5 key steps to soar past the 25% benchmark, and then enjoy the freedom of pouring more leads into a system proven to convert.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Exclusive Download: Customer Creation Model
Watch: New Sales Models - David Sacks
Ever hear of a guy named David Sacks?
He has a crazy gift.
Essentially, he doesn’t know how to get involved in a startup and NOT have it turn into a billion dollar success story.
We’re talking about…
… Paypal (sold to ebay for 1.5B)
… Yammer (sold to Microsoft for 1.2B)
… dozens of companies he was an angel investor in (Airbnb, Facebook, Uber)
He’s as close to a “tech oracle” as there is…
And if you have billion dollar aspirations for your startup… you better be taking his advice as gospel.
I was lucky enough to attend a private keynote that David gave a few years back where he singled out the 5 things that MUST be true to hit the 10 figure mark.
This week’s video is the detailed breakdown extracted from my personal notebook.
Even if you’re not crazy enough to have billion dollar aspirations, building your company as if you do will set you up for massive scale.
If there’s one element that has to be true for ANY company (not just billion dollar startups)… it’s the market need.
I know… obvious on the surface…
… but still a mistake that way too many founders make.
Falling in love with our technology will do that ;-)
Give this episode a watch, and then reply to this email letting me know the ultimate aspirations for your startup.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Exclusive Download: Top 5 Productivity Hacks
Today I’m gonna talk about this super advanced technology that any founder can use to boost their energy, be more productive, and crush their workday.
It’s not a state of the art nootropic.
It’s not bulletproof coffee with heaping scoops of grass fed ghee.
It’s your sleep.
I see you eye rolling through that sleep mask ;-)
But here’s why we’re gonna upgrade your sleep quality in this week’s video.
If it’s taking you until 2am to fall asleep, chances are…
… you’re sleeping through your morning routine
… you’re cancelling plans with your team, your friends, and potential clients or partners
… you’re operating at a fraction of your fullest potential as a leader and creator.
Not exactly the hallmarks of a high-performing SaaS founder.
And definitely not a fast track to scaling your company.
That’s why I created this special episode to help you dial in your sleep quality so you can wake up refreshed, focused, and ready to crush your daily goals.
At a high level, these are the 5 steps I use to go from a midnight bout with an ADHD mind… to a deep state of rest and recovery that sets me up for an action packed day of growth and impact:
Some of these may seem obvious… but pay special attention to how I re-contextualize them for SaaS founders (we’re a special breed) ;-)
If you want the “quick fix”, check out the special breathing technique that “Guru Dan” prescribes in Step #3.
It knocks me out in 60 seconds flat… and is the sole reason those “sheep” I used to count are currently out of work.
Learn it and try it tonight and then let me know the results in the comments.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Exclusive Download: Partner Pipeline Framework
Leadpages used *this* strategy to scale their growth at a ridiculous rate.
So did my company Flowtown.
As well as a recent SaaS Academy client who hired an army of over two thousand “salesmen” to promote his accounting software… for free.
If you haven’t caught on…
We’re talking about strategic partnerships.
Partnerships are one of the fastest and most efficient ways of scaling your software business.
It’s essentially outsourcing your customer acquisition… and only paying a pre-negotiated commission if the user converts.
Predictable acquisition costs?
You’re not gonna get that from google or Zucks ;-)
Thing is… there is a darkside.
The wrong partner can flood your company with thousands of unqualified leads, inundating your entire team and straight jacketing your ability to grow.
Worse… if you’re not hedging your bets, you’re pretty much putting a silver bullet in the barrel of another company that can take your SaaS biz to the back of the barn at a moment’s notice.
In this week’s video I break down the 5 steps for recruiting an army of “salesman” to promote your product… without letting your company fall victim to “silver bullet syndrome”.
If you like the idea of ethically hitching a ride on someone else’s growth curve… the deep dive on step #2 will blow your mind.
But like any strategy, if you’re gonna commit to building partnerships… you gotta REALLY commit.
It takes a level of detail and foresight that most founders avoid.
Watch this video to implement this strategy like a pro.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Exclusive Download: Revenue Retention Cheatsheet™ - Stop The Bleeding & Scale Your Marketing With Confidence - http://bit.ly/2sbvqLU
--
I was recently working with a SaaS Academy client who had a serious churn problem.
So serious that he was letting 18% of his accounts disappear without a fight.
Couple that with skyhigh acquisition costs and flatlining expansion revenue… and let’s just say that this company was playing with some serious fire.
“Scale” wasn’t a word you could use with a straight face.
Make no mistake…
This was a survival game.
In this week’s video I breakdown the 5 key initiatives we took to get this company off of life support, shrink churn down to 4%, and achieve net negative churn – aka the holy grail of any SaaS company with serious plans to scale.
At a high level, here’s what it takes to activate your customers and keep’em around for the long haul:
That last step tends to get a lot of pushback from my coaching clients… until they implement it and see how powerful it is for keeping customers in the fold and turning potential ship jumpers into raving flag bearers.
Short story:
It involves NOT letting a customer cancel through a single click on your website…
But bringing the cancellation to a call where you can dive deeper into the reasons, see where your product failed to deliver, and in more cases than not, win back the account by vowing to fix things fast.
At the very least, you’ll get the rich feedback that in the long term is worth 100x more than the account you lost.
Watch the full episode to get the complete list of “activators”, and then drop a comment letting us know what you’ve implemented in your own biz to activate users and keep them around for the long haul.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Exclusive Download: Revenue Retention Cheatsheet™ - Stop The Bleeding & Scale Your Marketing With Confidence - http://bit.ly/2sbvqLU
Download: Customer Case Study Creator Worksheet - https://bit.ly/2uXXpPR
Have you ever tried to collect a case study only to find yourself stumbling over the “ask” before mercifully aborting mission?
Yep.
Happens to just about every SaaS founder.
Even when we get epic results for our customers…
… asking for a case study turns otherwise confident SaaS founders into the chess club captain trying to ask the head cheerleader out to prom.
*awkwaaard*
But it doesn’t have to be.
In fact, it can’t be.
If you want to scale up and have case studies that attract and convert new users…
… then collecting case studies is something you NEED to master.
More specifically, it’s something you need to have a repeatable system for.
Not just to do when you’re feeling extra bold after downing an IPA during your lunch meeting.
In this week’s video I cover the 5 steps to capturing impactful case studies that inspire and convert new users.
If you nail down the perfect timing… and go in with a solid plan… the “ask” becomes easy, and you quickly build up a bank of case studies that you can draw on to close more sales.
Here are the 5 steps:
It’s important to remember that a compelling case study includes the ENTIRE customer journey… not just the end result.
A “result” without the full context does nothing to move your prospective customers into taking action.
But follow the entire 5 steps, and you’ll have a smooth process for gradually building up one of your business’ most important marketing assets.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
DOWNLOAD: Revenue Expansion Maximizer -http://bit.ly/2qjJfTM
A SaaS Academy client recently asked me what SINGLE metric I would look at if I had to bet on the future success of a software company.
It all comes down to this…
Net negative churn.
Simply put, if your expansion revenue is growing faster than your contraction revenue (from downgrades and cancellations)…
… your momentum pretty much becomes unstoppable.
This week’s video goes deep into the 5 key areas that put you on a collision course with this “holy grail” of SaaS growth.
(Hint: having a $7 unlimited pricing level isn’t how to get there.)
As you may have guessed… it all starts with reducing churn.
Can’t expand your relationship with customers who jump ship ;-)
But once you get your churn fixed… there’s a sweet science to increasing LTV’s while bringing MORE value to your customers.
Here’s a high level rundown:
Watch this video and then leave us a comment sharing any strategies and tactics you’ve personally used to expand LTV.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
WATCH: $100M+ ARR in 7 Years With Jason Cohen (Founder of WPEngine.com) - https://www.danmartell.com/jasoncohenvideo
Few things can shatter a founder’s confidence quicker than a poorly managed board meeting.
At best…
… you’ll get glossed over stares and “checked out” investors who secretly hate you for wasting their time.
At worst…
… you’ll accidentally knock over the first domino in getting kicked out of your own company.
Pay special attention to Step #4 in this week’s video to make sure that never happens.
After dozens of successful board meetings for my own software companies, as well as helping hundreds of SaaS Academy clients run their own…
... I’ve distilled it down to 5 key steps that impress even the most impatient and demanding board members, while getting you the support and buy-in you need to continue growing your company.
I break down the 5 steps in this week’s video.
At a high level, here’s the flow you should be using to run effective and highly productive board meetings:
If you implement this flow while asserting yourself as a LEADER, I can guarantee you that you’ll never have another sweaty palmed or unproductive board meeting again.
Better yet, you’ll be able to put your investors to work instead of feeling like you’re constantly trying to impress them.
At the end of the day, your investors will thank you for it — and be excited to help you keep growing.
Give it a watch here and then drop a comment letting the community know what tips or tricks have proven successful in your own board meetings.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
DOWNLOAD: Referral System Page Worksheet - https://www.danmartell.com/referralworksheet
“Help me. Help you.”
Nope…
Not talking about that epic one liner from Jerry Maguire.
I’m talking about the inner dialogue your customers experience whenever they try to refer your product to their tribe.
One of the EASIEST ways to acquire a new B2B Saas customer is to have your current users refer you at scale.
Just ask Dropbox ;-)
Only problem is… most companies make that process painfully hard and complicated.
And since not having a simple and effective referral strategy is such a crazy missed opportunity to grow your user base while creating an army of evangelists…
I shot a new video showing you the 4 steps to creating a referral system that acts as a win-win-win…
… for your current customers… your new customers… and your company.
On a high level, here’s what it takes to implement an effective B2B SaaS referral system:
Of the four, the first one is where most SaaS companies mess up.
Put it this way… if you were a restaurant owner, would people be more likely to refer you:
a) After they’ve booked a reservation
b) While waiting in line
c) When the waiter brings out the food
d) After they’ve eaten… and are waiting for the check.
Same goes for your SaaS.
Make the ask after a nice juicy win… and you’ll be well on your way to implementing a winning referral strategy that exponentially grows your user base without sucking air out of your acquisition margins.
Watch the full video to go deeper into the other steps.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
DOWNLOAD: Idea to Exit Mini-Course - http://www.ideatoexitonline.com/prototyping
“You’re not suppose to succeed!”
“The numbers are against you from day one.”
Those were the words hurled at me across the board room from one of my mentors.
Encouraging, right?
Up until that point I had so much confidence that failure wasn’t an option.
But the truth is – and you hear it all the time – most startups fail.
His words set me down a path of learning and implementing strategies to help protect me, my stakeholders, and my coaching clients from the 5 highest leading causes of startup death.
Over the years, I’ve had the chance to see the inner workings of 1000+ companies.
I’ve listened to the intimate, behind-the-scenes details and decisions from the founders behind them.
After seeing what works, what doesn’t, and what gives you a one-way ticket to the SaaS graveyard…
I’ve distilled those lessons into the big five for this week’s video.
When I sit back and look at my failures and those of my friends, I believe they can be traced back to one or more of these.
What’s hilarious, and part of #3, is the amount of companies that fail due to co-founder in-fighting…
… meaning they couldn’t see eye to eye on a critical part of the business (funding, product roadmap, market strategy, etc).
The one I see the most often when it comes to technology and innovation is #1…
… founders running around with some cool tech, with no clear customer problem to solve.
It’s a solution in search of a problem.
Always a scary proposition and the opposite of the way I encourage first time founders to start off (find customers before you develop your tech).
If you’ve got questions about either one of these five, be sure to leave a comment with the specifics and I’ll help you turn things around.
Keep up the hustle!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
DOWNLOAD: Rocket Demo Builder - https://www.danmartell.com/rocketdemo
Are you acting like a 5 year old when demoing your product?
Last week my son Max (5) asked me to help him with his show & tell presentation.
So I taught him a simple 3 step process.
These 3 steps are just a compressed version of what I teach my SaaS coaching clients… focus on the pain, peg it to benefits delivered via features and go for the close.
What do you think the other kids did?
They just went up and showed their toy, awkwardly rambled on about the things it could do, then sat down.
Almost makes you wanna cringe, right? Thing is…
Most SaaS Founders act like 5 year olds doing show & tell when they demo.
It’s not a product tour you’re doing… it’s a sales demo. You need to connect the dots for your customers in less than 30 minutes.
If you’re frustrated with low sales conversion numbers from your demos, or the amount of time it takes to close deals, then you’ll want to watch this week’s video where I share my 5 step process for crushing your sales quotas by demoing like a boss.
No mindless rambling about all the “cool” things your product does.
No tumbleweed silences that you awkwardly break up with a classic “oh, did I show you it can also do X?”
Just a clear, efficient, value-driven exchange that sets up the sale without eating into anyone’s lunch plans.
Maybe you already have your demo setup so that it’s short & concise, but are you following these other 5 steps?
The last one is the key to ensuring you reduce your sales cycles by future pacing the process with your prospect so they can get in the mindset of having bought.
Also, small tip – use BAMFAM in your demos.
Book a meeting from a meeting.
Never hang up the phone from a sales demo without agreeing upon a specific next step, ideally a call to review any questions that might come up, or to loop in other people on their team to define a proof of concept.
To help you crush your demo script, I’ve outlined a 9 box model called the Rocket Demo Builder that you can use to design your specific demo and get started closing more deals faster.
So what’s your favourite closing question? Post it as a comment and I’ll be sure to add a few others that I love using to get customers to say yes on the spot!
Have an amazing day!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Exclusive Resource: Revenue Retention Cheatsheet™ - Stop The Bleeding & Scale Your Marketing With Confidence - http://bit.ly/36LMR4H
--
Has a customer ever punched you in the face?
No?
Has it ever felt like that?
Every time I’ve had a customer sign-up, stick around for a few months, and cancel (aka churn) it sure feels that way.
It doesn’t matter how long I’ve been building businesses, nothing frustrates me more than having a customer that I spent a ton of time, energy and money attracting, leave because we missed the mark.
What’s different about my approach is that I take 110% accountability for customers churning.
Meaning, I want to know EXACTLY why it happened… and see how I can fix it. Or at the very least, make sure it’s the first and only time someone ever leaves for that reason.
Too many founders just chalk it up as a numbers thing… pegging it as normal.
I don’t agree, and I’ve outlined the 5 steps I take to ensure I reduce my churn as fast as possible while scaling up my revenue.
That’s what I cover in this week’s video.
When it comes to reducing churn in your business, I’ve outlined a comprehensive 9 step checklist that my coaching clients use to get results fast, called the Churn Buster Checklist…
… however, what I want to share with you in this video are the 5 areas that I think most founders completely ignore:
At the end of the day, the holy grail for any SaaS startup is net negative churn… a point where your expansion revenue grows faster than your churned MRR.
The fastest way to get there is to bust the churn you have, and grow your existing accounts by 20-30% per year.
Once you’ve hit this nirvana, the sky’s the limit.
Keep up the good fight!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Exclusive Resource: Revenue Retention Cheatsheet™ - Stop The Bleeding & Scale Your Marketing With Confidence - http://bit.ly/36LMR4H
WATCH: Follow Up Formula Training - http://bit.ly/2suTQiK
DOWNLOAD: Worksheet - http://bit.ly/2BWqoGt
All SaaS companies need sales people.
Even products like Dropbox & Slack have sales teams.
If you look at the Montclare SaaS 250 list, they all have sales teams.
So why do startups push off making this hire for so long?
It’s usually because they don’t know what to look for and are scared that a new fancy pants sales person wouldn’t close enough deals to cover their cost.
A totally legit concern.
But one you need to quickly blast through if you have any serious hopes of scaling.
I hired my first sales person in 2006 and it changed my business.
It unlocked a huge roadblock that I had in my ability to follow up, sell and keep revenues flowing as I was flooded with other tasks required to continue scaling my company.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all rev-gen rainbows and scaled up sunshine.
What I missed in that hire were these 6 characteristics that forced me to replace him 2 months later.
If you’re about to make your first hire, or want to improve your sales team, then be sure to look for these characteristics:
During the video I go deeper into what these mean and specifically how to test for them.
But the main thing to get right is to have a hiring, training and onboarding process for your salespeople to get them productive as fast as possible.
While getting an “out of the box” ROI may be a bit ambitious…
My rule is that every salesperson should be hitting 80% of quota within 6 months of hiring, if not, replace them.
If you have questions about compensation, be sure to leave a comment and I’ll give you my simple formula for making this brain dead simple.
Have an amazing day!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
DOWNLOAD: 5 Productivity Hacks - http://bit.ly/2E14QKl
Want to know one habit ultra-successful people have in common?
They read.
A lot.
In fact, when Warren Buffett was asked about the key to his success, he pointed to a stack of books and said:
“Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”
It’s why you’ll find a bookshelf or library in most wealthy people’s homes… reading is a leading indicator of success.
Now, it doesn’t guarantee it, but it is one huge part of it.
The truth is, success leaves clues and over the years I’ve discovered that some of the simplest strategies to getting the most out of life, like reading, can be boiled down to these 8 steps.
If you know my story, you know I spend a lot of time working with at-risk teenagers helping them build their confidence by building a business.
By doing that work I’ve had to distill a few habits that are easily understood and simple to take action on…
For me, they come down to these:
If you want to squeeze every minute out of every day, then follow these strategies and it will generate a huge level of ROI.
I’m sure there’s dozens of other things you could be doing to succeed more in life and your business, so please leave a comment and let me know your favourite strategy.
Can’t wait to read them all!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Have you ever been talked into do something you knew was dumb?
*raises hand*
Back when I was scaling my company Spheric Technologies, a friend introduced me to his buddy who did outsourced sales.
Essentially, a quick fix “easy button” for business owners who can’t be bothered to take full control of the lifeblood of their business. Smart right?
His big promise was that he could get me scheduled meetings with qualified buyers for our services…
… so I gave him a try.
The cost was about $5K/month + a $5K setup, so I gave it a try to see if it would move the needle.
My average deal size was $60K, so I figured just one new customer every month would be a huge win. No brainer, right?
But it all fell apart. Fast.
The meetings were horrible.
The prospects unqualified.
And the whole thing turned out to be a huge waste of time, energy, and money.
That’s when I decided to smarten up, take full control of the selling process, and build my own sales team in house.
I went “all in” and immersed myself in everything I could about building and scaling a sales team.
That’s what I want to share with you in this week’s video.
If you want the bulleted list of activities that’s required for scaling a software sales team, here’s my prescription…
Now, the truth is, in the early days you’ll likely be doing all the selling, but the best way to backfill this work is to document everything you do to achieve results.
This includes creating a demo script using my Rocket Demo Builder framework, your system for qualifying, and the follow up process.
It’s how my coaching clients and the founders I advise have scaled their sales teams to over 150+ sales people.
If you have any questions about scaling your sales team, leave a comment below and I’ll be sure to reply.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
3 Forces of a Sales Pipeline: https://vimeo.com/237859087/fbbb78d3b5
Wow.
Every once in a while I re-watch one of my videos and just laugh…
This time around, I can’t believe how many times I said “distributed team”??!
You could easily play a drinking game on it and end up loaded within 10 minutes.
Not recommended btw.
For real. Don’t do it.
Instead, I wanted to take a few mins to show you how I’ve been able to manage large teams virtually, and the process I use to do this.
Many entrepreneurs struggle with the concept or the structure of having people work outside an office, but for me – it’s only ever been that way.
So over the years, I’ve built systems that have allowed me to scale up my teams quickly, take advantage of reduced salary costs, day parting (which you definitely want to be taking advantage of), and sourcing talent from a large pool (i.e. the world).
If you’re struggling to get the right people behind your mission… or are about to hire your first remote team member, then watch this training.
If you do nothing else, be sure to implement step 3 – holding daily & weekly meetings.
I use the Scrum process for project management, but the big win is in the daily stand-up that can also be delivered digitally via chat or video conference.
The key is to have everyone answer 3 questions…
Your job as a leader is to help everyone get unstuck (#3) and ensure their priorities (#1 & #2) match up with your expectations.
That alone is a game changer.
So be sure to watch this week’s video and leave a comment with some of your best strategies for collaborating with remote team members.
Don’t let where you live stop you from hiring incredible talent.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Do you remember the first time you had someone buy something from you?
For me it was when I convinced a bunch of bed & breakfast owners in Atlantic Canada to send me cash in the mail to have their property published online.
Still not sure if that was legal.
Suspect cash collection methods aside…
What they didn’t know is that I was a 17 year old kid with no formal “business.”
Just a laptop and a dream.
That moment triggered something inside of me… and really kicked off the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey.
It also got me thinking, what are the other aspects of business that I need to learn so that I can be “successful.”
What I teach in this week’s video are the 5 areas of business that every entrepreneur needs to master to be able to stay alive and thrive.
When you look at any business, software or other, they all work exactly the same way.
Sure, you can go crazy filling up your Amazon cart with books about the best way to do X, or Y, but if you spend the time to actually understand how the engine that is business works, you’ll be able to race around the track at top speeds.
One of the five areas I share is Product: what does it take to turn a sale into a raving fan?
Not a customer, client, or transaction – but a RAVING FAN.
Someone who will sing your praises with Adele-like passion.
Someone who will pick up the phone and tell someone in their close circle about your service.
Someone who will send you stacks of cash in the mail in the rare event that your shopify checkout breaks down. (kidding… sort of)
How do you measure that? As you dig in, you’ll learn about things like NPS scores.
Also known as The One Number You Need To Grow.
If you’re still looking to master the game of business, be sure to watch this week’s video to build the foundation…
… then leave a comment with the best resource that you’ve found to teach you one of the 5 key areas I mention.
Remember, mastery is the goal. Not just good enough. World class.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Your product or service tells a story.
It either tells one that’s clear and coherent, highlighting the challenges you’re most ready to solve for your ideal customer…
Or it confuses them.
The story you’re telling depends on whether you’re being thoughtful in the process, or building it blindly.
And the difference between the two has a massive impact on your prospect’s ability to buy from you.
Years ago I was visiting some friends at Twitter and I had the privilege of learning this lesson first hand from one of the best growth guys out there: Josh Ellman (LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter).
His process was clear… ask yourself:
“What does this communicate to our customer about the problem it solves, the value they’ll get, and is it for them?”
At the time he was revamping Twitter’s sign-up process to help activate more customers after their first time using it.
That conversation sent me down a path of studying the best onboarding experience for SaaS products and creating the Product Story framework.
This is how you build powerful products.
In this week’s video I deconstruct each path.
You’ll learn the key elements that drive results, and how to line them up so you can connect with your customers quicker.
After reading a ton of books, speaking with some of the best product minds out there, and testing the strategies on my own companies, I now break it down into 3 core areas of the product:
Watch the video to get a deeper sense of how the complete story is told, and how each piece plays a critical part.
After working with thousands of startups over the years, I’ve come to believe that some of the biggest growth comes from refining their product story.
The fun part is, it doesn’t take much work.
It could be as simple as changing the language on your homepage, or re-ordering your onboarding experience…
… but once it clicks, growth occurs.
Got specific questions about your product?
Post them below in the comments and I’ll answer them soon… I’d love to help you create a story that reinforces the innovation you’re building.
Remember, it’s an iterative process…
… so keep testing till you get there.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
One of my favourite questions to ask someone is “Who’s the best [CMO/CTO/VP of Sales] you know?”
I don’t care if they already have a job… I just want their name.
Actually, I prefer if they’re already working because it allows me to build a relationship with them without the pressure.
My approach once I have a name is to reach out with a big, real-world challenge that I can get their advice on…
… usually the first contact lasts 15 minutes.
I’m just looking to establish a connection.
From there, I follow up and keep the conversation going and work them through my process for hiring.
But what if you don’t know anyone to ask?
That’s why I share the concept of “deputizing” in this week’s video.
It’s a core part of my C-level hiring strategy, guaranteed to help you hire great talent.
The overall framework falls into 3 phases, but they’re built on the foundation called the Ikea Effect.
The concept is simple…
Someone who’s involved in building something, sees that creation as having more value than if they had just bought or been given that thing.
That’s why, I use the “Ask for advice” angle for reaching out and connecting with all my potential hires as a first step.
The reason that works best is I get to “test drive” the person before I ever invest a significant amount of time and money bringing them on.
What I’ve learned over the years is someone can seem like a perfect candidate, but a simple project can surface some glaring issues that would make it almost impossible to work with (ex: lacks creative problem solving, isn’t clear in their communications, doesn’t know how to lead a team, etc).
When it comes to hiring C-level talent, you need to find a way to simulate the work before you ever hire them so you get A-players only!
Using this process will help you build an incredible leadership team that will allow you to free up your time and scale your company more easily.
If you have questions about the test project, leave a comment with your specific hiring scenario and I’ll offer up some examples.
Now go out there and deputize some people to identify killer talent for your company!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
The first thing I ever built that I charged for was an MP3 burning app.
I had just learned Visual Basic in one of my elective programming classes in highschool, and I wanted to see what I could create.
The problem I wanted to solve was simple…
As one of the few people at the time with a CD burner, I would always have my friends come over to my house and spend hours going through all of the MP3’s I had downloaded from Napster to create the ultimate playlist for themselves or their girlfriend…
(K-Ci and JoJo was always a crowd pleaser)
So after a few weeks of this, I built a simple app that anyone could install at their house.
It would connect to my computer using FTP, download a file of all the MP3’s I had on my computer, let them create the playlist at their house, and when they were ready, they could “order” the CD (pay me $20 bucks) and I would burn it overnight while I slept.
So technically, that’s the first time coding made me money, even before MaritimeVacation.ca (a vacation rental site I started in 1999).
I share that story because learning to code is not hard.
It just requires a strong enough motivation and some resources.
That’s what I cover in this week’s video.
The crazy part is learning to code literally saved my life.
As the world evolves, I believe learning to code is going to be a powerful skill to have…
It’s why I’ve been teaching my two little boys to code ever since they were 2 years old.
But how do you learn while sidestepping overwhelm?
Here are 5 tips to get you (or your kid) started:
If you want some feedback on your app idea, just leave a comment and I’ll provide some thoughts on the best way to build it.
Excited to hear how your first app comes along… something simple can take less than a couple hours!
Do it. Get coding :)
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Every startup wants to grow fast.
And while there’s value in modelling the tactics and strategies that have fueled the rapid success of companies they look up to…
There’s even MORE value in identifying the core, underlying principles that serve as the backbone for that success.
Over the years, I’ve identified 5 core elements behind the perfect software business.
I learned one of them directly from Jason Fried @ Basecamp.com when I visited Chicago to take his workshop over 10 years ago.
Another from guys like Mike McDerment @ Freshbooks.com, and Ben Chesnut @ MailChimp.com, both early mentors of mine who inspired a lot of the work I create at Flowtown.
In today’s world you see companies like Slack.com, and Intercom.com (disclosure: I’m an investor) shooting for the moon and you wonder:
“How did they do it?”
That’s what I want to break down for you in this week’s video.
Here are the 5 key elements that the world’s best startups all have in common.
What I’ve learned is it really comes down to how the product is used by the companies, how they extract the value (i.e. get paid) and their position in the market…
… now, there are some nuances, and I go over them in the video, but I want to list them out real quick so that you can understand how impressive it is for a company to hit this level of growth:
If you’ve got tough decisions to make on your product to better address these elements and need my feedback, be sure to leave a comment with your question and some context, I would love to help.
See you next Monday!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
When I started my SaaS (that stands for Software-as-a-Service) startup Flowtown my co-founder Ethan and I had a tough decision to make…
How do we fund the company?
Even though I had the capital to self fund the whole thing, as I had just sold my previous company Spheric, he was 23 and didn’t have a penny to his name.
So this is what I did…
It was Friday, and I said, if you can find a way to raise $15K, I would fund the rest.
On Monday he called and said he had the money!???
That’s when I learned how great of a person he was.
You can listen to how he did it in this week’s video, alongside the 8 other strategies you can use to raise money for your startup.
I go deep into all 8 strategies in the video…
But if you’re looking for a quick primer, here are my 2 favorites:
You might of expected some kind of secret government program, or easy way to get banks to lend you money, but I’m a big fan of testing and validation…
And nothing works better to prove you have an idea worth pursuing than having others take their hard earned money and invest in your business.
My good friend Clay Hebert, a crowdfunding expert, once said “… the cost of failure will eventually go to $0 because of crowdfunding.” and I’m a big supporter of this.
So if you have big dreams, there’s a good chance you’ll need some money to fund them.
Be sure to study all 8 of these strategies and use them accordingly.
If you have any questions for me on how you should use them, be sure to leave a comment with your questions – that’s best way for me to help!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
Have you ever struggled with your marketing website?
Sure, they have templates and super slick WYSIWYG editors.
But that doesn’t deal with the hard part:
The content.
WTF do I put on those pages?
How do I turn lorem ipsum into monthly recurring revenue?
How many pages should I have on my site?
What should those pages be?…
I need a blog, right?… right?…. right?
(read below to find out) :p
If you’ve ever wrestled with these questions… then I want to make things really simple for you.
In this week’s video, I share my Authority Architecture framework that will help you design the ultimate website for your startup.
They don’t sleep, but they do repeat themselves – the exact same way – to everyone that they talk to.
(Did I lose you in that analogy?)
Here’s a quick rundown of the 5 pages you NEED to have on your website…
… and more importantly, the critical questions they need to be able to answer for your visitor.
If you tweak those 5 pages, add the missing content or tweak your messaging to be a bit clearer (and answer those questions) your site will rock!
Take a few mins to watch this video so that you can finally drag that pesky “website development” Trello card into the “completed column”…
… and sit back as your 24/7 salesperson brings in the revenue.
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
How much does it cost you to acquire a customer?
Understanding that will help you understand your model.
Most founders think it’s just the cost of your advertising spend.
Nope.
It’s everything you spend on marketing (people + ad spend + contractors, etc) AND sales (everyone involved in the process + tools, etc)…
And that still doesn’t include anyone you might have to qualify, or the cost of running webinars, etc.
All that to say, knowing your numbers matters because it’ll help you understand where you should be in my Software Sales Matrix™.
Watch this week’s video to learn how to avoid landing in the “Startup Graveyard”… and the 3 strategies to pull you out fast.
When I sit down with a startup to help them scale their business, I always ask questions around 4 key areas.
With only the answers to these questions, I can build a complete model of their business in my mind and map it to the matrix to understand where their opportunities lie.
When it comes to scaling a SaaS business, understanding what you can invest in, and what you can’t because your pricing doesn’t allow it, is the ultimate clarity.
It’s this level of clarity that most overenthusiastic startup founders are blind to.
They dig their head in the sand… and in doing so, dig an early grave for their startup.
Watch the video to understand the two axis’s I use to evaluate startups, and place them on the grid.
Do this for your company, then leave a comment and let me know what you learned.
Can’t wait to hear where you’re at!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell
How do you build a $100M revenue business in 3 years?
That was the question my coaching client Larry asked me with a straight face.
Now, before you dismiss his question, you need to know that he just exited his previous startup a few months earlier.
So I knew he had the chops.
What a great question I thought …
… so I took some time to really reflect on all the things I’ve learned in scaling my own software companies… as well as the common traits and characteristics of other companies that had done it.
Discovered some pretty unexpected things along the way.
If you’ve ever been crazy enough to secretly (or not so secretly) ask how to grow to 9 figures in 3 short years…
You’ll want to take a few short minutes to give this a watch.
It essentially comes down to 5 elements that NEED to be in place for you to achieve rapid growth and scale at breakneck speed.
Now back to Larry.
While his goal was far from delusional…
His path to getting there was a little off.
One of the initial constraints was that he wanted to do it “without raising money”… but I quickly explained that that wouldn’t be possible, or would be nearly impossible.
We also talked about the product, the business model and the way it would need to be sold to ensure it could grow fast enough within its market.
We then talked about certain aspects of the team, and the way he’d need to build it to ensure he could free up his time at each turn to focus on the next level of challenges.
All in all, the major outcome he was trying to achieve was something that eventually could be sold, and even though I don’t subscribe to the build & flip mentality to startups, I did share how to structure the business so that it could work.
Now I know most people don’t have the aspirations, or need to build a big company like this, but I still think it’s worth understanding the mechanics.
So be sure to watch the video, and leave a comment with your biggest takeaway below… which aspect surprised you the most?
Let me know and I’ll see you next Monday!
--
Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. (Get the free 3 videos to grow your business here.) He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter@danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome.
Are you an entrepreneur? Get free weekly video training here:
http://www.danmartell.com/newsletter
+ Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell
+ Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell