Katie Farrell

SaaStock Dublin is three days away. Considering an exit in 2024? At my talk, I'll be answering questions I get every day like: - What are current SaaS multiples? - What metrics matter most? - What do buyers *actually* care about? Don't have a ticket to SaaStock? I have a few extra - reach out and I'll hook you up 😎 #SaaStock #Dublin #founders

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I attended the SaaStock 'Revenue and Retention' workshop in Dublin this afternoon. Here's my notes. Have a read if you like: - 52% of buyers expect an increased spend on software tech next year. - 49% of buyers took 4+ months to make a purchase on 20k + level of investment, up 41% on last year. Decision criteria also changes 3 times. - 84% of buyers use review sites for gathering information & referrals on software/ and or services. They’re also using them at the start of their process rather than at the end. - 42% of buyers say its the C-Suite that are the ultimate DM’s - up 29% on last year. - Typically only 5-10% of your TAM will ever be in market to buy at any given time. - Prospects introduced via a partner have a 2 x win rate & 28% short cycle cycle. - It costs up to 25 x more to acquire a new customer than it would to get an existing customer to pay you the same amount. - Nearly 60% of customers would recommend your brand IF they get good customer service. - Existing customers are 50% more likely to try a new product with you and spend 30% more doing it as well. - Increasing customer retention rate by 5% can increase profitability by a 3rd. -- The above stats were shared by various speakers across the afternoon and multiple sources referenced including G2’s Buyer behaviour report. -- There's a lot to think about there - what stat stood out the most for you?

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It's coming home. SaaStock's coming home. To Dublin this October. 14-16th. And we're opening our doors to 4500 SaaS Founders, Execs and 600 Investors for the biggest gathering of SaaS decision makers in Europe. It will be the place to have meaningful conversations to take you and your SaaS to the next level. To get hundreds of leads to help with your Q4/Q1 goals. To meet with Investors to help with your next funding round. It's only been 12 months of hurt by October, since the last SaaStock. Don't score an own goal or get sent off by your company for missing out. Book your ticket or space to exhibit today. #saastockeurope #saastock2024 #saasconference #b2b #meetings #connectandthrive

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The most interesting insight from last week for me: From 70+ product folks from companies with an average company size of 11,000 employees that attended our SaaS Product Metrics Benchmarks in Dublin last year - the most popular answer to the “What is your user activation/ retention/ NPS metric?” was... “I don’t know.” And yet - most of these PMs also said they *were* using product analytics tools! So what does the “I don’t know” really mean? 🤔 A) “I don’t care” - metrics such as user activation rate, month 1 retention rate, core feature adoption rate, NPS, Time to Value - are not really that important for me (if so - which are?) B) “ I don’t have the time/ resources” - while I care/ would love to care more about these metrics, I’m simply so busy building that I don’t have the time or resources to actively monitor them. C) “The product analytics tools are too complicated for me to be useful” - I’d like to monitor these metrics and have the time to do it, but the analytics tools are too complicated to use to make it easy for me to fetch that data. D) OTHER - elaborate? I’d really like to know that #product folks. 

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5 outbound rules every SDR & sales rep should Live by: 1. Play to your strengths: E.g. call more if you’re best at calling. Lean into what you’re naturally good at and build on it. 2. Focus on quality over quantity: 50 personalised emails will always outperform 500 generic ones. Every touchpoint should add value. 3. Always follow up: Once you’ve had a conversation, don’t just dump them into an automated cadence. Keep it personal and intentional. 4. Use all your tools: Outbound is multi-channel: phone, email, LinkedIn. 5. Learn from every “no”: Every rejection is a lesson. Adapt, refine, and keep pushing forward. Working smarter = results. Stick to these principles, and you’ll start to see the needle move.

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Shout out to Salesloft for sharing that discussing timing once isn't enough Timing isn't a tick box exercise when updating your BANT fields in CRM Think of the deals you're running as projects Because projects are full of key milestones and events If your prospect isn't able to share any timings on their end That's a 🚩 Timing helps you qualify conversations By uncovering key dates that help you to ✅ Align internal resources effectively ✅ Multithread by asking who is involved at that stage ✅ Create urgency in the deal to maintain momentum ✅ Implement a relevant and tailored mutual action plan to create accountability Finding those dates isn't rocket science either "If you want to go live by X, what needs to happen before then internally to achieve that?" "When would you be looking to have a solution in place by?" "Are you looking to have this fixed this quarter or next?" "What kind of timeline are you working with?" Look over your current deals and ask yourself if you really know the timelines your prospects are working towards - it's never too late

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Meet Alex, a SaaS sales leader at a fast-growing fintech company. Alex was under constant pressure to hit aggressive growth targets. Their company had an incredible product, but scaling the sales team to match its potential felt impossible. Every hiring process was a grind. Alex spent hours sifting through irrelevant CVs, interviewing candidates who didn’t understand the SaaS world, and watching top talent slip away to faster competitors. Worst of all, the recruitment agencies they relied on promised results but rarely delivered candidates who could close deals and thrive under pressure. Frustrated and running out of time, Alex knew something had to change. That’s when they discovered TecPool, a game-changing portal designed specifically for SaaS sales hiring. Using TecPool, Alex stopped wasting time on irrelevant CVs and speculative candidates. Instead, they gained access to pre-vetted, SaaS-savvy salespeople who were ready to hit the ground running. With TecPool’s insights, Alex could benchmark candidates against industry standards and quickly identify the perfect fit for their team. Within weeks, the transformation was undeniable. Alex hired faster, with 50% less time spent on recruitment. The new hires didn’t just fill roles—they started hitting quotas in record time. For the first time, Alex felt in control of the hiring process and confident in every decision. With less time wasted on hiring headaches, Alex focused on building a high-performance sales culture. They trained and empowered their team, celebrated wins, and saw targets turn into achievements. The company began exceeding growth expectations, and Alex’s reputation as a leader who could build winning sales teams soared. If Alex’s story feels familiar, it’s time to rewrite your recruitment narrative. Let’s help you take control of your hiring process and build the SaaS sales team you’ve always dreamed of. Talk to Artis today and discover how TecPool can change everything for your sales team. #SaaS #SaaSSales #TecPool #SaaSRecruitment #Sales

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Gabe Lullo 😎 's team are an outbound machine making over 7 million cold calls last year. The simplicity of his qualification might surprise you... We discussed this, Oasis, AI B2B prospecting & more on the podcast coming in a few weeks time. So what is it? BANT! Joking! (ITS 100% NOT BANT) Its ICP, PERSONA & TIMELINE! All meetings booked require 3 things: 1. With the right Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). 2. With the right buying personas (PERSONA). 3. Timing - decides if the lead is hot, warm or nurture (TIMELINE). All leads fall into 3 categories Hot Leads - making a purchasing decision in 2 weeks Warm Leads - making a purchasing decision in 2 months Nurture Leads - making a purchasing decision in 2 quarters Gabe runs outbound for over 80+ companies spanning SMB to Enterprise sales. He has hired thousands of SDRs. They use social media, cold email and the channels you'd expect. And guess what? Despite AI. 91% of leads in 2024 are coming from the phone! --- p.s. If you’re an AE looking to fill your pipeline and exceed quota in 90 days or less. Send me a DM saying "90" to find out more. 🔥 🍾

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Tune in for a great interview with Jeetu Mahtani, Operating Advisor at Expedition Growth Capital, hosted by Harry Stebbings 🌎 How to Go International 📈 Scaling Sales from $3M to $1BN in ARR ✅ Scaling Customer Success to 1,500 CS Reps 💪 Hiring the Best and Ramping Them

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🎧 Add this one to your weekend listening list. Jeetu Mahtani, Stage 2 Capital Limited Partner and GTM Advisor on this week's 20VC podcast.

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If outbound sales is the only way you’re working to generate pipeline, it’s going to be a long road towards that 3M+ ARR and above... You should still do it, but building a scalable Go-To-Market strategy will be the best investment you’ll have for your SaaS business. There are three major parts in a GTM strategy: 1/ Your Ideal Customer Profile: Deciding who your ideal customer is, and who is NOT the ideal customer is at the core of everything. This decision has ramifications everywhere from the product roadmap, to the channels you’ll run. 2/ Your Manifesto: Every SaaS company is driving an inherent transformation. Your Manifesto is the most succinct way to share the story about that transformation. 3/ Your Broadway Show: This is the consistent sales and marketing activities you and your team will run to bring your Manifesto to your ICP every week. Your Broadway Show will be the core GTM motions that drive pipeline for you. If you’re an early stage SaaS Founder and you’d like to build a scalable GTM machine to augment your Outbound and accelerate your path to $3M+ ARR and beyond, then grab a complimentary copy of my 5-Point SaaS Growth Strategy Guide. Just follow the link in the comments below (choose recent comments if you don’t see it) 👇

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Dispensary Cost of Customer Acquisition = Costs / Number of New Customers Half the battle with planning marketing spend in 2025, is identifying where the $$$ need to go. Attract new customers, or stay relevant and top of mind with your existing customers? A massive unlock starts with an understanding of the cost of customer acquisition. CAC answers, "How much money do I spend to get one new customer?” Pick a period… let’s say Q3 for example Review the marketing spend for that period… and how much of the costs you want to attribute to attracting new customers for the period. EXAMPLE Website costs - 50% SEO - 75% New Customer Offers/ Discounts 100% Direct Mailers - 90% Social 30% Billboards 50% Marketing team expense 30% Let's say this adds up to $150,000 in spend for Q3 How many new customers did you get in that same period? Let’s say 2,700 $150,000 / 2,700 = $55.55 The cost to acquire each new customer was approximately $56. + Let's say the customer spends, on average, $50, and we are operating on 40% gross margins. = Avg gross profit per transaction is $20. This means we need customers to shop 2.8 times before we break even on the cost of acquiring them. At Vetrina we start with an understanding of CAC on a quarterly basis. In building your 2025 plan you want to look for ways to either: ▶ Lower your CAC (maybe some marketing channels are more efficient than others) ▶ Increase average order value (can you get those new customers to buy more on their first visit) ▶ Improve margins (through better pricing or cost management) ▶ Get more repeat purchases (through loyalty programs, excellent service, etc.) And... Identify how important new customer acquisition is each quarter next year. Next week, I will have more strategies and plans for 2025 dispensary Marketing. #7weeksto2025withvetrina #cannabisretail

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Bad SDRs attribute their results to luck. Good SDRs attribute their results to skill. There is definitely an aspect of luck in the game... who picks up the phone, what mood are they in, what accounts happen to align with timing, etc... But if you're not making your own luck, it's going to be hard to succeed. The proof is SDRs that consistently achieve their goals. If it was attributed mostly to luck, you would imagine the distribution of success would be random and not consistent. Making your own luck means giving yourself more opportunities to have those "lucky" moments. Whether thats working on your volume, tone, messaging or prospecting. Make your own luck. Control what you can. Let go of what you can't. Happy Tuesday, folks.

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I don't mean to scare you even more, but churn has an even greater impact than you thought. Cost of acquisition: for most SaaS companies, the cost of acquiring that customer is realised when you keep them for some time. so you lose the money you spent acquiring that customer. Future profit: This is a no-brainer, but you lose any future profit you would have made over that customer in the next 1 or 2 years. Waste of time: All the time and effort you spent onboarding, resolving complaints and trying to satisfy a potential churn has now gone down the drain Reputation damage: Reputation is perhaps the most important thing for a company that seeks growth. An unsuccessful customer is 5x more likely to talk about your product to others...but not in a good way. Guess what metric this affects? Conversion rate: Yeah! you guessed right. The conversion rate of new customers coming in through your acquisition funnel has now been impacted by the bad reviews they've heard. Total addressable market (TAM) would shrink as a result too." Market Valuation: A company with a 95% churn rate could be valued at 3 times higher than a company with an 80% churn rate after 5 years even if they sign in the same ARR and have the same gross margin (this is, of course, a very basic example) what else would you add? #CustomerChurn #ChurnManagement #ChurnPrevention #ChurnRate #CustomerRetention #RetentionStrategies #CustomerLoyalty #CustomerSuccess #ReduceChurn #ChurnAnalysis #CustomerSatisfaction #RetentionMarketing #RetentionMetrics #CustomerExperience #CustomerFeedback #RetentionRate #CX #ChurnReduction #CustomerInsights #CustomerEngagement Customer Success Network Customer Service

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🚀 GPT-4o has arrived! It's truly amazing! 😲 I share with you the example of a conversation with Daphne Costa Lopes Based on what I've seen and read, the GPT-40 delivers faster, more accurate and personalised responses, improving the customer experience and increasing the efficiency of customer service. I'm really impressed by the potential of this technology. What do you think? 👀 #GPT40 #CustomerSuccess #CustomerService #TechnologicalInnovation #EmergingTechnology

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How We Increased Sales Calls by 100% in 2 Months - August: 12 sales calls booked - October: 24 sales calls booked The difference? Systemization and refinement. As a Sales and Outreach Specialist, here’s how I doubled the number of calls with qualified prospects: Defined the ideal customer profile (ICP) – Not every lead is equal. We’ve refined the audience we target to match those most in need of our solution. Built trust with valuable content – Each post is created with our ICP’s needs in mind. Optimized our profile for conversions – From profile headlines to summaries, everything is designed to convert views into calls. Engaged directly with prospects – I reached out to the most engaged followers each week, setting up personalized conversations. Improved each step of the process using data – By tracking conversion rates, I could tweak and refine outreach for better results. Consistency and strategy lead to success. Let’s talk about how we can do the same for your sales team 🔥. Here's a social proof for you

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I listened to Chad Peets on 20VC (link in comments). It touched on a thing I’ve been thinking about lately: How hard should you verticalise your GTM if your product can be used fairly horizontally? My take: try to verticalize to the point where it feels like you have gone too far. Ask yourself: What would it take to cut this account list in half? Then ask again. Even if you don’t end up going with that level of granularity, it is a great forcing function for where to start your growth experiments. The list is the strategy. So how do you do that? - Start with segmenting by pain and your ability to relieve it - Layer in proximity to the buyer to cut further For example: - Start with fintech - Cut it again to fintech infrastructure - Cut it again to identity, fraud, and risk - Cut it again by sub-segment of each - Find the ones closest to your office or with mutual connections It might be one step too far, but when it works it leads to so much more clarity.

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This is WILD! 🏋‍♀️ 7 day numbers from one of Order Editing's recent launches: 🏌‍♂️ 352 tickets solved 🥂 $4329 earned in upsell revenue 🍾 🍾 🍾 $1760 in cost saving So for each order edit this merchant makes $15.71 in upsell revenue The app has returned 15x the monthly license fee in 1 week DISGUSTING BEHAVIOUR! #shopify #ecommerce #customerexperience

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