
Ask HN: How do you present your SaaS offer to potential customers? - crabpeeps
After you&#x27;ve had meetings with potential customers you usually send them some documents explaining the service as well as a price quotation.<p>Do you share a google doc? A website? Do you send them a pdf?<p>- How many pages?
- Do you use images&#x2F;screenshots?<p>Alternatively, if you&#x27;re a purchaser of SaaS services, how would you like to receive the information&#x2F;offer?
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simonswords82
I'm going to guess based on what you've outlined here you're selling B2B?
Perhaps at enterprise level?

All things being equal, the content of what you're sending is more important
than how you send it. PDFs, Google Docs, whatever - who cares...if the content
outlines concisely how your SaaS offer makes/saves the customer money and the
other associated benefits you can afford to send it on a frickin' napkin :)

You're over thinking the other stuff. You include a number of pages that is
essential for the conveying of useful information to the prospect. Customers
aren't going to scoff at a proposal because it's < 10 pages! Just don't pad it
out with a load of corporate shit, keep it on point and yes a picture says a
1000 words so if a picture helps to sell the vision, include it.

I presume given you're engaged in selling your wares you've carried out
competitor analysis? What do they send to their prospects? If you don't have
competitors (I doubt it) what do companies that you like send out? If you've
not secret shopped them already I recommend you do. Smart Bear
([https://smartbear.com/](https://smartbear.com/)) are one of my go to
companies for researching how to go about software sales.

I do this stuff for a living, if you want any other feedback or perhaps
examples of what does/doesn't work hit me up. My details are in my HN profile.

~~~
crabpeeps
That's correct, we sell B2B enterprise stuff. I find myself changing the
format from customer to customer, ending up spending too much time on this
crucial process. I'd like to standardize the docs/info to adhere to the
receivers' preferred format.

I agree that the content is everything.

You raise some good questions regarding competitors. From what I've seen they
send out generic pdf's and a generic project timeline. I need to study them
more closely. I'd like to one-up them by having something convenient,
effective and visually appealing.

~~~
ironchef
No offense but you're wasting time. It doesn't matter if it's PDF vs doc vs
whatever.

You _need_ to offer something very compelling (not the brochures / leave-
behinds.. the service). You (usually) either need to take away pain or give
them something of value. In what I sell, they need to leave that first meeting
saying "holy shit... how do we get this in house / how do we get to use this
now?". My best leave behind is references who are in the same space ;)

------
jamesmcintyre
For those answering, what do you think of designing a "free" product to let
the client use as a "gift" for their time. Perhaps your pricing tier has no
freemium but after getting a meeting with the client you offer a special
freemium version with the sentiment being "look, whether you choose our
service or not let me give you this product which can help your operations
even if you don't pay a dime"

I think for most this would seem like a good idea. You are both giving the
potential client a chance to use the service and maybe signaling that you
aren't desperate for the sale that you are just as happy if they just get
value out of the free gift. But then there's pricing theory, maybe just giving
away what is supposed to be so valuable "cheapens" your product and signals
that in fact you're desperate to sell so you're giving it away.

I'm sure striking a balance is required here but I'm curious where on this
scale from "generosity signals abundance" to "scarcity signals value" do your
recommendations fall?

~~~
danieltillett
I don’t like “free” models since people tend to value something what they paid
for it. I prefer to offer a full 60 day money back guarantee instead.

If you do go down the free route ask for nothing - no names, no email, no sign
up, nothing, just limited the usage. I do this for my products and I get lots
of “shy" users that convert to sales because the barrier to trying our
products is much lower. If you have a great product make it as easy as
possible to try.

------
endswapper
In engaging potential clients focus all of your time and energy on the
conversation and the close.

Collateral materials are helpful when you are casting a wide net and you have
the resources to take a shot-gun blast approach. It sounds like you have
limited resources, which makes the leave-behind a very low priority. Today,
gathering the data on what to present and how is the priority.

If you are the only person doing sales, or if there are only a few of you, the
best approach is to use email. You should be sending a follow-up email anyway,
even if you leave something behind to move things forward to the next step.
It's direct, personal and it can be customized quickly and easily for each
customer. Then you can use the experiences using email to inform the needs of
collateral materials down the line.

Finally, when you do put something together that checks enough boxes based on
real client responses it should be available everywhere. Meaning, something
printed when you leave the meeting, an attachment in a follow-up email, a link
in your email signature to something viewable on your site. You'll find
everyone will access it differently, so provide everything. Today, I have
enterprise contacts that will ask for a fax. That always amazes me, and then I
send an efax.

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relaunched
You need to start reading [https://www.saastr.com/](https://www.saastr.com/)
immediately.

Jason Lemkin has great insight into how to sell to SaaS products, how to run
SaaS businesses and everything else SaaS.

Good Luck!

