A newsletter for B2B SaaS founders and marketers who don't want the curse of knowledge to mess with their messaging.
Hi Reader,Many B2B SaaS founders know about the Jobs theory. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴.Just as customers hire products for a job.They also hire your sales and marketing for a job.The job of buying.T̲h̲e̲ ̲d̲e̲e̲pe̲r̲ ̲qu̲e̲s̲t̲i̲o̲n̲:Is your sales and marketing focused on 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴?Or on 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘶𝘺?The former is just the outcome of doing the latter well.
Hi Reader,It might be killing your judgement in the name of efficiency and speed. You know what I am talking about.A lot of sales and marketing effectiveness relies on judgement.You try something, it works or it doesn’t.Then you look back at the core assumptions of why you did it that way.You learn something new. And then you improve upon it the next time.This is precious memory. And it gets better with practice.Continue investing in it for long term gains.Don’t outsource human judgement to a...
Hi Reader,I was reviewing outbound SDR messages for a founder recently. And I couldn’t help noticing the pattern. It sounded scripted.And engineered.And over-personalized.Even over-keyworded.Click-baitish.Bordering on manipulative. That's the problem with most B2B SaaS sales and marketing. It sounds too much like marketing and sales speak. And because of that, it fails to persuade. If you want your sales and marketing messages to work, let authenticity and humaneness be your central strategy.
Hi Reader,How do we make big decisions in personal life?We ask ourselves 'who am I'?And then make choices that align with that answer. Buying a business software is also a tough decision.The company invariably asks itself 'who are we'?And then chooses software that aligns with that answer. What if you already answered that question in your positioning?That would help them make more confident decisions, right?
Hi Reader,Recently as part of positioning & messaging work for a client, I came across a testimonial their customer had written on G2. In the testimonial, the customer used a term which was nowhere a part of the client's vocabulary to describe their product features. The testimonial said "context awareness". If you ask a B2B SaaS messaging expert, they would mostly advise against using such words in your content. But that's exactly the problem with best practices. They force you to go into an...
Hi Reader,What are buyers 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 for?What do they 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 to hear?What do they 𝘋𝘖𝘕’𝘛 want to hear?As part of my work, I personally listen to a lot of sales conversations.Sharing 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 below: #1 Buyer are talking about AI, but in an off-handed way. The focus is still on the unique problem they struggle to solve.#2 Buyers want Al, but they are not sure in which part of their workflow. They rely on your for those answers.#3 Buyers need an assurance that you have Al. But they want...
Hi Reader,Marketing books and schools have told us positioning is a statement. For [target audience], [your product/service/brand] is a [category] that [key benefit / main reason to believe], unlike [primary competitor or alternative], we [unique differentiator]. In fact, most positioning frameworks are designed to solve for the above blanks. But these blanks don't answer the buyer's "why should I care". As categories grow more crowded and complex, positioning will have to upgrade from being...
Hi Reader, Sales… That’s what we want to improve right? Solution? Sales conversations! Whenever I am unable to interview a client’s customers first hand, I rely on sales call recordings. To surface answers such as: what buyers care or not care about how do they verbalize their problem and solution what do they fear or worry about Yes, you can call them jobs-to-be-done insights. …but mined in a more passive way. Are you recording your sales calls? If not, it’s never too late to start. If yes,...
hi Reader,Buyer asks you: “Why you?”You send this:Feature A: You✅, Competitor❌Feature B: You✅, Competitor❌Feature C: You✅, Competitor❌Meanwhile, your competitors send this:Feature P: You❌, Competitor✅ Feature Q: You❌, Competitor✅ Feature R: You❌, Competitor✅Feature S: You❌, Competitor✅Feature T: You❌, Competitor✅What is the buyer supposed to do??How are they to know how one differentiator of yours > 10 differentiators of your competitors?Thus arises the need to "differentiate the...
hi Reader,there are games you can play, but not win.(like a tech solution for healthcare that is HIPAA compliant but doesn't beat other compliant providers on capabilities for the healthcare vertical)then there are games you can win, but not play!(like a tech solution for managing solar-powered EV chargers that has no competitors in India, but also no adopters for it)identifying a game you can play is your GTM strategyidentifying a game you can win is your positioning strategyalone they are...