Customization and SaaS… the Startup View

Whether your in sales, account management, or product every client wants some level of customization and as a startup you’re likely going to end up saying “Yes” way more often than you should in order to close the deal or just to make the client happy. All of this will continue until you realize it’s a really bad idea!

I once had a bow tie company and we would sell any bow tie, any style, any color, any design as long as we had it in stock!

Sales Rep Perspective: You need to hit your quota, grow the business, close the next deal! Given all the pressure — you might as well give away a car with your software to get a deal done and believe me you would if you could. When a client asks for something custom, instead of saying, “YES” simply get into the mindset of asking a few key questions first. Here are a few scenarios:

Client: I would love it if your product did <enter something not on the roadmap>?

Sales Rep/AM: Hmm I’ve never heard of that before. Is this something your company would consider paying for?

(most people will say No and you’re right back to value selling)

Client: Yes, we would certainly pay.

Sales Rep/AM: Awesome! While this is certainly not in our standard offering it is something that we may be able to work with our product team on. While it’s getting built however it would be valuable to get you set up with <Enter Product as it stands today> in order to get the most value out of <enter something not on the roadmap> when it arrives.

Pro Tip: Next you may want to pretend you’re a product manager or simply involve your product manager to ask key questions around this new functionality. Here is a great list of questions to ask.

Client Point of View: Your pain point has just been validated and you may have met the product manager, gained more knowledge about the company/product and felt like your need was addressed.

Potential “Aha!” moment: In some cases I have seen this drill-down-exercise turn into the realization that the feature requested is already in product! It’s just not in the exact way the client intended but does indeed provide the value. Information is power!

(Assuming none of that worked, let’s resume)

Client: I like your product but without <enter something not on the roadmap> I just can’t justify the cost and I’d rather wait.

Sales Rep Feeling: Welcome to sales! Rejection is part of the process but the good news is you’ve learned something new, taught your team about a new feature, and potentially have another shot with this client in the future.

Sales Rep: I appreciate your time and while I know we’re delivering X, Y, Z value to our clients today I know we’ll do the same for you when the time is right.

Next Steps: Keep the client informed of new product enhancements and case studies. It’s likely that you’ve made a friend and there may be another feature that get’s the ball rolling again in the near term. Our team at Smarking does a great job of keeping potential clients involved and if you want to check out some great product updates just click here!

Follow me at Diego Torres-Palma on Twitter/Medium for more!