SaaStr 2017: My takeaways from day 1

The SaaStr Annual is the preeminent SaaS (Software as a Service) conference. It kicked off yesterday with long lines and rain in San Francisco. Several advisers had recommended this conference to me, so I bought my ticket months ahead of time. Here are some of my takeaways from day one of SaaStr Annual 2017.

SaaStr Annual 2017: How to Build a Sales Team 1-100

Building a Sales Team from 1-100 is Really Hard

• There are three phases of sales growth.
• Product market fit may be revisited later when targeting new markets
• Build measure learn for product market fit. Do lots of experiments quick
• Most dangerous error: CEO magic. Rules get broken. Too much bespoke features and rolling over on legal terms. Sales Team won't work w/o CEO magic. Or YC magic (lol)
• Case studies, testimonials, advocates. Needed early on.
• Lessons from Oracle: Document everything. Turn it into workflow; Training machine. Emphasis on Employee development; Emphasis on sales culture and frontline managers.

SaaStr Annual 2017: How I Built Our First Functional Customer Success Organization

Standing room only in the Tactical Room

• Three pillars of Customer Success: Professional Services, Customer Success Manager, Tech Support
• Psychology degrees preferred for CSM's
• Don't put quotas on CSM's. not in their DNA.
• Sales owns the quota. Customer success has to be a willing partner to help them get there.
• Customer Success can be looked at as a revenue driver. Growing accounts delicately. Don't lose customers' trust.
• CSM's should challenge the customer (in a diplomatic way)
• Customer Success is the intersection of revenue, marketing, product and support.
• You need someone at the table thinking about the customer all the time.
• V2MOMs got a mention (yay)

SaaStr Annual 2017: How To: NPS 75 with 40K Customers

1. What is your customer experience strategy?
2. Who are you willing to be bad for?
3. How do you devise a customer experience framework that works for your business?
4. What will you do when you screw up?
5. What are your Non-Negotiables?

SaaStr Annual 2017: Making Sure Your CAC Doesn't Kill You: Driving Low Cost Customer Acquisition

  The room was overflowing with people at this point

• Reduce friction when onboarding a new customer
• Fix leaky buckets fast
• Happy customers make everyone's job easier
• Aggressive outbound can burn through the market and negatively affect your brand.
• Invest more in content. Go all in. All employees post. Have a strategy around distribution.
• Start small with account based marketing. Can be done on the cheap.
• People always want to hear from the CEO.
• Be first into a new channel, CAC is always going to be low.

SEE ALSO: My Takeaways from SaaStr Annual 2017 Conference (Day 2)

SEE ALSO: My Takeaways from SaaStr Annual 2017 Conference (Day 3)