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The thing about sales is that you need a potential customer.  But one of the most common problems in SaaS sales is that the sales team has no clue who to reach out to. Especially with add-ons.  So where does this come from? How does it affect your bottom line? And most importantly, how can this be reversed?  Why the SaaS Sales Team Doesn't Know Who to Reach Out To  There are multiple reasons why this happens. Do any of these sound familiar to you?  The complexity of SaaS offerings: SaaS products and pricing are renowned for complexity. Not only does the brand bring in new features and add-ons all the time, but packages can vary depending on tiers and individual customer offering.  It can be virtually impossible for a sales team to figure out the right fit for each customer. And that’s not just because it’s hard to keep track of which offerings go with what; it’s also because salespeople don’t have the time to accurately keep track of everyone. The variety of options can overwhelm even the most experienced reps.  Lack of customer insights: When a team doesn’t have the nights that come from data and numbering-crunching, it’s a difficult game. They might struggle to both understand the fluctuating needs of each customer and which add-on would best add value to their lives.   When they are unclear about their customers wants and when they need them offered, the team has to guess.  Silos between teams: There are usually substantial silos between the finance, product, customer success, and sales teams can spell disaster for everyone involved as well as the company.  Sales need vital information including what types of products are available, which products complement each other (and don’t work together), how the company’s current relationship with the customer is going, information about the customer’s usage and what they might need, when is the best time to pitch an add-on, etc.    Competition: SaaS is arguably the most competitive industry there is. Everything is in constant flux. New products get released all the time. Companies work to price others out of the market.   This means that customer expectations are at their highest and retention rates are for many people at their lowest. This puts a lot of pressure on a sales team to not “mess things up” by making the retention problem worse than it is.   The Consequences of No Clues  When sales teams don’t have the tools they need to know which people to approach about add-ons, it can have a serious knock-on impact on everyone and everything.   Here’s where we see the impacts the most:   Declining revenue potential: Not knowing when to sell add-ons means missed opportunities which is less money for your bottom line. This hinders your growth and profitability.  Costly mistakes: Guesswork is expensive. Not only does your sales team have to spend time and resources guessing who will need what and when, but when they guess wrong, they spend more time and resources (as well as costly discounts) making things right.   Strained customer relationships: When add-on offerings aren’t tailored for customers, it’s a turnoff. When add-on offerings are unsuitable or wrong, it’s a disaster. It’s too easy for customers to pick up and leave for another company that will give them what they want. After all, what have they got to lose?   Deteriorating morale and motivation: When sales reps continually struggle without the tools they need to meet high-pressure targets with high stakes, their confidence and enthusiasm will wane. And it has a ripple effect, with other teams frustrated too.  Reduced cross-selling effectiveness: When the team doesn’t have the understanding of add-on potential, cross-selling initiatives become essentially useless. That’s more revenue down the pipes.  Individually, these impacts are destructive, but together, they can really set a company and its COO back.   The great news is that you can change everything.   Actions You Can Take as the COO  There are a few very effective strategies for equipping your sales team with the knowledge they need to sell add-ons and build your revenue.    Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing Break down those silos by encouraging regular communication and collaboration between sales, product management, and customer success teams. If they have knowledge-sharing sessions and cross-fertilise each other’s brainstorming meetings, they will be able to exchange information and insights, customer feedback, and strategies.   Invest in excellent customer data analysis It’s only by leveraging customer data analytics tools that you can gain deep insights into usage patterns, preferences, and pain points. The data’s already there, so why not turn it into more money? Equip sales teams with this valuable information to better understand customer needs and recommend relevant add-ons.  Implement personalized training programs If you train the sales team on products, features, benefits, and what works best with what, it will help them to effectively communicate the value proposition to customers.  Develop an add-on recommendation framework Creating a clear structured workflow for sales that all the reps can work with will help guide them through the process, and keep it uniform so that different customers aren’t getting an inconsistent quality experience.  Use automation - it’s there ready and waiting to do everything The beauty of automation is that not only does it save time, revenue, and other resources, but it actually generates revenue opportunities that can’t be realized with manual processes.  Here’s what the right end-to-end sales automation process will give you:   Data analysis that gives insights on customer behavior, usage data, and triggers to identify optimal moments for add-on offers.  Integrated product knowledge that tells sales what products and features work best (and worst!) with each customer’s needs Absolute visibility between financial and sales and customer service teams so that all people have access to the information they need at any given time  Reliable numbers that you can feel confident in when you enter the Board Meeting  Add-on offerings that are exactly what customers are looking for at the right time Happier sales teams that are motivated and have excellent leads they know are strong enough to get a sale More time to do all the value-building work that you and your teams want to do And two bonuses for excellent SaaS sales automation platforms:   Real-time insights that spot the best add-on opportunities and channel them to the right that salesperson Automatically sending add-on sales back into finance for invoicing, billing, and reconciliation too.  The easiest way to crack the add-on dilemma is letting automation do all these strategies for you.   It’s the combination of cutting-edge tech with human personality that will enable your sales team to succeed. And that’s what you need as a COO.   It Can All Be Yours   The point is this - SaaS companies can’t afford to not invest in the things that will make it easier for the sales teams to do their jobs.   And this is particularly important with add-ons because they help establish a better CLV, which is the jackpot!   As a COO, you can create an environment where sales reps have the knowledge, tools, and support they need to confidently offer add-ons to customers.   You can drive revenue growth, enhance customer relationships and boost your team morale and motivation all in one.  Curious to find out more?   Say goodbye to manual sales processes and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines the end-to-end process. 

It’s 7:53 AM on an office Monday, and a few people are already on their second cup. This is not a happy place.   This is a place where chaos feels at home.   The revenue team’s buried under one jillion spreadsheets. So. Many. Spreadsheets.   They desperately add and subtract and divide and check and re-check and cross-check with the sales team down the hall.   By 9:27, Saurah, the team lead, scans the new pile of contracts and revenue bookings from last week. She sighs, and wonders what happened to her life and is this all there is and how different it would all be if only when she was 14 she had waited till her mom wasn’t looking and sprinted through that striped tent and joined the travelling circus with the cute white tiger.  By 10:30 AM, is an absolute war zone and the munitions seem to be papers. People barking demands. Hurry. Close of cycle. Is it ready for the audit??!!!? And then…Saurah spots Mark, whose face has gone paler than a goth awards show. Why?   Besides the revenue bookings being a total mess because no one’s got the time to work out all that recognized revenue, he’s just found an error that could throw off the entire month's projections just before the CFO’s meeting with the stakeholders.   Who’s gonna tell the boss?!?   Not me.   Absolutely not me. I did it last time.   So lunchtime rolls around, and every single one of the team silently take their jackets, and shuffle out of the front door, never to be found again, even by the people from CSI (the good CSI).   In the SaaS world, this scenario happens at least 735 times a day.   Okay, maybe we’re exaggerating. (It’s probably more like 15 times a day)  But the point is that if your team still does manual entries, that office ain’t gonna be a pretty place to work. No matter how much they do, it will never be enough. And you’re the one who will have to catch the heat for it.   It’s down to you   As a CFO, your role is to steer your company to growth, stability, and profitability. That means all your decisions have to be driven by the numbers you’re given. Those numbers come from your team.  Manual data entry and revenue bookings might seem routine, but they have so many issues. They suck up your team’s time and energy. They bring no value whatsoever. They seem to have errors secretly planted into them.  That means that you and your team are stuck putting out fires, unable to do the high-value strategic work that would help you reach your goals.   That’s why we wrote this article. Like you, we’re a SaaS company. And we talk to a lot of CFOs stuck in the abyss of manual processes.   You’ve all got something in common- you know that manual processes are an absolute nightmare. So let’s talk about the problems with manual processes, how they impact you and your company, and what can save you from these problems and secure your revenue for good.  Why Manual Processes Make Your Team (and you) Fantasize About Running Away Forever   In SaaS, everyone is busy, so efficiency is key. But manual processes are a huge roadblock. Here are just some of the things they cause:   Time and resource drain - Every single contract and spreadsheet and form has to be checked entered into the system. According to CFO Dive, if you have a finance team of 20 people, you’ll lose the equivalent of 1,920 work hours every year.   More mistakes - You cannot avoid human error. The more chances there are for mistakes, the more you’ll have. Those mistakes mean you won’t have to data you need to make the best decisions possible.  No strategic value - You don’t get any insights from manual data entry. It doesn’t contribute to the company’s health. It can’t help you with forecasts. .  Impact on employee morale - Manual data crushes the human spirit and will have your employees eyeing up the buildings escape routes 24-7. That is a fact.  Regulatory compliance risks - Any mistakes in revenue recorded can lead to financial penalties and damage to your reputation. Another layer of worry for you!   Delayed reporting - Because manual processes slow things up, your financial reports are not only possibly incorrect, but also late. Stakeholders and the C-Suite aren’t fans of that.  It’s not just that manual processes are inconvenient. They can damage your company and make your goals impossible.   But there is a way to sort out these problems AND make your bottom line better.   The Solution: Automating the End-to-End Process  Bringing in automation will change everything for you.  You might bristle at the word. It might feel like too big a move. Your team might feel like it’s too much an effort.   The thing is that you’re a SaaS company - you know how important it is to innovate.   You know the benefits that innovation can bring. That’s why you develop products for your customers.   So what can automating your end-to-end financial processes do for you? Imagine having all this:   Efficiency and time savings - You get all those hundreds or thousands of hours back that are currently stolen by data entry and other manual processes. That means your revenue team can finally put their talents to more strategic tasks that will bring more revenue in.   Fewer mistakes - Automated processes are accurate and cut way back on costly errors. That means you get reliable financial statements, reports and forecasts that you can literally and figuratively take to the bank.  Strategic insights - You’ll get data-driven insights that find patterns, identify trends, and predict future revenue numbers. That means you’re able to make proactive decisions that can drive your company's financial successes in the future.  Compliance - Compliance with financial regulations come automatically. No more late audits. No more costly mistakes. No more fines or compliance-based risk of lawsuits.  Happier employees - Everyone gets to do more fulfilling, high-value work, which leads to a lot more satisfaction.  You meeting your goals - This probably feels like he most impossible thing to imagine, but it’s true.   It’s Yours For the Taking   Being a CFO is no walk in the park, especially if manual processes make things impossible to navigate.   The last thing you need is the nightmare that manual tasks bring to you, your team, and your revenue bookings.   Automating the end-to-end process will make life so much easier for everyone involved. Your revenue bookings will mean something. You’ll have money streaming in. You’ll finally have numbers you can rely on at any given time.   And Saurah won’t fantasize about joining the circus again.  Recurring revenue businesses leak up to 5% in their billing processes. -Forbes Say goodbye to manual revenue processes and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines the end-to-end process. 

The thing about robots is that they’re great. They’re so shiny. They’re cutting-edge. And more importantly, they do stuff for us.   Whether it’s books or movies or tv shows, we’ve gotten used to them. Whether it's R2-D2 and C-3PO helping the Rebel Alliance or Rosie the Robot Maid helping the Jetsons, it’s really satisfying to see something help us so that we can get on with what we need to do.   What’s great is that in the 21st century we’ve got robotic power at our fingertips. Even in SaaS sales. In fact, robots can alleviate one of the biggest challenges you as a SaaS CEO face - low win rates and slow growth.  They might not look as cool as The Terminator or Bender, but when they’re doing your work for you, does it matter?  Let’s take a closer look at what’s behind low win rates and slow growth, how it impacts you, and how the robots can help.   What causes it?  So what causes low win rates and slow growth? Here are some of the most common that we see in the SaaS landscape:   Outdated data management: Mistakes and inconsistencies are par for the course with manual data entry and management processes. No matter how methodical a human, they are going to make mistakes. But when you add pressure, piles of work and those silos, forget it. There’s no reliable information for you to make informed decisions and strategies.  Repetitive administrative tasks: With legacy systems, administrative tasks like data entry and reports don’t write themselves. CRM updates don’t happen by magic. These tasks drain time stop your teams from closing deals.   Frankensteined systems and tools: Sales teams can struggle when their systems are disconnected or patched together. They can’t collaborate. They can’t share information. They don’t know which potential customers need what or the best offerings for each of them.   Bad lead qualification: Manual lead qualification processes are inconsistent across your teams and individual sales staff. It messes up the revenue teams when they get to work with invoicing and collecting too, causing mistakes and infuriating everyone, including the customers. This impacts your upselling and cross-selling because which angry customer decides to stay on and buy more?   Limited visibility and insights: You can strategize without insight. When your sales process is discombobulated and there’s no visibility, you’ve got a struggle to see spot areas for improvement. Without strategic thinking and decision-making, your company can’t grow.  Lack of the right offerings and pricing strategies: It doesn’t matter how great your products and services are. If your sales teams have no idea when to contact leads, and what to offer them, a fast sales cycle will be impossible.   What low win rates and slow growth do to you   They are a huge stumbling block for you as a SaaS CEO. Because they don’t just impact you. It’s your team and the company at stake. Do any of these consequences sound familiar?   Lost opportunities: When your win rates are low, you’re missing opportunities to expand your customer base and keep your customer acquisition costs low. You’re missing out on getting the edge over your competition. You don’t have a larger customer base singing your praises. You can’t grow.   Time and resource drain: When your teams have to do everything manually, their time and resources are drained away. Sales teams can’t focus on revenue-generating activities.   Inefficient sales cycles: When the lead-to-sales-to-invoicing processes are clunky and riddled with silos, sales cycles are going to be long. On-boarding can be delayed. The pipeline is bunged up. And mistakes happen between your sales and revenue teams.   Crushed morale: When a team wants to run for the hills, it’s hard for them to do a good job. No one gets a sales job so that they can be chained to their desks under a pile of spreadsheets with looming quotas barking down their ear.   No scalability: SaaS success is down to scalability but there’s no scaling when sales are slow and there’s no growth.   All this impacts on you personally, too.   The buck stops with the CEO. You’re the one that has to march into the boardroom and account for where your company stands. That’s a lot of stress and sleepless nights.   It’s a serious situation, and for you to do your job, it needs to be sorted for you.   And that’s where the robots come in.    Bring on the subscription robot overlords!   The best robots know what to do. They do the grunt work for you. They make things easy. They free your time up. And they can work 24-7.   Automation, driven by robots and powered by advanced AI technologies, gives you the exact solution you need by taking care of all the causes of the problems.   Here’s how the automation robot changes the game:   Streamlined lead management: Automation scores and qualifies the leads throughout the nurturing processes, identifies the best times to sell, then channels the opportunities to the best salesperson for the job. This can make your sales process fast as lightening and your win rates sky-high, whether it’s a new customer or an existing one.   Personalized customer engagement and great experience: It doesn’t matter how large your customer base is or how quickly it’s been growing, because automated and completely personalized email campaigns and messages let your sales team reach prospects and current customers in the most effective manner.  Teams work without silos: Automated systems between sales and revenue allow the information to flow freely. Because there are no manual entry errors, sales can rely on revenue to get billing right, and revenue can rely on sales to get terms right. There aren’t any delays between the teams, so not only are sales opportunities no longer missed, but there aren’t any delays in implementation.   Data-Driven decision making: Automation gives you the data you need to make the best decisions. The data is analyzed and accessible when you need it. It crunches numbers, writes detailed reports, spot problems, provides potential scenarios and forecasts, so that you have the information you need, when you need it.   Rapid sales ops: Because automation takes away the administrative tasks that plague your sales teams, they finally have the time to focus on building relationships and closing deals which is exactly what’s needed to speed up sales cycles and boost in rates.   Scalability and growth: Because automation can handle any size customer base, when you grow, you won’t hit a scaling nightmare because everything continues to run. The end-to-end processes are standardized. The workflows are automated. Best practices stay consistent across the teams. You can spread into as many new markets as you want because the growth is sustainable.   Morale through the roof: When your teams no longer have to deal with the soulless, time-stealing processes, they’re happy. When they’re given sales opportunities (with potential and existing customers) that are loaded in their favour, they’re happy. When they are free to do the value-adding work that uses their talents, they’re happy. And when they’re happy and selling, you’ve got a much better chance at being thrilled with the job.   Go with the robots  We never thought we’d get to the point where we’d say robots are necessary for survival, but here we are.   As a CEO, you know it’s virtually impossible to keep a SaaS company ticking over without automation. Legacy systems are going to pinch you eventually.   When you give yourself and your teams the advantage of AI-powered you empower your sales teams to focus on what they do best - building relationships, closing deals faster, and driving revenue.   You get streamlined processes, efficiency, valuable insights, and ultimately better win rates and growth.  Embrace the robots. Let them take care of the repetitive tasks. Enable your company to edge out the competition. Watch your win rates soar as your humans and the robots work together for greatness.  86% of consumers will leave a brand they trusted after two bad customer experiences. - Emplifi Say goodbye to missed sales opportunities and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines product offerings, boosts your up and cross-selling, and maximizes long-term customer value.

In the SaaS subscription world, things move fast. And there are some metrics that are tough to nail down, even for the more seasoned CFO.   As a CFO, you might already know exactly what we’re talking about.   Yep, it’s ARR and actual revenue.   Though it’s the key to understanding how financially healthy your subscription business is, it’s a real challenge to be able to know and communicate what it is at any given time.   What happens when you don’t know the actual revenue   Not accurately knowing actual revenue might not tear down your business like an earthquake that’s an 11.6 on the Richter, but there’s no doubt there’s gonna be some cracks in the foundation, and you might have to run around catching vases and the flat screen before they break.   If there isn’t a clear understanding of ARR metrics across ops, finance and sales, you’re going to struggle with your pricing strategies, allocation of resources, and financial planning. You’ll miss opportunities for growth and could even fisk financial stability.   When ARR metrics are incomplete or just plain wrong, your stakeholders can lose trust in you. Investors, fellow C-Suite members, and teams need financial information to be accurate so that they can judge the company’s financial health and your ability to do the job. That puts even more pressure on you because it’s not just the company on the line- it’s your personal reputation.   If you’re missing real-time insights, you’re also at another distinct disadvantage. You’ll never know what you need to do when you need to do it. You also won’t know what to do in the future. This stops you from staying agile and making data-driven decision.   No pressure, right?   The bottom line is that you don’t need any of that. What you need is the time and data necessary to do your job.   So what’s the first step from here? Understanding what you need to kiss these problems goodbye.   Understanding how complex ARR calculations can be   ARR is packed with complex calculations that are steered by factors that can change at any time like upgrades, downgrades, churn, product offerings, and contract terms. It’s confusing and loaded with errors. It’s like a drawer of cords that are impossible to untangle without spending a lot of time on it. Assuming you don’t get frustrated and throw the whole thing out.  Clear communication   One of your chief roles is to communicate your financial metrics and status to your stakeholders. That’s tricky when it comes to ARR because it’s so convoluted it’s overwhelming for people who aren’t grounded in financial processes and vocab. They can have little idea what you’re talking about.    Real-time insights for the best decisions  Interpreting the ARR goes beyond the numbers to insight that gives a firm foundation for strategic decisions. But you can’t get that insight with traditional manual processes which means your decisions are late and you miss opportunities.   Accuracy and predictability you can count on  One of the significant challenges of ARR is accurately forecasting and predicting revenue streams. With multiple variables at play, it's easy for CFOs to get lost in a sea of uncertainty. Automation offers a solution by leveraging advanced algorithms and machine learning to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies in the data. By harnessing the power of automation, CFOs can gain a clearer understanding of revenue predictability, enabling them to make more accurate forecasts and plan for the future with confidence.  Automation platforms use historical data and advanced predictive models to generate forecasts and scenarios based on different assumptions. These models can consider factors such as customer acquisition rates, expansion revenue, and churn rates to provide CFOs with a comprehensive view of their ARR projections. This not only enhances accuracy but also helps CFOs assess the impact of various growth strategies and pricing changes on their future revenue. With automation, CFOs can make data-driven decisions that are grounded in accurate and reliable forecasts.  Collaboration and Data Accessibility Gone are the days of siloed data and isolated decision-making. Today's CFOs thrive in collaborative environments that foster cross-functional insights. Automation facilitates collaboration by providing self-service access to financial data and reports. With automation tools that are user-friendly and accessible to non-technical stakeholders, CFOs  CFOs can empower teams across the organization to leverage financial insights and contribute to strategic discussions. This collaborative approach ensures that decisions are made collectively, with a shared understanding of ARR metrics.  Without automation, CFOs may be left relying on outdated information and manual processes, limiting their ability to proactively identify and address revenue trends, customer behavior shifts, and potential risks.  Automation   Complexity of ARR calculations - Automation platforms can seamlessly integrate with various data sources and apply sophisticated algorithms to automate the collection and consolidation of revenue data. By automating these processes, CFOs can eliminate manual errors and ensure a more accurate representation of their ARR metrics. The automation software can also handle the complex calculations needed to account for upgrades, downgrades, and churn, providing a clear and comprehensive view of the revenue generated by each customer.  Clear communication - Automation can bridge this communication gap by generating clear, visually appealing reports and dashboards that simplify the presentation of ARR metrics. These automated tools allow CFOs to collaborate more effectively and ensure everyone is on the same page.  Communicating ARR to non-financial people - Automation platforms offer customizable reporting features that allow CFOs to create intuitive and visually engaging reports. These reports can be tailored to specific stakeholder groups, presenting the ARR metrics in a format that is easy to understand. By using charts, graphs, and other visualizations, automation software helps CFOs illustrate the revenue trends, growth rates, and customer behavior insights that underlie their ARR calculations. This collaborative approach ensures that stakeholders have a clear understanding of the company's financial performance and can align their strategies accordingly.  Insights - Automation platforms can pull in data from various sources, including CRM systems, billing platforms, and subscription management tools, in real-time. This ensures that CFOs have access to the most up-to-date information when analyzing ARR metrics. With automation, CFOs can set up alerts and notifications to track key revenue indicators, such as customer churn rates or changes in average revenue per user (ARPU). This real-time visibility enables proactive decision-making, helping CFOs identify trends, anomalies, and potential risks or opportunities.  Conclusion The ARR conundrum is a challenge that many SaaS CFOs face, but it is not insurmountable. By embracing automation, SaaS CFOs can navigate the complexities of ARR calculations and effectively communicate revenue metrics. Automation provides real-time insights, enhances accuracy and predictability, and fosters collaboration across the organization. With automation, CFOs can confidently interpret and communicate ARR metrics, enabling them to make data-driven, informed decisions that drive their SaaS businesses towards success.  Embracing the power of automation unlocks the true potential of ARR, allowing CFOs to gain a comprehensive and accurate understanding of their revenue streams. With streamlined processes, clear communication, real-time insights, and enhanced predictability, CFOs can confidently navigate the complexities of ARR and guide their companies towards sustainable growth and financial success.  So, let's embrace automation as the solution to the ARR conundrum, harnessing its power to drive efficiency, accuracy, and collaboration in our SaaS businesses. By doing so, we can unlock the full potential of our ARR metrics and pave the way for a prosperous future.  Businesses must achieve and sustain a growth rate above 100% to be in the top 25% of company growth worldwide. -Maxio Survey Get the clear ARR data you need when you need it. Say goodbye to errors and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines product offerings and maximizes long-term customer value.

In the wild world of Software as a Service (SaaS), the more diverse the revenue model choice, the better.   Of course, it can be tough to choose. There’s a lot riding on which way your company goes with its pricing.    Yet, many SaaS CEOs and founders struggle to choose the best revenue model because when it goes wrong, BOOM. Unpredictable revenue. Scaling difficulties. Customer churn. Pricing confusion.  That’s why it helps to think about SaaS revenue models in a more basic way - with something we all understand. Like zoo animals. Because believe it or not, they have a lot in common.   So we’re here to talk you through the zoo to give you the insights you need to pick the SaaS revenue model that will best suit your business.  So let’s look at this unruly lot of SaaS revenue model examples, along with their pros and cons.   The Lion (Freemium Model) Top of the food chain in the SaaS world is the Freemium revenue model example. It’s loud and attention getting. It lures in its customer prey with free services, hoping to pounce and convert them into paying customers.   Pros:  Excellent Customer Acquisition: Attracts a large user base and boosts brand recognition.  Product Testing: Because users try the product before buying, it boosts the chances of customer satisfaction and gives valuable data on what works and what doesn’t.  Cons:  Challenging to Convert: All of us are happy to take something for nothing. It’s only good marketing that convinces us it’s worth paying for.   Revenue Uncertainty: Because so many users are on the free tier, accurately predicting revenue, budgeting and forecasting can be close to impossible.  The Chameleon (Usage-based Model) The chameleon can adapting to the environment, just like the usage-based revenue model example which charges customers based on usage.  Pros:  Fair Pricing: Customers prefer to pay only for what they use, which ups customer loyalty.   Scalability: When usage increases, so does the revenue. It makes scalability each.  Cons:  Revenue Variability: Revenue changes making predicability difficult.  Usage Limitation: Instead of buying more, customers might limit their usage.     The Elephant (Flat-rate Model) Elephants are reliable and steady (unless they’re in a Disney movie), just like the flat-rate revenue model example. This is a one-size fits all.   Pros:  Predictability: Fixed rates are great for steady revenue and financial forecasting.  Simplicity: Customers  find it easy to understand and budget for because there aren’t any nasty surprises.  Cons:  Lack of Flexibility: Like with clothes, one size never fits all. Some potential customers might bail when they see no flexibility.   Scaling Challenges: Scaling is hard because customers hit a ceiling in usage. This can limit revenue and growth.   The Dolphin (Tiered Pricing Model) Dolphins love to perform tricks for fishy treats. That’s like the Tiered revenue model example - it rewards customer commitment with more value.  Pros:  Flexible Options: Tiers meet a range of customer needs which boosts market reach.  Revenue Growth: The higher the commitment from customers, the more inbound revenue.  Cons:  Complexity: Tiers can confuse customers who avoid complexity, which risks decision paralysis.   Pricing Challenges: Only a good understanding of customer needs and value perception can create attractive pricing.     The Cheetah (Per User Pricing Model)  Ahhhh, the cheetah—fast, sleek, and focused (and we love its print). It’s like the Per User Pricing revenue model example, where companies are focused on charging based on the number of users in a group.    Pros:  Revenue Scalability: When customers grow, your revenue grows too.  Alignment with Value: Customers are willing to pay more as they get more value (more users) from your product.   Cons:  User Limitation: There’s a risk of customers limit the number of users to save money.   Pricing Disputes: Customers might leverage larger teams for discounts or go to a competitor with better pricing.   Survival Tactics  There’s a lot of pressure on choosing the right SaaS revenue model. After all, you want to thrive, not just survive!  Here are some crucial questions to help you choose the best revenue model:  Who is your target customer? Which would your customer personas be happiest about?  What is the value proposition of your product? What’s the draw- usage-based, feature-based, user-centric? Or is it an all-in-one solution?   How does your target customer prefer to pay? Do they want predictability and ease? Do they want premium features? Or maybe just flexibility?   How scalable is your product? Does your product scale with your customer’s usage?  Is your product complex? Does it have lots of features that can be packaged differently, like in tiers?  What do you want your market positioning to be? Do you want a huge base, like in freemium or tiered models? Or are you all about high-value customers, who are more attracted to flat-rate and per-user models?  What is the cost structure of your business? Is it a flat-rate, usage-based, or per-user?  What pricing models are your competitors using? What’s the competitive landscape? What are their customers saying?   What is your customer acquisition strategy? If you prefer viral marketing, freemium can work well. If you use traditional sales, flat-rate or tiered model will probably be a better fit.   Conclusion  And there you have it—a stroll through the zoo of SaaS revenue model examples.   Except for no screaming babies, smelly cages, or kids who want to stop in the gift shop in this zoo. Hooray!    The point is that you have a lot of choice. Your SaaS company is unique, and so is the revenue model that will work best.   Whichever animal you choose, remember to stay on your feet and agile. Circumstances change, products change, and so do goals for the future.   The revenue model that’s best now might have to change in a few years.   After all, in the SaaS Revenue Model Zoo, the fittest survivors are companies who not only stay true to who they are, but who adapt and innovate.   Here's to your survival, success, and lots of revenue coming in!  SaaS growth can generate between $5 million to $100 million in annual recurring revenue.  -Zippia Why not bring on automation that works no matter which model you chose? Learn how our end-to-end system not only streamlines pricing models, but identifies sales opportunities, breaks down silos, and maximizes customer value.

Ever walked alone through a creepy underground labyrinth while you were blindfolded?   If you’re trying to navigate analytics and financial forecasting without any clear data to power it, that’s essentially what you’re doing.   Maybe there’s a little less of a musty smell and fewer spiders dropping on you, but it’s still pretty close.   It’s no fun being in the dark if that’s not where you want to be. SaaS CFOs know this all too well. You might be drowning under tons of data, but it is often unclear, unreliable, siloed, or just plain wrong.   That means that it’s impossible for you to access the good analytics and forecasting needed for strategizing and good decision-making.   The problem of unclear data  In the SaaS landscape, data is the foundation for decision-making. Data analysis allows you as the CFO to spot opportunities, create strategies that will give you the edge over your competitors and future-proof your company.   But when your data is clouded, you can’t get the insights that you need to figure out where you are and where you should be going.   You’re in the labyrinth, too scared to feel what’s in front of you, because it’s going to be…gross.   Where does it come from?   Here are some of the main causes of unclear data. They’ll probably sound very familiar to you:   Manual revenue recognition: This is a recipe for disaster. Not only does it make your finance team want to run for the hills and join the circus, but it creates issues with the sales and ops teams, like invoicing, onboarding, and contract processing errors and delays. Then all the teams have unclear data which clouds your company’s overall financial picture.  Change-averse staff: We’re not pointing accusatory fingers here – we’re all human and resist change. It’s built into our nature. And teams that are resistant to newer, more cutting-edge ways of doing things can really throw a monkey wrench into your chances of success. Whether it’s fear of new tech or not understanding the benefits, teams can hold on to outdated, time-wasting processes and inaccurate data, even though it makes their lives harder.  Poor data quality: When your data is incorrect thanks to manual data entry, or it’s outdated, or you’re your reconciliation and verification processes are lacking you can get into real trouble. You know that without the clear data you need, you’re stabbing in the dark.   Economic instability: Data can get pretty murky when everything’s in flux all the time. Things like market conditions, customer churn rates, product offerings and packages change on a dime. This makes it hard for you to figure out any clear patterns and trends in the data.   No benchmark data: Most companies feel a little tetchy about their own data, so of course they aren’t going to make it public knowledge. That means you have very little comparable data to give you the context you need to assess where your company is in terms of your competitors. How will you know where you do better and where you could do better?   The ripple effect   Unclear data doesn't just make things murky. It has a real impact on your job. It triggers a domino effect of errors which means your forecasts can’t be accurate.   That means your analysis is built on shaky assumptions that can affect everything from budget allocation to investment to strategic planning.  It also robs you of your time because you and your teams are stuck constantly cleaning up the messes. No time for strategic decision-making. No time for high-value work. No time to strengthen the growth and adaptability of the entire company.  And at the end of the day, it’s your reputation on the line. You’re the one who has to walk into the boardroom with forecasts powered by murky data.  The bright light out of the labyrinth  You deserve to get out of the data maze with confidence. But what solves the problem of unclear data, so that you have good analysis and forecasts you can take to the bank?    In a word, automation.   With automation, you’ll no longer have to risk the errors and problems (and fines!) that come with manually entering data. Your team will no longer have to waste all those hours combing through datasets to find, fix, and reconcile mistakes.   Automaton does this work fast and accurately so you get the clear data needed for analytics and forecasts.  It also sorts out processes that fundamentally muddy up data, like recognize revenue so that you have a good idea of how your revenue streams perform.   Automation collects, sorts, and funnels data from different sources and teams to give you a comprehensive view of your company's financial health. You’ll be able to see all the stats you need, and you’ll know those numbers are right.   The data analysis tools don’t need any help from your teams- they sift through all the data and spot the trends and patterns that might have been missed otherwise. And this can be any patterns associated with your KPIs.   It then uses those trends and patterns to make solid, high-level predictions that you can base strategy decisions on. You can even create multiple future scenarios that you can tweak with differing factors. This helps you get ready for a variety of future possibilities.  And because it handles all the mundane, error-prone end-to-end process, you’re finally free to put your vision for the company into action.   Clear data, analysis, and forecasts are yours for the taking   We understand how frustrating it is to not have the tools you need to do your job.   You don’t deserve to have to work in the dark.   Automation helps you leverage clear data in a meaningful way that gives you the excellent (and reliable!) analysis you need for accurate forecasting and strategic decision-making.   Growth and profitability can be yours. You just have to grab the tool and come out of the dark.   86% of consumers will leave a brand they trusted after two bad customer experiences. - Emplifi Get the information you need when you need it. Say goodbye to errors and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines product offerings and maximizes long-term customer value.

We know when you think “Star Wars” the first thing that pops up in your mind is project management in subscription IT and Professional Services.   It’s exactly what George Lucas intended.   There’s a dark side of the force awakening. That dark side is overworked Project Managers, who never have the time to fulfil their true destiny.   That’s why we wrote this article – to help COOs navigate the overworked project manager asteroid field.   Don’t worry if you’re not a big Star Wars fan – we can’t all be perfect. There are loads of tips in here that will help you and your Project Managers.     The Empire has already struck back: What the IT and Professional Services landscape is like You’re up against a lot. Your competition is as vast as the universe and as varied as that weird bar in Mos Eisley where Han totally shot first.   Rapidly evolving technologies, innovative service models, and rising customer expectations make this industry hard. You’re expected to excel while grappling with these daily battles.   You’re facing more traps than Admiral Ackbar  As a COO, you're no stranger to stress. You constantly manage teams, put out fires, juggle responsibilities, strategize, and go back to stakeholders to explain what’s going on.   Any of these impacts sound familiar?  Personal: Stress and burnout crush health and well-being. Your work hours are so long you've forgotten what your family and friends look like. You long for fun and a full life as wistfully as stormtroopers long for a good aim.   Team: Stress impacts your team. When you’re pulling overtime to fix things, everyone else is too. Mistakes have to be corrected. Deadlines get tight. So does money. Can anyone stay happy or productive in those circumstances?    The Org: If Han and Chewie are injured and suffering, the Millennium Falcon isn’t gonna get fixed when it needs it, right? If you and your team can’t keep up, there’s no way you’ll be able to run the business in a profitable and future-facing way.   Right. So, you’re up against it the Empire. And maybe you’re losing. This is where we need to have a look at your right-hand fighters – your Project Managers.   Your Project Managers: Yodas, or Sand People? A good Project Manager working in optimal conditions is a little Yoda. In control. Calm. Intuitive.   They have the right mindset and excellent judgement.    But most IT Services Project Managers are in situations so dire that they're Sand People. They’re stressed and shouty. They’re impulsive and unreasonable.   How does this happen?   Unrealistic expectations – When dates or performance targets are unrealistic, you’re setting yourself and them up for failure from the beginning.   Huge amounts of admin – Chances are your PM is tied up by admin that should be done by an army of support workers. Scores of spreadsheets (ugh). Resource allocation. Progress reports and meetings. Continual time and material billing. It never ends.   Fixed Price Projects – There isn't a PM in the world who doesn't want to run for the hills when they hear the project is fixed price. It puts incredible stress on a PM to accurately estimate everything for the agreed budget. They must figure out how to meet the demands of underestimated work without additional budget. The PM absorbs the workload themselves to make budget. Fixed price projects also risk quality to deliver within the price. They also don't take into account unforseen circumstances that inevitably pop up.   Inadequate resources – The right tools are as rare as manners for Sand People. But how can they get anything done without modern, reliable tools to do it?   Poor communication and isolation – Silos in information lead to miscommunication and mistakes. An isolated Project Manager can't perform like someone plugged into the system.   Office politics and a lack of training – Toxic environments breed toxic employees. And Project Managers lack the training they need for a specific job, they have to wing it.   Squashed potential - They never get a chance to really show off their gifts and talents because they’re so busy putting out fires and struggling to keep up.   When they're unsupported in a really harsh landscape, this impacts you and your business. No doubt you’ve experienced these effects before:   Less efficiency: It’s impossible for an overworked person to perform at their best. They'll be slower and work longer hours, causing more mess. Who cleans it up? Who is ultimately responsible? You.   More mistakes: Fatigue and stress cause mistakes. Mistakes are expensive. Mistakes make stakeholders nervous at best or furious at worst.   No creativity: PMs need the time and headspace to look at things from a different point of view, research, experiment, and think outside the box. But without the time to do it, your company suffers because solutions will never be the extraordinary ones that set your company apart.   Unhappy clients: Churn is a killer. One big client lost can make it impossible to recover. You simply cannot afford to have clients who are let down over and over.   These aren't usually the PM’s fault. They’re only human and they usually lack the resources they need to be the little Yodas who keep your operations running smoothly.   So how can you streamline your Project Managers’ workloads and boost their efficiency?   Return of the Little Guy: steps to bring back the Yodas and use the Force You can turn things around and transform your Project Managers into the Yodas that bring balance back to your ops (and money back to your balance!)   Here are six actionable steps you can take to help them and yourself:  Automation: You wouldn’t hire a projectionist or translator when you’ve got R2D2 and C-3PO around. Let the "robots" do the grunt work. From reporting to task assignment and recurring services engagements, automation handles all the time and soul-sapping repetitive tasks. Errors are down, efficiency is way up.   Your PM won't have to worry about spreadsheets and time and material billing (no, really!). It will be automated for them in real time and this information will be fed to whichever internal and external teams need it.   That means your PM will be free to use their real talents for those strategic, value-adding activities that make the project undeniably brilliant.   Delegation: Yoda didn’t do everything alone- he knew how to delegate. Your PM needs enough support to do the tasks that are handed to them. When a Project Manager can delegate wisely, the workload is balanced. Trust is built. The team is empowered.  Prioritizing: When you help your Project Managers prioritize tasks based on urgency, you won't have to worry about crucial tasks getting neglected. Everyone involved makes smarter decisions because they aren't overwhelmed. They're focusing energy where it's needed most. Open Communication – Those silos can be knocked down for you. Information that is freely shared, combined with regular check-ins (with both your team and your customers) help spot issues before they snowball. And – bonus - members feel heard and valued.  Breaks: Project Managers should take regular breaks to recharge and refresh, especially on their days off. If you can’t give them true days off, you haven’t hired enough people for the job.  You might balk at that, but overworking employees always comes back to bite you. When Project Managers feel you value them and their well-being, they're less likely to burnout. They'll be more productive.   And while we’re on the subject, the same goes for you. We get it- as a COO, it’s hard to switch off. You’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders. But you can’t deliver if you’re battered and bruised. Like any starship in the fleet, you need maintenance, too.   Training: Give your Project Managers the skills they need to manage their workloads and even- dare we say it – excel. This includes time management, people management, stress management, and technical skills. They'll be more efficient and confident. Strong project governance: This provides your PM with a structured environment where they know exactly where to turn to for approval and help with issues when needed. The clarity will cut down on miscommunication and speed-up decision making. And the regularly timed monitoring and reporting helps your Project Manager stay on top of project progress and note if something is off-track. Alternatives to fixed-price project contracts: You have choices including agile contracts (that naturally allow for adjustment to the budget along the way), cost-plus contracts (which put an additional fee on top that can cover unexpected costs), and time and materials/resources contracts (which base the budget on how much time and how many resources are devoted to the project). These alternatives will make life a lot easier for your PM and you.  Conclusion Remember, a Jedi Knight even as elderly and cute eared as Yoda is only as good as the Force within them.   As a COO, the power to shape them is in your hands.   When you take steps to make sure your Project Managers aren't just surviving, but thriving, you’ll be amazed at what they can accomplish.   Let them be the Yodas that they’re meant to be, and you’ll win not just the battle, but the war.   SaaS discounting lowers customer LTV by 30%. -Paddle Geive your teams the best tools and get the best results. Boost growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge sales automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines pricing models, identifies sales opportunities, breaks down silos, and maximizes customer value.

You’re a CRO. So of course, when you think about data entry, you think about The Golden Gate Bridge.   Doesn’t everyone?   The majestic Golden Gate Bridge, brave and tall with its international Orange color, is an iconic landmark, famous across the world.   It’s also a tremendous pain in the backside.   The Bridge needs to be protected against the rust that comes from salty air, fog, and rain. That means that every square inch of its 1.7-mile long span must be painted. It’s a job that can’t be neglected.    It’s a Sisyphean feat. A team of painters paints day in and day out.   Paint.   Dry and start again.   Paint.  Dry and start again.  Day in and day out.   Over and over.   Relentless.   With nothing to show for it.    It sounds exactly like manual data entry, right?   If you're a Chief Revenue Officer in the IT Services sector, you’ll know how familiar this story is. You and your team live it.   Just like the bridge painters, your team spends countless hours inputting data, checking it, verifying it, and passing it on. And then you start over again. Every day.   The Impact   The process saps every single person of their time, resources, and a little bit of their soul. And it stops them from doing anything else.   But that’s not all - manual data entry has a ripple effect on your entire department making your life a lot harder:   Mistakes with invoices: Humans are gonna human. We make mistakes no matter how careful we are. Manual data entry will have errors, which can demand credits and refunds to rectify with customers. Financial discrepancies disrupt operations and can hurt your bottom line.  Unhappy clients: Is any customer happy with mistakes? Of course not. In fact, they make your life difficult and will spread the word. This can damage your company's reputation, and that’s the last thing you need in a highly competitive industry where churn and attracting new customers is a problem.   Delays in reports and closing: People can only type so fast – and when the data entry piles up, delays start. And delays mean you can’t produce reports. Speedy closing cycles become a fairy tale no one believes in. Financial planning and decision-making become fairly impossible.   Revenue all over the place: CROs dream of stable revenue. But errors in data entry can create a kind of revenue limbo. You never know whether your numbers are right. It can impact your cash flow. Financial stability is a lot harder to maintain because forecasting is unreliable. How can you do your job of planning for future growth?  No revenue recognition: We all know what a pain revenue recognition can be. It’s hard to keep track of payments across months, especially when these can change at any given moment due to upselling, cross-selling, and scaling down. When revenue recognition is incomplete, you can’t assess your company's financial health with the accuracy you need. Customer onboarding pushed back: Customers (especially the new ones!) want to start using your products and services as soon as possible. But if your team has stacks of numbers and contracts they have to get through, your customers will have to wait to be onboarded. That means lost business opportunities and higher churn.  Where’s the dough? Too much data entry means delayed payments. Your cash flow is disrupted, and your relationships with suppliers and partners can be at risk.  Your team is constantly annoyed: Considering you and your team are chained to desks manually entering all data, and suffering all these consequences, how can you all feel anything except chronic annoyance?   You’re all painting that Bridge. Day in, day out.   The thing is, no one should need to start their work with burning frustration tears or a deep, soul-searching if-I-can-just-get-through-today sigh.   Everyone in your team (and you!) deserve work that is exciting.   Work that puts your company on good footing. Work that uses your talents and vision.   Steps to stop the manual data tears  So how can the manual data entry woes be tackled?   There are actionable steps you can take to make life easier for you and your team:  Adopt guidelines everyone understands: When the processes and rules are clear, people know what they’re doing. What types of operating procedures do you want? What expectations are important to you? Does everyone have detailed instructions? The clearer everything is, the smaller the risk of costly mistakes.   Train everyone involved: A well-trained team will have the necessary skills and knowledge to input data as fast as possible. They’ll better learn to double-check for accuracy, learn shortcuts and hacks, best practices for data entry, and become aware of the most common errors. The more competent your team, the fewer mistakes.  Invest in software: There are many software solutions available today that can automate data entry tasks. These tools use technologies like optical character recognition (OCR) and machine learning to capture, interpret, and input data. It cuts down the risk of human error, but it also speeds up the data entry process. Furthermore, these tools can integrate with other systems, ensuring that data is consistently accurate across your entire organization.  Updates: Nothing in IT Services stays still for long. Tech changes. If your team keeps up-to-date with the best strategies and system upgrades, they’ll have a useful advantage that makes them more efficient.  Audits at regular intervals: Audits give a good idea of how accurate your data is. Routinely check and verify your data to find and rectify mistakes. And importantly, audits will help you catch if there are patterns or common denominators in mistakes that you can solve. This knocks down the disruption.   The Painter   We get that the list is a lot of work- even more time and resources. You might even feel more overwhelmed than before.   But we’ve got good news. First, a question.   Imagine you’re the head of the Golden Gate Bridge painting team. Someone comes to you with a machine – a self-painter - that would take care of all the soul-sapping, costly and boring painting for you forever.   The machine’s proven to work. It runs itself. And it would let you do the things you want to do – making sure the finances are alright, maybe working with marketing and sales to publicize, strategize new revenue streams, and generally keep the stakeholders happy.   You’d take it, right?  That’s what automation can do for your exhausting data entry woes.   Automation gets rid of the tedium of all those repetitive tasks. The potential for mistakes plummets. Time is freed up. No more damage control.   Automation doesn’t just make your operations more efficient. It changes things for you and your team.   It’s empowering, boosting morale and productivity   It enhances customer satisfaction, which brings in both short-term and long-term revenue   It strengthens financial standing with revenue recognition and timely reports   It can all be yours   Yes, manual data entry can be as discouraging as painting the Golden Gate Bridge.   But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, it can be for the most part eliminated.   Why not give you and your team the gift of profitability and excitement about your job? Why not allow you and your team to realize your own potential and the potential of your company?  The painter’s waiting.     The average cost of manually processing one invoice is $15.  -Levvel Research Curious to see how your and your team’s morale could improve by 2,945,922,418% (accurate scientific figure)? Schedule a Free Discovery Call today. Step out of the black hole and into clarity.