Hubspot has defined the SaaS sales funnel as Awareness, Engagement, Exploration, and Conversion.  This episode is focusing on Engagement in the sales funnel to move your prospect down further. For me it comes down to two main strategies: 1. Are you easy to work with? 2. Do you work how your customers want you to work?  I look at what makes for good CTAs, that appeal to all levels of engagement.  Questions - live chat, web-to-textGet updates - email newsletters, podcasts, blog content,...

Part 2 or 2, what I got RIGHT the 2nd time around in SaaS starting Leadferno. The decisions you make when starting a company can have lasting, even forever impacts on the path of the company, so getting as many right as you can matters. Let's look at the main decisions I feel I got right in starting Leadferno. Prior: Part 1 on what I got wrong.

Leadferno is my 2nd time around the block in SaaS. While I wasn’t a founder the 1st time, I came on as a partner to lead sales and marketing a year in. I ultimately became CEO and then led GatherUp to an 8 figure acquisition 6 years later.  So I think that qualifies as a first trip combined with cofounding and leading multiple digital agencies for over 15 years. I saw the early decisions, made some of them, and had ones I wish I could “re do”. This episode, part one of two, is a look at core...

I take a look back at 2023 for Leadferno and share some of our numbers. We doubled our MRR over 2023, but I still feel we left a lot on the table. I also cover getting to meet with my co-founder Joel last week to plan our 2024 and giving the Leadferno website a big refresh for the first time since launching.

Another solo episode with Aaron. I talk about the features we've recently built for Leadferno. It's been 3 years since we broke code (over 2 years to market) and it I'm feeling like we have our true Version 1 - but my definition might be very different than yours or most. I discuss why I love "swiss army knife features" and our new report focused on quality and timing. Plus a marketing and sales update from last episode. Have feedback or ideas?  Email [email protected] 

A bit of a change, it's a solo episode with just Aaron. I update a recent growth plateau for Leadferno. Churn is up some, leads and new accounts are down, and that combination makes for very little growth over the last 3 months. I share what I'm doing in marketing and sales to try to turn the tide and get back to better MRR growth in the coming months. If you have any feedback or suggestions on this solo format, please let me know:  [email protected]  Thanks for listening!

Darren and Aaron catch-up on the last few months of business. Darren shares a new product and pricing ... and get's some "spicy" feedback on it. 

Darren and Aaron discuss the benefits of user feedback. Do you know how your SaaS customers and users really feel? Ways to capture it, when to capture it, getting reviews, and all it provides when you have it. The guys also catch up on their latest feature releases, progress, sales, and more.

2023 is off to a fast start. Aaron and Darren catch up on what's happened to start the new year. New features, growth, marketing, demo challenges, and more.

A look back on 2022 and what took place for Leadferno and Whitespark. Features, sales, wins, challenges, hires, mistakes, and more are shared. We also look ahead to what kicks off 2023 for each of us.

Momentum is often cited as core to a company's growth. Aaron and Darren talk about at the power of momentum, when you have it, when you need to make it happen, how to help it happen, and more. We also discuss malt liquor and 40's in this 40th episode.

A recent tweet from B2B SaaS positioning expert and author April Dunford had the takeaway of "why choose you?" from your product demo. Aaron and Darren discuss positioning in your product demo, messaging, and marketing. In a crowded market with many solutions and choices, you need to understand and leverage what makes you unique and win in competitive comparisons.

Churn in SaaS is a negative force, harming your company's growth and long term success. Aaron and Darren talk about their churn and how to start reducing churn. There is no silver bullet to reduce customer churn, but a great strategy and tactics company wide can make a big impact.

Part 2 on what Leadferno and Whitespark are doing for marketing in 2022. Aaron talks about exploring paid search, co-webinars and hiring a service for cold outreach to book demos. Darren has been launching a ton lately and talks about their video marketing, landing pages and referrals.

Darren and Aaron talk about the SaaS marketing strategies for Whitespark and Leadferno in 2022. We covered marketing your SaaS features, podcast interviews and events. In covering just some of what we are doing - we declared this part 1, with part 2 to come! No doubt marketing your SaaS is so important in 2022.

Looking internally at your data, customer behavior and more can surface growth opportunities for your SaaS. Aaron and Darren discuss how to find these growth opportunities, some of Darren's discoveries and Aaron has a personal health update.

User onboarding in SaaS is a critical part of the user experience. Aaron and Darren look at the process of guiding new users to find value with your software product including sign-up, emails, in-app notifications, support and more. It all needs to work together to onboard a user and lead them to success with your SaaS.

A look ahead at what 2022 holds for Whitespark and Leadferno. Aaron and Darren lay out their hopes and wished for what they can build, accomplish, market and sell in the next year. 2022 should be a year of big growth for both SaaS companies.

With just 6 weeks left in 2021 Aaron and Darren talk about what they hope to get finished by the end of the year. Leadferno is focused on their mobile apps and Whitespark keeps building on it's next version.

It can be hard when running your SaaS to keep focused on the long game, that it's a marathon for success and not a sprint. While there are daily and weekly items that need attention, it's important to see how they fit into the big picture.

Aaron and Darren catch up after taking some time off from the podcast this summer. Aaron shares that Leadferno is ready to launch! Darren digs into where Aaron is at with Leadferno, his launch plans and expectations.

Prioritization might be the most important and most difficult thing in running a SaaS company. Aaron and Darren explore the challenges they have with how to prioritize and how it relates to what they are doing right now.

Creating the vision and mission statement as well as core values for your SaaS company can have big benefits internally and externally. Aaron and Darren discuss the process and benefits as Darren looks to finally create this for Whitespark.

Aaron has announced his new company is Leadferno, a business messaging app. Darren digs into Leadferno's plans as they have launched their marketing site and the plan to launch in June.