Why We Created a Slack Community to SaaS as well as Software Professionals -
- Global focus.
- Professionals and businesses with more experience (less students, and even early stage startups).
- Professional moderation.
- There is less emphasis on financing rounds or venture capital.
- A truly supportive group, without a smidgen of tolerance for disrespectful or improper behavior.
This is true: Features such as a worldwide business focus as well as experienced expert moderators (that's me!) are what we like to find on the online forums.
That post touched on what's to be found for members, particularly when compared with other groups on the internet.
However, you may still be thinking, "But what's in it for ?"
It's a valid concern, and I'm going to address it, due to the motives (plural) we have for investing in this initiative may not be as simple as those who are the least shrewd among us assume.
If you're a businessperson yourself, you know how it works. The companies don't simply invest in new programs to aid business professionals online; they do it because it serves their individual businesses in some manner.
Yes, having a successful online community is an excellent method to increase the brand's recognition, and perhaps even generate prospects every once in awhile.
Marketing is just one reason we're doing this. No matter if you're a client and/or not wish for members to be a part of the group, otherwise it will not succeed.
Our Guiding Principle We believe that our Software and SaaS Community Must Be Good to You for It to Be Successful
It's pretty straightforward The bottom line is that if you don't feel that our community is a beneficial and stimulating place to hang out then you'll never be hanging out in our community.
So it's key to its success -- for us as well as for us for us to work hard to create a awesome group to be member of.
(And If you think we might diverge from this in some way, or if you have suggestions on how we can make it more effective, inform us. Further details on that are in the next paragraph.)
What Can You Benefit From hosting an online Community
There has to be something in this for or we wouldn't be doing this, would we?
Yes, of course. However, we would like our objectives to be clear.
This is what we'd like accomplish with this project.
Understanding What is Important to Your Business
The first thing that our Chief Executive David Nachman said to me in an interview about the mission and direction of the community was that this community is an opportunity for us to decrease the nature of transactions in the relationship we have with customers and other businesses, including software and SaaS companies.
There's a valid reason to be concerned: We facilitate literal transactions for online businesses and it's very easy for us all to fall into the rut of having a -- very well, a transactional connection.
We offer a service. you make money; continue on autopilot.
But allowing that pattern to continue can deprive us of the ability to enhance the quality of our B2B business by implementing strategies that directly benefit the success of your company -- and helping online businesses succeed is a priority for us.
This is of course true for our existing customers, however it's applicable to software companies who might be considering employing . If you're not sure if is the right payment system and merchant of record (MOR) for your B2C, B2B or B2C SaaS company, we want to know about the questions and issues you are facing so that we can consider that consideration as we continue building out our features and products.
For more information on the ways David wants to get to know your business, take a look at the member interview video that I conducted on behalf of a fellow member himself:
This is also the reason we have extended our plans for this community , to create an individual contributor, executive, entrepreneur, and founder members -as we believe we'll be able to learn more about businesses (and help them more effectively) if we have a diverse layering of community members.
Our goal to increase the intimacy of our relationships with business (and in particular, the people who found or work for them) is an additional reason why we do things like interviews with our members. Apart from helping members meet each other, it also helps in getting to know the members and their current concerns in business.
Strengthening Customer Relationships
Learning more about your business is a great way for us to strengthen the relationship that we share with you whether or not.
But our customer relationships can be strengthened by giving members additional access to those of us at .
Already, we have a wide, responsive support team for buyers and customers, and we have customers success specialists for a few of our clients with large or complex businesses.
We know that businesses could always improve how they help their customers and improve their relationships with them.
Ninety-nine out of hundred, submitting a ticket is the best method to receive support. Our support team can effectively route requests based on the type or urgency of the issue, and aids us in tracking the support requirements of a company in the course of time.
(That last part also helps us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of a business's needs.)
That said, it might be useful to contact the leaders directly particularly when someone is in a position to address a business need that doesn't necessarily have to do with technical issues related to the platform. We have a diverse group of experts on our platform, not just end-user technical support experts.
Product managers, taxes and payments experts and customer service experts as well as the odd sales director or two might be in there and can answer related business questions. They could even discuss what's coming down the pipe for 's platform.
We want customers' experiences will be the kind of positive experiences they're telling their friends about and we believe that being more accessible will improve those possibilities. If you're a client who is not enjoying that sort of positive experience yet we have a community that is a channel where you can inform us of your experience.
Yes, Leads
This is the section of the article where we have to get real clear.
It would be great if some of our members who don't have a merchant of record would enroll in our services.
For them, it's a blessing that this isn't the sole goal of this community.
Because we also have the goal of enhancing customer relations and learning everything possible about SaaS and the software needs of business:
- You can rest assured that signing up new customers is only a small part of our goals in this particular community. Moreover, we won't ask anyone to sign up who hasn't indicated an interest to us first.
- We have much better odds in securing new users if we're nailing those two objectives that we discussed above, which is why we're going to try much harder to reach them.
If community members see our attention to customers and earnestly asking for feedback, they'll become much more drawn to us as a commerce platform and merchant of record because they'll be able to observe the effort we put in and the care we show our members firsthand.
In the event that you've been thinking about previously, this might be the ideal time to start your relationship with us in a more informal way. Community members can connect with customers from other companies, participate in the conversations between customers and , and (remotely) meet the people who make the company it is.
What You Have to Gain By Joining This Community
However, while the article focused on the various features of the GSL community however, it wasn't able to cover the actual advantages gained from joining a community such as this.
Although we've got big goals regarding Global SaaS Leaders -- and we're constantly working on community building -- here are some benefits that we have already made available for software and SaaS CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs, as well as marketers, engineers, developers, and more.
Join a Network of Software Professionals From Everywhere Over the World
Whether you're an SaaS marketer looking to boost your SEO by the region, or a people and culture manager who is concerned about international onboarding and in-person meetups as well as someone who is a SaaS creator looking for advice for selling to specific markets Accessing the people that an global community can make "going globally" much more simple.
We have member representation from over 50 countries in 17 time zones.
Discover New Markets You Want to Enter or Expand Within
The main benefit of being part of a global network is that you can use it to get help when you're working on breaking into new markets.
You can post in the community, asking members from specific countries who can assist and you may also contact me, the the moderator in chief, and I'll connect with relevant members for you.
It is also possible to keep an eye on discussions in the community for prior questions relevant to the SaaS market you're trying to expand into.
Also, you'll be able to view our member profile videos that we're recording on a rolling basis for those who would like to join in (like our previous example with our CEO David Nachman).
One of the questions we usually ask interviewees is "What's an aspect that isn't understood by people about selling software in your country?" The goal of the question is to assist you understand the culture and business standards that might impact the way you are able to sell software there.
Take a look at SaaS Company Leaders and Experts
Although our members are spread between different roles and levels, there are many executives, SaaS founders, and department heads in Global SaaS Leaders who are happy to share their expertise with fellow members.
Certain members are software or SaaS founders, who own numerous SaaS startups, some have been employed at internationally-known firms, and a few are entrepreneurs who have shifted career paths or sectors and possess a wide range of experience to help inform their recommendations.
In addition, several executives and leaders are also on hand, like Our Chief Executive Officer and the global Tax Director, and our Vice President for Global Customer Operations. The community is awash with them because they want to help the members in any way they can.
(For additional information from Kurt regarding this subject be sure to check out his in-person seminar on SaaS Pricing Strategy that work: how to design an optimal Pricing Model at SaaStr Europe earlier in 2022.)
We are happy to address such questions, and we're delighted to offer an area where issues like these can be debated among world-class peers.
Position Yourself as an Expert
If you're already recognized as an SaaS market influencer or an specialist, congratulations! We'd like to see you contributing to the community as you expand your personal and professional reputation through sharing your knowledge.
If you're trying to create your own branding, participating in professional forums can be a fantastic option to start. It doesn't mean that we have to become SaaS founders to be experts in the areas we specialize in, but active sharing of that expertise to others positions each one of us as being not just well-informed, but also friendly and gracious. it's an excellent public image to cultivate.
The Community will be shaped as it Develops
We launched this software and SaaS community in the month of March 2022, and it's growing quickly. However, because we'd like it to be an ideal location for people like you to basically "hang out" this community is adaptable and is open to suggestions.
For example, a member recently suggested we add a channel for a specific sort of case.
We then turned that request into a survey asking all members to weigh in on the channels they'd like to see added to Slack's workspace.
So whether you'd like to vote in a quiet way on community updates or confidently make suggestions of your own, we're open to suggestions!
If you're in the market for particular forums, services supplier suggestions, LinkedIn and social media connection opportunities, a podcast, a facebook group, online meetups, webinars and templates, or just more software and SaaS growth hacks generally We'd love to hear about it.
Vote Your Opinion
There are more options for members to express their views than with regard to the community, though. One of the most recent requests we asked members to let us know which benchmarking statistics and other metrics they'd like see release.
These kinds of measures can aid software and SaaS industry businesses better form strategies for increasing their revenue.
We want to offer relevant and useful data for developing and successful software and SaaS companies, we came into the community to find out what benchmarking information we should consider compiling in the future:
A few of the answers included retention rates for a particular industry, MRR growth in a specific sector, failed payment metrics (unintentional the churn) as well as churn and conversion rates in various regions.
Note that this poll is open to everyone regardless of customer level.
Like we said earlier, knowing what really matters for software as well as SaaS business is essential our goal of creating the Global SaaS Leaders community to serve as a place where you can share your needs to take your business to the next level.
Make use of the community to find out More About (If you're interested)
The above poll was published within the specific channel of the community. This channel is to allow discussions on (as in contrast to more general business-related discussion) can be made available in the channel, and remain out of the main feed.
This is because we do not want our members -- especially members that aren't customers to feel like we're constantly marketing . Because as we've mentioned already the software and SaaS community must have something you are able to benefit from in order for it to be successful And we believe excessive salesmanship can cause this to be a space it don't wish to be.
If you're not currently a client however, you've been thinking about checking us out, joining GSL is a great way to find out more about our company by viewing customer interactions with our management, observing what kinds of queries and feedback people have on GSL, and much more. This channel is available to all members.
What if you do not have an interest in ? You can leave the channel that you are interested in without reading. There are plenty of other activities to take part in on the forum without reading posts about a platform you have no interest in.
Join the Global SaaS Leaders Community
We're really proud of the Global SaaS Leaders community already, and we're proud to offer an international network and discussion space with features such as live interview events, member intro videos, as well as a variety of expert opinions.
In the future, we will be focusing on building communities, and as our membership increases, we'll add additional options. We'd like to facilitate the creation of more personal networking relationships, launch a podcast, organize more live events as well as integrate social media features down the road too.
If you sign up now, you can shape what the organization develops to become, too.
In order to ensure the highest quality of membership In order to maintain a high quality of membership, I'm reviewing each newly submitted applications for membership and ensuring that there aren't automatizations that let spammers in or bots. That's why submitting your LinkedIn link is vital. Thanks for your patience as I go through your application as well as feel free to contact us via email if you have any concerns prior to making an application!
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