Your guide to enterprise software sales

Enterprise Software Sales

Enterprise sales are much different than self-service and transactional sales. It essentially involves large, high-risk contracts that make the sales cycle longer due to having multiple decision makers. We will be guiding you through the entire sales process, how it’s different, and how to be successful. You can expect to learn:

• What is enterprise sales?
• Enterprise platform examples
• Enterprise software sales process
• Enterprise software sales strategy

What is enterprise sales?

Let’s start off by diving into what enterprise sales even is and how it differs from other models. Enterprise sales deals with selling to large corporations. It is high risk and involves many decision makers – unlike traditional sales that are low risk, have short sales cycles and are typically created from sales and marketing efforts. The process looks a little different because of the size of the company and deal size. The sales process should be expected to take longer and require long-term investment into the relationship.

To keep up with the transition to remote work, the enterprise market companies are relying on software to get the job done successfully – hence the increase in enterprise software sales. What is enterprise software sales? It is exactly what it sounds like, selling software to those large corporations to maintain important contracts, documents, and relationships. They are typically high-price packages and are likely to require customer support, training, security, return on investment etc. Next, we will cover some of the most common enterprise software companies.

Enterprise software examples

Like we mentioned above, an enterprise sales company will use software to maintain their sales funnel and/or internal affairs – it of course depends on what the company actually needs the software for. Some popular Saas company examples include:

• Slack – allows the company to communicate internally more effectively and efficiently with the ability to create channels, archive messages and documents, direct message, and video conference.
• Salesforce – a one stop shop customer resource management platform. It can be used for sales, marketing, support and more.
• Zoom – connect virtually anywhere, anytime, and with anyone. This can be used internally to work with teams or externally with clients.
• Hubspot – a market leader for the inbound marketing software industry. It provides companies with the tools for successful social media marketing, content management, SEO, etc.
• DocuSign – was first used to electronically sign legal documents. They have since expanded into helping companies simplify their workflow.
• Jira – a popular product management software. Report, track, and manage your software product and updates.

Most software has packages available and different payment options based on what features you want, how many users would be using it, etc. Some software companies offer freemium memberships to their enterprise clients where they can get initial access for free, but have many limitations/restrictions that they would have to upgrade to get access to. Above are only a few example of enterprise sales software companies, there are so many more out there. Check out this article to see the top 75 Saas companies list!

The difference in theenterprise sales process

The Saas sales process for enterprise customers looks entirely different compared to the traditional process. The traditional process starts with prospecting and sourcing then moves on to filter out unqualified leads. Their needs must be assessed before starting cold calling, pitching, or asking them to see a demo. Of course, there will be objections, handling and overcoming them is a guaranteed step after pitching to the lead. After that, it’s closing time and asking for referrals or following up.

Enterprise selling typically involves very expensive packages and requires training and onboarding and ongoing support to get users familiar with the product which calls for a long enterprise sales model cycle. It should be expected to last 6 or more months. There are more stakeholders involved and have to go through multiple decision makers, more touchpoints, longer contract times, etc. Overall the commitment and responsibility is higher but the payoff is greater. Although the model is different, the enterprise sales funnel remains about the same as traditional – awareness, interest, decision, and action. Let`s cover some effective strategies that will help achieve the best results as your customers funnel through the process.

Creating an effective enterprise sales strategy

Let’s talk about how to solicit new business and how to sell to big companies by walking through some strategies to incorporate into your enterprise sales strategy and process for best results. These stages are the fundamentals of enterprise sales:

• Prospecting & Discover – It all starts with finding the right customer. This is so important – you don’t want to waste your time with unqualified leads. This stage is about targeting the right company AND individual to reach out to and pitch your product or service. You’ll likely need to do something to stand out, and getting their attention is necessary for enterprise sales. Video prospecting and social media should be your go-to. Find creative, yet professional, ways to reach potential clients.

• Demo – Show well-qualified leads the product. Again, you don’t want to waste your time demonstrating to unqualified leads. While following an agenda, the demo should be tailored for the lead and their needs. Do your homework and build a relationship with the stakeholders. This is a long term investment and commitment.

• Consultation – Stage where the lead and stakeholders are deciding if this is a right fit. This stage is what takes the longest and you will need patience. Make sure to add value in the follow ups. Give them the option of you reaching out to other stakeholders if it helps.

• Pilot Testing – Trial runs are common before making a major commitment. Show them the benefits of your product without giving away all the features. Let them test it out on their own.

• Closing – Now is the time to finalize the deal and details. Make the process as easy and simple as possible. The deal could still fall through, if this happens, remain professional.

• Onboarding – No matter which team is responsible for the onboarding process, the enterprise salespeople should still help. Introduce your new clients to their account managers, customer success/support, and anyone else who will be handling their account. You should also check in periodically the first few months to ensure the onboarding process is going smoothly and that they have all the necessary resources.

All of these stages are critical for a successful deal. An enterprise software, sales training, and motivation can help this process be a success.

Accelerate software sales today with Covideo

Enterprise sales is a huge commitment compared to traditional sales. It is all about sparking and maintaining a relationship with the enterprise company. You should expect it to be a long term investment. There are more stakeholders and members involved, the sales cycle is longer, the risk is greater, and the job does not end when the deal is closed. The rep should continue maintaining the relationship through onboarding to make sure the company has all the resources necessary for success. With that being said, the end result is greater, the enterprise software sales salary is more, and so is the payoff. Using a video message platform throughout the sales process can help with this. It allows you to stand out and leave a lasting impression. The top b2b Saas companies use a video platform, like Covideo. It has many benefits when being used in the sales process – it speeds up the sales process, helps you communicate effectively, it is a great tool for prospecting, building relationships, adds credibility from the start by putting a face to a name, etc.

HubSpot, Salesforce, DocuSign, and Slack are some of the top software sales companies for enterprise sales. It’s important to have the software you can use from the starting stages like prospecting and discovery, all the way to closing and even afterward. Typically, big deals like this are normally executed or closed in person, but when that is not an option video is the next best solution. Stay ahead of the curve and your competition by scouting out some video sales software. Covideo works with some of the most popular enterprise companies from all industries. Pepsi, Hilton, Nestle, and Allstate are just a few examples of who we work with. Request a demo to get a hold of one of our enterprise expert reps to see why these companies trust us with their everyday workflow needs!