The Key to Speeding Up Your SaaS Sales Cycle: Packaging Implementation Services

Nothing can bog down your sales cycle like a long, drawn out scoping process. Find out why one simple solution can accelerate implementation and lead to more — and happier — customers.

As the dominant model for software companies shifts from traditional perpetual licenses to Software as a Service (SaaS), there is no consensus on how to best present and price implementation services as part of a SaaS solution. To accelerate sales and increase customer satisfaction, however, packaging implementation services into distinct offerings is critical for SaaS vendors.

The Problem: Why Your Sales Get Bogged Down in Scoping and Onboarding

In the traditional enterprise software model, installation and training services are typically scoped and priced on an individual, customer-by-customer basis.  This often requires a “discovery” step in the midst of the sales cycle to collect the information needed to deliver a custom proposal.

This approach is not without its benefits. For starters, the risk associated with delivering the project is reduced, since more information can be used to determine the price, the scope, and the exclusions to be written into the statement of work. It also creates the opportunity for a services team member to build a trusted advisor relationship with the prospect to help close the deal.

On the downside, interrupting the sales cycle with a scoping step has the potential to disrupt, delay, and derail a sale.  

These negatives are exacerbated in the SaaS model, which is predicated on making the entire process of acquiring and accessing the solution simpler for the customer. The good news is that by packaging implementation and training services into a set of distinct offerings, SaaS vendors can realize significant benefits not only in selling services but in delivering projects as well.

Example: Offering Services in 3 Distinct Packages

Package	Level	Value Proposition
Guided Implementation Services Package	Good	We will help your team complete the implementation by providing training, tools, and methods based on best practices.
Managed Implementation Services Package	Better	We will prepare a joint project plan, and we will provide a project manager and key resources to complete tasks alongside your team to ensure a rapid and deep implementation.
Comprehensive Implementation Services Package	Best	We will assume responsibility for the full implementation project, completing all technical implementation tasks included on a comprehensive project plan.

Big Payoffs of Packaging Implementation Services

1) Streamlined Sales

With well-structured, distinct service offerings the sales process can actually proceed without a scoping step. Instead, the sales team — often in the person of a sales engineer — can help the customer select the implementation services package that best reflects their situation. This prevents the disruption that results from introducing new participants from the services team in the sales process, and eliminates the risk that the scoping process will surface new objections. Ideally, the result is a shortened sales cycle with a higher close rate.

2) Better Projects

When SaaS vendors package their implementation services into distinct offerings, they gain the benefit of the learning curve.  The basic principle of the learning curve is that the more times a structured process is repeated, the faster and better it will be executed (a concept that is well proven, well documented, and the foundation of manufacturing models).

The hitch is that you only get the benefit of the learning curve if you do the SAME THING repeatedly, which is not the case if every project is unique. Distinct, well-defined, and well-structured service offerings allow the delivery team to hone a systematic model for delivering each of the defined packages. The payoff is not only better project outcomes — you will also see substantial cost savings and improved margins.

3) Happier Customers

No matter how much effort goes into scoping a custom project, the potential for misaligned expectations always looms over the kickoff meeting. We have all been in a room when the expectations set during the sales process clash against the realities of the (often unread) statement of work, and the phrase “I thought that was included” causes an uncomfortable silence.

With a portfolio of implementation services packages, the customer is forced to think through which package meets their needs best. The result is lowered potential for frustration based on misaligned expectations, because the customer made a deliberate decision to select a specific package of well-defined services.

Bottom Line

Packaging implementation services into distinct offerings does not ensure faster sales, successful projects and happier customers for a SaaS vendor, of course. Other key tasks include developing a successful services pricing strategy, ensuring an effective feedback model back to the product team, and implementing a training and certification model that ensures the delivery team is fully qualified to deliver the packages. But designing a set of implementation services packages that present the customer with clear options for different service levels is definitely a critical first step.

Photo by: Beck Gusler