Professional Services - A Strategic Imperative

For context, let us baseline the conversation with B2B SaaS companies where the Product is a core value proposition for customers' business functions/processes and not some plug-and-play or event-based model.

When "who are you going to sell and how" boils down to enterprise and high-touch, professional services (PS) can help deliver key SaaS financial metrics with predictability and consistency.

The sales cycle for large enterprise customers is typically long and arduous. SaaS companies that dare and persist are rewarded with high Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA). But the professional services architect(s) ponder - what did we sell, what did we demo, how much is currently available in the product, will the product roadmap hold, how much time we have, can we lock resources, etc. Let's focus on the next journey and the key opportunity.

The Professional Services team spends countless hours getting to know the customer - from Business to IT to Finance to Operations. They get to know the business processes, gaps, challenges, aspirations, etc. In other words, they have an inside view of Who, What, Why, and When. PS team understands the implications and consequences of the possible outcomes. This information is akin to striking gold, where there is some there is usually a lot more.

Let us explore a few ways to mine and prosper -

• Open a vibrant feedback loop with the product team. The product roadmap does not happen in a vacuum and a sensible product manager will clean up his/her calendar to hear from the PS team. Influence the roadmap, articulate the use cases, connect the dots and string the end-to-end narrative. Deeper insight into how customers interact with the product helps deepen average revenue per user (ARPU) in addition to driving better adoption metrics like product adoption rate and average usage frequency.
• Customers buy solutions that add value and let them focus on their core functions. The business needs of a particular enterprise will resonate in some form or manner with other enterprises in the same vertical. In many cases, it might be possible, to abstract the business problem further across verticals. Take a long view and evaluate opportunities for vertical solutions that could set the trajectory for industry best practices and case studies. Become the catalyst for the next sales cycle thereby contributing to a reduction in customer acquisition cost (CAC).
• Rome wasn't built in a day. Typical enterprise implementations happen in phases - across business units, geographical areas, product segments, etc. It is critical to define the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with consideration for user adoption, time to value (TTV) and return on investment (ROI). Doing so will increase the odds of early adopters converting to promotors.
• Solution for the to-be/desired state with an eye on evolving business models, industry standards, and product roadmap. Harness every opportunity to ensure the customer is positioned to realize value with the product releases. This will progressively deepen the value proposition, thereby boosting retention and reducing the churn rate.
• Be a conduit between the customer and internal departments like sales, services sales, technical support, education, partner enablement, and customer success. PS team is the source of truth for the breadth and scope of engagement, potential, limitations, risks, the opportunity for up-sell, cross-sell, etc. This will ensure streamlined and effective communication. Customers appreciate even the simple fact that they do not have to repeat themselves.

Essential consulting skills like listening, effective communication, problem-solving, networking, coaching, product expertise, etc., help PS team members become trusted advisors of the customer and potent product influencers.

A Professional Services team, structured and operated with clear objectives, will propel and scale SaaS product in the enterprise market.