Sales Discovery 101, Case Studies 101 & 7 Best SaaS GTM Guides

+ 75% Discount Promotion of the 100+ growth tactics

Alexander Estner

Sep 08, 2024

Hey - it’s Alex.

Today we cover:

1️⃣ Sales Discovery 101

2️⃣ Case Studies 101

3️⃣ The 7 Best SaaS GTM Guides

Bonus: 75% discount on 100+ growth tactics (limited until 30.09.2024)

1. Sales Discovery 101 - The basics for a good discovery call

There’s a lot of discussion going on if you should do the discovery and product demo in one or in 2 separate meetings.

Long story short: both works.

It depends on your target audience, your ACV, your product’s complexity.

Rule of thumb: Have discovery and demo in 2 separate meetings if:

✅ selling to mid & enterprise market

✅ selling to multiple stakeholders

✅ higher ACVs

✅ complex products

✅ bigger impact on the operation of the buyer (multiple usecases, relevant usecases..)

But today, we cover the 101 of your discovery. The fundamentals are relevant, doesn’t matter if you follow a 1-step (Discovery & demo in one meeting) or 2-step sales process (discovery & demo in separate meetings)

Let’s talk about the 4-stage structure of a good discovery.

1️⃣ Setting the context

After your small talk in the beginning, it’s important to manage expectations and setting the stage. I recommend talking about the goal of the meeting and make sure you have an aligned view on it.

“So it’s great to have the call with you today. Before we jump into it, I recommend we quickly align on the goal of the meeting. For me, the goal is to find out if X and Y is a good fit and if it make sense to deepen the conversation. So I see 3 potential outcomes of today’s meeting:

We both agree that (on a high-level) X and Y is a good fit and we should discuss next steps.
We both find out, that X and Y is NOT a good fit. And I can recommend you a better fit solution.
We are not sure yet, so we need another session to decide if 1. or 2. is true.”

Ask if this is aligned and also the expectation of the buyer.

If so, you earned the right to ask questions and learn about their current situation and potential pain points.

2️⃣ Discover status quo and pain points

That’s the part where you ask relevant questions to understand the current situation of the buyer and unfold their pain points.

👉 24 ready-to-use sales discovery questions

Doesn’t matter what type of sales methodology you’re following, your focus should be to find answers for:

✅ Status Quo

✅ Problem/ Pain Points

ideally also:

✅ Urgency

✅ Stakeholders

✅ Decision Process

This is true for all methodologies: SPICED, SUGAR, SPIN, MEDDIC

Quick tip: Get the buy-in/ confirmation of the buyer.

Once you’ve identified their pain points, ask them if you’re right about it. It’s 10x more powerful if they confirm that they have the pain and the negative implications, instead of just you identifying it.

3️⃣ High-Level Value Proposition/Pitch

Once you know what’s relevant for the buyer, you also need to add value to them.

A good discovery is two-directional.

✅ You qualify the buyer

✅ The buyer qualifies you/your solution

So give the buyer a high-level pitch of why you’re a good fit for them.

Focus on:

✅ your positioning

—> Who do you serve (aka. who is your ICP)

—> How are you different to your (direct & indirect) competition

✅ your value-proposition

—> What’s in for the buyer (aka. key capabilities, features, benefits)

That’s where your 1-sentence value proposition is useful.

✅ your social proof

—> Why should they trust you? (aka. number of clients, case studies, etc.)

The how is not so important. You can do this in multiple ways:

✅ only verbally (no deck, no screensharing, etc.)

✅ (short) sales deck

✅ screensharing the product

4️⃣ Take decision on next steps

Now circle back to step 1. Do you and the buyer have enough conviction to take a decision? If yes, align on mutual next steps. This usually means planning a sales demo meeting. Make sure all relevant stakeholders are invited.

2. Case Studies 101 - How to get a great case study

Case studies are a great social proof. They are one of the core sales & marketing assets that every early-stage SaaS company need to create fast.

You use them all over the place:

✅ on your SaaS homepage

✅ in your sales deck

✅ in your outbound & content activities

But I see that lots of founders struggle to create great case studies.

A great case study follows a story.

Your customers was in a shitty situation A

⬇️

They faced a lot of challenges. Painful.

⬇️

They tried a few things. But none of them worked.

⬇️

Then they introduced your solution.

⬇️

Pain was gone. They arrived at dream situation B.

⬇️

And see awesome results.

To make this case study story great.

✅ add metrics (e.g. x% cost reduction, y% more revenue, z% less manual work)

✅ add how they use the product (aka. usecase)

✅ add personal quotes of the customers + image

A great way to get all these information is a 2-step process.

Step 1: Questionaire shared with client

—> Create a document with 5+ questions and share it with the client upfront.

Questions can include:

What challenges did you face before working with X?
Why did you decide to search for a solution? Have you tried other solutions before X?
How did you find X?
What was your experience with X?
What changed since you implemented X in your company?
What do you want to achieve with X in the future?
Would you recommend X to others? If yes, why and to whom?

Step 2: (Video-meeting) interview

If possible, ask for permission to record the interview.

Now you have enough content to create different case study formats - written case study or also a video case study.

👉 Get inspired by: Check out the customer success stories of Zoominfo, Canva, Webflow & Calendly.

3. The 7 Best SaaS GTM Guides 2024

Go-to-market in 2024 is tough.

❌ intense competition

❌ difficult VC funding

❌ longer sales cycles

❌ rising customer acquisition costs

So growing your SaaS to 1€ million ARR and beyond requires a good GTM strategy.

A powerful GTM relies on:

✅ a strong Ideal Customer Profile

✅ a clear Messaging

✅ translated into a high-converting SaaS homepage and Sales deck

✅ a non-complex value-based SaaS pricing

✅ 1-2 initial growth channels (e.g. Outbound and Content)

So it is not a surprise, that my best SaaS guides in 2024 cover these topics.

Get 7 Best GTM Guides

My best SaaS GTM Guides help you master GTM in 2024.

𝟳 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗚𝗧𝗠 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀:

1️⃣ The Ultimate Ideal Customer Profile Framework

--> Know who your product serves
--> Know your ANTI ICP

2️⃣ The Ultimate SaaS Messaging Framework

--> Know your value proposition
--> Know how to communicate it so it resonates with your ICP

3️⃣ High-converting SaaS homepage template
(co-authored by Tarik Yayla)

--> Know the structure of a good SaaS homepage
--> Design & Copywriting formulas

4️⃣ The perfect Sales Deck template

--> Translate your ICP & messaging framework into a powerful Sales deck
--> Run good sales demos
--> Convincing sales material to share with potential clients

5️⃣ The Ultimate SaaS Pricing Guide

--> Define the value of your product
--> Decide on the right value metric
--> Develop a strong pricing model

6️⃣ The Best Outbound Tech Stack for SaaS
(co-authored by Christian Städtler)

--> Know how to do outbound sales to reach your ICP
--> step-by-step guide to set up the right outbound tech

7️⃣ The Ultimate Content Marketing Guide for SaaS
(co-authored by Matteo Tittarelli ⚡️)

--> Know what content to write
--> Access to 27+ content templates

These templates help you to build a strong GTM in 2024.

Get 7 Best GTM Guides

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Happy growth 🚀

Alex

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