The Reasons We Created the Slack Community to SaaS as well as Software Professionals -
- Global orientation.
- Professionals and businesses with more experience (less students and startups in the early stages).
- Professional moderation.
- There is less emphasis on the funding or venture capital rounds.
- A truly supportive group, without a smidgen of tolerance for disrespectful or improper behavior.
This is true: Features like global business focus and experienced professionals as moderators (that's me!) are the things we want to see in the online forums.
That post touched on what's included for members, specifically as in comparison to other groups that are online.
You may be asking yourself, "But what's in it for?"
It's a valid concern, which I'll answer it -- due to the motives (plural) the reason for investing in this initiative might not be as straightforward as those who are the least shrewd of us think.
Being a professional already, you are aware of how this is done. The companies don't simply invest in new programs to aid business professionals on the internet; they do it because it serves their own company in some way.
Indeed it is true that having an online community is a great method to increase its brand recognition and maybe get some leads every now and then.
Marketing is just one reason we're doing this. And whether you're a customer and/or not wish for members to be a part of the network, or else it won't succeed anyway.
Our Guiding Principle is: Our Software as well as SaaS Community Must Be Good for you in order for it to be Successful.
This is pretty self explanatory however the main point is that if you do not find our community a useful and energizing place to be and hang out there.
It's crucial to its success -- both for you and for us -- that we strive to create a cool group to be a member of.
(And If you think we might diverge from this in some way, or if you have suggestions on ways to make it better, do inform us. More on that in the next paragraph.)
What Can You Benefit From hosting an online Community
There has to be something in this for else we wouldn't have to do this, would we?
Yes, of course. We want our intentions to be clear.
This is what we'd like achieve with this endeavor.
Learning What Matters to Your Business
A key point that our Chief Executive David Nachman I heard him say during an interview about the mission and direction for the group was the community provides an opportunity to reduce the nature of transactions in the relationship we have with customers and other companies, both software as well as SaaS companies.
This is a legitimate concern. We facilitate real transactions for online businesses, so it's easy for everyone to get stuck in the routine of having a very well, a transactional connection.
We provide a service; you make money; repeat the process on autopilot.
But allowing that pattern to persist could make us unable to improve the quality of our B2B services to directly benefit your business in aiding online companies to succeed is a priority for us.
It's the case for our customers who are already clients, but this is also true for software companies that might be considering making the switch to . If you're uncertain whether this is the best payments system or merchant of record (MOR) for your B2C or B2B SaaS firm, we'd like to hear about any questions or concerns you have so we can consider that the consideration when we build the products and features we offer.
For more information on the ways David hopes to get to know your company, watch the video interview with his members, in which I interviewed him in his own capacity as a member:
This is also the reason we have broadened our scope of this community , to create the individual contributor, executive, entrepreneur and founders membership baseas we believe we'll be able to learn more about companies (and serve them better) when we've got different layers of community members.
The goal of increasing the personalness of 's relationship with companies (and in particular, the individuals who founded or work for them) is also part of why we do things like interviews with our members. Besides improving how members can become acquainted with each other and get to know each other, it helps meet members as well as their current concerns in business.
Strengthening Customer Relationships
Knowing more about your company is an excellent way for us to build a stronger relationship we have with you, whether or not.
However, our relationships with customers can be strengthened by granting members additional access to those of us at .
already offers a diverse friendly and prompt support for buyers and customers, and we have Customer Success Managers for some of our clients with big or complicated business.
But we know most companies could always improve how they assist customers, and enhance their relationship with customers.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, out of a hundred, creating an account is the ideal method to receive support. This helps our support staff to properly handle a ticket according to the nature or importance of the problem, as well as helps us keep track of the support requirements of a company in the course of time.
(That is also a way of helping us get a better, more comprehensive understanding of a firm's demands.)
It could be useful to reach out to leaders directly in particular for those who have a specific commercial need that does not necessarily involve a technical question about the platform. We have a diverse group of experts in the community and not only end-user technical support experts.
Product managers, taxes and payment specialists professionals in customer operations, even a sales manager or two may be in there and can answer relevant business issues. They may even be able to weigh in on what's coming to the's platform.
Our goal is for the experiences our customers have are the type of positive experiences they're telling their colleagues about, and our belief is that making ourselves more accessible will improve those possibilities. In the event that you're a current customer that's not having that kind of experience with us yet The community also serves as a channel where you can tell us about it.
Yes, Leads
This is the part of the article in which we need to be real open and transparent.
Yes, we'd love it to have some of our customers who aren't already using as merchants of record to join our service.
Luckily for them, that isn't the sole goal of this group.
Because we also have the goal of enhancing customer relations and learning as much as we possibly can on SaaS and software business's needs:
- It's safe to say that signing up new customers is only a small part of our goals to serve this community. Also, we're not going to solicit anyone who hasn't expressed curiosity to us prior to that.
- Our chances are much higher of selling to new users by achieving the first two goals that we discussed above, which is why we're going to work more hard to achieve them.
We know if people in our community can see us taking care of customers with genuine concern and asking for feedback, they'll become a lot more interested in our role as a platform for commerce and merchant of record -- because they'll be able to observe the effort that we do and the care we show our customers directly.
And, if you've considered in the past that this could be a good place to start your relationship with us in a more informal way. The community members are able to connect with their fellow customers, listen to the conversations between customers and , and (remotely) become acquainted with the people who make the company it is.
What you can gain By Joining This Community
While it did focus on some of the features of the GSL community however, it wasn't able to cover the actual benefits you gain when you join a community such as this.
While we have big plans regarding Global SaaS Leaders -- and we're constantly working on community building -below are some of the advantages that we have already made available to software and SaaS CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs, marketers, engineers, developers, and many others.
Network With Software Professionals Everywhere Over the World
It doesn't matter if you're a SaaS marketer looking to boost your SEO by the region, or a people and culture director concerned with meetings and onboarding for international customers or even someone who is a SaaS founder looking for tips on selling into specific countries, having easy access to the people that an international community makes "going global" significantly more simple.
So far, we are represented by members from more than fifty countries spread in 17 time zones.
Discover New Markets You Want to Enter or Expand Within
A particular advantage to having a global network is that you can use it to get help when you're working on breaking into new markets.
It is possible to make a post in the community to ask for members from specific countries who can assist and you may also contact me, the the moderator in chief, and I will connect with relevant members on your behalf.
You can also keep an eye on discussions in the community for prior questions relevant to the SaaS markets you're working to enter into.
Also, you'll be able to watch our videos of members recorded on a rolling basis with members who'd like to participate (like our previous example with our CEO David Nachman).
One of the questions that we typically ask our interviewees is "What's that people aren't aware of about selling software in your country?" The goal of the question is to assist you understand the culture as well as business differences which might impact the way you are able to offer software to customers in your country.
Learn From SaaS Company Leaders and Experts
Although our members are spread over a variety of roles and level, we have a lot of senior executives, SaaS founders, and department heads from Global SaaS Leaders who are happy to share their expertise with fellow members.
Some members are software and SaaS founders who have numerous SaaS companies, while others have worked for internationally recognizable companies, and some entrepreneurs have switched careers or industries and have a wide range of knowledge to provide recommendations.
Additionally, multiple executive and leadership positions are available, such as the Chief Executive Officer, our International Tax Director in addition to our Vice Chief of Global Customer Operations. They're present in the community because they want to help our members as best they can.
(For further information details from Kurt about this issue take a look at his in-person presentation about SaaS Pricing Strategy That Work: How to Design an Optimal Pricing Model at SaaStr Europa earlier in 2022.)
We're happy to respond to questions like this, and we're happy to provide the space in which topics such as these can be debated among world-class peers.
You can present yourself as an expert
If you're already recognized as an SaaS industry influencer or expert, great! We'd love to have your contributions to the community, while continuing to increase your personal and professional reputation through sharing your knowledge.
If you're developing your personal branding, participating on a forum for professionals can be a fantastic method to get started. We don't all have to become SaaS founders to become experts in the areas we specialize in, but active sharing of that expertise with others establishes each of us as not only well-informed, but also friendly and gracious -- and that's a great public image to build.
Form This Community As It Expands
We started this program and SaaS community in the month of March 2022, and it's growing quickly. We want to create the perfect location for you to virtually "hang out," this space is still flexible and open to new ideas.
A member, for instance, has recently suggested that we create a channel for a specific type of use case.
This request was then transformed into a poll asking everyone to vote on what channels they'd like to see added to the workspace of Slack:
If you'd prefer to vote in a quiet way on updates for the community, or make suggestions of your own We're always open to suggestions!
If you're in the market for particular forum networks, service provider suggestions, LinkedIn and social media connection opportunities, a podcast Facebook group, in-person meetups, webinars and templates, or even more software and SaaS growth hacks generally and beyond, let us know about it.
Vote Your Opinion
There are many ways for members to voice their views than in relation to the community, though. One of the most recent requests that we received from members was to inform us of what kind of benchmarking data and metrics they'd prefer to be able to see released.
Having these kinds of measurements can assist software and SaaS companies develop strategies to increase their ARR.
Since wants to provide relevant and valuable data to the growing and successful software and SaaS companies, we came to the community directly to inquire about benchmarking information we might want to collect following:
A few of the answers included retention rates for a particular market, MRR growth in a specific industry, failed payments indicators (unintentional churn), churn and conversion rates across different regions.
This poll was open to members of all kinds regardless of customer level.
Like we said earlier, being aware of what matters most for software as well as SaaS business is essential our goal of creating to create the Global SaaS Leaders community to provide you with the opportunity to share what you really need for your company to reach the next level.
Make use of the community to find out More About (If You're Interested)
The poll above was posted in the -specific channel of the community. This channel is for discussions related to (as in contrast to more general business-related discussions) can be posted in the channel, and remain out from our main feed.
That's because we aren't looking for members -- especially members who don't have customers to be enticed by the constant messages we're advertising . We've already mentioned, a software and SaaS community must be something that you get value from to be successful We believe that being overly salesy would cause this to be a space which you don't would like to be.
With that said, if you're not a customer but you've considered visiting us, signing up to GSL is an excellent method to get more information about the company, by watching customer conversations with our leadership, seeing what kinds of questions and comments users have about GSL, and much more. The -specific channel is open to all members.
What if you do not have an desire to read ? Feel free to leave the channel that you are interested in not read. There are many other activities to take part in in the community without seeing articles about platforms which you don't have a stake in.
Participate in to be part of the Global SaaS Leaders Community
We're extremely proud of the Global SaaS Leaders community already, and we're proud to offer an international network and discussion space featuring features like live events for interviews video introductions of members, and diverse expert input.
As continues to focus on building community, and as our membership increases, we'll roll out more options. We'd love to provide more one-to-one networking connections and launch a podcast. We also plan to organize more live events and integrate social media as well.
But if you join now, you can have an influence on what the club develops into.
In order to ensure the highest quality of membership In order to maintain a high quality of membership, I'm reviewing each applicants for new members There aren't any automated systems that allow spammers or bots. That's why submitting your LinkedIn link is so important. We appreciate your patience while I look over your application and don't hesitate to reach us by email if need help before making an application!
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