SaaSify

[LeoistheSun]

Heres my journey to building a money-tree of my own.

***
I got into SaaS about 6 weeks ago. I've got a heavy IT background (no programming XP) so it's not difficult to get into.

I've been calling lots of businesses, approx 500 now and spoke with 27 people. The niche I've chosen isn't panning out like I'd thought. Not enough painful problems, or ones that can be fixed fairly easily.

Building a SaaS is no easy task. It's no wonder theirs no training material anywhere for it. That's a good thing! I wouldn't want thousands of people piling on like they did with Facebook Ad's and "own your own marketing company!"

The (n-E-c-s-t) ENTRY is quite frankly massive, so that's a good thing! Takes a lot of hustle, calling, talking, going in circles and frustrations to get anywhere- and I'm just getting started!

A little background on myself: I started a SaaS some months ago, that I thought was a good idea. The problem was, was that I didn't know who wanted it. So I decided to start over and find a need first.

So I'm calling... lots and lots of people.

Sidenote: I am in the pre-selling phase with a small program.

That's all for now.

 

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[LeoistheSun]

Called 90 people today. Too bad my list was trash though. I got "wrong number" like 50 times.

**I created a huge post but the server said "internal server error" and deleted my post **

Anyway, I wanted to add that I spoke with my Veterinarian today, and they won't (for the moment) be continuing with the mini-SaaS that I had built a mock-up for. However I believe that I have hit the pain-point on the head, as she is super interested and told me multiple times that "I want this." So I feel good about finding a pain-point at the very least.

I did offer 50% now and 50% when the software was received, but at the moment, they have to pay for employee bonuses and whatnot.

Also I was reading similar threads today, most notably about Dane Maxwell's: The Foundation. I had mentioned that I could not afford the course, so therefore I was re-engineering it.

The quotes that stuck out for me were these (in bullet points below), taken from this thread: Notable! - former student of the foundation(dane maxwell) willing to answer questions

• The reason you're not where you want to be is because you didn't push hard enough

• Lots of money chasing [HASHTAG]#FAIL[/HASHTAG] in this thread. Pay close attention Fastlaners. I want money. I need money. Money, money, money. Me. Me. Me. I. I. I. I don't this... I don't that. More money is here. Less money is there. Because this. Because that.

• E-commerce, SaaS, Lead gen, etc etc etc are NOT business'. They are simply methods of solving problems.

• EVERY TIME I've had a solution in mind to begin with it failed. I was trying to solve problems that didn't exist. I've ALWAYS had to pivot and do something else to become profitable.

• As much as many don't want to believe, mindset is everything. Failures on the inside will lead to failures on the outside.

• You fail or succeed because you have either accepted failure as an option, or you have not.

 

[maverick]

I have yet to see a successful individual that has developed a business by ringing businesses/individuals to identify a pain point to capitalize on. Not sure where this idea has come from but it seems to be all over the forum. In my opinion, it's also one of the biggest sources of action-faking progress threads.

I think @biophase touched on this before on his ecommerce/AMZ post but it's relevant here as well: You need first hand experience to be able to capitalize on opps. Experience with a given industry, product and/or customer. Through that experience you will be able to spot pain points, identify how to add value and build a product/service to solve that pain point.

Look at the examples on this forum:
@MJ DeMarco worked as a limo driver before spotting his opp.
@eliquid develops SaaS tools in his industry (digital marketing).
@biophase uses his hobbies/interests to spot product ideas
etc.

 

[AdamMaxum]

Satisfies the commandment of Entry! I can't think of one thing that wasn't difficult and yet was really worth it.

On another note:

I'll be meeting with a client today to discuss making some software for her. If I remember correctly, it will save her anywhere from 1hr/day to a week. Since she gets paid ~$125/hr that is $500-$2000/mo. It will take approx ~$300 to $500 to build. It's a simple calculator too!

If she buys today and loves what I deliver, then I will possibly try to sell to others. However, in her niche (Veterinarians), the Veterinarians are SUPER HARD to get ahold of. That is the major barrier that I face.

The current rendition of the software is a 1-time fee. I was thinking of turning it into a monthly $50/mo. SaaS- but it would require additional coding and some kind of Authentication Server to allow the program to run. It's a Windows program and not web-based.

In this particular post, theirs a bit of wishful thinking, but I thought I'd add a bit to it.

The program I made a mockup for is like a widget. It's something that's supposed to save time off a certain EMR program. I thought it might be difficult to sell since it was a shot in the dark to find people with this program (that might also have the issue that the widget fixes), but I just found their forum and it lists business names and states of the users on the forum...Bingo!

Theirs over 6,000 users! Which is great! If I call them all and manage to snag 1% of them @ $50/mo = $3k. Increasing 3k for every % sold.

So that's pretty cool!

I can appreciate cold calling various industries for information, that takes balls and commitment, but it seems like a waste of time almost. You're also only talking to a few people a day and each of them may have different opinions or pain points even if they are in the same industry. Talking to people also eats up a lot of time. I would try to validate a need outside of cold calling, but that's just me.

Also, veterinarians from my experience in online marketing anyway, are cheapo's....although for an in-house software program they may be willing to pay a little bit, especially just $50 mo.

$50 a month is not a lot and you're going to need a good number of vets or whatever industry it is to sign up. I wouldn't offer a saas to a business for less than 99...but probably more along the lines of 2-300 a month. Once you get the first vet to sign on + agree to a new system, use that as leverage for any other vet you talk to...along with the benefits they are seeing with it. Try to integrate your software with other systems they have or replace them with yours. The more embedded you become in a business, the longer term you can expect to stick around.

 

[Andy Black]

You may wish to check out @eliquid's SaaS thread:

• GOLD - Ask Me Anything About SaaS ( I'm building my 7th )

 

[eliquid]

@eliquid

I mentioned you in this post because it seems like your awareness is increasing. I saw your most recent gold post. I would appreciate it if you would give your take about my thoughts on idea extraction and how you view them in the realm of being aware knowing yourself.

I personally think there are many paths to getting a profitable business consistently though:

1) be involved in something already
2) take problem/steal problem from business already succeeding and be a "me too"
3) "inception game" where you extract information from someone.
4) lie to someone like you're a developer or xyz commercial interest person who is super valuable to xyz industry where someone will come to you and do a brain dump.
5) pick a proven small business niche and just be better than everyone in various ways like customer service, product/actual service, marketing etc. Many small business owners suck when it comes to the internet because they were in business before the web.

I can only speak for what worked for me:

1. Extreme domain knowledge
2. I was my own customer
3. The idea/solution fit into my personality type ( MBTI and Enneagram )
4. The ideal/solution fit into my core values and mission statement
5. Idea sprung forth from existing issues with "me too" products, but the solution was a blue ocean of it's own
6. We dominated a very small core set of our demo, perfected, and grew out to others from there
7. Me and my partner already had a small, but steady, following of people that regarded us as experts at some level in our field

Do you need all of those to make a great idea? No.

I do feel you need to hit multiple items on the list though, just not all.

Also, it needs to touch on CENTS as well.

.

 

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[inputchip]

Who I am targeting is technically doctors who are super busy. They rarely have time to take phone calls. After doing 500 cold-calls, I reached maybe 3. So I need some kind of marketing that is able to reach them directly... on their own time.

I've used a LinkedIn strategy with extremely good results. Use something like Linked Helper to automate it.

 

[LeoistheSun]

Today was a bit of a wash. I realized that every niche has established competitors. Which is fine. I think I forgot that I never set out to build a CRM anyway... yuck! Too big, too much support, too overwhelming for a newbie.

My strategy is to find a need. Something small. Something overlooked by the big guys (competitors). Something that can establish myself as a beachhead to sell other more "advanced" products if I desired to do so. It's easier to sell to someone who bought than it is to sell to someone who hasn't bought from you.

I forget that my current goal is $5,000/mo. not 100,000 or 1Mil. While those are awesome goals, I super strongly believe that IF I had those goals, then I would be missing out on the smaller stuff. Even the $100,000/mo idea might masquerade as a $5,000/mo idea. I just know that if you set your goal too high, you'll get depressed and give up early.

Still waiting on my Veterinarian to get back to me on a Yay or Nay on the software I was going to build. If it's a yes, then that's awesome! I would need to pick her brain some more to figure out the "whys" she wanted it. I know some, but I would want more. Also, I think I would sell door-to-door in the beginning to perfect my delivery so that I can tailor my Cold-Calls or FB-Ads to the right people.

 

[LeoistheSun]

Talked with 6-7 people today of varying lengths.

Total calls: 78

I record all my calls- I will have to post some of them- after I edit any sensitive details.

 

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[LeoistheSun]

Oooh man. Okay, I action faked hard today. Something I regret, but I did.

I get swept up in the notion that what I am doing doesn't matter.

But anyway, I managed to find a gold-thread I was not looking for:
GOLD - No network? No money? No idea? No education? NO PROBLEM!

I'm going to be following this method with what I am doing.

1. Learn Copy (while not action-faking)
2. Find 100 top people in this niche
3. Call them and interview them (Skype/Phone)
4. Create a blog/website with all the interviews (my goal is 25), possibly add some side blog posts too... SEO?
5. Create a PDF or Report or Video... in exchange for email address
6. Communicate with these people to find another pain point.
7. Presell
8. Build
9. Go-Live for whatever I build + Get testimonials
10. Get some $$ to invest in Ads
11. Scale
12. Perfect + Get rid of bugs or whatever it is I create- improve upon it.
13. Repeat step 6

 

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[Guest92dX]

Slight Detour...

Super large obstacle in my way. However I'm going to keep trying to jump over!

My quest has lead me to...

Microsoft Azure & Machine Learning!

-Leo

Stop and focus for a second. Or better don't forget your focus.

You need a customer not a tool.

You're trying to get this off of your word. This stuff is probably coming from interviews with people. Right?

You want to build a machine learning, cloud application, with computational abilities, and decked out on APIs you either need or want but don't fully control.

That's not an insult.

Why are you only trying to get $50 per month for this though?

A machine learning consult for applications as a one off usage runs at least $3k to $25k, depending on complexity and the problem it solves as a standalone solution.

That is with probably undercharging too as a consultant.

This means your application should be solving a really important problem and be costing like $300+ per month, at least like $150 or more a month.

If you are solving a $5k per month problem you should be charging like $650 a month or even possibly more. You aren't trying to capture 99% of the market like a startup are you?

I know I couldn't imagine trying to run a webinar on how my $50 solution solves a $30k+ yearly problem. I couldn't imagine that people would stick around for anything but price either. The level of customer service would have to be low as well.

I would suggest trying to sell before going deeper in the solution.

Remember, a business is a solved problem and a customer.

The customer comes first.

Your MVP may not need an ML component right away. The point isn't to map out the whole solution. Your point/goal is to do enough to create a viable solution.

Also, Fwiw, I haven't seen any ML solutions on the market going for like $50 a month. They may exist though. I would think the market would have to be super large and they would be raising money also.

If you haven't listened to "The Automatic Customer" then you should because your solution needs to cost low enough to make sure it doesn't take 1 or 2 years for you to start making money.

The overhead can get expensive so I would suggest trying to sell a customer on a fair price with the packet.

Best of luck man.

 

[eliquid]

Looking for a little advice, maybe @eliquid you can help? Small advice:

I am trying to figure out what order I should be doing things.

I've got software that doesnt quite live up to par with being an MVP. It will only test the database that I have created, and wont "satisfy" the problem directly.

Therefore, I'd like to create a real MVP. But I am curious if first I should look for more people with this problem or build them MVP and then go find the people with the problem to show them the MVP?

So what order should these be placed?
- Build MVP
- Find more people with this problem (I had 5 but probably down to 2), via landing page or explainer video with opt-in form.

While it would seem obvious to first find more people with this problem to save myself from wasting money on an MVP, my idea is nothing new and other well-funded companies exist in this market (thus verifying the idea). I am just doing things differently.

Thanks!

My advice is going to sound harsh and maybe negative. Just be warned.

The reason you are running around in all the circles and asking so many questions is, you didn't heed the advice I gave earlier.

Are you a Vet? Do you work with a Vet? Do you own a business that interacts with Vets ( like a kennel )? I don't know, but it sounds like a NO to all the above.

This is why you are having so many issues and questions and spending so much time trying to find a customer. You're not the industry ( or the authority ).

You can make money not being in the industry ( or the authority ) but you are going to spend a lot of time and heartache in the process. Why take all these lumps on the head when you could have went straight to something else?

It also seems you are ( I could be wrong ) going to the wrong end of the market. $50 price point?

Ok, I have one of those with SERPWoo, but we also have a $5,000 per month plan too. Our market is not just struggling SEOs who never ranked a site, but also agencies and large Fortune 500 companies who need help with SEO. We can "level up" customers as they grow and get them to move up the ladder in our plans. Can you? I only see mention of this one price, as if your product is just the $50 plan.

But your product isn't just a $50 offering, your product is a solution and you need be able to think about that as your customers move up. Right now you seem really focused on this one plan, but what's the real solution?

Take a few steps back from ground zero and maybe get to a 10,000 ft view to see it.


Don't ask customers what they want.

Why do you think they know what they want in the first place? Most don't know.

Those that think they do, don't know either.

Henry Ford said if he would have asked his customers, they would have said "Faster horses". lol

You should be the expert. Why? Cause you're the one building the app and selling them to your customers.

You are suppose to be the one closing the gap, so quit asking your customers what the gap is.

And when you are the authority, you know what the right gap is to close.

Right now, you are asking people what it is and each person is going to tell you something different based on their idea, assumptions, needs, and experience. What Vet #3 wants is going to be different than Vet #8 and this is why you are having a hard time getting things to work.

A fat person doesn't want a treadmill, so if you called 50 fat people today and asked them what they want, a lot of them would say different things like:

1. Cheaper tummy tucks
2. A pill they could take to melt the fat away
3. A XYZ diet plan that fits their specific and unique dietary needs ( gluten, etc )
4. etc
5. What makes you think you would actually find the right fat person, that had the right gap to solve anyways? If you did find that person with phone calls, how would you even know it was the gap to close and not just another loose end to chase? Answer: You'd know if you were in the industry and an authority in it.

But really what you need to do, is to sell them what you have dreamed up and built since you're the fitness expert ( Jillian Michaels ). You need to sell them the Peloton, the True treadmill, the NordicTrack.

Did fat people say they wanted a treadmill, a Peloton, or a NordicTrack before it was thrown in their face via a infomercial? No. Do millions of them sell a year regardless, Yes.

You need to be creating in your industry that you are an authority of.

By doing this, you will know the gaps you need to be closing.

By doing this you will always know if you should be building out more of the MVP, or getting more customers, or calling more people or chillax-ing at the pool.

Stop with the explainer videos, blog posts, and other things.

You need 100 customers. You can't get that with an explainer video and no finished MVP that charges dollars every month. But your MVP won't sell or get built if you're not in the industry and an authority because you wont genuinely understand what these people really want and desire/need.


I'm not a woman, so I don't understand them ( can anyone? ).

Therefor, I don't make handbags and sell them in malls like Kate Spade. Kate was in the industry, spotted the gap, knew it was the right gap, and made millions. The people that bought her company made billions. She made a bag for herself, because she was the audience, and that solved a lot of other people's need too.

If I today, tried to make a handbag for women, I'd be in the exact spot you are in right now... asking all these questions and talking to women, instead of making the handbag. Once I made the handbag, I'd make the wrong one!


I'm not a weight lifter, so I don't sell to them.

I don't know the lingo, the passion behind it, the mental state it takes to get in the zone, etc. Others do though and can sell to them because they know all of this and get deep to the core of that audience. Take Force Factor, a supplement brand created by someone I somewhat knew back in the day from another forum. His background was in rowing at Harvard and with his own personal fitness.

He was in the industry, knew the gap, and went for it. He made a product for himself, because he was the industry, and it solved a lot of problems other people had too. He still makes millions and is the #1 brand in stores like GNC, etc.

If I tried to make a similar supplement today, I'd be exactly where you are asking questions, doing polls, and having a 50% finished MVP that probably would fail when finished and put in a bottle.


People don't know what they want if you ask them.

If so, we wouldn't have:

• Mid-life crisis
• Divorce rates so high
• People going to college, only to work in a different field than they studied for
• Insane amounts of personal debt
• Life coaches, gurus and other BS artists

But the one thing you can count on, is you and the experience you have in an industry so you can spot the gaps that no one else sees.

Then you close that gap and sell it on the infomercial ( website, youtube, etc ) using everything you know about that industry to the people in it.

If you weren't a Vet, or weren't an SEO person, and you tried to sell me a Vet/SEO product.. I would pick up on that fact in less than 3 seconds on the phone or your landing page if I was a Vet/SEO person. In that regard, you've already lost the sale.


This is why I harp so much on this principle.

In short, to answer your question specifically, focus on the MVP. But only after you are actually an authority in the industry and know the real gap and can speak their language and relate to them more.

.

 

[LeoistheSun]

Slow going but going nonetheless.

I haven't set a concrete goal, so I am going to do that now.

Long-Term: 100 paying customers @ $50/mo.
Short-Term: Discover a problem that people NEED to be solved, that is present with 10% or more of the people I cold-call.

How do you discover those needs? By asking the right questions.

I've learned that you will only get those answers if you ask the right questions and dig deeper than what people tell you. Zone in on the actual problem. It's not always what the person says it is.

Example Questions:

• "Are you procrastinating doing anything at this moment?"
• "In the last week/month did you stay after work to work or work at home after work?"
• "Do you use MS Excel? What do you use it for?"

Questions like these help identify pain points for software or anything really. I had a conversation with a lady a week ago and the idea I got was for a book on how to persuade people to take care of their pet's health.

 

[LeoistheSun]

Erhm the whole "SaaS" niche. But I guess difficult is all relative.

Satisfies the commandment of Entry! I can't think of one thing that wasn't difficult and yet was really worth it.

On another note:

I'll be meeting with a client today to discuss making some software for her. If I remember correctly, it will save her anywhere from 1hr/day to a week. Since she gets paid ~$125/hr that is $500-$2000/mo. It will take approx ~$300 to $500 to build. It's a simple calculator too!

If she buys today and loves what I deliver, then I will possibly try to sell to others. However, in her niche (Veterinarians), the Veterinarians are SUPER HARD to get ahold of. That is the major barrier that I face.

The current rendition of the software is a 1-time fee. I was thinking of turning it into a monthly $50/mo. SaaS- but it would require additional coding and some kind of Authentication Server to allow the program to run. It's a Windows program and not web-based.

In this particular post, theirs a bit of wishful thinking, but I thought I'd add a bit to it.

The program I made a mockup for is like a widget. It's something that's supposed to save time off a certain EMR program. I thought it might be difficult to sell since it was a shot in the dark to find people with this program (that might also have the issue that the widget fixes), but I just found their forum and it lists business names and states of the users on the forum...Bingo!

Theirs over 6,000 users! Which is great! If I call them all and manage to snag 1% of them @ $50/mo = $3k. Increasing 3k for every % sold.

So that's pretty cool!

 

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[Owner2Millions]

looking forward to hearing from your progress. Im also trying to build a SAAS as well. I had to change my market target 3x already.......its definitely not easy at all.

 

[LeoistheSun]

Thinking about going door-to-door on my idea-finding adventures.

Perhaps call first, then walk-in in person.

It's 10x easier to sketch a solution if you're talking with your prospect right then and there.

So the question is, in my local area what a large # of professions I can talk to? Ideally 100 (or maybe just 10).

Relating to my last post: Being able to find the "whys" and the pain-point is so MUCH EASIER in person than over the phone. So if I talk to 10 people in my area (in person) and I can identify a common problem with 1/2 or even 1/4 of them, then I can figure out why and it will make my online sales much easier.

 

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[LeoistheSun]

WEEK 1 Progress:

• 12 People talked to for varying lengths of 10-35m+
• 218 Calls made

Been trying to figure out what I should be doing on my weekends? I can't really call (since they are not at work), and I am thinking I should be:

• Reading (Gold or Books)
• Working on another idea?

Thoughts?

 

[LeoistheSun]

Nice progress man.

Where are you getting these phone numbers from? Google? Or a paid list? Only asking since you said in an earlier post that a lot of phone numbers are either incorrect or out of date. As far as weekends, I would still focus on this business. Maybe use that time to find better phone number list, reading Saas blogs and/or work on that website for IceCreamKid's method if your going that route.

Also, not sure if it will help but maybe let the people your calling know that your goal is to create an industry report on the top 5 problems that [market] professionals are currently facing. Let them know you will share it with them for free after you've talked to 50 other top [market] professionals for their help with your research project. It seems to get a way better response rate in email, maybe it will help with cold calling. The lady that created Namastream (successful foundation student) used that method when doing IE.

I got the numbers from the site I told you about. I had a setting turned on that showed non-verified numbers. Thats why it was not accurate. It depends on the niche. Sometimes they are accurate.

I've only got like 2 "no's" when calling so I think saying "im doing an industry report" is more than I need to say.

BTW you know whats wierd (if your in The Foundation can you ask this to whomever?)? Some of the case-studies they have, the owners have not launched their products. They are still stuck on the "were launching soon page- enter your email here!" Also the guy who built the SaaS for Maids (Maidbooks) also went AWOL. Does that seem weird to you?

ANYWAY... still working on my approach here. The biggest challenges IMO are finding the right group of people that need help. Since joining FLF I have been changing my mindset from $$ and niche's and all that to..."who can I help the most?" "Who needs the most help?"

 

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[LeoistheSun]

@maverick

I'm sure you're not watching this thread anymore. I liked your post and followed you because you proved an important point. Things you start should come from what you're already actively doing. This is a very important part of the process.

@eliquid

I mentioned you in this post because it seems like your awareness is increasing. I saw your most recent gold post. I would appreciate it if you would give your take about my thoughts on idea extraction and how you view them in the realm of being aware knowing yourself.

I personally think there are many paths to getting a profitable business consistently though:

1) be involved in something already
2) take problem/steal problem from business already succeeding and be a "me too"
3) "inception game" where you extract information from someone.
4) lie to someone like you're a developer or xyz commercial interest person who is super valuable to xyz industry where someone will come to you and do a brain dump.
5) pick a proven small business niche and just be better than everyone in various ways like customer service, product/actual service, marketing etc. Many small business owners suck when it comes to the internet because they were in business before the web.

There is a guy who built a $250k mobile app by going around and just saying he was a developer so I think there's room for idea extraction. He did it in person though. It's a gold or notable thread. You're also exceptionally right about solving your own problems though. Starting with yourself, option 1, is really important.

I also think most people get the idea extraction part wrong.

You shouldn't waste time just randomly calling. You should set context, which is why I called it inception. There is a lot to be learned from the movie Inception. There are levels to what makes people tick emotionally. I personally believe and could pull evidence from multiple random threads posted in the "recently commented" sections that show many people are emotionally unaware.

The Foundation has an entire process that's meant to raise your awareness and vibration. I personally think that part of the course sucks. Raising your vibration is not something you can just do in 1 month.

I spent 2.5 years in a concerted effort with a meditation coach doing various emotional and awareness exercises once a week nearly every week. I've logged over 1k hours in meditation, not counting everyday that I did meditation on my own as homework.

After a while, if I was talking with anyone who is relatively aware of themselves, seeking advice, or trying to converse in more than shallow conversation Americans are so known for, I could literally go deep enough in exploration of their their thoughts, patterns, and beliefs that they would cry. This has only happened over the phone for me (hearing them cry). Further, when texting with these people, men and women, they would ask me to call them. This can be orchestrated over email or done over phone. Doing this over phone requires inception. You have to be a mirror to them in a concerted aspect and peel back layers.

I wouldn't do it over the phone initially. I would do emails first.

I also think people focus too much on their self also. To do inception, you have to square focused on them as a person. You have to want to understand them. Knowing yourself first is the only way to know others though, which is why I think many people fail at the idea extraction.

It requires multiple skills most people don't have: you need to be able to cherry pick, sequence, package, imagine, pattern, randomize, listen, observe, digest, and incept. All of this requires quieting your mind. If you do this, you can become someone that they look to as an authority over the course of an hour.

Packaging and sequencing are some of the hardest parts for people to understand as evidenced by the way people argue on the forum. It's frequently said it's not what you say, it's how you say it.

Even deeper, sequencing and patterning are not easy for someone who has never experienced success. It's hard to know when to fill space and when not to. It's something that requires intuition and emotional awareness. Even patterning is something most people don't understand. The same goes for randomizing.

Hey @EasternCrane I find your post to be very hard to follow.

you shouldn't waste time just randomly calling.

I am not just "randomly calling" anyone. And I also do not think its a waste of time either. I have found TONS, literally TONS of ideas.

Watching TV is wasting time. Calling people to find ideas is NOT wasting time. It's being productive. I was never a believer in doing "inner-game" as some call it (fixing your insides/thoughts/beliefs) first. I always advocate ACTION above all else. Otherwise its mental-masturbation.

I wouldn't do it over the phone initially. I would do emails first.

I disagree with emailing too. Emailing is the quickest way to nothing. Its for those who are not serious and want to procrastinate. Its also not a pattern interrupt. Calling is. They have to answer you or reply. Emailing they do not.

 

[LeoistheSun]

I figure I'd detail my exploits for the day over a cold beer.

Today was well, okay. Ups and downs galore. One minute your second-guessing yourself, another minute, you're having a meaningful conversation even though it's not really going nowhere.

Today, I pretty much decided not to call any more Social Workers. This was my niche, and I felt it would be empowering to help those who truly help other people. I set up RVM (Ringless Voicemail) to call some of the cell #'s that I had got and left them a message about what I was doing.

I got about 4-6 calls today from that- out of 60-ish #s. Not too bad I suppose. Most didn't really go anywhere since what you do varies so much as a Social Worker. I had one lady who helped Homeless Vets and another who helped disabled people. I don't remember the rest.

Rule No 1: Don't pick a niche that is so varied.
Rule No 2: Don't pick an idea that potentially has to deal with HIPAA. It will likely cost a fortune.
Rule No 3: Don't pick Govt. unless your okay with selling something that may take a lot of "approvals" from people. You won't be able to sell your SaaS through a Facebook Ad.

Indecision, Indecision... Who should I call now? Where should I go? Being persistent is the first step to being successful, but it may take time to validate that your idea or hunch was correct- and your persistence paid off. My hunch was Real-Estate Appraisal. Something I used to do awhile ago (all I remember was SPREADSHEETS!!) and BPO's.

So I called a couple people. Didn't get anywhere. Still, I called more.

Rule No 4: Finding a niche should not be like pulling teeth. People should be eager to speak with you.

I called another a man with a very deep voice answered. Immediately I thought I was going to get a "no not interested", but nope... he turned out to be very friendly and talked and talked and talked.

You never really know who you'll meet. I had a lady who thought I was a scammer- yet I asked for no personal details... hmm yeah... okay.

Peace.

 

[100k]

There's more than 1 way to reach veterinarians.

You could put together a 1-2 page brochure explaining their problem, your proposition and how you'll save them money & time.

Then ask them to send you a sms to have a chat with you or contact you via e-mail or something.

You could also target them via Facebook ads (if you know how to do that sort of stuff).

You could also take out an ad in one of the magazines that only a veterinarian would read and get people to get in touch with you that way.

Point is, there is more than 1 way to get in touch with people.

 

[LeoistheSun]

There's more than 1 way to reach veterinarians.

You could put together a 1-2 page brochure explaining their problem, your proposition and how you'll save them money & time.

Then ask them to send you a sms to have a chat with you or contact you via e-mail or something.

You could also target them via Facebook ads (if you know how to do that sort of stuff).

You could also take out an ad in one of the magazines that only a veterinarian would read and get people to get in touch with you that way.

Point is, there is more than 1 way to get in touch with people.

I was thinking of direct approach of some kind. If I know who is likely to have the problem, that removes 90% of the difficulty. Now Vets are hard to reach out to, so I should try a multiple prong approach: Email & Phone (since I can get these easily), and possibly FB-Ads to a landing page with good copy.

Thoughts?

I can appreciate cold calling various industries for information, that takes balls and commitment, but it seems like a waste of time almost. You're also only talking to a few people a day and each of them may have different opinions or pain points even if they are in the same industry. Talking to people also eats up a lot of time. I would try to validate a need outside of cold calling, but that's just me.

Also, veterinarians from my experience in online marketing anyway, are cheapo's....although for an in-house software program they may be willing to pay a little bit, especially just $50 mo.

$50 a month is not a lot and you're going to need a good number of vets or whatever industry it is to sign up. I wouldn't offer a saas to a business for less than 99...but probably more along the lines of 2-300 a month. Once you get the first vet to sign on + agree to a new system, use that as leverage for any other vet you talk to...along with the benefits they are seeing with it. Try to integrate your software with other systems they have or replace them with yours. The more embedded you become in a business, the longer term you can expect to stick around.

Cold Calling is never a waste of time for finding ideas. It might be inefficient for getting customers, but when you're starting out you can think about how you would want to Advertise to them in the first place. For example the Veterinarians, its super easy to Advertise on Facebook, because you can target them exclusively and by title. If you're targeting a banking manager, that might be much harder to do.

I call 50 people on Avg. but I don't make the call # my goal. Its the meaningful conversations I had. For example, in a new niche I chose, I had a lady tell me "oh your better off choosing another niche, this one has plenty of software companies." But just the next call I spoke on the phone for at least 30 minutes with an older gentleman who had been in the industry for over 30 years! He had an idea that none of the other companies were doing. And it was fairly simple to create (compared to the competition). Also, he had been thinking about this idea for some time, years in fact.

It seems like most companies make products thinking its what the customer wants. Funny how wrong they can be.

Oh and the next call I had after that older gentleman, validated his idea and plainly said: "I'd buy that for a year."

Today was great though! I had a meeting with the Veterinarian, about the product I'd like to build for her (her idea) and it's likely a "we'll purchase that." She kept mentioning: "I think other veterinarians would like this too!" But getting the idea in front of them may be the difficult part.

Also got an App validation from a Firefighter I have been talking to (I posted a thread of "How to sell to Government).

I have a lot of options open at this moment.

I have written on my whiteboard: "Theirs ideas in every niche"

 

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[LeoistheSun]

Haven't posted for a couple days:

Thursday update:

Decided to go back to the Veterinarian idea. I want to exhaust all options and given that the idea could work, I want to further it until I know for sure. I am working on a info-pack with pictures, copy and some other things. I was able to record the session where I found the idea so I will be using those phrases the veterinarian used to pre-sell the idea.

Granted the idea (that she- the Veterinarian came up with) only costs approx. $300-400 to build. So its really cheap. I'm not going to pay to have it built yet, but 1 or 2 pre-sells will get it built. I will still need to add some kind of Authentication to it though. Probably another $400-600, I am guessing.

Other than that... build the info-pack, and call 100 Vet clinics and see what happens. (The Vet clinics that have been chosen are filtered to be more likely to want the program/app.

 

[LeoistheSun]

I'd thought I would add this:

Purpose (WHY): To help those who are already helping others.

In the case of Veterinarians: I am helping those who are helping other who cannot speak for themselves (animals).

from @Andy Black at Clarity of Purpose

 

[LeoistheSun]

I'm not talking to you. I was talking to Maverick and eliquid.

It's logical that you wouldn't believe in "inner work" because you've never gave it a chance.

It's also not inner game as you call it. Anyone who thinks it's a game to know yourself is someone who doesn't know Jack squat. It's work. It's painful work sometimes. It's fun work sometimes. It's work though because it's the conversion of energy to power.

It's conversion of potential to action.

This is your thread so I'm not going to argue with you. It's clear that you don't know what pattern usage is though. It's a psychological influence technique and a reflection concept. It's not something to interrupt or stop.

Maybe ask me to explain the concepts next time instead of starting to be an antagonist.

I'M ON YOUR SIDE.

Will leave the thread for good though. Be well.

Unwatched.

Apologies, I was in a snooty mood yesterday, and I took offense to your comments.

I do not understand the post you have written, but if you'd like to elaborate thats totally fine. I realize that I have probably pushed you away at this point though.

I believe no matter who you are (anyone), you have value in your own experiences and dreams and I should not discount them so readily when they go up against my own beliefs.

Above all else though, I believe action solves all problems.

Thanks.

 

[LeoistheSun]

Update:

I have another interested client. Put it this way- they have the problem that I want to solve. Their idea on how to solve the issue is a bit different than the picture I have built. I hope to present a demo soon to them and get their feedback.

Been delayed in my progress. I had a brush-fire sweep in, just like Santa-Ana and took out some houses not far from me. Some houses are still burning.

 

[LeoistheSun]

Update:

Looked a bit closer at the pricing from the rep and realized I got understood it wrong. So realistically they are only a little bit cheaper.

I've continued to look at ways to value skew. I thought I'd take a page out of TMF where MJ changes his pricing model for his website to something unique and crazy. You see... instead of doing $$ per month charge, I've decided to try charging based on usage.

Other Value-Skews that I can take advantage of that my competition do not:

• Compelling Story
• Ease of Ordering
• Associations & Affiliations
• Guarantee
• Refund Policy
• Trial
• Reviews
• Security
• Payment Options
• Employee Photos
• Added Value (Blog, etc.)
• Bonuses (free stuff)
• Social Media
• Sales Copy

(Yes! Apparently my competition lacks in all these areas...)

Some of the pain points of customers (that I've seen from similar products on Amazon [software]) is that it's too expensive. So I want to try a "pay as you use" model. Something similar to DigitalOcean.

Since half of the SaaS resolves around a 3rd party API (one that I pay for- based on usage), I decided to try forwarding that cost (and the pricing model) to the customer + 50% (profit).

I've got some cool ideas that I want to try out too. But for now im focused on:

- Creating a mockup
- Customer Feedback
- MVP built
- MVP tested
- More feedback
- Presale
- Build
- Launch

 

[100k]

I hate cold calling.

I outsourced it to someone with lots of experience for $50 from Fiverr.

I asked him to ask 10 people 1 question. "What do you find to be the most frustrating thing about X".

From there I've been able to work out that in my niche people are frustrated with the cost of doing X, and not having the time or skills to do X.

So I'll create my product around solving those 2-3 main problems that kept popping up.

There is a course or content on how to build apps - Dane Maxwell's Foundation. Other than his course... not so sure. It is a tough niche to enter.

All the best to ya.

 

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[LeoistheSun]

I saw Russell Brunson was releasing a new book: Software Secrets. As best as I can gather, it teaches them how to build/market a Saas.

Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing...

Edit: It's a good thing.

Edit 2: I'm about 44 pages through the book and I'm actually quite bummed. It talks nothing about validating your idea before getting a domain name or spending $$ for instance- which is something I would say you should do.

Rule #5: Validate your idea with at least 10 other people before spending $$ on it.

 

[LeoistheSun]

looking forward to hearing from your progress. Im also trying to build a SAAS as well. I had to change my market target 3x already.......its definitely not easy at all.

I feel the same way. To find a niche that is well easy is not easy. But then again, thats the point.

Nothing worth it is easy.

 

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