Why We Created a Slack Community specifically for SaaS and Software Professionals -
- A global concentration.
- Established professionals and companies (less students and early-stage startups).
- Professional moderation.
- Less focus on the funding or venture capital rounds.
- A truely supportive group without a smidgen of tolerance for disrespectful or unprofessional behavior.
That's true: Elements such as a international business perspective and knowledgeable professionals as moderators (that's me!) are what we like to see in the online forums.
That post touched on what's included for members in particular when compared with other groups on the internet.
However, you may still be wondering, "But what's in it to do ?"
It's a valid concern, and I'll try to address it, due to the motives (plural) we have for investing in this initiative might not be as straightforward than the most skeptical among us assume.
As a business person yourself, you know how it operates. Companies don't just invest in new programs to aid business professionals who are online. They use it for their individual company in some way.
And yes that having a successful online community can be a fantastic way for to expand the brand's recognition, and perhaps even generate prospects every once in awhile.
However, marketing isn't the only one reason we're doing this. No matter if you're a client or not, we wish for members to be a part of the community, or the community won't be successful in any way.
Our Guiding Principle We believe that our Software as well as SaaS Community Must Be Good to You for It to Succeed
The explanation is fairly straightforward, but the bottom line is that if one doesn't feel that our community is a beneficial and energizing place to be then you'll never be hanging out in our community.
So it's key to its growth -- both for you as well as for us that we at strive to create a amazing group to be part of.
(And if we seem to diverge from this in some way, or if you have any suggestions for how to make the experience better, do contact us. More on that in the next paragraph.)
What are the benefits of Hosting an Online Community
There's got to be something in this for otherwise we wouldn't do it, right?
Of course. We want our intentions to be forthright.
Here's what we'd like to accomplish with this project.
Understanding What is Important to your business
The first thing our Chief Executive David Nachman I heard him say during one-on-one discussions about the goals and vision of the community was that this community is an opportunity to lessen the nature of transactions in our relationship with customers and other software and SaaS companies.
This is a legitimate concern. We help facilitate the process of transactions with online businesses and it's very easy for all of us to fall into the rut of having a very well, a transactional connection.
We give you a service, you make money; continue the process on autopilot.
However, allowing this pattern to continue can make us unable to enhance your B2B business to directly benefit your firm in making sure that online businesses are successful is an important goal for us.
It's applicable to our current customers, however it's relevant for companies using software that might be considering employing . If you're uncertain if is the right method of payment and the merchant of record (MOR) for your B2C and/or B2B SaaS company, we want to hear about any questions or worries you're having so we can take them into our consideration while we continue to build the products and features we offer.
For more information on how David hopes to meet you and your business, take a look at the video interview with his members, where I spoke to him on behalf of a fellow member himself:
This is also the reason we have extended our plans for this community to have an individual contributor, executive, entrepreneur, and founder membership base -- because we know we'll be able to learn more about businesses (and assist them in a better way) when we've got an array of members.
This mission of increasing the personalness of 's relationship with business (and in particular, the people who found or are employed by them) is an additional reason our reason to interview our members. Besides improving how members can meet their fellow members, it also helps in getting to know the members and their business interests.
Building Customer Relationships
Learning more about your business is a great way for us to build a stronger relationship we've established with you regardless of whether you're a client or not.
Our relationships with our customers could be strengthened by granting members additional access to those of us .
We already have a broad and responsive customer support service for buyers and customers, and we have customers success specialists for a few of our clients who have big or complicated business.
But we know most companies can always increase the ways they assist customers, and improve their relationships with them.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, out of a hundred, creating an account is the ideal way to get support. This helps our support staff to properly handle a ticket according to the nature or urgent nature of the issue and it assists us in keeping track of your support requirements over time.
(That final part helps us to gain a greater understanding of the company's requirements.)
However, it could be beneficial to periodically get in touch with the leaders directly in particular for those who have a specific business need that doesn't necessarily involve a technical question about our system. There is a wide range of experts within our community that aren't just technical support professionals.
Product managers, taxes and payment experts and customer service experts as well as the odd sales or marketing manager may be in there and can answer relevant business issues. They may even be able to provide insight on the future from the's platform.
We'd like our customers' experience are the type of happy experiences that they'll be telling their peers about. And our belief is that making ourselves more accessible will improve those chances. If you're a client that's not experiencing that type of interaction with us we have a community that is the place to let us know that.
Yes, Leads
This is the section of the article where we have to get completely transparent.
It would be great if some of our members who don't have an authorized merchant would join our service.
It's good news for them that that isn't the sole goal of this community.
We also have ambition of improving customer relationships and learning everything we possibly can on SaaS and software business's needs:
- It's safe to say that signing up new customers is only one aspect of the goals we have to serve this community. Also, we're not planning to contact anyone who's not expressed the desire to us in advance.
- There are a higher chance in securing new users if we're nailing the two first goals that we discussed above, which is why we're going to try much harder to reach them.
We're confident that if our the community sees us taking care of customers with genuine concern and asking for comments, they'll be significantly more interested in our role as a platform for commerce and merchant of record -- as they'll see the work we put in and the attention we give customers firsthand.
If you've thought about before it could be the perfect opportunity to begin your journey with us somewhat informally. Members of the community can interact with other customers, read discussions that occur among customers , and (remotely) meet the people who make the business it is.
What Can You Expect When You Join This Community
However, while the article focused on some of the features of the GSL community but didn't fully provide the real benefits gained from joining a community like this one.
We have big plans to build a community of Global SaaS Leaders -- and we're continually working on community building -below are some of the benefits we already have to offer for software and SaaS founders, executives entrepreneurs, marketing professionals and engineers, developers and many more.
Network With Software Professionals Everywhere Over the World
Whether you're a SaaS marketer trying to improve the SEO of your the region, or a people and culture director concerned with meetings and onboarding for international customers, or someone who is a SaaS business owner looking for suggestions on selling into specific countries Accessing those in the international community provides makes "going global" a lot more simple.
As of now, we have member representation from over 50 countries in 17 time zones.
Discover New Markets You Are Interested in Expanding or Introducing Within
A particular advantage to being part of a global network is that you can use it to get help in the process of breaking into new market.
There is a place to post on the community to ask for people from certain countries to help you out, or you can reach out to me, principal moderator, and I can connect with relevant members on your behalf.
Keep your eyes on the discussions within the forum for previous questions pertinent to the SaaS markets you're working to expand into.
Or you can watch our videos of members, which we're recording on a rolling basis with those who'd like to participate (like the one above, with our CEO David Nachman).
One of the things that we typically ask our interviewees is "What's an aspect that isn't understood by people regarding selling software in your country?" The goal of this question is to help you learn about the cultural as well as business differences which could influence the ease to market software in the country.
Learn From SaaS Company Leaders and Experts
Although our members are spread between different roles and at different levels, we do have many executive, SaaS founders, and department heads in Global SaaS Leaders who are happy to share their expertise with other members.
Certain members are software or SaaS founders with numerous SaaS businesses, others have been employed at internationally-known companies, and some entrepreneurs have switched career paths or sectors and possess a wide range of knowledge to provide suggestions.
Furthermore, multiple senior executives and managers are on hand, like our Chief Executive Officer, the global Tax Director as well as our Vice Chief of Global Customer Operations. They're in the community as they're eager to assist the members in any way they can.
(For additional information from Kurt on this topic take a look at his in-person talk on SaaS Pricing Strategy That are effective: How to create an optimal Pricing Model at SaaStr Europe in the year 2022.)
We love to answer these kinds of questions and we're thrilled to create the space in which topics such as this can be discussed among world-class peers.
Position Yourself as an Expert
If you're already known for being an SaaS market influencer or an specialist, congratulations! We'd love to have your contributions to the community, while continuing to expand your personal and professional image through knowledge sharing.
Or, if you're still working on creating your own identity in the first place Participating in professional forums is an excellent way to do so. It doesn't mean that we have to be SaaS founders to have a solid understanding of the areas we specialize in, but being active in sharing our knowledge to others positions each one of us as being not just competent, but also likable and gracious. that's a great public image to cultivate.
Form This Community As It Develops
We launched this software and SaaS community in the month of March 2022 and have seen it grow rapidly. We want it to be an ideal space to allow users to virtually "hang out" the space remains adaptable and is open to suggestions.
A member, for instance, recently suggested we add an option for a particular type of use case.
We then turned that request into a poll that asked the members to share their thoughts about the channels they'd prefer to add to the workspace of Slack:
So whether you'd like to vote quietly for updates to the community or make suggestions of your own, we're open to suggestions!
If you're looking for specific forum channels, service supplier suggestions, LinkedIn and social media connections, podcasts Facebook group, online meetups, webinars and templates, or simply more software and SaaS growth hacks generally and beyond, let us know about it.
Voice Your Opinions
There are other options for members to express their opinions than just within the context of the community. One of the recent questions we had for members was to inform us of the kind of benchmarking information and metrics they'd prefer to see release.
Having these kinds of measures can aid software and SaaS companies develop strategies for increasing their ARR.
In order to offer useful and useful data for growing and successful software and SaaS firms, we went to the community directly to inquire about benchmarking information we should consider compiling in the future:
Some of the responses included retention rates in a specific sector, MRR growth in a specific sector, failed payment metrics (unintentional conversion rate churn), churn and conversion rates across diverse regions.
This poll is open to everyone regardless of situation.
Like we said earlier, knowing what really matters in software or SaaS business is essential us, so we would like to create the Global SaaS Leaders community to provide you with the opportunity to share your needs in order to move your business to the higher levels.
Join the Community to learn more about (If You're Interested)
The poll above was posted in the -specific channel of the community. It exists so discussions about (as in contrast to more general business-related discussion) can be posted in that channel and kept out of general feeds.
We aren't looking for members -- especially members who don't have customers to feel that we're always promoting . As we've said before the software and SaaS community needs to have something you are able to benefit from to be successful, and we think excessive salesmanship can create a negative impression and make it a place that it would not want to be.
If you're not currently a client but you've considered trying us out, then joining GSL can be a fantastic method to get more information about our company by viewing customer interactions with our management, observing the kinds of comments and questions people have on the platform, and more. The channel that is specifically for GSL is accessible to members of all kinds.
If you don't have any passion for the channel ? You can leave the channel that you are interested in unread. There are lots of opportunities to participate on the forum without reading articles about platforms there is no need for.
Join the Global SaaS Leaders Community
We're really proud of the Global SaaS Leaders community already and are proud to provide an international networking and discussion area featuring features like live interview events video introductions of members, and diverse expert input.
As continues to focus on community building and, as our community expands, we'll roll out additional functions. We'd love to provide many more individual networking opportunities and launch a podcast. We also plan to organize more live events as well as integrate social media features down the road too.
But if you join now, you can shape what the organization develops into.
In order to ensure the highest standard of member service and to ensure that I personally review all new member applications and ensuring that there aren't automations to let in spammers or bots. So, submitting your LinkedIn URL is crucial. We appreciate your patience while I look over your application as well as feel free to contact us via email if you have any concerns prior to making an application!
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