Value Inspiration

"Ton, this sounds good. I can see you've got some big results, but how do I know this’ll work for me?"

Great question, glad you asked.

Here’s what I’ve done for SaaS CEOs just like you:

COMPANY: Sana Commerce

BEFORE:
- Prospects saw their solution as a “nice to have” rather than must-have.
- Too many deals were getting postponed or canceled.
- They weren't meeting monthly revenue expectations.

AFTER:
- Win rates increased.
- Deal cycles shortened.
- Average order value increased 20% YoY.

COMPANY: Arrow Labs

BEFORE:
- Sales unproductivity due to lots of noise in their pipeline.
- Growing, but nothing really repeatable.
- The forecast was unpredictable.

AFTER:
- Win rates increased from 30% to 60%.
- While shortening their Sales Cycle 3-4x.
- Business became hyper-scalable in LESS than a year.

COMPANY: SwipeGuide

BEFORE:
- Challenges attracting qualified leads.
- Selling felt like fighting a Windforce-9 headwind.
- They lost too many deals they SHOULD HAVE won.

AFTER:
- Demos are booked by their Ideal Buyers.
- They're converting 2x more deals.
- Sales cycles have shortened.

COMPANY: Wolters Kluwer

BEFORE:
- Prospects ghosting them.
- Too many deals required high discounts to win them.
- Losing too many deals to weaker competitors.

AFTER: 
- Doubled their win rate YoY.
- Improved their average deal size by 42%.
- Shortened their Sales Cycle with 30% in the 1st quarter.


And I have dozens of other success stories like those.

If you want to be the next one, here’s how it works.

We start by building your Traction Foundation.

This is a “Pressure-Cooker” style series of Workshops with 1:1 Coaching;

- Week 1, we bring the characteristics of your Ideal Customer alive.
- Week 2, we clarify what makes your SaaS product valuable & desirable.
- Week 3, we crystalize what makes your SaaS DIFFERENT, not just better.
- Week 4, we tune & test everything so it stands out.


Sounds good?

Good.

DM me the word "RESULTS", and I'll get back to you with the next steps.

Founder

B2B SaaS Mastermind

“WHAT IS IT?”

It's a year-round Mastermind program around weekly live 60-minute sessions.

“WHO’S IT FOR?”

This is for you if YOU:

- Are a Founder/CEO of B2B Software Scalup. 
- Have crossed €1M ARR & aiming for €5M.
- Want to rely on YOUR revenue rather than external capital.
- Are driven by a bold mission.
- Are eager to help & open to learning.

“HOW DOES IT WORK?”

A 12-month program centered around 3 components:

1 - Monthly Themes. Focused on Biggest priorities on your agenda.

2 - Weekly Mastermind Sessions. Deep-dives on your specific challenges.

- Week 1: Three monthly barometer questions to know where you stand.
- Week 2: Hot Seat session.
- Week 3: Case study.
- Week 4: Special Prompt.

3 - 24/7 Access to Exclusive Private Groups to deeply reflect on your challenges & get generous a-synchronous feedback from like-minded peers.

“WHAT CAN I EXPECT?”

- Speeding up your decision-making on growth-related challenges.
- Connecting the dots faster on your strategic dilemmas.
- Accelerating your thinking process on sensitive topics.
- Recharging to be ready for the most heated meetings.
- Saving yourself from sleepless nights with runway issues.

“ANY PROOF THIS WORKS?”

"The Mastermind and your mentoring helped me get to this stage that enables hyper-scale. Some results: Our sales cycle shortened by 3-4x. Conversion rates jumped from 30% to 60%."

- Rami Darwish, CEO, Arrow Labs

“I have direct access to very practical, hands-on knowledge. That's INVALUABLE. It's exactly what you need in a world that's changing so fast.”

- Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt, CEO, The New Fork

“Regularly engaging with a group of diverse but uniformly smart peers has been invaluable. I have gotten help in making very actionable decisions. You can't get that from subordinates, ONLY peers.”

- Jon Ruby, CEO, Jonar


Sounds like the place you need to be?

DM me with the word "MASTERMIND", and I'll get back to you with the next steps, or answer any questions you might have.

Host of B2B SaaS CEO Mastermind

Techstars

Mentor Techstars

Future of SaaS

Future of SaaS was founded with a vision of providing the most comprehensive resources, content, and learning materials for SaaS leaders at every stage of growth. This is why we cover everything from finance and investment to marketing, strategy, customer success, DEI, and much more!

Member

Palo Alto Strategy Group

Palo Alto Strategy Group is a strategy consulting firm providing specialized investment advice and due diligence services to technology investors.
We are tech experts by trade, and generalists at heart. We leverage our extensive experience with technology and software companies, from both consulting and executive management perspectives, to help investors achieve superior performance.

Executive Strategist

Thinkers360

Thoughtleader

Unit4

I am responsible for promoting the value of Unit4’s vision to customers, partners and influencers, and inspiring them with tangible proof points how this can help them make a big impact in business.

Chief Evangelist

Global Head of Product Marketing

VP Product & Product Marketing

Product Marketing Manager Agresso

Product Marketing Manager Multivers

Dealermanager

Positioning for Sales-Led SaaS companies | My clients win 6+ out of 10 deals, in 3x less time, at 40%+ higher value using my 4-week "Pressure Cooker" program.

Bad news - there is NO MAGIC FORMULA to grow your B2B SaaS business from 7 to 9 figures.

Good news – I’ve taught 100s of SaaS CEOs to scale their SaaS businesses
without being dependent on external funding.

See, when it comes to scaling, there are 2 types of people:

Those who waste countless hours trawling through hundreds of free guides trying to figure it all out for themselves, 

Spending tens of thousands of dollars on random marketing agencies in search of the “magic formula,”

And later losing a Big % of business equity because they desperately need external funding to stay alive…

…And those who listen to people who don’t talk the talk, but WALK THE WALK.

If you’re wondering how to:

- Scale your $1M ARR SaaS business to 8 or 9 figures,
- Replace slow sales cycles with PREDICTABLE traction,
- Remove the word “discount” from your sales processes,
- Help more customers without killing your capacity or margins,
- Connect ALL the dots (not just some random ones),
- Get out of your own head,
…And do all this without misleading promises & sleazy tactics….

You’ll need somebody who’s already been in the trenches.

Based on 30+ years of field experience, 150+ SaaS CEO Masterminds, 500+ mentoring hours, and 1,000s of re-positioning project hours, I developed a proven system that:

- Starts with YOUR CUSTOMERS in mind.
- Turns what makes your SaaS unique into a foundation for predictable traction.
- Handholds your Marketing & Sales Team to create momentum. 
- Guides you in tuning your SaaS business towards becoming resilient.

Results it’s gotten for my clients:

- Closing deals 30% faster in LESS than 1 quarter
- Winning 60% instead of just 30% WITHOUT giving discounts.
- Turning $10k customers into $90.000 deals.
- Improving average order value by 40%+ YOY.
- Creating a track-record of achieving targets EVERY quarter.

The best part is, none of those business:

- Was the market leader in their space.
- Had less than 7 well-known competitors.
- Had the luxury of a multi-million dollar budget.
- Had a well established brand.
- Employed top-tier marketers or sales execs.

Instead, they decided to focus entirely on the prospects with a high value problem they solve better than ANYONE else.

So the question is - do you want to upgrade your stretched-too-thin, unscalable SaaS business …

into an 8 to 9-figure empire?

If so, shoot me a DM, and let’s talk.

Your customers will happily pay you a premium for your SaaS product when:

→ They suffer from a problem that's both valuable & critical.
→ They believe you can solve it in a way no one else can.
→ The way you talk about it creates desire.

With an optimized value proposition in place, all three are guaranteed.

Ton Dobbe 🔆

Positioning for Sales-Led SaaS companies | My clients win 2x more, in 3x less time, at 40%+ higher value using my 4-week "Pressure Cooker" program.

The 7 important principles to turn a Consulting business into a highly differentiated SaaS company.

That's what I explored in my interview with serial entrepreneur and B2B SaaS Sales expert, JB Daguené ✊🇺🇦, CEO Of Evergrowth.

 
Here are my highlights:

1 - Start with the hardest thing that's on the table. 

2 - Invest in time and technology to describe your customers' problems better than they can themselves.

3 - Find the tasks for which your customers have the least motivation - and do it for them.

4 - Put your deep knowledge (IP) and AI at work together to create prompts that deliver results nobody can get.

5 - Then build products that don't aim to replace people but instead make them more impactful and human again.

6 - Invest only in those areas where your customers will grow with your solution.

7 - Design all your internal processes around one thing: customer success, from development to marketing to sales to services. 


Curious: Which highlight resonates most with you? 



Ps - The link to the full interview with JB is in the 1st comment


"Our new sector pitch decks are not hitting the mark, Ton"

This was how one of my contacts approached me last week.

A quick review led me to the root cause:


No focus on the pain


Here's the thing

Being a SaaS professional, you know too much.

→ about the product you offer.
→ about the problem you solve.
→ about the features that are important.

The problem is -

Your prospect doesn't know what you know. 

And hence, 9 out of 10 they cannot connect the dots. 


Why? 

→ How you talk about the problem is different from how they talk about it.

→ They talk about the problem in relation to 'the pain' they feel.

→ You talk about the problem in relation to what's causing it.


Hence, to your prospect, it feels like you're speaking Chinese. 


The solution: 

Get on the same wavelength.

How to market a modern SaaS product to a very conservative technical audience?

That's a challenge I explored with a PhD in Aerospace Engineering that has 15 years of Marketing experience: 

Masha Petrova, Ph.D., CEO of Nullspace, Inc..

Here are my 5 highlights:

1 - Be patient. Prepare for slow and steady change management.

2 - Be consistent in your marketing communication and sales follow-up.

3 - Don't talk about yourself, talk about what your customers are doing with your solution.

4 - Don't be shy to trigger feelings. Even if engineers never admit it, they'll sign your contract because some feeling drives them to do so.

5 - Don't expect you know everything. Be humble, talk to engineers, ask for their opinions, and listen to understand.

In a nutshell:

Make them feel you're their peer. 
A peer they can trust.


Curious: What's worked for you to successfully market to a conservative audience?


P.S. The link to the full interview with Masha is in the 1st comment.

If you’re running a B2B SaaS company in a very competitive market,

You can grow faster and more profitable - even if the conditions are tough. 

My Clients prove it’s possible:


CLIENT 1: CEO of Sana Commerce.

1. CHALLENGES:
→ Prospects saw their solution as a “nice to have” rather than must-have.
→ Too many deals were getting postponed or canceled.
→ They weren't meeting monthly revenue expectations.

2. WHAT WE DID:
Step 1: Clarified the most valuable & critical problem to solve for their biggest fans.
Step 2: Articulated how they solved the problem like no one else could.
Step 3: Repositioned the product that stood out in their market.
Step 4 - Created a value proposition that instantly resonated with the RIGHT customer.

3. RESULTS:
→ Win rates increased.
→ Deal cycles shortened.
→ Average order value increased 20% YoY.


CLIENT 2: CEO of Arrow Labs.

1. CHALLENGES:
→ Sales unproductivity due to lots of noise in their pipeline.
→ Growing, but nothing really repeatable.
→ The forecast was unpredictable.

2. WHAT WE DID:
Step 1: Invited him to a group of like-minded B2B SaaS CEOs.
Step 2: Answered three monthly barometer questions to see where his business stood.
Step 3: Used special prompts to get clarity around the challenges that held him back.
Step 4: Leveraged hot-seat sessions to find breakthroughs for his challenges.
Step 5: 1-to-1 mentoring to accelerate execution and get tangible results.

3. RESULTS:
→ Win rates increased from 30% to 60%.
→ While shortening their Sales Cycle 3-4x.
→ Business became hyper-scalable in LESS than a year.


CLIENT 3: Wolters Kluwer Legal Software.

1. CHALLENGES:
→ Prospects ghosting them.
→ Too many deals required high discounts to win them.
→ Losing too many deals to weaker competitors.

2. WHAT WE DID:
Step 1: Learned each Sales Exec how to quickly get to the core of the customer's problem.
Step 2: Taught them how to connect these problems to the BIG picture to create urgency.
Step 3: Make them feel comfortable communicating what makes them different in a simple way.
Step 4: Give them the confidence to say 'NO' when they cannot deliver value beyond what their competitors can deliver as well.
Step 5: Coach them how to prove with their product that the value they promise is real - instead of demoing features.
Step 6: Mentored each Salesperson, so this becomes second nature.

3. RESULTS:
→ Doubled their win rate YoY.
→ Improved their average deal size by 42%.
→ Shortened their sales Cycle with 30% in the 1st quarter.

All these people managed to grow faster and more profitable in a very competitive, tough market.
 
You can do it, too —

Send me a DM to start.

Time is not your problem.

It's your direction.

Most SaaS CEOs I speak with think they're strapped for time. That ticking clock feels like their biggest enemy. 

But their real villain is their lack of direction.

We all know what it feels like:

→ Customers asking for the moon.
→ The sheer volume of technology options.
→ New competitors entering every day.
→ The noise you have to break through.
→ And the end of your runway breathing down your neck.


When you lack direction, the confusion is overwhelming.

It feels like you're swimming against the tide, where a never-stopping set of breaking waves keeps washing you out.


This is why a simple framework is magic.

Not a standard checklist, or a standard template.

But a set of reflective questions so you can create your own roadmap.

→ One that gives you the AHA moments on your real opportunity.
→ Directs you to build what's valuable and desirable. 
→ And steers towards being different, not merely better.

So, change your mindset. Stop worrying about not having enough time.

Instead, ask: Is our direction clear? 


Here's your compass: https://lnkd.in/eCKWq7X 

Take advantage of it.

How to make your SaaS product stand out in Red-Ocean markets.

That's the question I zoomed into in my interview with serial entrepreneur: 

Harpreet Singh, CEO of Launchable

Here are my 7 highlights:

1 - Be relentlessly curious to find the non-trivial problems of your customers.

2 - Go beyond the obvious: Ask the question, "How can we solve this in a way that nobody else is thinking about?"

3 - Don't sheepishly follow the longhold beliefs of Silicon Valley. 

4 - Don't make your mission too narrow so that when some external things happen, you're stuck. 

5 - Slow down your decision-making, but when you do decide, be very intentional about why and how you're doing it.

6 - Find a lighthouse customer who realizes you're mission-critical to them.

7 - Focus your go-to-market actions around what builds the fastest trust with your ideal customers


Curious: What have you seen working very well to stand out in Red-Ocean markets?


P.S. The link to the full interview with Harpreet is in the 1st comment.

I transformed the way Sales-Led SaaS companies clarify what makes them stand out.

As a result, people who followed my framework have:

→ Increased their average deal value by +20% year after year.
→ Shortened sales cycles not by weeks but months.
→ Moved very low win rates to 60% and up.
→ Turned $10K MRR customers into $90K MRR ones.
→ Exceeded their targets without fail after working together.

And more.

Remarkable, to say the least.

That's precisely why the framework is called The Remarkable Effect.


Want to see how you can take advantage? Here is a next step: https://lnkd.in/daDKZiA6

I often ask B2B SaaS CEOs what their vision of an ideal business is.

The answer I usually get is:

"Gain the freedom to say NO whenever I want to."

→ No to desperately chasing investor's money.
→ No to having to invest in Google ads to get leads.
→ No to customers who'll never become fans anyway.
→ No to accepting bad deals to keep the lights on.
→ No to giving discounts.

A different way of running your business.

Letting go of the "Grow at all costs" mindset sets you free.

Creating a SaaS business that becomes free from funding is what gives you options.

"What should I do differently to stop people ghosting us?"

I received this question yesterday from a B2B SaaS CEO who's running a $3M ARR business.

So, I analyzed my experiences from 1,000s of hours repositioning and mentoring B2B SaaS companies that sell directly.

Here are my conclusions:

1 - It doesn't matter if your first meeting was a nice one. It's to be a valuable one.

2 - Get them to talk about what holds them back and how they feel about that.

3 - Zoom in on uncovering the problems they consider mission-critical. That speaks.

4 - Open their eyes to something they didn’t realize regarding the problem they have. 

5 - Ensure they understand early on what your unique philosophy is for solving their problem.

6 - Don't push, instead, investigate a genuine fit with your prospect.

7 - Educate and make them feel like you're helping them make the best decision.

8 - Proactively remove any fear they have about potentially messing up.

9 - Help them connect the dots about how solving their problem positively impacts the larger aspirations of their company.

10 - Steer the conversation to a point where they realize the stakes are too high to not take action.


In short
Ghosting stops the moment they feel they'd be stupid not to work with you.

👉 Because you accept you cannot please everyone, you create focus.

👉 Because you create focus, you go deeper into understanding your customers' problems.

👉 Because you go deeper into understanding your customers' problems, you can create valuable & desirable solutions.

👉 Because you offer something valuable & desirable, your ideal customers will start talking about you. 


This is how building a Remarkable SaaS business works.

It all reverts back to focusing on the essence.


Ps - Here's your playbook > 1st comment

A well-optimized value proposition gives all sorts of advantages other SaaS companies don't have:

→ You don't have to explain what you do, or why it's valuable.
→ Big competitors suddenly are no threat anymore.
→ The right customers take you seriously.
→ It filters out low-quality leads.
→ You can raise your prices.
→ Sales confidence rises.
→ Sales cycles shorten.
→ Win rates increase.

And the less competitors have it, the more advantage it gives.

An unpopular take, but it's hard to give up if you're having fun running your SaaS business.

Sure, grid and discipline are essential qualities as well, but...


Instead of forcefully hanging in there when motivation is at its low point,

try to tune your SaaS business for joy instead.


Nothing beats that type of fuel. Trust me.


13 signs your SaaS product is positioned well: 

1 - Your competitors suddenly decide to qualify out the moment they know you're in.

2- The right persona is finding your product, and you’re not doing any marketing.

3 - It feels like you’re being pulled into the market vs you pushing.

4 - The moaning from Sales to Marketing about poor lead quality suddenly stops.

5 - Virtually every sales conversation goes like 'Yes, and…!' instead of 'Yes, but…'

6 - Discovery meetings suddenly have a lot more positive energy.

 7 - Sales cycles shorten by weeks, often months.

8 - Your win rates double overnight and keep growing.

9 - The ask for discounts completely disappears even though you're often the highest-priced option.

10- Revenue forecasts become predictable in a way you've never seen before.

11 - Implementation projects are faster, feel smoother, and much more reliable.

12 - Churn problems are not a concern anymore in your board meetings.

13 - You're getting compliments about how profitability is increasing.


What are some others you can think of?

Add them in the comments

#sales #saas #positioning

You know why customers would happily pay more for your SaaS solution than others?


It's not because you have better features.

It's not because your User Interface is really easy.

It's not because of those new AI capabilities you just launched.


Your customers happily pay a premium for results.

Results they can't easily get in another way.



This starts with clarity on what results they secretly desire.

And then crystalizing how you deliver those results in a way others can't.


Prioritize this, and growth with be so much more predictable.



Here's one of my essays to get you started: https://lnkd.in/dyjebN_f

Don't compromise the potential of your SaaS business.

Are you growing your customer base?

Then you can probably become the company people just keep talking about.


How? 

Get brutally clear about who you're NOT IDEAL for.


When you do:

→ You have more room to create unique value.
→ You become more valuable to the right customers. 
→ You receive a lot more value on the back of that.
→ You have more ways to create leverage.
→ You create a flywheel that's hard to stop.


Customers want a software provider that gives them value they cannot easily get anywhere else.

There's unlimited upside to a SaaS business that delivers that consistently.

And very little downside.

How to create a flywheel for growth for your SaaS business?

That's the question I zoomed into in my interview with serial entrepreneur and growth expert: 

Oscar Rundqvist, CEO of eComID

 
Here are my 7 highlights:

1 - Create a compelling vision, focus on an expensive problem, and have the passion to solve it. 

2 - Take an end-to-end approach to the problem you solve and look beyond industry boundaries.

3 - Focus on removing the bad habits that are the root cause of the problem instead of solving the symptoms that reveal the problem,

4 - Make sure everyone gains something: Your customers, their customers, their suppliers. 

5 - Break the harmful tactics in the market by doing the opposite of the norm.

6 - Shorten the timeframe of your hypotheses. Reevaluate them every day and be prepared to kill your darlings.

7 - Create leverage so you can stay lean. This allows you to stay focused on what matters and have the resilience to keep doing what matters.



Curious: What tactics are you betting on to create growth flywheels?


P.S. The link to the full interview with Oscar is in the 1st comment.

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