Why We Created Slack? Community specifically for SaaS and Software Professionals --
- A global focus.
- Established professionals and companies (less students and startups in the early stages).
- Moderation by professionals.
- There is less emphasis on the funding or venture capital rounds.
- An extremely supportive group and with zero tolerance for rude or unprofessional behavior.
That's true: Elements such as a international business perspective and knowledgeable expert moderators (that's me!) are what we like to find in an online forum.
This post touched on the benefits to be found for members, specifically as when compared with other groups on the internet.
But you might still be thinking, "But what's in it for?"
Valid question, and I'll try to discuss it due to the motives (plural) the reason to invest in this project may not be as simple as the most cynical among us assume.
As a business person yourself, you know how it works. Businesses don't make investments in programs that aid business professionals on the internet; they use it for their individual company in some way.
Indeed, having a successful online community can be a fantastic way for to expand its brand recognition and maybe even bring in some leads every now and then.
But marketing is only one of the main reasons why we're doing this. No matter if you're a client or not, our first wish for members to be a part of the network, or else it will not succeed.
Our Guiding Principle is: Our Software and SaaS Community Must Be Good to You for It to Be Successful
The explanation is fairly straightforward The bottom line is that if you don't feel that our community is a beneficial and stimulating place to hang out and go out and about.
So it's key for its continued success both for you and ours -- that we strive to create a amazing group to be part of.
(And if we seem to not be following that standard in any way, or if you have any suggestions for how to make the experience better, do let us know. More on that down below.)
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?
Of course. We want our intentions to be forthright.
Here's what we'd like to achieve with this endeavor.
Learn What's Important for your business
The first thing that our CEO David Nachman I heard him say during an interview about the mission and direction of our community is that this is an opportunity to reduce the transactional nature of our relationship with customers and other software and SaaS businesses.
There's a valid reason to be concerned: We assist in facilitating literal transactions between online companies and it's very easy for everyone to fall into the rut of having a very well, a transactional connection.
We give you a service, you make money; Repeat on autopilot.
If we allow this to go on for too long could make us unable to develop the quality of our B2B service by implementing strategies that benefit your business -- and aiding online companies to succeed is our top priority.
The same is applicable to our current clients, but this is also applicable to software companies who may be thinking about making the switch to . If you're unsure if is the right payment system and merchant of record (MOR) for your B2C, B2B or B2C SaaS business, we'd like to know about the questions and worries you're having so we can take them into our consideration while we continue to build out our features and products.
For more details on the ways David is hoping to meet you and your business, check out his member interview video, that I conducted as a member himself:
We also broadened our scope of this community , to create individuals who contribute, an executive, entrepreneur, and founder members -since we are convinced that we can learn more about businesses (and serve them better) if we have a diverse layering of community members.
Our goal to increase the level of personalization of relationships with businesses (and in particular, the people who found or are employed by them) is the reason the reason we interview our members. In addition to helping members meet one another as well, the interview also allows us to in getting to know the members and their current business concerns.
Strengthening Customer Relationships
Understanding more about the business you run is a great way for us to build a stronger relationship we've established with you whether or not.
Our relationships with our customers could be strengthened by giving members additional access to those of us .
Already, we have a wide, responsive support team for customers and their buyers as well as Customer Success Managers for some of our clients who have large or complex business.
We know that businesses can always increase the ways they support customers and further strengthen those relationships.
Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, creating an account is the ideal way to get help. This helps our support staff to properly handle a ticket based on the type or importance of the problem, and it helps us keep track of the support requirements of a company in the course of time.
(That last part also helps us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of a company's requirements.)
It could be beneficial to periodically reach out to the leaders in person particularly for those who have a specific commercial need that does not necessarily involve a technical question about our system. We have a diverse group of experts within our community and not only end-user technical support specialists.
Product managers, tax and payment specialists and customer service experts even a sales director or two might be on the scene and will be able to address relevant business issues. They could even discuss what's coming to the's platform.
We'd like our customers' experience with to be the kind of happy experiences that they'll be telling their colleagues about, and we believe that being more accessible will improve those chances. In the event that you're a current customer who is not enjoying that sort of experience with us yet we have a community that is a channel where you can tell us about it.
Yes, Leads
This is the section of the post where we have to get really open and transparent.
It would be great if some of our members that aren't currently merchants of record to sign up for our services.
For them, it's a blessing that this isn't the only thing we want to accomplish in this group.
Because we also have the goal of enhancing customer relations and learning all we possibly can on SaaS and business software requirements:
- We're confident that signing up as new customers is just a small part of our goals for this community, and we're not going to contact anyone who's not expressed curiosity to us prior to that.
- Our chances are much higher of selling to new users when we're able to meet those two objectives we mentioned above, so we'll work much harder to reach them.
If people in our community can see our attention to clients and sincerely soliciting feedback, they'll become a lot more interested in the platform as a marketplace for commerce as well as merchant of record since they'll witness the hard work that we do and the attention we give members directly.
And, if you've considered in the past, this might be a good place to start your relationship with us in a more informal way. Members of the community can interact with other customers, read conversations that take place between customers and , and (remotely) meet those who run the business it is.
What you can gain When You Join This Community
However, while the article focused on the various features offered by the GSL community, it didn't quite cover the actual benefits you gain by joining a group like this one.
Although we've got big goals to build a community of Global SaaS Leaders -- and we're always developing community-building effortsbelow are some of the advantages we've already provided for software and SaaS founders, executives, entrepreneurs, marketers and engineers, developers and many others.
Join a Network of Software Professionals From Everywhere Over the World
If you're a SaaS marketer looking to boost the SEO of your region, a people and culture director concerned with meeting-ups and international onboarding as well as someone who is a SaaS founder looking for tips on selling into specific countries Accessing the individuals that an international community makes "going globally" significantly easier.
As of now, we have member representation from over 50 nations across 17 time zones.
Learn About New Markets You Want to Enter or Expand Within
The main benefit of having a global community is being able to tap into it for advice as you work to break into new market.
You can post in the community to ask for people from certain countries to help you out You can also reach out to me, principal moderator, and I will connect with relevant members for you.
It is also possible to keep the discussion in the forum for previous questions that are relevant to SaaS areas you're looking to enter into.
Also, you'll be able to watch our videos of members that we're recording on a rolling basis for those who would want to be a part of it (like our example above featuring CEO David Nachman).
One of the things we ask interviewees in general is "What's that people aren't aware of about the process of selling software in your nation?" The goal of this question is to help you learn about the cultural and business standards that might impact the way you are able to sell software there.
Learn From SaaS Company Leaders and Experts
While our membership is spread across various roles and seniority at different levels, we do have many senior executives, SaaS founders, and department heads within Global SaaS Leaders who are happy to share their expertise with other members.
Some members are software and SaaS founders, who own several SaaS businesses, others have been employed at internationally-known firms, and a few are entrepreneurs who have shifted into different industries or careers and possess many years of knowledge to provide suggestions.
Additionally, multiple executives and leaders are also available, such as Our Chief Executive Officer, the International Tax Director in addition to our Vice Director for Global Customer Operations. They're present in the community since they're willing to assist members however they can.
(For further information on this topic, check out Kurt about this issue, check out his stand-room only seminar on SaaS pricing strategies that Work: How to Design an optimal Pricing Model at SaaStr Europe in the year 2022.)
We are happy to address such questions, and we're delighted to offer a space where topics like such can be discussed with world-class peers.
Make yourself appear as an expert
If you're already recognized as an SaaS industry influencer or expert, great! We'd love to hear from you join the SaaS community, while continuing to build your professional and personal image through knowledge sharing.
In the event that you're working on creating your own branding taking part on a forum for professionals is an excellent option to start. There's no need to be SaaS founders to become experts in our own areas, and actively sharing that knowledge with others establishes each of us as not only competent, but also likable and magnanimous -- and this is a fantastic public image to cultivate.
Shape This Community as It Grows
The software was launched and the SaaS community in March 2022. It's grown quickly. However, because we'd like to create the perfect location to allow users to practically "hang out" the space remains flexible and open to new ideas.
As an example, one member has recently suggested that we create an option for a particular kind of usage.
This request was then transformed into a poll asking all members to weigh in on what channels they'd like to have added to the Slack workspace:
Therefore, whether you'd like to vote in a quiet way on community updates or confidently suggest your own suggestion, we're happy to hear from you!
If you're interested in specific forum networks, service recommendations for providers, LinkedIn and social media connections, podcasts or facebook group meetings in person, webinars, templates, or simply other software and SaaS growth hacks in general, we'd like to hear about it.
Voice Your Opinions
There are many methods for members to share their views than within the context of the community, though. One of the recent questions that we received from members was to inform us of the kind of benchmarking information and metrics they'd like to be able to see released.
The use of these metrics can help software and SaaS companies develop strategies for increasing their ARR.
In order to offer useful and useful data for developing and successful software and SaaS companies, we came to the community directly to inquire about benchmarking information we should consider compiling next:
A few of the answers included retention rates within a certain market, MRR growth in a specific sector, failed payment measures (unintentional the churn), churn and conversion rates across various regions.
It is important to note that this poll was open to all members regardless of customer status.
Like we said earlier, understanding what is important in software or SaaS business is essential us, so we would like to create the Global SaaS Leaders community to serve as a place where you can share what you really need in order to move your business to the highest level.
Make use of the community to find out more about (If you're interested)
The poll above was posted on the channel devoted to the community, which exists for discussions related to (as as opposed to general business conversations) can be made available in this channel but remain outside of the main feed.
That's because we don't want members -- especially members that aren't customers to feel that we're always promoting . Because as we've mentioned already the software and SaaS community needs to have something that you are able to benefit from in order for it to grow We believe that selling too much would create a negative impression and make it a place that which you don't wish to be.
However, if you're not currently a client but you've considered visiting us, signing up to GSL is an excellent method to get more information about our company by watching customer conversations with our leadership, seeing what kinds of comments and questions customers have to say about the platform, and more. The channel that is specifically for GSL is accessible to everyone who is a member.
What if you do not have an passion for the channel ? It is fine to go away from the -specific channel unread. There are plenty of other things for you to do on the forum without reading posts about a platform you have no interest in.
Join to be part of the Global SaaS Leaders Community
We're very proud of our Global SaaS Leaders community already and are proud to offer an international network and discussion space with features such as live interview events, member intro videos, as well as a variety of expert opinions.
As continues to focus on building community and, as our community expands, we'll introduce new features. We'd like to facilitate many more individual networking opportunities start a podcast, host more real-time events, as well as integrate social media features in the future.
If you sign up now, you can have an influence on what the club develops into, too.
In order to ensure the highest standard of member service and to ensure that I personally review all new member applications -- there are no automations to let in spammers or bots. That's why submitting your LinkedIn link is vital. Thanks for your patience as I review your application, and please feel free to reach us by email if have any concerns prior to you submit your application!
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