It's official! Our 2012 Lead Generation Metrics & Compensation Report is now available.

There’s no shortage of biases, prejudices and opinions around how ‘different’ Gen Y sales reps are. What is lacking is a clean examination of how Gen Y sellers differ from their Gen X & Boomer peers in terms of motivations, aspirations & future plans.

 
The following is a guest post by Peter Cohen, Managing Partner of SaaS Marketing Strategy Advisors.

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Lots of companies offer a free trial of their SaaS offerings. For some, it works well -  cost-effectively bringing in new, paying customers. Emphasis here is on "paying." 

For others, it's an unproductive drain on company resources that doesn't bring in nearly enough customers to justify the expense.

Why do free trials work for some SaaS companies and not for others? 

 
One of the first business books I ever read was Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard.  Published in 1993, my employer at the time considered it required reading for anyone in a Customer Service, Sales or Account Management. 

I had a recent experience that inspired me to dust off the book and give it another read.

A quick story

Like many other attendees to the AA-ISP Leadership Summit, I visited the mall that is attached to the hotel (whoever chose that venue, you rock!). In the mall, I shopped at one of my favorite retailers and had a nice chat with the sales clerk while he was ringing up my purchase.

Imagine my surprise (and delight) when I received a handwritten Thank You note in the mail the next week. It read:

Why did I find this simple gesture so impressive?

Not only did Jonathan demonstrate that he was listening; he also confirmed what he took away from the conversation. No matter the industry, reps need to take advantage of every opportunity to show how they (not just your company or your products) differentiate from the competition. 

At the end of the day, sales is a service and whoever provides the best service has the highest likelihood of winning the deal.