Startup - How To Sell SaaS?

[shauntir]

Hi,

So I've created a SaaS real estate management system that is ready as a "phase 1". You can add property listings, customers, estate agents, articles, pages and view enquiries. You can also do some basic theme customizations. That is the backend.

You are able to view featured listings, search and send enquiries via the front end. There are also 2 calculators (bond and currency) on the front end.

So I've compiled a list of estate agents and started doing some cold calling. I know its pretty tough and expect to handle a lot of rejection. I've also started posting on some social media sites and added an ad to gumtree.

What are some useful and successful strategies that I would be able to apply to market and sell the above system?

 

[JStrike]

A startup without VC funding is very unlikely to succeed.
Try get a Series A round. Even if you don't get it, at the very least you will find out what the problems is with your proposal.

Other than the funding, the connections you will get from the VC will be very important to the success of your startup

 

[Mavix]

A startup without VC funding is very unlikely to succeed.
Try get a Series A round. Even if you don't get it, at the very least you will find out what the problems is with your proposal.

Other than the funding, the connections you will get from the VC will be very important to the success of your startup

He's already created the product, so why would VC funding (or a lack thereof) impact his success?

 

[JStrike]

He's already created the product, so why would VC funding (or a lack thereof) impact his success?

Because the product is only a small part of a successful startup

 

[moklet]

The competition in this sector is high, even the larger estate agents using portals like property24/private property. There are a few available well established players in this market as well.

http://www.propdata.net/
http://www.cyberagent.co.za/
http://www.graydot.co.za/
http://www.entegral.net/

All offering something similar.

Offering this service requires a large investment as I am sure customers are not interested in a service hosted on some shared server. (Not that the OP is using shared hosting)

The big players in the industry have their own websites, and for smaller players they make use of the big well known services of property24 or privateproperty

 

[shauntir]

A startup without VC funding is very unlikely to succeed.
Try get a Series A round. Even if you don't get it, at the very least you will find out what the problems is with your proposal.

Other than the funding, the connections you will get from the VC will be very important to the success of your startup

That sounds very interesting, especially about making connections. I honestly would have no idea on where to start when looking for VC investors in SA. I don't think I can register a kickstarter campaign since I'm in SA? Where and how would I find VCs?

 

[shauntir]

The competition in this sector is high, even the larger estate agents using portals like property24/private property. There are a few available well established players in this market as well.

http://www.propdata.net/
http://www.cyberagent.co.za/
http://www.graydot.co.za/
http://www.entegral.net/

All offering something similar.

Offering this service requires a large investment as I am sure customers are not interested in a service hosted on some shared server. (Not that the OP is using shared hosting)

The big players in the industry have their own websites, and for smaller players they make use of the big well known services of property24 or privateproperty

I used to work for one of those companies on that list. Yes, the competition is stiff. Hence why I have now pushed out a "phase 1" /beta offering so that I can test the interest in the market. Also of note is that I do not aim to be local only and will try a global offering in time.

That's why I want to learn the marketing and sales strategies now. If it fails, I can then take all that I've learnt and apply it to some other venture in the future.

 

[JStrike]

That sounds very interesting, especially about making connections. I honestly would have no idea on where to start when looking for VC investors in SA. I don't think I can register a kickstarter campaign since I'm in SA? Where and how would I find VCs?

There are loads, but they are based in Cape Town. Durban might have some but I'm not sure? (Isn't Derivco the start and end of the Durban software scene?)

I cannot stress enough how important VC's are.
While the funding is important, they also provide advice as to features, potential market size, competition, contacts in relevant industries, etc

 

[shauntir]

There are loads, but they are based in Cape Town. Durban might have some but I'm not sure? (Isn't Derivco the start and end of the Durban software scene?)

I cannot stress enough how important VC's are.
While the funding is important, they also provide advice as to features, potential market size, competition, contacts in relevant industries, etc

Lol, there are like a handful more than Derivco but yes, it's pretty slim. Well, I guess I could do some research into VC in SA and see what I come up with. Though, I still need a better game plan to get my system out there in terms of sales/marketing/customer development.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Unless your startup has a value proposition it will be tough. Seeing that you technical and you mentioned that you worked for one of the property portals, you will also know how to syndicate traffic to 3rd-party websites and this is perhaps a start to ramp up your site's traffic (a bit of a catch-22 as you will need traffic and properties to attract both buyers and and agents).

If you want to go against PrivateProperty, Property24 and others you would have to offer your service for literally nothing to agents and consumers and then find a way to upsell. I am not trying to be negative, but the reality in the SA classifieds market is that it is highly contested (Gumtree, OLX, and all the various property portals) and the chance to find a VC is slim unless you take a completely different spin on this business model and offer something very unique.

Even across the current property portals the same inventory is up (i.e. agents multi-listing across all portals) and an agent would hardly pay for a service unless there is visibility, traffic and referrals.

 

[shauntir]

Unless your startup has a value proposition it will be tough. Seeing that you technical and you mentioned that you worked for one of the property portals, you will also know how to syndicate traffic to 3rd-party websites and this is perhaps a start to ramp up your site's traffic (a bit of a catch-22 as you will need traffic and properties to attract both buyers and and agents).

If you want to go against PrivateProperty, Property24 and others you would have to offer your service for literally nothing to agents and consumers and then find a way to upsell. I am not trying to be negative, but the reality in the SA classifieds market is that it is highly contested (Gumtree, OLX, and all the various property portals) and the chance to find a VC is slim unless you take a completely different spin on this business model and offer something very unique.

Even across the current property portals the same inventory is up (i.e. agents multi-listing across all portals) and an agent would hardly pay for a service unless there is visibility, traffic and referrals.

I like your analysis. The business model is actually 2 fold. One is a SaaS product offered to the customer that is his very own portal/site. I've contact some of the free listing providers and will add in this feature to the product in "phase 2". The other side of the business is to then be my very own property 24/private property (one day). This is the one you are currently referring to but is not my main concern right now.

The "value proposition" is offering a superior quality system at a cheaper rate. I personally feel that half the stuff out there has been hacked together and offer less value than what people pay for. However, I could be completely wrong in this statement. Also, it is difficult trying to build a high quality product but have no customers to employ other devs to make the system better.

The other proposition is moving to mobile. Being able to actually create/sign up for a mobile app that is integrated into your system . Think PaaS here - cloud service that builds the app and feeds off of the system's API.

One of the things I think is a problem is that the kind of system I would want to end up developing is something only customers that are included to move forward with technology would want to use. Unfortunately, I seem to be starting at the bottom of the ladder trying to make my way up!

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

I like your analysis. The business model is actually 2 fold [...]

My suggestion would be to employ a model where you quickly, but incrementally go to market and avoid too much noise and nice-to-haves in the beginning. As long as the business model is solid, it does not really matter what it looks like and how it works (craigslist is a prime example of "not fancy" but working extremely well).

For agents going mobile is a no-brainer and you will be really well off if your initial site is responsive and you do not have to worry about native apps.

 

[shauntir]

Theme for site is responsive That is one of the other selling points for phase 1.

Definitely trying to ignore the noise!