How To Crisis Proof Your SaaS Business

Author: Shaheryar Sadiq

Undoubtedly, all of us have been facing the most challenging time for the past year. When social distancing becomes mandatory, remote working becomes a new norm, and face shields are seen everywhere, economic turmoil is unavoidable. 

Consequently, cash flows, sales, and consumers are not as straightforward as before. Like every other niche, SaaS companies are not an exception. However, many sectors have adopted this change and are coming back to normal. SaaS businesses also need to adopt a modified business model for surviving in this unprecedented time. 

 Let us learn how it is possible: 

SaaS companies need to adopt the following tactics for keeping their business free from crises: 

• Monitoring cash flows 
• Reducing customer churn 
• Efficiently managing remote teams 
• Marketing through digital channels 

Once you are ready to adopt these tactics, you can then create an action plan for survival. Here is a comprehensive action plan for SaaS companies:

How to Manage Cash Flow in Pandemic?

Slack, Skype, and Zoom are generating record-breaking revenues. You are also lucky enough if you are working in a similar domain. Yes, social distancing and remote work came as a merit for such businesses. However, if your work is different, you need to take urgent action for business survival. Here is what you can do: 

Re-Create Your Business Plan

Your former business plan is of no use in this unique situation. Think from scratch and recreate the business plan as per the current scenario. Consider at least 18 months in restructuring the plan. 

However, be sure to keep it short-term. The situation is unpredictable, and we have no idea about the economy in the next few years. So, plan well but keep it flexible. Additionally, be sure to answer the following questions in your business plan: 

• What is your current business mission? 
• At present, who is your target market? 
• Who are the available vendors? 
• Which methods will you adopt for business marketing? 

Control Expenses 

Controlling expenses is possible by prioritizing them. Yes, categorize them into three groups like mandatory expenses, unnecessary expenses, and nice-to-have expenses. Now, cut down the unessential ones. However, never cut down a big portion of expenses at once. It will disrupt all your business operations. Instead, gradually cut down the expenses while noticing their impact. 

Seek Financial Help from Suppliers and Vendors 

You can never run the business alone. Assistance from suppliers and vendors is mandatory. Experts always suggest maintaining great relations with suppliers. Consequently, they can show help by allowing discounts and easy payment options. You can also seek the vendors directly for financial assistance and extended payment plans. 

Continue Work from Home

You might resume on-site working, but why not continue the remote working style. Working from home for the next few months will let you save a good amount. So, work from home, save for your business, and invest in the future. 

Re-Evaluating Your Marketing Budget

You can never stop marketing completely. However, changing the marketing methodologies, channels, and plans is important. You should entirely switch to digital platforms and consider interacting directly with the clients. 

How to Reduce Churn?

Reducing churn during a sloth economy seems impossible. However, it is possible with a few steps:

Down-sell

In contrary to upsell, down-sell is a temporary approach for running the business. Here, you will call the churning customer to come back by offering a reduced price. However, it is not a long-term approach. It is just a way to tell customers that your brand is supporting the tough time. 

Short-term Contracts

At this crucial time, customers will never prefer to be locked in a yearly agreement. Therefore, give them an option of a monthly plan. In this way, they can switch whenever they want. Furthermore, you can also give discounts and promotional offers. This tactic will enable new customers to try your service. 

Accept Late Payments

Get mentally prepared for late payments. Do not raise issues for it. Instead, give some leverage to customers. Also, use it as a retention strategy. This will help you in building long-term relations. 

Give Installment Options

Since every other person is facing a tough financial crisis, giving a lump-sum advance payment is difficult. Therefore, you need to change some rules. Try taking payments in installments. This will bring ease for the new as well as present customers. For instance, many businesses, including carpet cleaning Maidstone, are allowing their customers to avail the service now and pay in easy installments to retain customers. 

Allow Inactivity

If customers are unable to pay the monthly fees, give them an option to stop availing of the service without unsubscribing. Be sure to stay connected with them during the pause period. When they have the money, they will come back to you.

How to Manage Remote Teams?

Managing remote teams may seem difficult initially. However, the below tips can help you make a big difference: 

Give Support

Remote working may be a first-time experience for your team. Therefore, be ready to give enough support. Interact with each employee and have live conversations too.  

Arrange Activities and Incentives

Additionally, arrange monthly or weekly activities. This will help in team bonding and motivation. Also, try giving incentives to highly-productive employees.

How to do Marketing?

Everyone knows about the massive shift towards digitization. Today, when foot traffic is near zero, digital marketing is the king. Try to focus on your content. Also, use all the latest features for marketing on digital channels. Besides this, upload videos, go live, and stay active in front of the consumer.

Wrapping It Up

In short, safeguarding your SaaS business in this critical time is essential. This can be done by various steps like managing cash flows and reducing churn. Additionally, smartly handling the remote teams and efficiently marketing the business on digital channels is also helpful. 

For this purpose, you need to completely recreate the business plan and give impressive options to present customers. You also need to provide ample support to the remote staff and market the business exclusively. 

Are you running a SaaS business? How is the business going? Have you created a crisis-proof plan? Share some tips with us!

Shaheryar Sadiq provides ghostwriting and copywriting services. His educational background in the technical field and business studies helps him in tackling topics ranging from career and business productivity to web development and digital marketing.