Propose to Win is a series where we imagine what buyer-centric sales proposals from real B2B SaaS companies might look like. In this inaugural episode, we pick Samsara.
Disclaimer: This is a demo exercise for our learning. The information about Samsara and Liberty Energy is not endorsed by them and may not be accurate. Also, Samsara did not ask us to do this, but we would love to work with them!
Too Curious?
Jump straight into the illustrative proposal
In this article
- The CFO has already said NO!
- Why Samsara?
- John, the buyer from Liberty Energy, wants a proposal!
- Why can’t Rashida, the rep at Samsara, simply send a price quote?
- How should Rashida build a personalized proposal for Liberty Energy?
- What does it look like? [Illustrative personalized proposal from Samsara to Liberty Energy]
- How does it help Rashida convince John and his CFO?
- How much time does it take?
The CFO has already said ‘NO’!
B2B SaaS is a pain to sell this year. The finance office is brutally cutting apps. Sellers must help buyers prove value and justify ROI. Impersonal proposals won’t work, we all know that!
But how do you build a personalized proposal?
Let’s use the Samsara example to see how.
Our pick this week: Samsara
Samsara is an B2B IoT company. It provides a connected operations platform for tracking fleets of vehicles and other equipment.
It serves 10 different industries. And caters to 6 different business needs. (going by their website)
That means their value prop for every buyer needs to be tailored through and through! And their sales proposals must rise to the occasion!
John from Liberty Energy wants a proposal!
John is the Safety Manager at Liberty Energy. He is responsible for ensuring compliance with industry safety standards and regulations and overseeing the safety of Liberty's field team. John's primary concern is the safety of Liberty's drivers, who frequently travel on rugged and unpredictable roads to remote worksites. Without real-time visibility into driver behavior and road conditions, Liberty cannot fully protect its team. John is looking for a solution that will provide insights into driver behavior and road conditions to minimize the risk of accidents, reduce insurance costs, and keep his team safe and productive.
While qualifying John and creating an opportunity, Samsara's AE Rashida documented the following in the CRMLQual
Why can’t Rashida simply send a price quote?
Imagine Rashida sending an email that just contains pricing information.
Rashida has done a good job of translating the need from John into specific use cases. And she has identified the right solution modules.
But what happens when this quote lands on the desk of the Finance Director?
They have no context on why John wants to spend this money. What is the use case and value that John is seeking? At best, this might result in delays so John can build the business case with Rashida’s help. At worst, this deal might die at the Finance Director’s desk.
To avoid that, Rashida must wrap this quote in a personalized value narrative.
How should Rashida build a personalized proposal for Liberty Energy?
Our goal is to create a proposal that reflects the buyer's problem statement in a way that makes them feel heard and understood. It should highlight the solution in the context of this specific problem for this specific buyer, along with proof points that Samsara has done it well before. The price quote should follow this value narrative. And it should frame the value that the buyer would realize by using Samsara's solution.
Our goal is to create a proposal that truly addresses the buyer's problem statement and makes them feel heard and understood. To achieve this, our proposal must focus on highlighting the solution in the context of their specific problem, while also providing proof points that demonstrate how Samsara has effectively addressed similar problems in the past.
The price proposal should seamlessly integrate with this value narrative and clearly illustrate the value Liberty Energy can expect to realize from using Samsara's solution.
Let’s give it a shot.
Rashida starts with the context
Seller: Samsara
Prospect: Liberty Energy
Challenge: Absence of visibility into driver safety and driving conditions
Expected outcome: Reduce vehicle accidents by X% and save Y$ in incident-related costs
Rashida creates an executive summary to reiterate what Samsara heard and to validate their understanding of Liberty Energy's problem. She also provides a glimpse of the solution and value in the executive summary. This information comes directly from Rashida's notes in the CRM.
When John or Liberty Energy's CFO looks at this proposal, they immediately see the problem they are trying to solve and what a better future state will look like.
Rashida presents personalized solution and proof points
She selects and stitches together the most relevant proposal elements from existing knowledge bases or past winning proposals, for Liberty Energy’s industry (oilfield services) and use case (driver safety).
- Solution: Rashida adds a solution demo video with some technical details and a simple integration diagram on Samsara’s driver safety solution.
- Price & Value: Rashida shares the price quote, and supports it with an ROI calculation of how many accidents Liberty Energy can prevent and how much they will save in incident costs.
- Proof points: Rashida shares how Samsara helped Ghilotti Bros prevent accidents and how they helped oil company Buffalo Head Energy Services.
- Actionable info: Rashida adds an implementation and change management section on getting driver buy-in. She also adds a timeline/project plan to empower John in his buying journey.
Checkout the illustrative proposal that helps Rashida convince John.
How does this help Rashida convince John and his CFO?
- They can recap the entire context
- They see why Samsara is the right choice for their use case and industry
- They can now confidently share it with other buyer stakeholders
- The proposal helps prove the value to the CFO
How much time does it take?
With experience and training, Rashida can churn similar proposals within a couple of hours. With Superwin.ai, Rashida can build such personalized proposals in seconds!
p.s. If you are a Samsara rep, please feel free claim this workspace.