Choosing a niche – Why are we helping only SaaS companies and not all companies with talent problems?

Usually, when you are establishing a new company, there is competition.

If you are launching a marketing agency, there are other marketing agencies.

If you are launching a cleaning company, there are other cleaning companies.

If you are launching a CRM tool, there are other CRM tools.

When we were planning to launch a talent acquisition agency, we knew that there would be a lot of competition out there as well.

In the past, I used to work for companies where we sold everything to everyone. There is no clear customer profile and no clear rules on who we should sell to and to whom we shouldn't.

It made things hard. Differentiation became quite challenging if you had another company offering the same solution.

Working in a company focused on SaaS businesses

I realized the importance of choosing your customers when I joined Advance B2B – a marketing agency focusing on helping B2B SaaS companies to grow.

“I realized why it’s crucial to focus.”

At first, it felt weird, and I didn't realize why they had decided to focus only on those customers since there would be an even bigger market if they served all the customers!

After a few weeks, I realized why it was crucial to focus.

“Customers want to have a partner who works with companies just like them.”

At Advance B2B, we got a lot of inbound leads & referrals from SaaS companies. When asked why they contacted us, they all said they had heard that we work with SaaS companies like them. Customers want to have a partner who works with companies like them.

They were excellent when I compared my previous work's win rates in sales cases. My close rate was 60-70% from all the ideal customer leads.

There were a few things I could do differently in the sales process when selling to these SaaS companies:

1. I talked in their language. I didn't only ask what goals they had. I wondered about their ARR goal for next year. I didn't ask if they had problems with losing customers. I talked about their language. That got the trust they would be a great partner. That separated us from other agencies.
2. When showing references, I didn't show just random reference stories. I shared that there are 3 cases from similar SaaS companies to you that had similar struggles.

Choosing a niche for our own business

“When starting to plan to launch my own business, it was a no-brainer to choose a niche.”

In addition to making selling easier, there are a lot of other benefits when working with only one sector when talking about talent acquisition business:

1. We can build talent pools that focus only on experts working in SaaS companies. Most of the time, SaaS companies want to hire someone who has previously worked in a SaaS company.
2. Knowing what happens in different SaaS companies' stages helps us challenge our customers. Do they need a CMO or a marketeer? Do they need a Head of Product or a developer? What do investors want to see on talent plans when raising more capital?

When starting to plan to launch my own business, it was a no-brainer to choose to focus on one niche. You can pick whatever niche, but here are the reasons why we decided to go after SaaS companies:

1. I had built quite big networks with SaaS founders
2. I already talked about their language. Selling becomes easier.
3. Saara used to work for a SaaS company called Sellforte. That story also works when selling.
4. The industry & market is growing, and this is super crucial. It's easier to grow a company when the market is growing & not declining.

Not yet convinced about why you should focus on a niche to be successful?

I will give you a few examples regarding buying so you can understand the value of positioning your company only in one niche.

Let's imagine for a while that you are a 50-year-old woman; you have a cat, two kids, and a husband.

You are going to book a hairdresser. Which one would you buy from:

a) "We are a hairdresser for everyone."

b) "We are a hairdresser focusing on helping women in their 50s to look awesome."

You are going to buy home cleaning services. Which one would you buy:

a) "We help you to make your home clean."

b) "We are cleaning the houses of pet owners and using our special technique to clean the sofas & carpets from pet hairs!"

You are going to the hotel in Greece with your family. Which one would you book:

a) "Welcome to our hotel on the beach in the best area of the city."

b) "We are a family-friendly hotel focusing on making family vacations awesome. We offer an afternoon club for kids so you can enjoy the pool and sun, just the two of you."

You get the point. Don't help everyone. Help a clear segment.

The important thing is to ensure that the market you focus is big enough & growing.

That's why we decided to help fast-growing SaaS companies. So far, it seems to be the right choice!

Thanks for reading. I would love to have some feedback if you got this far!