Who's Really Buying & Why in a Post-Covid world with Upwork VP Enterprise Sales, G2 CEO, and G2 CRO

Q&A.

Good morning and welcome to SaaStr Annual. We are excited for you guys to join us today for this session. This is called Buying Patterns in the Enterprise: Who's Really Buying and Why in a Post-COVID World. We're lucky today to have with us Godard Abel, co-founder and CEO of G2. I'm going to pass it on to you, Godard. Thank you for joining us.

Thanks, Caitlin, and we're really excited to be here to talk about buying patterns in the enterprise, and I have two amazing very savvy enterprise sales leaders here with me, and I'll have them introduce themselves. So Sam, you wanna go ahead?

Yeah, thank you. My name is Samantha DeStefano. I'm the Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Upwork, which is a Silicon Valley-based company that focuses on granting access to flexible global talent to large enterprises. I've spent the last approximately 15 years within selling to enterprise companies, and the last 3 of them at Upwork scaling our sales team. So really excited to be here.

Yeah, no, welcome, Samantha. And Mike?

Good morning. I'm Mike Weir. I'm the Chief Revenue Officer at G2, where we are working with technology companies every single day to engage with the buyers using our platform to make really informed purchase decisions. Prior to G2, I had led enterprise sales within the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions division, specifically focused on technology companies. So for last decade plus, been helping enterprises really utilize technology to its full potential.

Yeah, no, thanks, Mike. And I can't wait to hear from you and Sam what you're really seeing out in the field with enterprises today. But before we go to that, I just wanted to share a couple trends we're seeing on G2 based on our data. And we do have over 5 million software buyers, you know, about 40% of them coming from enterprise companies. So I just want to share a couple of things we're seeing in the data, what enterprise buyers are doing on G2, and then we'll go to a live discussion with Sam and Mike. And the first overall change we're seeing is that COVID-19 is really accelerating a lot of enterprise buying trends, especially as companies are shifting to digital much more rapidly, and they're shifting to digital channels And what we're seeing on G2 specifically when COVID first hit, you can see our web traffic right here, but we saw more and more buyers, including enterprise buyers coming to G2 because all of a sudden every company in the world had to have digital tools to do their work. And specifically we saw massive surge in categories like webinars, video conferencing. I think we all just saw Zoom's earnings up 400%. Zoom's revenue up 400%. And we saw the same growth on G2 with about 400% more buyers in the enterprise looking for digital collaboration tools like video conferencing. And also some categories like HIPAA compliant messaging in healthcare, obviously doctors had to go remote and consult with patients that way. So they needed a secure way to do it. But we can see across the board, across enterprises, everything digital, everything digital collaboration buyers are looking for now. And one other interesting trend we've all seen, everyone is now shopping online. E-commerce had already been growing rapidly, but incredibly, in the first half of this year, e-commerce revenue went up 30%. And so all digital channels are also booming, and we're seeing enterprise buyers looking for software, for technology to help them make this shift to digital channels. And the other amazing thing is, I think it's still only 19% of all retail. And so I think there's still a ton of upside for these trends to continue. And finally, the other interesting thing we're seeing with enterprises is they're looking to consolidate their stack. Both some companies are looking to save money in times of COVID as they have tighter budgets, more financial scrutiny. And I think people are looking to standardize both to also reduce security and compliance risk and to make it easier for their teams to have only one digital platform to work with. And so based on our D2Track data, we're also seeing a lot of enterprise buyers looking to consolidate spend. So that's a little bit of what the data told us, but I think I'm really excited now to hear from Sam and Mike, what are they really seeing in the field as they're working with, you know, hundreds of enterprise customers all the time. So Sam, do you want to go ahead first? What's been most surprising to you for how the behavior of your enterprise buyers has changed?

I would say the most surprising since COVID has been the accessibility of executives within our opportunities. Not only are they more accessible than they've ever been, but they're also staying more involved. So understanding that today buying decisions are being made more so than ever at the executive level, but also being able to leverage that middle-level ground to ensure that there's you're including the entire leadership team in these decisions. And so the accessibility has been significant. We have had a significant increase in the amount of CEOs and C-levels that we're meeting with on a consistent basis, as well as VP and director level.

That's kind of surprising. So Sam, you found it easier to get to the CEO now?

Yeah, I have. And so it's not always a direct line, but we have been working a lot around multithreading, leveraging relationships we currently have within the organization to tie our solutions to what the organization is focused on. And as we know, those things have changed since COVID And so being able to communicate how we can help the CEO accomplish these new initiatives that have most likely shifted since COVID happened, and that's allowed us a seat at the table. We've also involved our, our own executive leadership team, which has been very helpful. And so at Upwork, we always say everyone's in sales. And so we are leveraging persona to persona. That way, if we're meeting with a chief technology officer, we're absolutely leveraging our product or our tech team. Same with our CEO. So our executive leadership team has also gotten really involved in customer conversations.

So it sounds like a lot more C-level peer-to-peer selling is what you're seeing. And how about you, Mike? What's been surprising to you?

I think very related to Sam, but When we look at that kind of gained access that we have at the C-suite, it's also significantly impacted the complexity of our conversations because there are more senior stakeholders coming to the table where, whether it's the CEO or other C-suite individuals, they're making sure that other functional departments that are gonna be dependent on the solution that they're looking at, the service that they're considering, are also at the table. And so we've had more types of personas that we've had to engage with that may or may not have been part of our legacy core kind of buying audience. And so we've had to learn a ton about, and seeing our customers doing the same, trying to learn about everybody in that buying committee, everybody's particular needs, because the days of having 3+ similar systems or services You know, that was an old luxury, and everybody's trying to consolidate that down to either a single provider or maybe two providers. And that's creating a lot of competition to show your value and demonstrate how you work across their entire strategy.

So it sounds like you're both seeing, I think, more multi-threading, more lining with more buyers at, at the enterprise. But I think it is interesting that Sounds like, Sam, what you said is if you can align with this new digital strategy and people having to really change their business quickly, then you can get that access.

And we do also, for those of you on the webinar, we do have the Q&A live, so please feel free to jump in with your questions. But I do have another question for Sam and Mike, which is also, you know, how have you seen decision-making changing? You mentioned more people are involved, but How has the decision-making process changed?

For me, I've seen much more committee buying. Committee buying, I don't think is going to go anywhere. So to Mike's point, being able to flex those skills to be able to sell to multiple personas who potentially have different needs or are seeking different value from your solution. The days of single point of sale, I believe, are gone. And not only is it committee buying, but what I've noticed is within the committee, everyone has some amount of buying power. And so I've seen specific people on the committee be able to veto a deal versus, you know, in the past, it potentially sat with the one sole decision maker. And so again, back to that multi-threading and being able to sell to multiple personas.

So in some ways you think it's obviously more people are involved and it's also flattened the hierarchy a bit.

I do. Yeah. And I think that has a lot to do with the, um, the shift in the initiatives. And so as of right now, every company's 5-year plan shifted, um, and probably shifted significantly. And so whether that's created more urgency in initiatives that were potentially happening further down the road in the 5-year plan, They're looking to get those things done now. And so the importance of understanding to each person on that committee, how have those initiatives shifted? And what is your plan to capitalize on them much faster than you were planning on? And then finding a way to tie your solution to help them do that. And so an example for us would be this idea of digital transformation. So understanding organizations who probably already had that on their roadmap, but we're taking a slower pace in order to accomplish that. That has sped up significantly, which has helped contribute to being able to get meetings with the people that truly care about accomplishing those initiatives, and that is the executive— executive buyers.

And I think a similar thought to that, you know, we're seeing increased amount of co-development and co-selling with client champions, so folks at the company that are very passionate about the solution that they're exploring and feel that that's the right thing for their business. They're looking for sales, they're looking for insights to really help them prove their case, to build it together, and to present it together to the diversity of that committee so that they can kind of win out at their particular idea getting priority internally. Before, you know, to Sam's point, we were kind of stopped at the door to the conversation that happened. Now we're being asked to walk right in and help, help co-deliver those ideas with clients.

And I think when delivering those ideas, um, something else around decision-making, obviously dollars are being scrutinized more than they were previously. Um, and so it's really important to be able to communicate the value of what the solution is that you're providing. And so going back to that really basic foundation of selling the value, selling the potential ROI so that those buyers can fully understand what is the path to accomplishing these goals and how is your solution going to help us get there.

And I'm just curious, because Sam, sounds like a lot more people are involved, but do you think, is it net-net slowing down cycles, making them faster? I mean, how's the sales cycle change in the enterprise?

Yeah, it's been, it's been flat. And I do think to your point, I think that's a win, because there are so many more people involved. And so for it to stay at the same pace it was before, shows me that we're doing a pretty good job at creating urgency with multiple buyers, versus just selling to that single point contact that we previously were. So I would say it depends on the organization. We've had some organizations move much faster than they would have 6 months ago. But we also have had some that, just given the amount of people involved in the decision, it stayed flat.

What are you seeing, Mike?

Yeah, it's a bit of a mix. So we are seeing some deals accelerate. I think one of the other trends that's related to that acceleration is some markets, EMEA in particular, are rebounding far faster. And at a greater rate across the markets than some other countries. Like, US is still a little bit more kind of holding back on some investments. So we're seeing deal cycles in other countries accelerate and move much faster than they had historically, whereas in the US, we're seeing directly and hearing from a lot of our, a lot of our clients that some of those deals are slowing down because of the number of stakeholders that are getting involved now. The number of questions and proof points that they have to deliver about how their solution fits into the grander scheme of things. So it's kind of a both sides of the coin for us.

There was actually one interesting question here from Anna Gong in our live Q&A, and she was wondering, you know, before, at least to her, it seemed that enterprise messaging was more top-line focused. You know, people were all about growth before COVID And I think she's asking, are you seeing it more bottom line cost risk mitigation focused? And have you changed your value engineering message to the enterprise?

Yeah, I would say yes. So specific to Upwork, but I think most enterprises, pre-COVID, there was absolutely a focus on growth. There was absolutely a focus on, a nice to have. And so we saw that happening, right? We saw organizations investing in things that were just nice to have. They weren't necessarily tied to the bottom line. And so this goes back to my point around proving the value and the ROI. And so beyond cost— cost is absolutely something that they're caring about today. So how can you help me stretch our already slimmed-down budget even further? But also, in addition to that, it's the speed of what you can help them do. And so understanding with the iteration on these 5-year plans, how can your solution help them accomplish their goals at a lower cost and at a greater speed than they were previously expecting?

One additional avenue that we're seeing is a lot more conversation about productivity. And, you know, it's related, it's this idea of efficiency, but slightly different angle. Is the folks are really understanding, how do I adapt in this world where we have, you know, just everybody's working remotely, everybody's trying to digitally collaborate at the scale that they are not used to. So the ability to help illustrate how you're maintaining productivity levels that a company has historically had is kind of also part of how you're protecting the bottom line. The good thing is, for many organizations, we are seeing them still very much care about the top line. And that's, you know, really looking at those very growth-oriented enterprises where they're, they're seeing an opportunity and trying to seize that opportunity to get very engaged with the parts of the market that are actively buying right now. So, you know, lead generation, demand generation, that's not going by the wayside at all. It's only increasing for certain companies. That are trying to aggressively seize the opportunity.

Sounds like everyone— I think you have to be crisper on value, right? In some cases it's saving money, some cases productivity, and some people still looking for growth. But, uh, definitely seems like the ROI has to be much crisper. Um, and I think the, the other question now in terms of— it has been a really tough time, I think, for everybody. Also, I imagine your sales teams, many people on challenging personal situations, many customers facing challenges as well. So how have you adapted how you lead and enable your teams in this whole different way of working?

I would say first is digitization is happening everywhere, and that includes sales. And so first is understanding the way that we used to sell, how are we going to do this in a fully virtual world? And so that goes down to tools we're leveraging, and so being able to drive efficiency and productivity within the sales team by leveraging all sorts of tools that are out there today that allow us to communicate our value to customers, allow us as sales leaders to coach and to develop our sales teams in this new way of selling. So that's the first piece, is ensuring that they have the tools. The second piece would be ensuring that they have the opportunity. And so around that, it is this idea of we're all in this together. And so that is where we've tapped on our executive leadership team to get involved. That's where we've decided, you know, as leaders within the org, which accounts or which sort of target companies are we going to be heavily involved with ensuring that we're at the right level and having the right kind of conversations. And then second or third would be how has that way of selling pivoted? And then what are we doing as a leadership team to enable our team to learn how to sell that way? And so two of those examples is social proof and social selling. So we've seen a lot of success in just buckling down and becoming experts on how to social sell. We've seen, we've been tracking our response rates via sales loft cadences, specific outreach via email, and as well as LinkedIn InMail. And far and away, we get significantly more responses from our LinkedIn InMail. And so it is just sharing these, these trends we're seeing with our sales team and then enabling them to be able to understand who within our accounts, we identify our white space, we're very specific about who we want to go after, which personas, and which, with which messages, and help to unlock how they're selling today, which is different than jumping on a plane and presenting to a group of people in a boardroom, which was pre-COVID.

And I love the focus there, Sam. You, you're really driving a lot of kind of thinking and focus from the team. The only thing that I would add to it is, you know, at a macro level, we're leaning into conscious leadership right now to try to really understand where each team member is coming from, and in turn helping them be empathetic, helping them do a lot of discovery to understand kind of personally, professionally, uh, where our clients are at right now. Where they are at, where their team is at, where their business is at, so that we have a lot of that background knowledge about urgency and other implications to a deal cycle that sometimes we hadn't been as cognizant of historically. But we really want to surface and be very conscious of all these external factors that are impacting people's decision-making right now.

And I think we're also getting a bunch of interesting questions here from the crowd. And one I wanted to pick out from Rashmi Koshar, but how are enterprises responding to price? Do you see more price competition, more competitive price bidding? How has that changed due to COVID?

A little bit, I would say. It hasn't stopped us from being able to acquire a new customer yet. But in full transparency, we have gone to market with a COVID relief type of a package. And so being able to offer our customers understanding, it's important that we de-risk this financial obligation that they would have with onboarding a new software. And so we do, we have empowered our sales team with the ability to offer, you know, a way for them them to get started, that is at a lower cost. So with that, you know, it hasn't impacted our numbers. In fact, since June, we have had a steady increase month over month of new deal acquisitions. And so it's actually helped us. We had our highest month here in July. And so I would say, if anything, it's helping us accelerate the deal by just getting in front of the cost, by telling the customer we're happy to work with them. In a way that makes them feel comfortable. But I wouldn't say it's a major sticking point. It's more, again, going back to that value. They're, they're more interested in how can you help us get done what we need to get done at a cost that works for what we're trying to accomplish.

Yeah, that makes sense. You're offering some kind of easier ways for enterprise to get started. You're not seeing a fundamental shift in that in price. And I have, I think, one more question for you, which is really about— and I think Samantha, you mentioned social selling earlier— but how do you win trust? You know, because I know usually in enterprise selling, it was, you know, you go on site, you take people to dinner, to lunch, you meet them at events. Obviously, all of that trust and rapport building is no longer possible. So how do you now, you know, if you're going to close a big enterprise deal, how do you get the customer comfortable to make the leap with you in this, you know, in this very different environment?

From our side, we're, you know, we're really trying to foster digital relationships as one way to make sure that we are connecting with our clients, that we are understanding their needs, that we are doing a good job articulating, you know, what value we can create, but, you know, creating time and space within those digital interactions to just connect those people. And so what we used to be able to do in person, we are in some cases emulating that in a digital environment, which has been going over fairly well. I think people are, are a bit stir-crazy at times, so they appreciate some, you know, coffee chats that are non-selling motions, you know, sending over a little gift card for free delivery while you have a lunch and learn session, doing happy hours with clients that you've been working with for a long time and have great rapport with. So, you know, just finding some unique ways to engage in a digital environment has helped to maintain a lot of that trust that we've built or build trust with all new clients.

Yeah, I would say plus one to what Mike said, but in addition, what's been really helpful has been leveraging our existing customer network. And attaching persona to persona and trying to facilitate those conversations. And so I'm tasked with every day, I'm looking every time I talk to a CMO or every time I talk to a head of marketing, I do want to mention other heads of marketing that I'm working with, the success they're seeing, and then I— the ability to connect those two individuals. And so I think now more than ever, trust is going to come from this social aspect. And so understanding that people like you faced with very similar challenges at organizations just like yours and opening those doors to make those connections. And so while that's not always easy, you know, within those existing customers, you have to have the relationship to where they're willing to spend those 30 minutes. But my experience has been people within their own functions and within similar-sized companies are almost always open to meeting individuals just like themselves. So I would say trying to be a champion of building out your customers' networks and helping them learn and grow by learning about your product, but also just what challenges they're facing as someone who's doing the same job day in and day out.

Well, thank you, Sam and Mike. And I think we're just about out of time here, but I think the last point there was do peer-to-peer connections digitally. And obviously LinkedIn, and I think also platforms like D2 can help you do that, right? Find a peer CMO, that they already know and trust to build that final trust that way. And here are just some of the key takeaways. We will also post them on our blog at D2 to get all the insights from Sam and from Mike. And thank you so much for sharing how we can all adapt and find new ways to thrive in the enterprise in times of COVID So thank you all, and enjoy the rest of SAS Triangle.