How does this situation usually play out for startups?
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 5:43 am
You have no leads. You are a newbie, no one has heard of you and your product.
With the help of content marketing, PR, virality, etc., you start to receive a small but stable influx of organic leads: 10, 20, 50 per month, etc. This influx is constant. It is not enough, but it is there, and the monthly figures are growing.
The number of leads increases each month, and then… “organic” leads stop growing. The monthly numbers level off.
The good news is that the problem usually goes away on its own. Eventually, you build a mini-brand, at least in your tiny marketing niche, and then repeat business, referrals, word of mouth, etc. kick in. The brand starts building itself.
Brand + Happy Customers = Marketing Magic
However, before entering this phase, it is rare to see clear monthly lead growth. Typically, the organic lead plateau occurs at an ARR of $1 million to $10 million. And the lower your Net Promoter Score (NPS) is, the less repeat business you get, the longer it will take you to get out of this rut.
So what to do? First, expect this to happen. Keep in mind that japan phone number data once you start getting good, once you have the first chance of big success, that $1-1.5 million ARR… the free magical influx of organic leads will still come, but there will be no more growth.
The best SaaS companies don’t let lead plateaus hinder their MRR growth . How do they do this? Here are some methods you can apply:
As soon as it makes sense, hire a CMO or head of demand generation. This is around $20K MRR. $1-2M ARR is too late. A new person won’t be able to increase the number of new leads if you’ve already entered the plateau phase. On the contrary, if you hire such a person earlier, he or she will be able to force “inorganic” leads to appear faster at the right moment.
Expand your service line and increase your price. This may seem obvious, but the sooner and faster you enter the market with more exclusive products and prices, the sooner you move from “tools” to “solutions”, the more valuable each individual lead will become. So even if there is no growth in leads, the revenue per lead will still increase.
Start implementing outbound marketing early. Outbound marketing done right can, at a minimum, serve as a safety net, a source of additional revenue. It takes time to see the impact of these marketing strategies: sales cycles will be at least twice as long as inbound marketing. If you wait too long, there won’t be enough time for Outbound to break through the lead plateau.
Hire a sales director as soon as you see the first hint of big success. He or she will support Outbound, improve processes, and help increase revenue per customer. Even in a sluggish period, a talented manager can double Revenue Per Lead — and you will no longer have to deal with lead plateaus in your MRR.
With the help of content marketing, PR, virality, etc., you start to receive a small but stable influx of organic leads: 10, 20, 50 per month, etc. This influx is constant. It is not enough, but it is there, and the monthly figures are growing.
The number of leads increases each month, and then… “organic” leads stop growing. The monthly numbers level off.
The good news is that the problem usually goes away on its own. Eventually, you build a mini-brand, at least in your tiny marketing niche, and then repeat business, referrals, word of mouth, etc. kick in. The brand starts building itself.
Brand + Happy Customers = Marketing Magic
However, before entering this phase, it is rare to see clear monthly lead growth. Typically, the organic lead plateau occurs at an ARR of $1 million to $10 million. And the lower your Net Promoter Score (NPS) is, the less repeat business you get, the longer it will take you to get out of this rut.
So what to do? First, expect this to happen. Keep in mind that japan phone number data once you start getting good, once you have the first chance of big success, that $1-1.5 million ARR… the free magical influx of organic leads will still come, but there will be no more growth.
The best SaaS companies don’t let lead plateaus hinder their MRR growth . How do they do this? Here are some methods you can apply:
As soon as it makes sense, hire a CMO or head of demand generation. This is around $20K MRR. $1-2M ARR is too late. A new person won’t be able to increase the number of new leads if you’ve already entered the plateau phase. On the contrary, if you hire such a person earlier, he or she will be able to force “inorganic” leads to appear faster at the right moment.
Expand your service line and increase your price. This may seem obvious, but the sooner and faster you enter the market with more exclusive products and prices, the sooner you move from “tools” to “solutions”, the more valuable each individual lead will become. So even if there is no growth in leads, the revenue per lead will still increase.
Start implementing outbound marketing early. Outbound marketing done right can, at a minimum, serve as a safety net, a source of additional revenue. It takes time to see the impact of these marketing strategies: sales cycles will be at least twice as long as inbound marketing. If you wait too long, there won’t be enough time for Outbound to break through the lead plateau.
Hire a sales director as soon as you see the first hint of big success. He or she will support Outbound, improve processes, and help increase revenue per customer. Even in a sluggish period, a talented manager can double Revenue Per Lead — and you will no longer have to deal with lead plateaus in your MRR.