Let it go and learn from it…

Jason Lemkin very well-known SaaS / B2B growth expert — he was the founder/CEO at EchoSign, runs a successful SaaS VC fund, and produces the annual SaaStr conference. He has a massive online audience.

Not the guy that you want mad at you online.

A vendor recently acted in bad faith and Jason called them out on it in a very public way. A slow-motion-trainwreck (for the vendor) has played out on LinkedIn over the past few days.

The situation illustrates a fantastic case study in the right/wrong things to do when a customer / client wants out. Jason wrote a great summary here.

In my experience, most of these issues start in the sales process — both sides have good intentions and a client buys…but they’re not the right fit and they (or you) didn’t realize it until they’re already under contract and on-boarding. It is usually a process problem and usually your fault.

We’ve been on both sides of this at RevBoss — as a vendor and as a client. It is unpleasant for everyone.

As far as how to fix this, we put a lot of effort into undertstanding what a “good fit” client looks like for us. And committed to saying “no” to bad fit prospects early in the sales process, even when they really want to buy from us. (Which is easier said than done.)

This has been a hard muscle to develop, but it has been worth it — our retention rate is way, way up and we’re not scrambling to deliver for clients that are unlikely to get long-term value from what we do.

And when it just isn’t working, we do our best to let it go and learn from it.