<div class="hash-anchor" id="section-1"></div>
What is deal desk?
A Deal Desk is a team that helps manage complex sales deals in a B2B SaaS business. A Deal Desk is also a place where all relevant stakeholders – sales, finance, product, legal, success, and others – can discuss and work through deals, usually non-standard ones.
<div class="hash-anchor" id="section-2"></div>
Why do I need a deal desk?
The decision to buy a Deal Desk depends on the complexity of your sales process, the number of deals you are managing, and the level of cross-functional coordination required. Here are a few factors to consider when deciding whether to buy a Deal Desk for your B2B SaaS business:
- Complexity of deals: If your business is selling complex deals that involve multiple products or services, customizations, or long sales cycles, a Deal Desk can help manage these deals. The Deal Desk can ensure that all aspects of the deal are considered, such as pricing, terms and conditions, and legal requirements.
- Deal volume: If your business is managing a high volume of deals, a Deal Desk can help prioritize deals and ensure that the most valuable deals are getting the attention they need. The Deal Desk can evaluate the likelihood of closing a deal and the potential revenue it will generate, ensuring that the sales team is focusing their efforts on the most valuable deals.
- Cross-functional coordination: If your sales process involves coordination with other internal teams, such as legal, finance, and product management, a Deal Desk can help coordinate these efforts. The Deal Desk can act as a central point of contact for these teams, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and that the deal moves forward smoothly.
- Revenue optimization: A Deal Desk can help optimize revenue by identifying upsell and cross-sell opportunities. The Deal Desk can analyze data on past deals and identify opportunities for the sales team to sell additional products or services to existing customers.
- Risk management: A Deal Desk can help manage risk associated with complex deals. The Deal Desk can ensure that legal requirements are met, pricing is appropriate, and contract terms are favorable to the business.
<div class="hash-anchor" id="section-3"></div>
What types of businesses use a deal desk in their sales process?
Deal desks are commonly used by B2B (business-to-business) companies that sell complex deals or solutions. Here are some examples of businesses that commonly use deal desks in their sales process:
- Enterprise software companies: Companies that sell complex software solutions to large enterprise customers often use deal desks to manage the sales process. These deals can involve multiple products or services, customizations, and long sales cycles.
- Professional services firms: Consulting firms and other professional services firms often use deal desks to manage the sales process for large engagements. These deals can involve custom pricing, complex legal requirements, and coordination with other internal teams.
- Telecommunications companies: Telecommunications companies that sell large contracts for services such as voice and data often use deal desks to manage the sales process. These deals can involve complex pricing structures, custom contract terms, and coordination with other internal teams.
- Financial services companies: Financial services companies that sell complex financial products or services, such as insurance or investment management, often use deal desks to manage the sales process. These deals can involve complex legal requirements, custom pricing, and coordination with other internal teams.
- Manufacturing companies: Manufacturing companies that sell complex products, such as machinery or equipment, often use deal desks to manage the sales process. These deals can involve custom pricing, coordination with other internal teams, and long sales cycles.
<div class="hash-anchor" id="section-4"></div>
How do I speed up my deal desk for a B2B SaaS business?
Speeding up the deal desk process for a B2B SaaS business is essential to closing deals more quickly and improving the overall customer experience. Here are some steps you can take to make your deal desk more efficient:
- Standardize processes and documentation: Develop a consistent process for handling deals and create standard templates for contracts, proposals, and other documentation. This helps reduce time spent on creating and revising documents, ensuring faster turnaround times.
- Implement a deal desk software: Use a deal desk or contract management software to automate tasks, track deal progress, and store important documents. This can help streamline processes, reduce manual work, and keep all relevant information in one place.
- Establish clear roles and responsibilities: Define roles for each team member involved in the deal process, such as sales, legal, finance, and operations. Ensure that everyone knows their responsibilities and whom to escalate issues to.
- Set guidelines and approval thresholds: Create guidelines and approval thresholds for discounts, customizations, and other deal-specific aspects. This will help reduce the number of back-and-forth discussions and speed up the approval process.
- Improve communication and collaboration: Encourage communication between departments involved in the deal process. Implement tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or other collaboration platforms to facilitate real-time communication and file sharing.
- Train your team: Ensure that your sales and other team members are well-versed in your products, services, and pricing structure. Provide ongoing training on negotiation strategies and deal structuring to help them close deals more efficiently.
- Monitor performance and track metrics: Keep an eye on key performance indicators (KPIs) like deal cycle time, average deal size, and approval time. Use these metrics to identify bottlenecks and make improvements as needed.
- Encourage knowledge sharing: Organize knowledge in one place related to building legal and commercial terms. Provide training to new employees and encourage best practices by referring to documentation when working cases in deal desk.
