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📊 Mastering Fully Burdened Sales & Marketing Expenses! 💼🔍

Daily Tips on SaaS Finance and Metrics

Author

Anthony Guiller Robin
November 13, 2024

🎙️ Hey there, SaaSpreneurs!🎙️

Ben Murray here, your guide on this journey through the fascinating world of SaaS metrics. Welcome to another edition of SaaS Metrics School, where we tackle the essential questions that keep your SaaS business running smoothly and efficiently.

Ever wondered exactly what should be included in your sales and marketing expenses

This week's episode was inspired by a sharp question from one of my students in the SaaS Metrics Foundation course. It made me realize how critical it is to start with a rock-solid accounting foundation before diving into any metrics. Mistakes here can throw off all your calculations down the line!

And don’t forget about these great events!

Nov 19 | Time to build your 2025 revenue plan. Join me live as we tackle The Right Way to Build Your 2025 Revenue Forecast & Drivetrain Overview. Save your seat!

Dec 10 | As tech pricing models evolve, the quality of our revenue data is worsening. Join me live as we tackle how to Transform Finance Teams into Real-Time, AI-Powered Strategic Partners & FinQore Overview. Save your seat!

Dec 12 | Save the date! This one NPS trick will help you save at-risk revenue. I’m bringing in an NPS expert for this live webinar. Save the date here!

You can also listen to this episode here.

Accomplish More. Juggle Less.

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You take on more hours, juggle more deadlines, and wear more hats. You miss a ball game here and there. Come home late a few more nights. You spend a holiday or two in your inbox. And you tell yourself,

This season just requires more.

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đź““Key Concepts to Learnđź’ˇ

  1. Foundational Accounting Principles:

    • Emphasizing the importance of having a solid accounting foundation. Without it, your SaaS metrics might be entirely off. Start with your SaaS P&L (Profit and Loss Statement) and build from there. Your chart of accounts is key to the process!

  2. Fully Burdened Expenses:

    • Understanding that all costs attributable to specific cost centers (sales, marketing, G&A, R&D) should be fully reflected. This includes wages, taxes, benefits, commissions, bonus, travel, internet expenses, meals, software, etc.

    • Ensure that expenses follow the employee back to their cost center rather than dumping everything into G&A. This will allow for better management and efficiency over time.

  3. Splitting Sales from Marketing:

    • For private SaaS, it’s beneficial to separate sales from marketing in your P&L. This helps you forecast and evaluate these departments differently, given their distinct functions and expected outcomes.

  4. Correctly Calculating Metrics:

    • It’s important that we have fully burdened S&M expenses for accurate Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), CAC payback period, and Cost of Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). Incorrect allocations can distort your sales and marketing efficiency metrics. And lead to faulty decision-making!

Ready to supercharge your SaaS business? Join Ben’s SaaS community with over 6,000 members for exclusive content. Don't miss out — maximize your SaaS knowledge today!

If you found this episode helpful, make sure to tune in to future episodes of SaaS Metric School to broaden your knowledge of essential SaaS metrics and finance topics.

Got any burning questions or specific metrics you'd like us to cover?

Drop us a line, and we'll do our best to address them in upcoming episodes.

Until next time, keep hustling and measuring those metrics!

Best regards,


Ben Murray
Host of SaaS Metric School

P.S. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and share it with your SaaS business buddies. Together, let's conquer the world of SaaS metrics!

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