🎙️ Hey there, SaaSpreneurs!🎙️

Ben here, and in our latest episode, we're diving into the crucial differences between tech support and customer success.

🛠️💼 In early-stage SaaS, it's common for teams to wear multiple hats, especially in the cost of goods sold (COGS) area. I'll break down the primary responsibilities of tech support, such as handling inbound customer inquiries and bug reports, and contrast it with the role of customer success, which focuses on product adoption and the customer journey without engaging in sales. 📈

Ready to scale your business with data? Join 1,000+ others who have enrolled in my SaaS Metrics Foundation training program.

Make sure you check out the other amazing SaaS events that are coming up.

You can also listen to this episode here.

📓Key Concepts to Learn💡

1. Tech Support 🛠️:
   - Tech support is a department that handles inbound requests from customers. 📞
   - They handle questions about using your application and take those pesky bug reports. 🐛
   - If the tech support team can't resolve a bug issue, they escalate it to the development department. 🆙

2. Customer Success 🤝:
   - Customer success focuses on product adoption and guiding the customer journey. 🗺️
   - Unlike tech support, they don't handle "how-to" questions or bug fixes. ❌
   - The main goal of customer success is ensuring customers successfully use and adopt the product. ✅They don’t sell (to be in COGS), but they do find leads.

3. Onboarding 🚀:
   - Onboarding is the process of setting up and configuring the product for new customers. 🆕
   - In early-stage SaaS companies, the onboarding function may be handled by either tech support or customer success, depending on the complexity and requirements. 🤔Eventually, you create a formal Professional Services org that handles the onboarding and training of your customers.

4. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) vs. Operating Expenses (Opex) 💰:
   - COGS includes expenses directly related to the product or service delivery, such as tech support, customer success, and DevOps. 📦
   - Opex includes expenses include R&D, sales and marketing, and G&A. 📈
   - It's crucial for early-stage SaaS companies to accurately categorize expenses as COGS or Opex to calculate gross profit correctly. 📊

5. Specialization of Roles 🧑‍💼:
   - As a SaaS company grows, roles within the organization become more specialized and refined. 🌱
   - In the early stages, employees may wear multiple hats and span multiple departments. 🎩
   - Over time, assigning headcount to specific departments becomes easier than having them span multiple areas. 👥

6. Revenue Stream Margins 💸:
   - As the company matures, it becomes important to calculate margins by revenue stream. 📉
   - To accurately calculate revenue stream margins, having a well-defined COGS and correctly coded expenses is essential. 📝

Understanding these key concepts will help organize and structure a SaaS company's various departments and roles, leading to better financial management and decision-making. 💡🚀

Ready to supercharge your SaaS business? Join Ben’s SaaS community with over 7,000 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!

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
YouTube