I'm sitting on an island, sipping a fruity, umbrella-laden drink.  I have a mobile device and I get an SMS message every time another 100 sales orders roll in for my SaaS software.  Ding, another 100.  Ding, another 100.  Provisioning is automated.  Customers convert from trial to paying subscription without a blink of the eye.  It's just that easy.

Except it's not.  I'm sitting at my desk crunching numbers wondering how to squeeze every sale out of the finite chunk of visitors our software saw this week.  I thought SaaS was gonna be easier?  Customers search (we've got Google PPC running), find us, try it and buy it, right?  Right?  Unfortunately no.

The truth is, now more than ever, in a world of infinite choice, customers may very well need a 'high tough, low-tech' approach to sales.  We've found the following at some of our service provider clients:

1.  Order abandonment rates drop significantly when we remove the system complexity, make the 'order form' nothing more than a simple web form, and then do the back-end order entry manually with a sales team.  Technology actually creates a simple way for customers to say 'yes' (clicking on the web-based Order Now button), but also creates barriers when they get bored or angry and quit before completing the process.

2.  Customer conversions double and triple when they get a phone call reminding them that they're in the midst of a SaaS trial, and that we'd like their business.  The simple, low-tech act of 'reaching out' to a customer in a high-touch fashion, even an inexpensive canned support call, can be the difference in sales results.

So for all the technology marvels that SaaS, online provisioning, multi-tenancy and more bring to the table, don't forget that in business, people STILL buy from people.  Whether that means simply sending an e-mail with a picture of your support lead (Call me anytime!), or an actual mid-trial phone call, don't forget the human, low-tech touch.