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For revenue SaaS companies, tariffs are introducing uncertainty and chaos into programs designed to reliably find margins. Customers, in turn, might demand faster and more agile products.
For Conga and Salesloft, two SaaS companies that service sales teams in pipeline discovery and contract facilitation, driving results for clients and building product strategy around transient variables are at the top of an ever-growing to-do list.
Tweaking product to address tariffs
Geoff Webb, VP of product and portfolio marketing at Conga (clients include TouchSource and Exterro, among others), told Revenue Brew that in response to tariffs, clients are asking for technology that can be both adaptable to volatility and sustainable, which the company says it is currently building.
“You’ve got not only the impact of the tariffs today, but what does that mean for the longer-term contracts I'm signing right now? How do I manage that?” Webb said. “We’ve been co-building with them [clients] some very advanced technology to help them predict and manage exactly what that’s going to look like.”
The technology Conga is investing in is not only designed to address tariffs, but will also be able to adapt to volatility-inducing events like international trade wars, Webb said.
Product possibilities changing each day
Conga knows its customers want results faster, and AI is revolutionizing the advancements that it is enabling for revenue teams. What used to take months to build now takes just weeks with the help of AI, according to Conga Chief Product Officer Rohit Chhabra.
Conga’s product team is now able to account for complex requests much quicker, which becomes necessary in a tariff environment. Webb explained how Conga can now “instantly” write user stories based on the application, hand it over to engineering, who starts writing code, and now, voila, the company has created a starting point while talking to the customer.
“When tariffs are changing, what I can sell, where I can sell, how much I’m going to be able to charge, how much they’re going to be charged, etc., it becomes really difficult to manage the next level of that,” Webb said.
Communication is key
Salesloft CRO Mark Niemiec told Revenue Brew that before working on solutions, client outcomes need to be aligned.
For example, in initial client meetings where multiple stakeholders are involved, Niemiec will ask all parties about their desired outcomes, which often produces various answers. He talks through differing perspectives but doesn’t get into product solutions until all parties are aligned.
“We need to serve both masters in terms of both, ‘I need something that’s going to be precise and relevant to our business, but also something that’s going to be quick time to value that my reps are going to use.’ That’s honestly been the most eye-opening conversation for us, but also for our customers,” Niemiec said.
Niemiec said it has been important to find solutions that can predict the long-term impact of tariffs and position clients well for that future.
“It’s less about tariffs and more about, ‘hey, there’s some global disruption happening, whether it’s geopolitical or tariffs or other things, just get this inserted as fast as possible and get it in the hands of our sellers and our leaders.’”