The Rebirth of Software as a Service

Traditional sales models focus on customer acquisition and the “funnel” or “pipeline” metrics that dominate talk about sales. But this approach falls short when applied to a recurring revenue business, where the customer life cycle looks more like a bowtie, not a funnel: In a subscription model, most revenue takes place outside the marketing funnel. Historically, many B2B markets were built on products with steep upfront costs and a business-development culture focused on buyers with sufficiently large budgets.