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Arkon GroupIndustry perspective

Software & Platforms: price by dependence, sell where customers grow, enter one market at a time

In B2B software the commercial gains come from pricing to how deeply customers rely on you, spending sales time where accounts can expand, and entering new markets one tightly scoped step at a time.

Arkon Group perspective · updated 10 October 2026

Horizontal SaaS, vertical SaaS, embedded and OEM software, usage-based and marketplace businesses differ in how they charge and sell. The commercial disciplines that move them are largely the same. Price follows how much customers depend on the product, not a single rate card. One discount policy replaces deal-by-deal improvisation. Sales effort goes where existing customers can grow, and routine renewals become self-service. Expansion into a new country, size band or vertical is scoped narrowly and proved with references before it is scaled. Each of these has a clear picture of what good looks like and a specific condition under which it does not apply. Knowing that condition is what separates a sound move from an expensive one.

Trend

Price follows dependence, and every package needs one reason to exist

The strongest pricing in software charges by how customers use the product: seats and workflows in horizontal SaaS, royalties scaled to how much a device maker relies on you in embedded software, and seller fees scaled to how much a seller depends on the platform in a marketplace. The test is simple. Each package should be bought for one reason a customer can name. Revenue per customer should rise where use is deep. The win rate on competed deals should rise, not fall.

  • Good: every package maps to one nameable buying reason, with no bundles bought out of confusion.
  • Good: revenue per customer climbs in the accounts that use the product most heavily.
  • Watch: if competed deals are lost on features rather than price, repackaging will not fix it. The gap sits in the product, and that is where the effort belongs.

Framework

Three pricing disciplines recover revenue already being given away

Beyond packaging, three disciplines tighten what customers actually pay. None needs a new product. Each needs a written rule and the will to apply it.

  • One discount policy. Net price against list stays narrow within each deal size, and every exception is approved with a reason. If one customer dominates revenue, it is handled on its own terms and the bands apply to everyone else.
  • Paid onboarding and premium support, or porting and long-term support in OEM, or seller set-up in marketplaces. Onboarding is paid on most new contracts and a share of customers buy premium support, with no fall in the win rate. If competitors give onboarding away in a price war, the fee moves into the package price rather than disappearing.
  • A yearly price rise in every contract. The clause sits in every contract and the rise is applied on the anniversary without a negotiation, with churn unchanged. Customers on multi-year fixed prices wait for their renewal.

Trend

Customers who depend on you buy proof, not promises

For the accounts that rely on the product to run their operations, the winning go-to-market is a small number of written offers. Each offer carries a proof and a price logic. The richer offer is written for the segments that value continuity, and the leaner offer is cheaper to serve. Routes to market are measured, not assumed: online, resellers, industry associations and partners, and in embedded software, chip suppliers.

  • Good: the win rate rises on the segments the richer offer is written for, and cost to serve falls where the offer is lean.
  • Good: new revenue is reported by source every month, partner margin is paid only on revenue the partner brought, and the deep-use customers are covered by your own team.
  • Watch: if losses are head-to-head on features rather than continuity, the richer offer must prove performance, not service.
  • Watch: if the product cannot be started without help, online buying brings sign-ups that do not stay.

So what

Put sellers on expansion and let customers handle routine renewals

The most expensive resource in a software business is sales time spent on accounts that will not grow. The fix has two halves. First, report growth from existing customers as its own number and direct sellers toward it. In OEM that means the next products of the makers you already ship with. Second, move routine renewals, user and site changes, and royalty reports to self-service. That frees account time for the customers who need a person.

  • Good: demos per win fall, and revenue per sales hour rises.
  • Good: most renewals and user changes are made by customers themselves.
  • Watch: if deals are small and bought online, tighter qualification frees little sales time, and the case rests on expansion.
  • Watch: if renewals are where churn is caught, the largest customers keep a person at renewal.

Framework

Enter new markets in one narrow step, and prove it before scaling

Software firms usually expand in one of four ways: a new country, customers' subsidiaries abroad, a new customer size band, or a new vertical. Each succeeds when it is scoped tightly and judged on early proof.

  • A new country: one country localised, a reseller signed and three references in the first year, then new customers every quarter. If trials stall on a local feature the product lacks, localisation was scoped too narrowly.
  • Customers' subsidiaries abroad: named group roll-outs in the pipeline, with expansion revenue growing faster than new-customer revenue. If subsidiaries choose their own systems, the group sponsor is not the real buyer.
  • A new size band: a packaged plan built for the band, sold at the band's own price, with first customers within a year. If the new band churns faster, the package is incomplete. Fix it before scaling the sales effort.
  • A new vertical: one vertical with two references in a year, then a growing share of new recurring revenue. If the vertical needs a different product rather than a few features, it is a product launch, not a market entry.

How Arkon helps

Where Arkon fits

Pricing Excellence tests how your packages, discounts, service fees and annual rises compare with what good looks like for your model, whether subscription, royalty, usage or seller fees. It shows where revenue is leaking. Go-to-Market sets out the written offers, the routes to market and the split between seller time and self-service that fit your customers, and tracks the measures that show whether they are working. Market Entry weighs the next country, size band, vertical or group roll-out against the conditions that decide success, so you scope the step correctly before you commit sales capacity. All three are kept current monthly as your results and markets move.