The Truth About Sagetap
If you’ve stumbled upon this post, then I assume you’ve heard of Sagetap and are considering using them.
One of my clients was using Sagetap for just over two months and while they are getting a lot of “leads”, they don’t close any of them.
I made the analogy of Innuits living in Northern Canada – one of the ways they secure food is by burying a knife in the ice with the blade facing up. They then put a little piece of meat on the blade, and a wolf comes along, takes the meat and licks the blade, cutting its tongue. All this blood starts pouring out and the wolf thinks it’s getting a really good meal so it keeps licking. The wolf’s tongue is so cold and numb to the pain that it doesn’t realize that every lick is actually cutting itself. Eventually, the wolf bleeds out, and dies.
Now, this company I’ve been advising hasn’t been able to get much traction from their previous marketing efforts. So to them, Sagetap feels like they are making progress – they are getting a lot of “leads”, so for them, it feels good to finally talk to people and demo their product. Much like the wolf, it feels like they are getting something, but they’re not. They are unknowingly just bleeding themselves dry until they too eventually die.
They have had over 30 meetings, all averaging around $500 per meeting, so it’s not cheap. I said to them, even if they land the 31st call, what is our CAC and CAC payback? The economics don’t make sense. Last month, they spent $15k on Sagetap, so if they don’t convert at a higher rate, then there’s not enough margin to cover the CAC.
I’ll use another analogy – Sagetap feels a bit like gambling, which is highly addictive. Every day, they receive several emails from companies wanting to “meet” with them, so it feels like they are playing slots. They spend $500 to pull the lever and often the calls go really well so it feels as though they are getting close to hitting the lucky three gold chests, aka landing a new client. But this is why gambling and Sagetap are both addictive. They will get two gold chests in a row and then become excited and keep playing.
They think, “Maybe the next pull is where we will get lucky!”
They think, “Maybe the next pull is where we will get lucky!”
Here’s the truth about Sagetap, which I didn’t realize when we first signed up – the “buyers” are paid to be on the calls. I used to think companies such as my client (the sellers) put up their listings. Other companies (the buyers) who are in need of a solution come along and discover companies like my client and require to book meetings.
This is not what’s happening.
Sagetap is a matchmaking service that only makes money when meetings are booked. So they manipulate the sellers into thinking there’s all this interest just waiting to be scooped up. They don’t care about the outcome of these meetings.
So what they are actually doing is going to company A and telling them, “Hey, this company B over there has this great product or service, would you want to meet with them? If you accept, we’ll pay you $300.”
Company A agrees because they are receiving a cash incentive.
So what they are actually doing is going to company A and telling them, “Hey, this company B over there has this great product or service, would you want to meet with them? If you accept, we’ll pay you $300.”
Company A agrees because they are receiving a cash incentive.
Then Sagetap emails company B and says, “Hey, we found this company A over there who is really interested in seeing your product or service. If you think they could be a good fit, give us $500 and we’ll introduce you.”
It seems as though the buyer has genuine interest and purchase intent, when they don’t. They are only there to sit through demos and get paid. How do I know this? I’ve met “buyers” and this is what they’ve told me.
Sagetap themselves even state that they are not a business platform, rather they are a platform for getting feedback. But then they play it like they are a business platform. So they play both sides.
Frankly, my client has had enough feedback. I guess this is why they call themselves Sagetap, because they want to keep the faucet running and tap you of all your money.
Frankly, my client has had enough feedback. I guess this is why they call themselves Sagetap, because they want to keep the faucet running and tap you of all your money.
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