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4 Insights from Product-Led Growth Experts -

Sep 4, 2023

Through conversations that I've had with many customers I've noticed this is an area many developers would like to improve.

  • Do you need to invest in the sales staff?
  • Do you need to improve your product in order to boost conversions your strategy of growth driven by the product?
  • What can I do to make sales-led and product-led growth work together?

Whatever your approach the following tips and tricks will assist you in coordinating both your efforts in the areas of product and sales as well as improve your performance by doing so.

1. Self-Service and Sales-Led Shouldn't Be Dissociated

The growth of a product is built on the capability of consumers to experiment with items on their own but this doesn't mean you must be totally in control of the purchase process.

According to Stacey Epstein, CMO of Freshworks explained, "Even though they may take the time to go through the product trial and ultimately decide they want to buy it, you still might need sales to assist in getting an increase in buy-in from the top buyer in the organization."

Viviana Faga, who is soon to become general partner of Felicis Ventures, recommends having product-specific triggers set in place so that sales personnel are informed of the need to take action.

When Faga worked as VP of Marketing for Yammer Her team developed what she described as an early warning system that would notify them when someone had ceased from using the service. "We could tell: "Are customers using the app?'" she said. Her team can decide to take action on the basis of those insights.

2. Make the Product a Sales Rep

A rep-assisted sales is where the sales rep leads the buyer through the products. If you are using a self-serve system, you need the same guidance that is built into the product.

As Epstein stated, "Now they're in the trial, what features am I going to expose at which point? I don't want to overwhelm the jury, but I do want to show them value. Am I giving them cues along the way? How am I leading them through the process in order to make them a paid customer?"

"You've need to have your process from trial to conversion down," she added. "It's vital in the context of product-driven growth."

3. Product and Sales Should Share Ownership for Each Sale

With two conversion paths It's not uncommon for the product as well as sales departments to get more competitive, or even argue over who is responsible to win. This could be detrimental.

Sara Varni the CMO of Twilio, said, "When you're thinking about the kind of investment you'll have to make in product-led growth take a look at the ownership structure, and it can't just be one person who needs to get up in the morning and start thinking about buying."

"I consider it essential to share a common measurement for your products and team's growth," she added.

4. You must be prepared to handle things differently

In the end, growth driven by products is a different strategy in order to achieve growth that is that is driven by the traditional sales team.

Carilu Dietrich who was the previous Head of Corporate Marketing at Atlassian The company said that "Product-led expansion requires a testing approach that's quite different from the sales methodology approach."

"In the sales model it is essential to have an approach and consistency, and a sales territory and you have the structure and stability," he added. "In product-led growth there is the possibility of adding things into and out of the product at any time, or change your journeys, and then switch the focus of your business, and I believe that these differing mindsets could be a challenge."