If you’re in sales, then you know that the future is product-led. In this blog post, we’ll explore what the meaning of product-led sales and how it will change the way sales teams operate.
I remember when I first started out in sales. It was all about making cold calls and getting your foot in the door with potential customers.
But times have changed drastically since then.Nowadays, potential customers are doing their own research online before they even talk to a sales rep. They’re looking at reviews, comparing products side-by-side, and reading case studies to see which one is the best fit for them.
And as a result of this shift, product-led sales companies are beginning to emerge as leaders in the space. These companies focus on creating great products that sell themselves instead of relying on traditional methods like marketing or advertising campaigns
Product-Led Sales
A product-led sale is a sale in which the product is the primary driver of the sale. The product is the focus of the sale, and the salesperson’s job is to emphasize the features and benefits of the product that will appeal to the customer.
What is product-led growth?
Product-led growth is a term used to describe a company whose growth relies solely on product usage. This means that there is no sales touch involved and that in-product features and experiences are what drive customer acquisition, activation, and retention.
This means that no salesperson is involved in the call and that in product features and experiences are the focus.
Sharing, collaborating, and working together are the primary drivers of growth in today’s market. Click To Tweet
Product-led growth is a strategy where the user is led to the aha moment (meaningful experience with your product) in a self-service way (no interaction with sales).
Product-led growth is a business strategy where the primary focus is on delivering value to customers through the product itself, rather than through other channels such as marketing or sales. This approach is most commonly used for products that are not too complex and have an easy buying process. Product-led growth is relatively rare for products in the enterprise market.
Most products that companies sell to other businesses, like software, are self-serve.
Product-led growth is when a company creates a product that solves a problem.
Product-led growth is a type of business model where the product itself is used to generate new customers and grow the business. The product is designed to be so valuable and easy to use that it drives word-of-mouth marketing, which in turn leads to more customers and more growth. Some examples of product-led growth products are Webflow, Slack, Notion, Mailchimp, and Zoom.
What is sales-led growth?
The traditional method of selling software is through a salesperson, but this method is still effective for more complex products or when the target audience prefers it.
While a product-led approach means customers can start engaging with the product without any human contact, a Sales Led Growth strategy focuses on building customer relationships.
This also means that your customers can only buy and use your products after interacting with your salespeople.
In a product-led venture, free trials and getting started are the primary call to action. In a business-to-business (B2B) environment, requesting demos and speaking to sales are the more common CTA’s.
The objective is to have a conversation with the potential customer, and show them the value of your product in face-to-face meetings.
Only after a customer has had at least one meeting with you, and you’ve signed them up, can they truly interact with your product. A designated account or client representative will help you with implementation and go live.
What is a hybrid model?
The hybrid model means that both strategies are used in parallel. As said above, product-led and sales-led do not exclude each other, they can work well together. Investing in both product-led and sales-led strategies from the start can help you create a sustainable and successful business.
The Hybrid Model means using both sales- and product-based marketing in conjunction. Product- and Sales-Leads do not contradict each other, they can work in tandem.
If you’re looking to expand your business, a hybrid model makes sense. By targeting both bigger and smaller accounts, you can reach a wider range of potential customers. This way, you can continue to grow your business while still providing value to your existing customer base.
Here is how most (well-known) startups have utilized both inbound marketing and outbound marketing strategies.
They tailor their offerings based on who the customer is. For example, they handle large, complex deals differently from smaller, simpler ones.
Product-led selling is for small to medium-sized businesses. Click To Tweet
A hybrid model is one that has two types of call to actions buttons on the website for specific customer profiles. This allows for a more customized experience for each individual, as well as providing different levels of support and guidance. Asking segmentation questions in the product onboarding can also help to create a more tailored journey for each customer.
They employ both methods at different points in the customer lifecycle. Most often, if a new user shows specific activity within the app, they will become a qualified lead and be contacted by a sales rep (or a product specialist).
When product-led and sales-led strategies are used in tandem, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the customer journey. By doing so, you can more effectively target and engage potential leads.
What are the characteristics of a product-led approach?
PLG is a fairly new concept, popularized recently by venture capital firm, OpenView. When a software startup chooses to use a product-led growth strategy, it means:
A product-led approach to acquiring new users relies on customer experience and product usage. This approach is used to keep existing customers and expand the user base.
Companies such as Calendly, Expensify, and Slack, and Dropbox, just to name a few, all use a product-led growth strategy.
Product-led Growth (PLG) is a strategy where businesses focus on building a great product that customers love. This allows them to reduce costs by automating sales and marketing.
A recent study found that 70% of online businesses fail due to subpar usability. In other words, users expect a great experience that “shows, not tells” when it comes to the products they purchase. This shift in how people use and buy software has been occurring over the last few years.
In the last couple of years, there has been a major shift in the way that people buy and use software products. A positive user experience that guides users towards experiencing value is much more important than it was before.
Are we really experiencing a “product-led” age? Or are we just witnessing a marketing shift?
In this article, we’ll go over how to record a call on your iPhone.
A product-led approach is one in which the product itself is the primary driver of growth. This is in contrast to sales-led or marketing-led approaches, where those functions are responsible for driving growth. There are a few key characteristics of a product-led approach:
The product must be compelling enough to drive adoption on its own. There must be a clear path to monetization.
The go-to-market strategy should be focused on education and enabling self-service. The company must have a deep understanding of its users and their needs.
Product-Led Growth (PLG) – Is it Right For Self-Served Products?
A product-led approach is an excellent way to create alignment across company teams, such as marketing, sales, customer success, engineering, and design. By working together towards a common goal, all team members can contribute to the success of the product.
Although it’s not a replacement for other roles, the Playbook Methodology is a great way to get sales and marketing to work together.
Product-led growth is most effective for products that are primarily self-service. This is because they cater to smaller businesses.
Product-led growth may not be the best option for products that are complex or have a complex buying process. A more traditional approach to growth may be necessary in these cases. The following graph depicts the three SaaS sales models:
The complexity of your sale process determines whether a predictive lead scoring model like Predictive Lead Generation (PLG) will work for your team.
Enterprise products are those which target large businesses, while those which focus on smaller businesses are in the self-serve and transaction space.
Product-Led Growth Companies Connect the Volume of User Engagement With Revenue
Product-led companies connect the level of engagement with their product with the number of sales they make. A value metric-based pricing strategy allows these companies to:
This type of pricing model is essential for product-led growth companies because it ensures that there is a direct correlation between the engagement of users and revenue.
“The value of a customer to your company should be easily visible, so that as the customer grows, so does the value.”.
For example, let’s look at how slack connects the value of its service with the revenue it generates.
Only pay for active users in your VOIQ account.
The fact that you are only charged for the users who are active in your account is fair. You pay for value and not for the usage. This ability to create a virality effect on a product level. The best way to show that the product is actually used.
To grow ARR by 230%, aligning the product with the customer value was key to the success of the company.
What are the next characteristics of a PLG company?
Product-Led SaaS Growth
Having a wide TOFU can help a SaaS business, but only if the UX is worthwhile.
39% of medium-sized businesses changed the app stacks they used between 2017-2018.
This means that users are unlikely to continue using your product if they do not derive immediate value from it.
A product-led growth strategy will help you expand your top of the funnel and get more users to try your product. The pricing model (freemium or free trial) acts as an acquisition model, which brings more users in.
According to Pat, founder of profitwell.com,
“Freemium is an acquisition model, not a revenue model.”.
By getting more people to come to your establishment, you can improve your product or service based on customer feedback.
Why the Hybrid Model is the Future of Saas
Many SLG companies have recently started using more self-service, low-friction methods to acquire customers, while more PGLs have started adding in more salespeople and processes for moving upmarket.
By combining product-led growth with sales-driven account management, software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies can reap the benefits of both approaches. Here’s how.
Companies that sell products often employ a number of different strategies in order to acquire, onboard, and retain their users.
Product-led companies are those that focus on their product first and foremost in order to acquire, onboard, and retain new users. This is done through tactics such as free trials, on-demand training, interactive guides, in-depth knowledge bases, community groups, and user forums. By putting the product at the forefront, these companies are able to provide a better overall experience that keeps users coming back.
While these tools are great for individual use, they won’t necessarily scale well if a company rolls them out to their entire organization. At some point, 1:1 training will be needed.
This is where sales reps can negotiate with customers on a custom plan that better fits their needs.
The hybrid model is the future of Saas because it offers support from the end-user to the enterprise level. This allows companies to capture greater market share and retain users over longer periods of time.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it’s evident that product-led sales are the future of selling. With customers doing more research online and wanting to see results before they talk to a sales rep, it’s important for companies to focus on creating great products.
Product-led companies are beginning to emerge as leaders in the space because they’re focused on meeting customer needs and providing value. If you want your company to be successful in the future, then you need to start focusing on product-led sales.
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