In the dynamic landscape of Product-Led Growth (PLG) companies, the potential for sales success lies in a unique blend of strategic focus and data-driven insight. For sales teams operating in this environment, five key strategies can play a pivotal role in their journey towards success.
Prioritizing the Right Accounts
With a large customer base of free or minimally paying users, it's crucial for sales reps to prioritize their focus. Among the hundreds of accounts assigned to them, the question remains: which ones hold the most promise?
The answer lies in product engagement and adoption. By evaluating how each account uses your product and layering this with firmographic account-level criteria, you can score each account based on its propensity to convert into a paying account. This approach simplifies the task for sales reps, allowing them to navigate their CRM with a clear understanding of each account's purchasing potential.
Identifying the Right Contacts
The traditional sales model often prioritizes contacts based on their title. However, for PLG companies with a vast number of end-users, the game changes. These users can provide invaluable insights into how an account is deriving value from a product.
To help sales reps prioritize the right contacts within an account, consider two sets of criteria. The traditional factors such as title, role, and persona, and the product usage insights from champion users. These 'hero' users can provide rich insights into the value derived from the product, aiding more meaningful conversations with decision-makers.
Delivering Key Product Usage Insights
For sales reps to excel in their roles, they need to have crucial product usage insights at their fingertips. And this shouldn't require a PhD in data science! Imagine a sales rep showing up to a meeting, unaware of the contact's title or job function. Or, in the PLG context, unaware of how the product is being used. They'd seem ill-prepared, to say the least.
To prevent this, consider providing your sales reps with a text-based dossier that proactively delivers product usage insights, preparing them for thoughtful, informed conversations.
Deep Product Training for Sales Reps
For PLG companies, sales reps need a deep understanding of the product they're selling. If they rely solely on sales engineers, they'll struggle to play the role of a trusted advisor. Especially since PLG buyers often have a deeper knowledge of the product than traditional executive buyers.
To effectively cater to this new breed of buyers, sales reps must have extensive product knowledge and a clear understanding of its unique advantages over alternatives.
Timely Engagement with Contacts
Knowing when to reach out to a contact is just as important as knowing who to reach out to. For instance, engaging a user after a positive product experience is likely to yield better results than reaching out after a negative customer support encounter.
Automating the process of identifying 'aha moments' for accounts and key contacts can lead to more productive engagements. Proactively alerting sales reps at these moments can help them engage contacts when they're in a positive mindset about your product.
By incorporating these strategies, PLG companies can empower their sales teams, fostering an environment that nurtures success and sustainable growth. After all, sales success in the PLG arena is not just about making a sale; it's about understanding the value your product offers and conveying it effectively to potential buyers.