between the change tides of the economy and preferences for digital shopping, SaaS companies are under enormous pressure. Many of these companies understand that 80% of their interactions with shoppers occur on digital channels. At the same time, they need drive profitability to meet investor expectations.
The question is: how do you appease customers who want self-service while accelerating profitable growth?
El product led growth (PLG) is a successful strategy, many companies will complement these efforts with the sales driven growth (SLG), or a business sales move, to move up a category or enter a specific customer segment. With the right go-to-market (GTM) architecture and effective use of data, companies can take full advantage of both strategies to accelerate revenue growth.
When does it make sense to complement PLG with SLG?
Companies typically follow three patterns when it comes to their GTM approach:
- Product-engineered: Focus on the user and their experience with the product as the main path to revenue.
- sales led: Take advantage of traditional marketing and sales methods to reach the buyer or economic decision maker. This approach can be supported by selected PLG techniques to boost user defense.
- Hybrid: Combining the best of both worlds, with PLG techniques building awareness and making inroads into prospect accounts, and sales activities generate the lion's share of revenue.
With PLG, the product must have an impact on the user, and quickly. After all, the product is the primary vehicle for user acquisition, retention, and expansion. While PLG works best for products with a certain level of virality, in many cases you don't have to choose between SLG and PLG.
As an example, the sales team at Calendly he often talks with clients about how we can help scale the platform to create an even deeper impact within their organizations. “We follow a hybrid GTM approach, where PLG provides a critical access point to prospect accounts and sales drive company expansion and revenue. While PLG feeds the funnel, sales go to end users with influential titles within the core use case we serve (e.g. VP of Sales), where we can drive the most value and business results.”
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