🔥 PLG is broken

What binge-watching Netflix and PLG have in common.

Feb 25, 2023

5 years ago, Netflix could have had anything on its streaming service, you’d subscribe anyway.

The fact that you could binge-watch 5 seasons of Friends in one weekend was so revolutionary that it destroyed cable TV.

Now there are so many streaming services I wouldn’t be surprised if my dog, Lola 🐶 was subscribed to one.

Same thing is happening with PLG. We explore how to fight against the sea of sameness below.

Here’s what we’ll cover👇

🌎 PLG is broken: What you can do to stand out.

💰 How to grow enterprise accounts.

💯 7 best data-backed sales tips for 2023.

🚀 How Airmeet is shifting to a people-first GTM.

🎁 Downloadable cheat sheets, templates & freebies

How to run a perfect demo. Cheat sheet by Becc Holand
Free & ungated messaging course by Wynter & Olivine Marketing
20+ sales prospecting cheat sheets
Template: How to choose a Product-Led Sales platform.

🌎 PLG isn’t your superpower anymore

It’s table stakes. 5 to 10 years ago, SaaS companies leveraged PLG to beat their sales-led competitors. That can’t be your differentiation strategy anymore, as almost all market leaders (think Twillio, Calendly, Hubspot, Datadog) are product-led.

A few days back, Blake Bartlett laid out what he and the Openview team think can take your PLG motion from foundation to game-changer.

Source: Blake Bartlett

Product value ain’t cutting it: Although PLG primarily focuses on solving user pain, your product also needs to solve business pain in times of economic uncertainty and budget cuts. VPs and CROs need to see that your product will concretely help their bottom line. It’s an opportunity for sales enablement and product marketers to better articulate business ROI and for product to ship out features that favour business value.

Distribution needs to be both ways: You need self-serve AND sales assist. The overflow of tools that let you get started for free has resulted in lots of adoption, but minimal activation. Users might be successful but in single-player mode. They might not even be aware that you have a team plan or other features that can be utilized. Humans jumping in to help can change that, and Hubspot is a great example. Their SDRs onboard new users, drive feature adoption and identify qualified sales opps for AEs.

So with all that, here’s how to make sales-assist work internally.

💰 How to grow enterprise accounts

Companies are cutting costs, you know that. What you may not know is that expanding enterprise accounts is 100% doable if you know how to navigate it during uncertain times. Jamel Reimer shared 7 ways to expand enterprise accounts in 2023.

Source: CBS

1️⃣ Governance: Set up quarterly, semi-annual and annual sessions with decision-makers. 30% health check, 70% strategic, forward-looking brainstorming and planning.

2️⃣ HQ visit: Get customer execs, and LOB heads to your HQ. Intro several C-level execs, share non-public information about your roadmap, have them share strategic pains, etc.

3️⃣ Track key indicators of upsells/cross-sells:

High number of low-severity support tickets during onboarding has an 80% correlation to upsells.
A higher number of active users than the avg cohort shows a 96% chance of renewals.
High interactions through emails and showing up on QBRs has a strong correlation to upsells.
Customers attending at least one webinar per quarter show a likelihood of cross-sells.
ROE or Value words mentioned in emails or comments like G2 show a 50% likelihood to expand.
Champion getting promoted has a 44% correlation to upsells and cross-sells.

4️⃣ Champions: Large deals require champions. Double down on deepening relationships with them after land and expand deals.

5️⃣ Procurement: Finance-related teams have more power in 2023. Engage them early in your sales cycles. Confirm where budget will be allocated. Find how your solution adds value to those areas.

6️⃣ Sales/CS team up: Both these functions need to combine their skills. CS shines at delighting customers. Seller at growing deals. Merge both to expand accounts.

7️⃣ Drum up use cases for usage-based: If you sell usage-based products, go deep into existing customer teams to understand their upcoming projects.

💯 Sales reps: Follow the data

What would the sales world do without Gong? One of Gong’s top dogs, Brian LaManna, shared new data-backed tips for sellers in 2023. ⬇️

Source: Gong labs

Our favourites:

Buyers are spending 62% more time discussing price.

Deals are taking longer to close. 8% fewer deals close within the average sales cycle time.

Executives are more involved in the buying process. 17% of won deals had VPs in attendance compared to 11%.

Selling to multiple teams is more important than ever. Win rates for deals including three or more personas are 20% higher than deals with one persona involved.

🔑 takeaway: Tying business value to user value is paramount. Your self-serve acquisition will get prospects through the door. But sellers need to be able to build cases that align with executive goals.

💛 People-first

That’s Airmeet’s new motto. Shifting GTM from a company-first to a people-first approach. It seems to be paying off for them. Nick Bennet shares how they’re making the shift.

Source: peacock

PLG imposters look to improve their internal KPIs rather than elevate their customer’s experience. Whereas, a people-first GTM approach prioritizes the needs and values of your customers over your own organizational objectives.

Airmeet’s team is taking concrete steps 👇

1) All emails are from an actual human

2) No more stock photography

3) eBooks that have authors with bios

4) More conversational webinars and events

5) Sales emails that are personal and resonate

6) Website copy that speaks to you, not at you

7) Chatbots that seamlessly connect you with a human

8) Merch that people actually will wear and use

9) Making social media truly social

10) Responding to all reviews

11) Creating a network of thoughtful and engaging creators

12) Transparent pricing and plans

While PLG may involve sales less than the traditional way, that doesn't mean there's no human intervention. If customers don’t have a human POC when doing self-serve, humanizing the brand and product is more important than ever!

🎁 Cheat sheets, templates & freebies

How to run a perfect demo. Cheatsheet by Becc Holand
Free & ungated messaging course by Wynter & Olivine Marketing
20+ sales prospecting cheat sheets
Template: How to choose a Product-Led Sales platform.

📊 New PLG Data

PLG vs B2B finding & growth from PeerSignal

🎧 and 📺

How to personalize emails with product data
Most buyer personas suck
How to make your product job delightful
Why PLG is broken and how to fix it

🔥 Hot conversations

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