PLG please meet PLS

When revenue is at the forefront, running a PLG is particularly challenging for early stage companies. PLG takes time… the AHA moment, self-onboarding, conversion usage, retention, expansion.. so many details, so many experiments, huge investments in product, sometimes lean isn’t enough, 𝐢𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. When you are scaling, the idea of full self-serve onboarding, services, pre-sales, etc (#plg ) makes sense, but it may not be the best strategy right away (or even always). It is for this reason that early stage startups that are focusing on PLG should consider PLG’s first cousin, PLS ( Product led sales), 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐋𝐆 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. PLS means that the use of the product precedes the sales process. The term “use” does not mean conversion into a paying customer, but someone who has started using the product and hopefully understands the value it offers. When implementing product-led sales, it is crucial to determine whether your LTV is high enough to support both self-service and sales motion. As a PLS salesperson, you should be able to connect with your customers at the right time, optimally when they reach a key milestone in the product. Focused on getting them to the “aha moment” first with the product and environment they were already familiar with, then to a paid conversion. Another important aspect of PLS is that ideally sales approach and focus on the best leads based on several relevant parameters such product usage, engagement, demographic info etc. These data points are often stuck in silos, so several companies are trying to solve the problem by developing PLG CRMs such as 🔮 Pocus, Variance, Correlated etc By taking educated and calculated shortcuts to speed up the usage / conversion funnel without waiting for too many related features, PLS can increase customer engagement. In addition, optimizing the sales activity with the product growth can increase the average revenue per customer (ARPC), giving that the sales person is able to optimize the process, increasing your conversion rate and hopefully reducing churn. 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐋𝐆 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬, and that self-serve is not synonymous with PLG, allows you to focus on the best fit G2M that will optimize your short- and long-term objectives, whether you call it PLS or FPLG (flexible PLG :)). Taking this approach will allow you to focus on unlocking your growth potential 🚀#growth # #startups #pls

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.