Common misconceptions about Product-led growth
It’s no secret that product-led growth strategies, abbreviated PLG, are all the rage right now. As a result of PLG’s go-to-market models, B2B sales have been permanently altered, making it an essential growth leader for modern companies. However, common misconceptions about PLG encourage growth leaders to dismiss it as a fad.
PLG misconceptions cost businesses who fail to understand the marketing and sales significance of product-led strategy. We’ve narrowed down a few of these common myths so you know why they cost you, and how to avoid them.
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Myth 1: You won’t need a sales team
Product-led growth marketing is the strategic arm of product-led companies. “Product-led” means that the company uses its resources to hone the power and appeal of the product it offers so that it can convert sales on its own merits.
A product-led growth model still needs a sales team because sales teams can help identify key customers, wrote Forbes Council Member Vanessa Dreifuss.
Myth 2: Your buyers will be entirely self-sufficient
While a solid product-led growth model will seek ways to empower the self-sufficiency of the user experience, the buyer won’t be entirely self-sufficient.
The PLG growth go-to-market enables customers to be highly self-sufficient but does eliminate the need for customer support. Customer experience support teams measure their success in their response time to customers, and the efficient support of the customer’s voice.
Myth 3: PLG will drive revenue by itself
PLG is often mistaken for a revenue-driving strategy by itself. Contrary to this belief, Darrow explained that PLG streamlines the potential conversion from free demos to paid subscriptions. PLG by itself doesn’t drive revenue or target the right user.
Targeting the best users and closing sales requires smart use of KPI data and the combined effort of team support, which we’ll get into more below.
Myth 4: You won’t need marketing
A PLG-led growth model still needs a marketing push. Believing that PLG can take care of itself without any push from marketing costs teams because they rely too broadly on PLG, and essentially don’t understand the outcomes PLG can generate. The basic outcomes from PLG are: 1) Acquisition and 2) Conversions.
PLG provides a pipeline to draw in customers and streamline their product-interaction process. The same rules of marketing that apply to previous growth model leaders still apply to PLG because marketing drives brand awareness and other outcomes that boost PLG’s efficiency.
Go-to-market research finds that PLG works best when it is aligned with the revenue marketing team efforts.
Myth 5: Self-service is the only buying experience customers want
While it’s true that the modern buyer wants the convenience of self-service, they still need help with sales questions sometimes. The sales teams help to make products better by addressing customer needs.
In the same way that PLG speeds up the buyer’s journey process, sales teams accelerate closing deals. Sales teams in a PLG supportive role can “supercharge” sales growth.
How To Implement PLG The Right Way
You can take the next step towards an informed PLG implementation by dispelling common misconceptions. Here’s where Coho comes in. Our platform helps you target and optimize key KPIs and orchestrate your customer journey flow.
With Coho’s platform, teams can apply data to their PLG growth model, generating the correct hand-in-glove use of team support for the streamlined user journey.
Streamlined data, focusing on key customer retention paths, support the tactical implementation of PLG. By honing in on focal points in the data, a team can eliminate redundant data gathering and focus on data streamlining their revenue funnels.
Want to learn more? Contact us today.
