A Value first approach to GTM design
Why predictable sales growth is inextricable from strong product management
A few years ago, the adtech company I was working for acquired a SaaS business with a suite of additional management tools for our client base and, seemingly overnight, we started selling software.
I very quickly realised that re-training the sales team to sell software was the least of my worries (even though that in itself was a full time job). To hit our sales target, I needed to understand how to influence the product roadmap and align key messages from marketing, through sales, product and client success.
I recently took the click bait from Cullen Denny of Pavilion ‘Product-led growth isn’t going to save you in 2024’. Beyond the title, she basically means that there are no magic pills and that implementing PLG is costly and time consuming. Whilst I don’t disagree with those two points, I think it’s worth taking a step back to the founding principles of PLG before writing it off completely for the year (it is only April after all!).
The current state of the SaaS and tech markets requires even more focus than before, in addition to seamless internal alignment. Budgets everywhere are being slashed and with the rise of ever more AI and automation I’m seeing less and less personalised, genuine communications from sales teams all over the world.
If the entire exec team: from CEO to CRO to CTO, aren’t completely aligned, then after a while you will hit a wall and you’ll hit it fast.
This topic is near and dear to me because I’ve seen two weighty product-market fit failures in my career and had to learn from them quickly in order to help the product & company survive in those markets after investing. A great sales strategy will take you a good deal of the way, maybe even a few million in ARR of the way, but if the entire exec team: from CEO to CRO to CTO, etc. aren’t completely aligned, then after a while you will hit a wall and you’ll hit it even faster in the current climate.
To PLG or not to PLG?
The issue with labelling your strategy something like PLG is that it can create a false sense of security, a magic pill approach if you will. For me, correctly deploying a GTM methodology is all about alignment and breaking down silos.
The challenge is that no matter where you are in your business journey, left unchecked, the organisation will default to bureaucracy. To quote Shane Parrish: “It doesn't take long for 3 priorities to become 10 [or] for 2 people in a meeting to become 8. It doesn't take long to move from people making decisions to committees.”
So whether you're fighting a lack of focus/too many priorities or questioning your product-market fit, I believe PLG in combination with the jobs-to-be-done framework and some common sense can absolutely lay the foundation for revenue growth and scaling in 2024 by focusing all teams behind a crystal clear objective.
The challenge is that no matter where you are in your business journey, left unchecked, the organisation will default to bureaucracy.
My takeaway from all this: value-first is even more important when there are less people (with a tighter budget) to buy what you’re selling.
Hyper simplified PLG and JTBD in 3 bullets
In case you’re not very familiar with PLG, you can read the Wes Bush book online for free here and you can get a summary of the jobs-to-be-done framework here.
The TL;DR:
Acquiring clients is expensive (and becoming more so). Allowing users to experience value in your product first, through a Free Trial or a Freemium model, can help you scale sales without investing in an army of BDRs, AEs, etc.
In other words, lead with value and sales will follow; use your own product to pre-qualify leads.
Understanding your ICP’s jobs-to-be-done and the desired outcomes of those jobs is crucial because it will ensure all your teams are working together through that lens.
i.e. instead of your product team working on features, they’ll work on solutions to the jobs-to-be-done. Same goes for your sales team.
Align your marketing and sales messaging around JTBD and you have a clear and compelling GTM strategy that plays to the business pain of not getting those jobs done.
If you combine the two points above you’ll also get better at predicting “when people will have a job-to-be-done, which will then lead them to your product. It will also help you to get clear on your target customer [who are] more likely to adopt your product and commit to using it, rather than those who will abandon it” and churn.
In a nutshell: make your product as easy to use as possible, particularly the steps that lead to that desired outcome, wow moment or whatever you want to call it.
If your product can’t lead on the scale effort by minimising friction through every client interaction (improving time to value), then the alternative will be to scale through hiring and servicing clients who can’t get to their desired outcomes independently.
Whilst this is not uncommon in Enterprise sales, with the rise of AI, it’s unlikely that complex interfaces and experiences in product will be acceptable for much longer.
Why you should always consider PLG as a viable GTM motion
Since PLG and JTBD are all about delivering value through your product and scaling your business by reducing client friction, getting your entire org to think in those terms will break down the dreaded silos: marketing/sales/product and I see the silos time and time again, even at Seed or Series A startups.
I’ve put together a simple framework you can use to check in with the leadership team, ensure alignment & clear end-to-end messaging.
It can be used at any time in your GTM motion but it’s especially helpful to look at PLG and JTBD concepts when entering a new market or segment or if you’re thinking of launching a new pricing strategy. E.g. If you’re pivoting from Mid-market to Enterprise or from a B2C to B2B/Commercial audience.
Framework & Exercise
I like to workshop this with clients to align all efforts of their GTM plan and sow the seeds of predictable revenue. Best case scenario you do this with your CEO, sales leader, marketing leader, and product leader. If that’s not an option, you can present your findings to the other teams before completing step 3 with them.
The four step process runs as follows:
Review the team’s understanding of clients’ JTBD & desired outcomes. The more specific, the better.
Identify areas where these can be better communicated in product and marketing messaging, particularly based on changes needed to business strategy: current market, new segment, etc.
Using the JTBD concepts, critically review current marketing, sales and product processes to be optimised.
Agree OKRs to make necessary changes across the three key teams: marketing, sales and product.
You can use the table here as a template for this exercise.
Value first every time
What I like about incorporating these product frameworks into your GTM strategy is that it allows all teams to think value-first, removes unnecessary noise and fosters closer collaboration across the 3 verticals.
You may have a Product issue: clients don’t see value and so they bounce/end sessions early/ don’t return, etc; or a Sales & Marketing issue: clients ghost your reps or postpone meetings indefinitely, etc. Or you may have all three!
Either way, your key stakeholders should walk away from this with a renewed understanding of the value (you should) be providing to clients, so for that alone it’s worth refreshing your GTM strategy regularly with a workshop like this.
Lastly, by encouraging your sales function to review this from the lens of JTBD and PLG you can take the whole team back to first principles (why did we create this product?) and focus everyone on rebuilding their strategy to meet those desired outcomes as fast as possible.
Done right, this will improve sales outcomes, increase revenue, and save you money in product development and marketing spend.
Feel free to email us at enquire@revelesco.com at any point.
Inés & the Revelesco team.
Inés is an experienced revenue leader with a passion for sales coaching and leadership development. She excels at helping your team clearly communicate your product’s desirability and has launched international Sales enablement plans for both Yelp and Houzz, grown Houzz International revenue from $1m to $24m ARR and built client success and product support organizations from scratch.
Whilst at Yelp and Houzz, Inés hired, trained and managed over 200 sales and support people as well as their managers, giving her a wide breadth of knowledge across all sales functions in a SaaS org, and extensive management and coaching experience.
 | A guest post by
|