Product-Led Sales is Product Management

Our customers are like us. We have to understand that they want bonuses, pay raises, and promotions just as we do. As product managers, it’s our mission to position them as heroes within their organizations by providing products, solutions, and services that solve their unique problems effectively. 

We’ve entered the age of the customer, where traditional sales strategies have become obsolete. Frankly, our customers are busy and don’t want to feel like they're being sold on something. They want to solve their company’s problems in their own way and in their own time. They want less human interaction, and they want products that will make their work life better. What is also driving these changes in posture is the need to experience the product’s value before making a commitment, which, oftentimes, are multi-year contracts that need to be budgeted for. In these financially uncertain times, potential customers must ensure that there is value in the product by experiencing it first. 

Today, power users now have a seat at the table when making decisions as to which products, solutions, or services to purchase for their organizations. Empowered with buying power, they are trusted by their leadership to research, recommend, and, in some cases, make the purchase on behalf of the organization. It’s crucial, therefore, that we make it easy for them to subscribe to free trials and make purchases independently without having to actually talk to anyone. Their end-to-end journey should be effortless. 

With this shift in purchasing in mind, as product leaders, we should be leading a cultural change in our organization that will accentuate building, developing, and launching self-service and free trial-driven products. By aligning our product business model with customer expectations, we anticipate not only increased sales but also greater adoption and retention rates.