Clinch self-service while you are ahead
Many sales-led SaaS companies make the mistake of waiting too long to introduce a self-service channel, viewing it as an offensive tactic to employ when field sales become too challenging to scale. Self-serve customers are usually smaller, churn faster, and present fewer expansion opportunities. So why introduce the complexity of multiple channels and SKUs when field-sold products are thriving?
The challenge is that your market traction will inevitably attract competitors, and if you don't offer a self-serve option, someone else will. Emerging competitors frequently enter through low-end disruption, offering a simpler, lower-cost product targeted to smaller businesses. Defensively opening a self-service channel prevents competitors from gaining a foothold in the lower end of the market.
In all the companies I've been involved with, embracing both sales-led and product-led growth has been essential to reaching our full potential. While having both channels can be a source of complexity and headaches, there are ways to mitigate these challenges and streamline the process. Some common concerns include:
Channel Conflict: A common concern is that introducing self-service pricing aimed at SMBs might undercut field-sold pricing power or hinder selling larger deals if a small team in a large enterprise can sign up easily through self-service. There are good-enough-to-get-started ways to mitigate these risks. One approach is to limit the seats or deal size available through self-service. You can employ larger discounts in the field channel.
Your sales ops team can also monitor self-service signups to identify enterprise-level customers and follow up with targeted upselling efforts, or you can spin up a dedicated self-serve to field sales motion team like MongoDB has done with their Product-led Sales team.
Constrained R&D: Another concern is the potential fragmentation of R&D resources when implementing a self-service channel. There are tools available that can help streamline the process and reduce the burden on your R&D team. For example, platforms like Frigade (full disclosure: I'm an investor) can handle the onboarding flow and other essential components of the self-service experience.
Product is unsuitable for Self-Serve: I often hear concerns about product complexity, the inability to create a differentiated SKU for single-feature products, or doubts about product-market fit in the lower end of the market. These challenges are rarely unique to self-serve, and addressing them holistically benefits the entire product offering: If the product is too complex to set up without assistance, it likely indicates a broader adoption problem that extends to the field-sold channel. If your product relies on a single feature, it's crucial to expand your offering to remain competitive in both self-serve and field-sold channels. Concerns about the feasibility of self-serve often hinge on assumptions around free trials and virality. While many PLG motions benefit from free trials and virality, these elements are not required in a defensive self-service offering.
If you find that offering a complete self-service option is not feasible for your product, consider providing customers with the ability to get started online. For many potential users, trying out the product is essential to their research process. If you can successfully guide them to a meaningful moment in the product in the self-serve flow that demonstrates value, you'll be well on your way to fending off competitors.