Enhancing customer value and boosting revenue can be achieved by integrating a sales assist motion into your PLG strategy. However, as we discover in today's episode of the False Starts series, this process requires navigating trial and error and overcoming challenges.

Carrie McMahon, the Head of Scaled Business at Coda, talks about how her team navigated three iterations to find the right approach to adding sales to their successful self-serve motion. They started with a heavy focus on human interaction, then shifted to a success-led motion, and finally reoriented the team towards high-potential enterprise customers. 

Throughout the episode, Carrie elaborates on challenges her team faced like overwhelming users with sales interactions. Among many nuggets of advice, she emphasizes the importance of pinpointing success milestones, strategically segmenting your customer base, and maintaining a continuous cycle of validation and automation.



Key Takeaways:

[1:15] Carrie’s background and work experience

[3:30] Mission and ideal customer profile at Coda

[6:20] Coda’s first attempt to layer sales on top of Coda’s PLG approach

[7:15] Challenges of overwhelming the Sales Team with customer interactions and misaligned customer needs

[8:10] Recognizing the mismatch between customer expectations and the sales-led motion

[8:52] Ineffective segmentation of customers 

[9:36] Pivoting towards a success-led motion

[11:10] Discussion about the user experience during the initial attempt

[12:50] Listening to customer feedback to understand challenges and missed opportunities

[16:00] Transitioning from the first iteration to the second

[16:15] Shifting the team’s focus from sales to success

[19:50] Segmenting and finding the right users to engage with 

[21:30] Examples of customer success stories and expansions

[25:10] Creating transparency and celebrating quick wins

[26:15] Focusing on potential growth for enterprise sales

[28:15] Third iteration: reorienting towards high-potential customers

[29:15] Product market fit discussion

[29:45] Playbook recommendations for layering sales on self-serve

[30:35] Evolution of product-led stack of tools

[36:30] Team structure and objectives



About Carrie McMahon: 

Carrie is a collaborative leader and innovator with proven success at building and enabling teams and developing programs at scale to drive revenue growth and ensure operational efficiency. Prior to her role at Coda, she spent nearly 6 years working at Zendesk.



Links: 

Carrie McMahon | LinkedIn 

Carrie McMahon | Coda