The sales paradigm shift | Leah Tharin

👋 Hi, this is Vincent with a new edition of the Growth Machines newsletter. This week I’m talking with Leah Tharin as part of my book about Product-Led Sales. If you enjoy the newsletter, please consider sharing it with your product and growth friends!

"There's usually a heavy misalignment between sales, product, customer success and marketing because sales has probably traditionally been using the product as an acquisition machine." - Leah Tharin

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In the fifth episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I sit down with Leah Tharin. Leah is a leading Product-Led Growth (PLG) advisor for scaling B2B companies and Interim CPGO of GotPhoto. She led products like Jua and Smallpdf and is portfolio growth advisor to VC funds like Notion Capital. She writes about her experiences and hosts a podcast on Leah’s ProducTea.

In our talk, Leah emphasizes the merging of PLG and traditional sales approaches, advocating for data-driven sales strategies. She warns against common mistakes such as misinterpreting user engagement as buying signals and stresses the need for iterative processes to identify genuine buying signals effectively.

She also discusses successful implementations of Product-Led Sales, citing examples where expansion revenue and leveraging trials or low-cost offerings have been used to penetrate larger accounts. Leah underlines the importance of adaptation to meet market demands, particularly in maximizing efficiency and capitalizing on changing customer expectations.

[00:22] Introducing Leah Tharin

[00:56] The Evolution and Impact of Product-Led Sales

[02:21] Combining PLG and Sales: Strategies and Challenges

[03:51] Identifying and Leveraging Buying Signals

[12:14] Navigating Sales Concerns

[16:42] Expanding into Enterprise with PLG

[23:42] Common Approaches when Introducing PLG

This interview is part of my book about Product-Led Sales.

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Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week!

👋 Vincent

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